The Top Five Benefits of Adopting a Low Carb Diet
You have worked hard and committed the time, making a big change to focus on healthy eating. However, you just can’t seem to stick to an eating program long-term. Depriving your body of a favorite food can lead to hunger pains and intense cravings that prevent you from sticking to a specific diet. If that sounds like you, do not fret—you are not alone. Fortunately, a low carb diet might just be your solution. Here are five important reasons why the benefits of a low carb diet are the solution you have been waiting for.
1) Reduced Appetite
Decreasing your carbohydrates means that you will need to turn to other sources of food for caloric intake. This is where protein and healthy fats come in. Studies show that reducing the amount of carbs in your diet (20-57 grams per day) and eating more protein and fat leads to eating fewer calories overall, and results in a significant reduction in appetite. When your appetite decreases and remains lower you are less likely to cave and will stick to your diet and food goals.
2) Weight Loss
Low carb diets eliminate excess water from your body, decreasing insulin levels and leading to rapid weight loss in the first couple of weeks. Combine this with a reduced appetite and the road to weight loss is far more direct than other diets. Another benefit of a low carb diet with rapid weight loss during the initial few weeks of starting out is the motivation you get from these early results. While other diets might take some time to adjust to, a low carb diet provides you with almost immediate weight loss that launches your drive to continue eating this way.
3) A Healthier Diet Overall
Cutting down your carb intake naturally leads to increased fiber in your diet, which will come from the “healthy carbs” that you now ingest. When you do eat carbs on a low carb diet, you eat ones higher in fiber such as sweet potatoes, oats, or whole wheat. A diet that values decreased carb intake will promote a healthier diet, with the few carbs that you do eat being higher in fiber.
4) Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes
One factor in the development of Type II Diabetes is excessive consumption of carbohydrates, typically in the form of sugar. Decreasing your carb intake will naturally reduce the chances of developing Type II Diabetes. Two significant ways to prevent Type II Diabetes is weight loss and controlling your blood glucose levels, and a low carb diet promotes both of these.
5) Most Sustainable
While other diets might ask you to completely cut out a food group altogether, the benefits of a low carb diet offer you some give and take with foods that you love, allowing you to have a well-balanced diet. Finding healthy options to replace carbs, such as protein sources or fats, leads to a reduced appetite long-term. One of the biggest culprits for breaking diets or giving up on a new eating routine is hunger, and a low carb diet helps kick hunger pains. The reduced appetite that comes along with a low carb diet will in turn cause you to eat less and help you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight for a longer period of time.
Overall, the benefits of a low carb diet are clear. If you are looking for your solution to eat and live healthier overall, this may just be what you have been looking for.