Low Carb Menu Day 5

Breakfast

• 2 (or 3) eggs cooked as you like them
• 2 slices Canadian bacon
• 6 medium asparagus spears
• 1 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen

Lunch

2 cups Low Carb Cole Slaw mixed with
• 1 cup cooked chicken
• 1/3 cup chopped apple
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Snack (morning, afternoon, or evening)

• 1/2 cup plain, strained yogurt with cultures (see Yogurt Info), flavored with sugar-free syrup such as Da Vinci’s
• 1 ½ Tablespoon flax seed meal

Dinner

• 4 oz lean beef such as London Broil
• 1 cup mushrooms, sautéed in olive oil
• Simply Scrumptious Spinach, OR spinach salad made with 3 cups spinach and olive oil dressing OR another cup of cole slaw

Nutritional Analysis 40 grams effective carbohydrate, plus 20 grams fiber, 127 grams protein, and about 1700 calories. To lower carb count for very low carb diet phases, or make appropriate for South Beach Phase One, eliminate fruit, which subtracts 13 grams effective carbohydrate and 4 grams fiber.

Note:Calories can be varied by adding and subtracting protein and fat, or, if your particular carbohydrate needs vary from this, by changing amounts of carbohydrate foods. All menus have essentially all essential vitamins and minerals except for calcium and Vitamin D. “Essentially” means that one particular vitamin might be a bit under one day or another. For the most part, these menus far exceed the minimum requirements. Some menus have a lower carb option. My analysis of the nutrients other than carbs does not include this option.

By Laura Dolson, About.com

About.com Health’s Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

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Atkins Diet Foods

Atkins diet foods are easy to find and available everywhere. There are many varieties to choose from, whether you pick prepackaged low-carb diet foods or make your own meals. No matter how you want to do the Atkins plan, there is a solution out there for you.

You’ll need to keep the Atkins food pyramid in mind when you make food choices. The Atkins pyramid looks much different than the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The base of the pyramid consists of protein sources such as eggs, fish, beef, chicken and tofu. On a daily basis, your diet should consist primarily of these foods. The second tier has low glycemic vegetables like salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and spinach.

The third tier is made up of berries and avocado. Fruits should be used on an occasional basis after the initial stages of the Atkins diet. Vegetable and seed oils, cheese, dairy, nuts and legumes are used sparingly and in appropriate portions. While the FDA pyramid has oils and fats at the top peak, the Atkins pyramid places whole grain foods in this spot. Whole grain foods should be used very occasionally and don’t make up the mainstay of the Atkins diet.

When you start the Atkins plan, you’ll need to make sure you understand which foods are acceptable for your stage of the program. The Induction phase is the most restrictive, but it only lasts two weeks.

You owe it to your dieting success to stay within the acceptable foods list. One of the best ways to do this is to follow the Atkins menu plans that are printed within the New Diet Revolution book. There are also Atkins cookbooks and cookbooks that are geared toward other low carb diets that are helpful in formulating meal plans.

It’s a helpful idea to use a cheat sheet of acceptable Atkins foods wherever you go. If you are out and about and hungry, the last thing you want to do is to try to think back in your memory to figure out what you can and cannot eat. Carrying a list of acceptable foods with you will make finding a snack or meal while out on the run easy. You can’t always rely on “low carb” labels to tell you whether or not something is diet friendly. Ever since low carb became the new diet craze, manufacturers have been jumping on the bandwagon to attract Atkins dieters. They label items low carb to sell products and don’t have your health in mind. Relying on foods from your own personal list is the best way to stay on the plan.

Another good resource for keeping track of the appropriate Atkins foods is an online diet program. There are several available. Some are free and some have a small monthly fee. The programs require you to register and then they provide you with personal weekly menu plans based on your needs and your carbohydrate gram level. There are normally printable weekly shopping lists that make picking up your Atkins diet foods from the grocery store easy and quick.

Atkins diet food is easy to find once you know what you are looking for. The books, food pyramid and online resources can help you make better food choices and stay on the diet for the long term.

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Atkins Diet Basics

The Atkins diet is not a new phenomenon. The diet first appeared in the late 1970s and has grown popularity in recent years in response to the low-fat diet craze. As dieters had trouble with low-fat plans, they searched for a new solution and Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution book found a new audience.

A lot of people have jumped on the Atkins bandwagon and there has been a lot of hype as a result. But what are the basic principles of the Atkins diet?

The Atkins diet is based on a theory of why we get fat. According to Dr. Atkins, the over-consumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars leads to weight gain. The way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat have more to do with your waistline than the amount of fat or calories that you consume. In his book, Atkins outlines a phenomenon called “insulin resistance.” He theorizes that many overweight people have cells that do not work correctly.

When you eat excess carbohydrates and sugar, your body notices that sugar levels are elevated. Insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra energy later on. However, your body can only store so much glycogen at once. As soon as your body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat. This happens to everyone who eats too many carbohydrates.

However, insulin resistant individuals have an even harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin that your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. Overtime, the pancreas releases more insulin and cells become insulin resistant. The cells are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They create less glycogen and more fat.

