Low Carb Does Not Mean No Carbs

By: Frances Coleman In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given everything they needed to be healthy and happy. They had plenty of vegetables, fruits, fish, and meats. The garden was a buffet of all you can eat healthy foods. Now when I say all you can eat, I am not talking about your local pizza buffet or the greasy spoon buffet. I am talking about an abundance of healthy carbs and lean meats. Yes, they probably had potatoes but without a deep fryer or butter and sour cream, those potatoes were not a problem. There were no chocolate trees, no potato chip factories, no sweet soft drinks, and definitely no ice cream. They were provided with the nutrients that their bodies were created to need and nothing more. Unfortunately, when they were thrown out of the Garden, the road to unhealthy eating had begun. As with everything in history, as man progresses, he regresses. The first warrior's weapon of choice was a stone. Look how far we have come from that stone that was used for the first murder. Now we have bombs that can blow up whole countries. Progress? -- maybe not. In terms of food, we have more choices than ever before in history, but one truth has survived since the beginning of time. If you consume more calories than you utilize, you will gain weight. Every diet, no matter which one you look at, still runs on this principal. Eating a balanced diet of Adam and Eve's fruits, vegetables, and lean meat will allow anyone to lose weight. Add exercise and you will lose more weight. Even a twenty minute walk will help you lose weight. How many of you ride around a parking lot five or ten minutes to find the closest parking space rather than walk a few extra steps. Don't deny it; I know you are out there because I have seen you. I have lived in the South my whole life. Yes, we love fried foods, bountiful tables of food, and a good dessert and yes even bread. For centuries our Southern ancestors ate this way and created our tradition of fabulous Southern cooking. We cooked our vegetables in meat and couldn't imagine a meal without biscuits or cornbread. My grandmother cooked that way and to this day I remember her meals. My mother cooked that way and I can still taste her fried chicken. The difference is that in those days people didn't have to run on a treadmill or use exercise equipment. Exercise came from hard work. My mother picked cotton when she was young. My grandmother never had inside plumbing. She worked hard all of her life. She expended those calories she was eating by years of cleaning, cooking from scratch, walking to the out house, using a wringer washing machine, and carrying heavy pans of boiling water for baths and dish washing. Yes, in short they could eat what they wanted because they expended more calories than they took in each day. Today, we simply do not work as hard. With all of our appliances that make work easier and non manual labor jobs, we simply cannot eat the way our ancestors did. We can't eat the fried everything, the greasy vegetables, bread at every meal, and the desserts our forbearers ate. Of course, we can, but we will pay the price by gaining weight. My blog is all about finding ways to eat healthy without feeling deprived or hungry. I include recipes that I have created for my husband and myself that follow the guidelines for low carb eating but are delicious and easy to prepare. I don't know about you, but if a recipe has more than five ingredients, I move on. Learning to stay home and cook simple, delicious meals will also help you to stay away from restaurants where the chef piles your plate with enough food for not only you but the whole table. Restaurants are definitely a place where you can eat low carb, but take a look at the calorie count. When I did, I was horrified. The slightly boring meal that I thought was low carb and, therefore, low calorie was a disaster. I could have had something really tasty for the calories contained in that mediocre meal. Low carb has become my life and I have never felt better or healthier. Remember; when you have that desire for bad foods, ask yourself what would Adam and Eve have done. On second thought maybe that's not such a good idea. It's their fault we have all these problems in the first place. If it weren't for them, we'd still be in the Garden of Eden eating the way we were created to eat and we would all be slim as super models without all the air brushing.Article Source: http://www.nulife-weightloss.com/articlesAfter years as an educator and more degrees than she can count, Frances Coleman now writes professionally. She is a prolific reader with an advanced degree in research techniques. Read her daily blog about Free Low Carb Recipes and Tips.

