Can You Low Carb Part Time?

Can you take a vacation
from your low carb diet?

When people ask what I eat to stay slim, I tell them my number one rule is to eat low carb by avoiding the whites, such as sugar, bread, pasta, rice, white potatoes and all their evil relatives.

But am I perfect? No.

Yesterday I ate two pieces of pizza and a Drumstick ice cream cone. And I felt guilty about it. It was the second of two 12-hour days at work and I was feeling "deserving."

But the guilt melted like an ice cube in the hot tub this morning when I read a fascinating article called "Take a Vacation from Your Low Carb Diet" by Jonny Bowden a.k.a. The Nutrition Myth Buster.

The board certified nutritionist reported on a study in which three groups of women were prescribed different diets for a four-month period.

The first group followed a Mediterranean diet and limited calories to 1500 per day.

The second group ate whatever they wanted five days a week, but two days a week they cut carbs and calories (maximum 50 carbs, 650 calories).

The third group ate just like the second group, but on the two low carb days they could consume as many calories as they wished.

So guess who lost weight?

They all did.

But both groups of low carbers lost almost twice as much (nine pounds vs. five pounds).

Not only that, compared to the Mediterranean munchers, the low carb groups had better levels of insulin and leptin, both of which hormones are linked to breast cancer.

So does this mean I can go low carb part time and eat whatever I want five days a week?

As tempting a takeaway as that is, my personal answer is "no." Going back to treating pizza and ice cream as staples of my diet would be a very slippery slope for me.

But for those days when I slide back into old habits and feed my emotions instead of my body, I will be less inclined to feel guilty.

Because it's what I do on a regular basis that counts, and for me that will still be eating a relatively low carb, moderate protein, high fat diet filled with plenty of vegetables, berries and nuts.




More from Diet Skeptic:

Why I'm Addicted to Chia Seeds

Why Fat Head Pizza Is the Holy Grail of Low Carb Pizzas 

The Shocking Truth About Imported Olive Oil 

Making Cauliflower Rice in the Vitamix 

Why WebMD Doesn't Want You to Get Well


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