You may have begun to believe that carbohydrates are not essential food items for you. That is partially true. First of all you have to realize that though carbs are not essential, there are a lot of carbs that contain many other essential nutrients. Therefore it is very important to consider these nutrients before reducing your carbs intake.
Many scientific studies have shown that low carbs diet help lose weight and blood sugar and you might get tempted to reduce your carbs intake. Good, but if you don't know where to start, then understand the carbs better before reducing their intake.
Here is a guide giving you 5 different ways to reduce your carbs and improve your overall health.
1. Understand the Difference Between Good Carbs and Bad Carbs.
All carbs are not bad and unhealthy. You need to understand the difference between good carbs and bad carbs before you start reducing your carbs consumption.
There are very simple rules to identify good carbs. That is, carbs that have fiber in it are good carbs and any carbs that have been stripped off of fiber is bad carbs.
As a general rule, all vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seeds and nuts are good carbs. You have to be careful in reducing consumption of these items. Any sugary drinks, white bread, cakes, pastries, cookies, ice creams, chocolates and french fries and chips are all bad carbs. You can completely give them up.
So, now the main question is how much carbs one should consume?
There is no general rule for that, as some people can eat more carbs and remain healthy and others may not feel healthy and fit with the same carbs.
There are many factors that may contribute to deciding the carbs consumption requirements. Some of the main ones are your age, gender, metabolic health, physical activities and food eating habits in your community for generations. But one thing is for sure that giving up off bad carbs is not going to have any bad impact in anyone
So give up all sugary drinks. Reduce your white bread consumption and replace it with wholemeal bread.
2. Choose Fruits Over Juices
When you extract juice from any fruit or vegetable you are stripping off all the fiber. That makes the juice a fiberless carb with high sugar content. It means that it is not a good carbs any more.
Once in a while, when you need instant energy, this kind of fruit juices can be OK. But for the normal day to day life start eating fruit directly and avoid juices.
3. Reduce Bread Intake and Increase Vegetables Consumption
Reduce your bread consumption to minimal and add more vegetables to your daily diet. Use wholemeal flour instead of fine white flour when you make bread.
Vegetables contain a lot of other nutrients including vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals with antioxidant capabilities which are essential for life. Take more green and leafy vegetables as well as try to add all different colored vegetables. Each color represents a specific health benefit. The colors of vegetables and fruits are given by the composition of its nutrients.
Some Vegetables have more carbs than the others, so if you have to reduce your carbs contents you have to be selective in choosing your vegetables. Starchy vegetables such as potato, beetroot, carrots, certain beans and legumes have moderately high carbs. Eat them but in less quantities to balance out the nutrients.
So, choose your vegetables and decide their quantities carefully.
4. Eat High Protein Diet
Proteins release fullness hormone called "PYY" which reduces hunger so you won't eat too much.
Eating protein must be carefully considered as they are high calorie food items. So meat, poultry, fish, nuts, eggs, cheeses etc should be added to your daily diet in limited quantities. Eat more healthier protein than high fat content proteins.
5. Snack Rationally
most of your carbs consumption may be coming from snacks. Eating french fries potato chips and other such items gradually increases carb consumption in the daily diet. So make a strategy to consume high protein low carbs snacks.
Eat nuts instead of cookies and french fries and potato chips.