Low carb cooking and following a low carb diet is not just for diabetics and those who have problems digesting carbohydrates, but for anyone who wants to drop weight and eat tasty food while still maintaining a great shape and not feeling hungry or deprived.
Although low carb cooking sounds easy, it takes a while to get used to if you are used to eating bread, pasta and potatoes as part of your daily diet, as many of us are.
As is the case with most diets, the focus should be on eating food ‘from the farm not the factory’ which means minimize the amount of prepackaged food you eat and make sure you get plenty of fresh meat, fish and vegetables. Prepackaged foods often have sugar and chemicals lurking in them, so choose fresh wherever possible.
Low Carb Cooking – A New Lifestyle
Low carb eating is not a temporary diet either, but a complete shift in the way you eat. If you lose weight low-carbing and then resume eating the way you did before, of course you are going to gain all the weight back.
When you cut the carbs, your body relies on its own fat stores for energy, choosing to burn its own fat rather than take energy from the carbs you have eaten – that’s how it works in a nutshell.
Enjoying a low carb diet is very popular these days, which is great because it means there is no shortage of tips, tricks, recipes, and advice online, as well as tasty substitutes like low-carb bread mix or low-carb pasta to suit your low carb cooking needs.
A lot of mainstream stores are carrying low carb meals and ingredients these days too so you don’t have to try and find a specialist food outlet to stock up and prices are getting more competitive. There are also low carb cookbooks at the bookstore or library.
What Can You Eat?
Examples of low carb meals include plenty of meat, poultry, fish, and seafood, with salad and vegetables, along with nuts, creamy dressings, sugar-free desserts, and some types of fruit such as berries or melon.
The things you need to watch are wheat items such as cereals and breads, along with starchy vegetables such as white potatoes, parsnips and corn.
Fat is not the Enemy with Low Carb Cooking
Enjoy plenty of fat like the fat on meat and butter and cream. Not only is fat an important part of the diet because your body needs it but it takes longer to digest so you feel fuller for longer.
Enjoy a chilled shrimp appetizer with seafood dressing, followed by grilled steaks with buttered asparagus, and finally a bowl of sugar-free Jell-O with whipped cream for dessert.
Hard to believe such foods are allowed on a ‘diet’ but you will feel full and satisfied if you start low carb dieting and low carb cooking, and drop the pounds too. Check this classic keto crack slaw recipe – it’s spicy, Asian and delicious but low in carbs!