In my last post, I talked about buying a fat-loss book and I was all set to disprove the system. So I began reading the introductory chapters and surprisingly, it taught me a few new things. I guess some of you must be thinking how green I am to fat-loss theories as soon as you see the crude diagram above. As I soon found out, more than half the globe have probably heard of it. The theory proposed that a carbohydrate loaded diet causes the body to prefer burning carbohydrate instead of fat to produce energy. The same diet also increases the body's secretion of insulin which causes the body to store fat. Since the body does not prefer fat-fuel at this juncture, fat will just be stored and added to in due time. This cycle also produces a craving for carbohydrate when the body needs fuel. So the person will look for more carbohydrate-laden foods and the vicious cycle continues. Liberal intake of sugar also leads to more insulin secretion and, you guessed it, more stored fat. In short, to break this cycle, control carbohydrate intake and, two, control sugar consumption.
The weight-loss plan goes on to propose that for the first two weeks or so, one needs to go on a carbohydrate and sugar fast. As the body still needs a little carbohydrate, it is limited to at most, 20 grams of net carbohydrate per day. That excluded a lot of convenient foods, as I found out. But, if you control your menu, there are still lots of delicious ingredients for your meal. What you actually forgo, for my case, is convenience. The book goes on to list out menus from breakfast to after-dinner snack for the first 14 days that totals from 18 to 20 grams of net carbohydrate. This saves the dieter from having to do his own counting. I think this part is neat. It also proposes vitamins and minerals supplement for this period to make up the loss as the dieter is only eating certain foods. Also, not to mention, exercise is prescribed as part of the lifestyle. This whole plan is geared towards shifting the body to prefer burning fat and not carbohydrate for energy.
So folks, in my next post, I will describe how I adapted the methods in the book to my circumstances. For one thing, diet bars and the sort, that meets the criteria of this plan is hardly available where I am. If available, it will cost you an arm AND a leg. Secondly, as Asians, our staple is full of carbohydrate. It is EVERYWHERE. So if I were to disprove this system, I need to REALLY put in some action. More on that coming your way.
No comments:
Post a Comment