A dietary regimen that follows a low content in carbohydrate is known as a low-carb diet. Such diet regulates the amount of carbohydrates that an individual consumes in a day in order to lose weight. Thus in a low-carb diet, the amount of bread and pasta are decreased and in turn, replaced by foods of another food group such as proteins and fiber. Examples of food items that are rich in protein include soy products and lean meat. On the other hand, high-fiber foods include green leafy vegetables and oat-based foods.
The principle behind low-carb diet is that the limited amount of calories that are present in the body will facilitate in the burning of stored fats in the body. The first resource for calories for energy consumption is carbohydrate which may be present in starch-rich foods as well as sugar-containing drinks such as soda and shakes. In a low-carb diet, the daily amount of carbohydrate intake of an individual may be reduced from 20 to 60 grams, which technically represents a reduction by 20% in the daily carbohydrate intake.
On the other hand, the protein and fat supplied to an individual is increased in order to replace the content that has been lost in the reduction in carbohydrate intake. A modification of the low-carb diet is the ketogenic diet, which still restricts the amount of carbohydrate intake on a daily basis, yet this is replaced by food items rich in fat. A ketogenic diet may also include proteins yet only in adequate amounts.
Ketogenic diets are generally suggested to children who have been positively diagnosed with epilepsy and autism (Evangeliou 114). This kind of diet is often tedious to monitor because it entails precise planning of meals everyday. One of the most acclaimed low-carb diet is the Atkins Diet, followed by the South Beach diet. Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut definition on what exactly is a low-carb diet except that this food intake program includes a regulation of foods rich in carbohydrates.
The food groups that would replace the carbohydrates in the daily meals may thus vary depending on the particular low-carb diet that an individual follows. Caution should also be taken in the understanding of low-carb diets, because the definitions of a phrase low-carb diet may change depending on the field of specialization. For example, the definition of a low-carb diet may be different when a dietician is describing such regimen, as compared to a physician