As a result, insulin resistant individuals gain extra weight. The carbohydrates get converted into fat instead of energy. Other side effects include fatigue, brain “fog” (the inability to focus, poor memory, loss of creativity), low blood sugar (which can leads to hypoglycemia), intestinal bloating, sleepiness, depression and increased blood sugar. There is much more than weight at stake when you are insulin resistant.

The remedy for people who are insulin resistant is a diet restricted in carbohydrates. The crux of the Atkins diet is a limitation of carbohydrates in all of its forms. The foods restricted on the Atkins plan include simple sugars (like cookies, sodas and sweets) and complex carbohydrates (like bread, rice and grains). Even carbohydrates that are considered healthy, such as oatmeal, brown rice and whole wheat bread, are restricted on the program.

The diet has you restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 40 grams a day. This will put your body in a state of ketosis. While in ketosis, your body will burn fat as fuel. According to Dr. Atkins’ research, the ketosis state will also affect insulin production and it will prevent more fat from being formed. Your body will begin using your stored fat as an efficient form of fuel, and you’ll lose weight.
Another benefit of the Atkins plan is that ketosis will end your cravings for carbohydrates. If you’ve been living on a carb-heavy diet, you may have found that you simply cannot get enough carbohydrates. With carbohydrate restriction and ketosis comes a reduction in carbohydrate cravings. People who have been on the Atkins diet for some time report that they do not crave carbohydrates as they once did.

Although the initial phases of the Atkins diet are rather strict, the program teaches you to restore balance to your diet in the long run. People who use the diet slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate into their eating until they find a comfortable balance between their health and carbohydrate use.

The basic principles of the Atkins diet have been adapted to many other low-carb diet plans. However, Atkins popularity still remains strong as one of the most effective low-carbohydrate solutions for those who are insulin resistant.
 

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The Runner’s Diet

As a runner, your diet is important not only for maintaining good health, but also to promote peak performance. Proper nutrition and hydration can make or break a workout or race, and also greatly affects how you feel, work and think. A balanced diet for healthy runners should include these essentials: carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals.

  Runner's Diet Books  

   This collection is a must-have for every runners.

Endurance Nutrition   Nutrition expert and ultra endurance cyclist, Steve Born of Hammer Nutrition, answers these and many other questions inside Endurance Nutrition. Gain top advice on how you can dramatically improve your training, racing and health through a simple, well thought out endurance nutrition plan. Steve puts it all together with easy-to-follow steps that endurance athletes of all levels can understand. From his 5 keys to a healthy eating strategy to his advice on pre-race and post-workout meal strategies, you'll find something that will take your endurance performance to the next level. (DVD) approx. 45 mins.

The Paleo Diet Cookbooks   The Paleo Diet for Athletes, which is based on clinical, nutritional, and historical science. Subtitled "A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance" this is an athletes diet that will improve and enhance your performance at all levels. Should you be eating like the cavemen? Read the article by Runner's World

TRAIN LIKE THE PROS – WITH A PRO

Diet and nutrition is important for everyone but it is especially important for runners. Having a proper diet which is well balanced and follows guidelines provided for good health can help a runner to stay in good shape but some runner may also have other specific dietary needs which help the runner to train properly and excel in his sport.

Unlike other fitness programs, once you join, you will receive your own online personal trainer (certified) and a proven nutrition and fitness system for reaching your goals priced at a fraction of traditional face-to-face personal training. 

Food Matters DVD While this is not realy a diet for runners, FoodMatters movie illustrates how nutrition is a safe, simple, cheap, and an effective way to prevent disease, improve the quality of your life, and even cure disease. This journey reveals why a back to basics approach to eating and life can keep you healthy and disease free late into life. Hope and inspiration are built in to this film. Words from experts and case studies on nutrition make the viewer want to know more. This movie is fast paced, with comical flashbacks to 1950’s clips of films on doctor’s and drugs. Interview clips inform without being wordy.

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Forms of Weight Loss Diet

While exercise is essential, people are too preoccupied to incorporate it in their daily routine. It seems exercise is an added task in the day to day business. Many become lazy doing it, but in case you don’t know, the recommended amount of time it takes to do exercise is only 30 minutes daily. If you want to really see results with your weight loss plan, you have to make it a goal to achieve a half an hour exercise each day. And if you cannot afford that 30 long minutes taken away from your daily schedule, you can attain better results by breaking down the time frame to three 10-minute sessions per day.

There are several competing brands of weight loss diet pills out in the market today, and they all claim to have achieved the goal–that desired outcome individuals want to see with regards to their weight. On the other hand, another weight loss diet plan I’m familiar with is the low carb diet. Low carb diets limit your consumption of carbohydrates to some extent. Normally, carbs turn to body sugar, which arouse the discharge of insulin. Insulin stores excess sugar in the blood as fat, taken from the cells’ absorption.

Therefore, it is only logical that taking too much carb makes you fat, while taking less of it makes you thin. In any case, people should watch out their consumption of carbohydrates regardless of whether they’re thin or not, but especially if you’re fat. There are several different kinds of weight loss diet programs out there, and each is offering their own advises and strategies on weight loss. It is also important that the individual will carefully make his/her assessments about which program to follow since apparently different weight loss diets are either oppose to each other, if not have varying concepts.  

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You can compare price and brands in our Weight Loss section

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