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Carbohydrate Addicts Diet

If you’ve been a yo-yo dieter for years or if you can eat a pound of pasta at one sitting, this diet may very well be an eye opener.

The Carbohydrate Addict Diet explains the roots of carbohydrate cravings and teaches you how to normalize your insulin levels to prevent future food binges. Regulated insulin levels in turn help to temper serotonin levels, so food cravings and mood swings are prevented.

What Is It?
If you love pasta, bread, cookies, cakes, and everything else associated with carbohydrates, you may be a carbohydrate addict. Nearly 75 percent of overweight people suffer from an addiction to carbohydrates caused by excessive levels of insulin. The theory behind the Carbohydrate Addict Diet is that no matter how many carbs you eat, your body wishes to have more.

Drs. Richard and Rachael Heller are the creators behind the book called “The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet” which does not recommend eliminating carbohydrates altogether but instead eating all your carbs during a specific period of the day. They believe that through this method, you can reduce your insulin production, causing less fat to be deposited, thus helping you to reduce your carbohydrate cravings. Reaching your weight loss goal is more attainable by cutting out your cravings.

Types Of Food
A reduction of carbohydrate intake is the goal of this diet plan. Instead of counting fat grams or calories, you watch what you eat according to the hormonal response your body has to “bad” carbohydrates. There are many foods that are “allowed” and “not allowed” and should be strictly followed for ultimate success.

The diet begins with a restricted 2 week phase, but then goes into a variety of eating plans – depending on whether you are maintaining or losing more weight.

Each day allows 2 meals made up of a protein source (fish, poultry, lean red meat) and fibrous vegetables. You are not recommended to eat anything which contains more than 4g of carbs per serving during these 2 meals. The 3rd meal is called the “reward” meal – this can be anything you want, but you should aim for a balance of 1/3 carbohydrate, 1/3 protein, and 1/3 fibrous (non-starchy vegetables). This reward meal must be consumed within 1 hour and portion control is key to keeping your weight loss on track. Snacks are off limit.

A sample diet would include the following:

Breakfast:
western omelette, bacon, coffee or tea
Lunch:
spinach salad, steamed green beans or broccoli, sirloin steak, coffee or tea
Reward dinner:
Salad with lemon-mayonnaise dressing
Mexican soup
garlic and green beans
yogurt chicken breasts
onion bread with butter
apple cream pie
beverage of choice

Exercise
Nothing specifically recommended for physical activity.

Cost
Cost of the book “Carbohydrate Addicts Diet” around $8. Click here to check the latest pricing.

Pros
» Reward meal so that you don’t feel carb deprived
» Addresses addiction to carbs and how to overcome it.
» Created by scientists with decades worth of research

Cons
» Diet can contain too much fat
» May not be able to sustain long-term
» The daily reward meal may cause dieters to overindulge
» No exercise recommendations

Conclusion
If you’ve diagnosed yourself as a carb addict, this diet could be a good start to understanding your body and why you have certain cravings. The program has some loop holes though that cause concern as a lifelong weight loss solution. It doesn’t seem like it would work long term since it doesn’t incorporate exercise as a main ingredient to losing weight and increasing your health overall. It also may leave you feeling alone without any type of support system offered. Although the rewards meal is appealing, without portion control you may be setting yourself up for failure.

Editor’s Note: This is a great diet for those who crave and want more carbohydrates in their diet but want to do so while losing weight. You can currently get The Carbohydrates Addict Diet Book (The Lifelong Solution to Yo-Yo Dieting) for $7.99 at Amazon.com.

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