Quote:
Originally Posted by dyna mo
oh and re: carbs in general.
imo, it's extremely unhealthy to eliminate carbs from the diet for more than a very short period of time. the reason low carb diets cause weight loss is primarily due to the overall decrease in calories, not from eliminating carbs.
a balanced diet(eating plan) is always the best way to go.
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There are many healthy people that live on low carb diets permanently, so there are two sides to this debate on whether you should eat carbs at all or not. Read up about ketogenic diets (65% fat, 30% protein and 5% carbohydrates usually). These diets burn the most amount of body fat out of all diets, because once you are in ketosis your body uses fat as its immediate fuel instead of carbs. It's a great way to shed fat quickly, but most likely you will lose a little muscle doing so. Bodybuilders frequently use this diet to shed fat once they plateau out below 10% body fat. A keto diet will continue to burn fat when other diets fail.
Overall if you're an active person, it's easier to use a diet with enough carbs to fuel you throughout the day and then cut them off at night. Keto diets tend to tire most people out and maintaining ketosis can be hard.
Examples of good carbs: Vegetables, brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread (be careful of breads containing high fructose corn syrup) and whole wheat pasta. Fruits are also good in the earlier part of the day, but they will spike your insulin.
Basically, your protein intake should be constant throughout the day. You should vary calories by increasing or decreasing carbs; and a carb cutoff at night is a great way to lose extra fat. Essential fats should be a part of your diet as well.
Examples of essential fats: Fish oil, olive oil, flax seed oil and nuts.
There is a lot to write on the topic of nutrition and even more opinions on the subject, but a healthy diet is fairly easy to accomplish with a little bit of will power.