Low Carb Crib - Low In Carbs Food

Low In Carbs Food

Is low in carbs food always good to have on a low carbs diet? Not necessarily. It depends on what it is, but more importantly, how many calories it has.

Low in Carbs Food vs. Calories

When low fat diets became all the rage in the 80s and 90s, people began buying foods that were low in fat, thinking that they could replace high fat foods with the lower fat version. While that's all well and good, people were actually eating more of the foods that were labeled as "Low Fat" or "Fat Free" and then wondering why they were either gaining weight or why they weren't losing weight. Most generally, foods labeled as being low in fat or low in carbs either have more calories to compensate, or people eat larger amounts of these foods thinking it wouldn't hurt them because they are foods low in carbs.

The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you take in. Many foods that are labeled as being low in carbs food or low in fat are misleading. People tend to focus on the number of grams of carbs or fat, but they don't look at the calories, and they don't look at the serving size. If a single serving of cereal has 140 calories without milk, and a serving size is a cup, but you blindly pour two cups in your bowl (as many of us do) you are actually consuming 280 calories (again, this is before adding milk). If that same cereal has 21 grams of carbs, you've just ingested 42 grams of carbs. If it has 3 grams of fat, you've just had 6 grams. Still all before adding milk.

Cutting carbs doesn't have to be about carbs. You can cut carbs (and calories, and fat) just by watching your portion size and reading labels. And don't get misled by food that's labeled as a low in carbs food or a low in fat food. Food low in carbs often has extra fat to add flavor, and fat is 9 calories per gram, while one carb gram has only 4 calories. So, low in carbs foods are often high in calories. It's similar for food low in fat. Most of those add sugars to compensate for the lost flavor, so you're getting more carbs. Pretty tricky, huh?

Your best bet is to learn portion sizes and read labels. And a little exercise never hurts either!