Carb Commando - Counting Carbs

Counting Carbs

When you're on a low carb diet, counting carbs is a way of life. There are a lot of ways to do this. And counting is among the most basic of skills. But when it comes to living within your alloted amount of carbs, it's hard--particularly if you're used to eating a lot of carbs.

Why Counting Carbs is Better than Cutting Carbs

Carbs give us energy. That's why we need them in our diets. But eating bad carbs (things like pasta, white bread, white rice, sugar, etc.) can make us gain weight. And those, unfortunately, are the ones we all seem to love. So, what's a carb counter to do? Well, for starters, you can replace these refined carbs with good carbs instead. For example, replace pasta with whole wheat pasta, white bread with whole wheat bread and white rice with long grain and wild rice. Then instead of having cake, ice cream, cookies or candy for snacks, you can have whole fruits and vegetables. Sound tough? It might be a little at first, but believe it or not, there are diets out there that will make you cut all carbs from your diet for at least two weeks (some even more) before gradually reintroducing carbs into your diet.

As far as the actual carb counting itself, most food labels have the number of carbs listed right on the package, making counting carbs easy. And now there are whole lines of food that are designed for those who are counting carbs to lose weight.

Counting carbs is a good idea, but cutting carbs isn't. Try making a few small changes in the kinds of carbs you eat and see what a difference it can make in your weight. It might not happen as quickly as cutting carbs altogether would, but long-term weight loss tends to have long-term results. So try counting carbs instead of cutting them.

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