low-carb – Top Morning Recommendations

Learn About the Most Popular LOW-CARB DIETS

maud — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 21:03:23 +0000

There are dozens of different low-carb diet plans to choose from that have been popular for many decades. Low-carb diets typically produce more short-term weight loss than low-fat diets. As a result, they continue to gain popularity. The best known low-carb diet plan is the Atkins diet: originally promoted by a physician named Dr. Robert C. Atkins, who wrote a best-selling book about the diet in 1972.

The Atkins diet involves reducing all high-carb foods, while eating as much protein and fat as desired.

The diet is split into 4 phases:

Phase 1 — Induction: Eat under 20 grams of carbs per day for 2 weeks.

Phase 2 — Balancing: Slowly add more nuts, low-carb vegetables and fruits to your diet.

Phase 3 — Fine-tuning: When you get close to your goal weight, add more carbs until weight loss becomes slower.

Phase 4 — Maintenance: Eat as many healthy carbs as your body tolerates without gaining back the weight you lost.

This diet was originally considered to be unhealthy by reputable health authorities, but recent studies have shown that the Atkins Diet is both safe and effective.

Bottom Line: The Atkins diet has been popular for over 4 decades. It is a 4-phase low-carb diet plan that allows eating protein and fat until fullness.

Read further on the next page to learn about the popular Vegan version of the Atkins Diet …

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Healthy Low-Carb Cauliflower Pizza Recipe

maud — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 01:26:12 +0000

This recipe makes an amazingly delicious and healthy low-carb pizza for 4 persons. With approximately 83% cheese, it’s always a big hit with pizza-lovers. Start by getting the following ingredients together, and preheat your oven to 425°F.

INGREDIENTS
1 small head of cauliflower, cored and cut into florets
1 large egg, beaten
2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
nonstick cooking spray
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup basil leaves (optional)

Here’s how to make this tasty pizza:

Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor until it’s the consistency of rice. Spread the riced cauliflower over the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until it’s tender and starting to brown just a little around the edges, about 15 minutes.

Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a large mixing bowl and add the beaten egg, 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. Stir together until the mixture is sticky and uniform throughout.

Line the same baking sheet with a new sheet of parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray. Transfer the cauliflower mixture to the baking sheet and use your hands to press it into an oval-shaped crust that’s about 1/4-inch thick. Bake in the preheated oven until it’s lightly browned all over and starting to turn dark brown around the edges, about 10 minutes.

Spread the tomato sauce over the lightly browned crust, leaving just a little room around the edges. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese on top, then garnish with the torn basil leaves, if you’re using them. Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

Let the pizza cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve!

Source: Christine Byrne & John Gara

The post Healthy Low-Carb Cauliflower Pizza Recipe appeared first on Top Morning Recommendations.

6 Tips for Successful Low-Carb Dieting

Chris — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 22:33:34 +0000

Following a low-carb diet is a healthy way to decrease food cravings and promote weight loss. Additional benefits include reducing the risk of heart disease by improving blood lipids and blood pressure.

Here are 6 great tips to help you find the best low-carb diet to fit your personal preferences and needs:

Tip 1. A low-carb diet is not necessarily a high-protein diet

So often people assume that when you reduce carbohydrate in your diet it’s important to add a lot of protein. This is absolutely not true. It’s important to get adequate protein, of course, and if you’ve been getting some of your protein from high-carb foods such as grains you’ll have to shift your focus to other protein sources, but you don’t have to load your diet up with protein.

Especially as people approach midlife and their older years, it’s not unusual to find that adding more protein helps people to feel better.

Tip 2. How much carb for you?

Like protein, it’s important to figure out how much carbohydrate your body functions best with. People’s bodies vary widely in their tolerance to carbohydrate. Some can get the majority of their calories from glucose sources (starches such as grains and potatoes are mostly glucose), whereas others who are not glucose-tolerant may have to eliminate these foods entirely to function at their best. Most people are somewhere in between.

Atkins calls this “metabolic resistance”; some call it “carbohydrate sensitivity” or other names. It may have to do with how much damage there is to beta cells in the pancreas. At this point, scientists have not zeroed in on how to figure this out, so we need to do it for ourselves.

See more low-carb dieting tips on the next page …

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