An article by associate professor Brian Parr, claims that maintaining weight loss depends on making your weight loss diet your normal diet. This is true but then he says the solution is calorie counting.
Read More »Happy Low Carb Memorial Day!
Memorial Day Weekend is just made for us low carbers. Add in outdoor activities like camping, biking, boating, hiking, volleyball, or just tossing a Frisbee around, and you have a celebration where you might even drop a pound or two. Hard to beat that for Low Carb Memorial Day!
Read More »Dana Learns An Important Lesson Again: Why Sodium Is Important On A Low Carb Diet
Sodium is not the problem. High insulin levels are the problem, because they signal the kidneys to retain sodium. Stop eating carbs and drop your insulin levels, and all of a sudden your kidneys become very efficient at removing sodium from the bloodstream. Stop eating a bunch of processed food, and your salt intake drops just as your ability to cope with sodium improves.
Read More »Make Your Own Low Carb Coconut Butter by Dana Carpender
Folks, I'm sorry I've been so spotty about posting to CarbSmart recently. I'm on deadline for this paleo cookbook (Pre-order at Amazon.com: 500 Paleo Recipes), and I'm cooking and writing like a maniac. Quite honestly, Its hard to think about anything else. However, in an attempt to make it up to you, I will now tell you how to save a pile of money.
Read More »The Death of Davy Jones by Dana Carpender
The death of Monkee Davy Jones, a runner and a vegetarian, is a melancholy thing for this Baby Boomer. I've seen various explanations invoked: Notably absent from the discussions I've seen, however, is another, very simple possibility: Neither vegetarianism nor running is particularly healthful.
Read More »Which American Foods Can You Tolerate on Your Low Carb Diet? by Dana Carpender
In honor of Independence Day, I thought I'd do a rundown of American foods. No, not fast food burgers and pizza, but rather those foods that are native to our nation, the foods the colonists might well have encountered for the very first time when they came to these shores. (Though some of them had already made it across the Atlantic, and started gaining popularity in Europe.) What foods are truly American?
Read More »What is a Paleo Diet by Dana Carpender
Paleo refers to the idea that we can take cues from the hunter-gatherer diets of our pre-agricultural ancestors to determine the best - dare I say the evolutionary - diet of human kind. It is nearly impossible to achieve a truly paleo diet; you'd have to eat only local wild foods in season; one piece of cultivated fruit or pinch of a spice from another part of the world and you're no longer truly authentic.
Read More »Can You Eat Cabbage On Your Low Carb Diet?
What's low-carb, widely available, tasty, incredibly versatile, seriously nutritious, and always among the cheapest vegetables in your grocery store? Cabbage! One cup of green cabbage has 3.8 grams of carbohydrate, with 1.6 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of 2.2 grams, and just 17 calories.
Read More »Valentine’s Day Means More Than Low Carb Chocolates by Dana Carpender
Valentine's Day, another holiday of ancient origin taken over by the sugar-mongers. Let's see the hands: How many of you are thinking it's just not Valentine's Day without chocolates? Yeah, I thought so. I'll continue my psychic act: How many of you are thinking "But chocolate makes you feel like you're in love!
Read More »Low Carb Resources for Your Low-Carb New Year’s Resolutions by Dana Carpender
I like New Year's Resolutions. Yes, I know most people don't keep them for very long. However, here are a list of resources for successful Low Carb New Years Resolutions
Read More »Low Carb New Year’s Alcohol Guide
Contrary to popular belief, alcohol does not turn to sugar in your bloodstream. However, it it is carbohydrate-derived; alcohol is what yeasts pee out after eating sugars. Doesn't that sound yummy? Hey, it doesn't stop me. Alcohol does behave like a carb in one important way: your body burns it preferentially. Just as eating carbohydrate shuts down fat burning, so does drinking alcohol. Or as a medical journal article I read donkey's years ago phrased it, "Alcohol profoundly inhibits lipolysis." Furthermore, at 7 calories per gram, nearly twice the calorie count of carbs, it can take you longer to burn through the booze. This is why alcohol, despite some genuine benefits, is always an indulgence when you're trying to lose weight.
Read More »Low-Carb Holiday Gifts by Dana Carpender
Low-Carb Holiday Gifts. If I posted a Thanksgiving article a couple of weeks ago, it must be the Christmas shopping season! Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanza. Or Yule. Or Saturnalia. Or Festivus. Or "Let's drink to the days getting longer again." Whatever you want to celebrate is fine by me, so long as you count me in on the wine.
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