Seeking Help For Obesity

There are over 180 million Americans who are overweight andalmost 90 million of them are severely overweight, or obese.That means 30% of adults in the United States are so overweightthat they are at an increased risk for at least 30 medicalconditions, some deadly, including heart disease, cancer of thebreast, colon, uterus and esophagus, hypertension, glaucoma,gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis. Andthere's a significant chance that any random American citizenreading this article also wishes they could shed a few pounds. Obesity has recently been dubbed a serious, chronic medicalcondition by the medical and scientific community. Only in thepast few decades have experts taken notice of the problem, butthat's not because it isn't a legitimate problem. It's simply amatter of it being new to them! Over the last twenty years,obesity rates in America have doubled. (For children andadolescents, rates of being overweight have tripled!) And if you are obese (i.e., you have a body mass index thatexceeds 30), you are not alone. And you shouldn't feelembarrassed or ashamed about it. While obesity is a problem,there is plenty of treatment available and your genes mayfigure into why you struggle with weight. The key is determine why it is you have a weight problem in thefirst place and then to take the necessary steps to riddingyourself of those unhealthy, life-threatening pounds. Beingjust overweight may not be an issue for you, and in some casesit ought not be, but if you are severely overweight, it's timeto wake up and make life changes that will increase the qualityand not to mention, length, of your life. But how can you do this? Unfortunately, thanks to messages sentout from magazines and television, you may feel very depressedabout your self-image as underweight supermodels typicallyresemble beauty in the American media and instead of thesemessages encouraging you to get outdoors and exercise and eathealthy, you probably just find yourself answering morecravings for unhealthy food. This is because a height of fivefeet and eleven inches, accompanied with a weight of 117 pounds(these are the average dimensions of a female model) is acompletely unrealistic body type for most people. And whenfaced with such an impossible ideal of beauty, one can onlyfeel overwhelmed and ultimately discouraged, retreating to foodfor comfort. One gains weight by simply consuming more calories than he orshe burns. But if you work at an office job, have kids to takecare of, and are constantly dealing with a social stigma aboutyour weight, it can be enormously challenging to find time tobe physically active and to cook healthy meals. Similarly, youmay be unaware that you suffer from problems like foodaddiction and thus you may feel you don't know how to get thewill power to make even the smallest lifestyle changes. But there is help. Whether you are dangerously obese and needprescription diet pills and/or surgery or you are only mildlyoverweight and you need guidance over what to eat and how toexercise, there are so many resources. And you can accessalmost all of them over the World Wide Web. In the 1980's, itwould've been very difficult to find help for obesity. Buttoday, even though there is progress to be made and most healthinsurance providers don't cover obesity treatment, it's a loteasier. But what are some specific options for you if you arestruggling with obesity? Well, first know that if you simplydecrease your body fat by a mere 10%, you can be on the road toa healthier lifestyle and reduce your risk for a bunch of healthcomplications that previously haunted you. So don't panic andoverexert yourself at the gym or go on a starvation diet.Instead, aim to lose a half to two pounds a week. And if engaging in a strict work out schedule is intimidating,why not just incorporate physical activity into your dailyroutine? For example, pick up a new hobby like gardening. Andof course watch what you eat! Or, rather, what how manycalories you consume. All of this may seem like common sense and yet it still may betoo elusive for you. Maybe you find that no matter how hard youtry, you can't seem to avoid eating that extra slice of cake oryou just can't get motivated to go for a walk around the parkafter supper. That's okay. The United States Department of Health and HumanServices has lots of resources for you on the national level,but your state and local community likely has counselingservices too, that can get you into shape fast. Sometimes justhaving a game plan and a little accountability about how muchyou exercise and how much you eat can make all the difference.And some of that conventional wisdom like "don't eat if you'refull" will suddenly ring true if you have an expert giving itto you. However, if you are indeed struggling with a food addiction youcan't seem to control, there are even more intensive treatmentsthat may come in the form of a diet pill or even surgery. Justmake sure to properly research these treatment options, as it'salways advisable to lose weight naturally. Truthfully, it's not all that difficult to lose weight. What'sreally challenging is to maintain that weight loss that's whyjoining a weight loss program that will keep you committed to ahealthy diet of exercise and food can be very beneficial. For those with severe obesity, there are many surgeriesavailable. They include the popular gastric bypass surgery. Sitdown and have a long talk with your doctor if you areconsidering surgery the risks and side effects may not beworth the weight loss, especially if you can achieve that sameweight loss through mere diet and exercise. If you are suffering from obesity, don't let it get the best ofyou. It is a complicated problem, not one that you areoverreacting to by being concerned. Luckily, there are manyways out and you don't have to go through the process alone.About The Author: David Beart is the owner ofhttp://www.professorshouse.com. Our site covers family issuessuch as health, relationships and household issues.