Healthy weight loss is NOT possible with low carb high protein diets

Well I finally finished my last oatmeal raisin cookie and the holiday leftovers are cleared from the freezer too. Needless to say.. it's time to tighten up a bit again, and to wake-up the lazy muscles from the holiday hibernation.

The sweet promise of miraculously melting your pounds away, while you can eat your favorite high protein foods sounds way too good to be true, or is it?

I am amazed how much people are willing to jeopardize their health with one of these popular low carb diets, just to fit into that skinny jeans again - especially since there is a much better way to accomplish that!

A healthy weight loss diet has to consider your long-term health impact, not just how many pounds you can lose fast. That's my big issue - among many others - with the low carb high protein diets.

How would you like losing weight without counting calories or restricting nutrients? If that sounds good, be ready to embark on a real change, not just a quick fad diet that has your weight yo-yoing as you go from one "magical diet plan" to the next. You don't need costly programs or weight loss pills. All you need is wholesome, healthy weight loss foods, regular healthy habits, and a good fitness plan.

The essence for long-term, healthy weight loss is this:

• Avoid foods high in cholesterol, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates.
• Go low on vegetable oils and salt.
• Eat nutrient-dense foods, complex carbohydrates, good proteins, and foods high in fiber, which encourage metabolic weight loss.
• Eat from the new four food groups only: grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits.
• Stay well hydrated with water during your healthy weight loss diet.
• Exercise regularly - do something you like and mix it up sometimes.

What you need:

Find out why traditional weight loss systems don't work, and discover why meat, dairy, and eggs are bad for a healthy weight loss diet.

Discover a really healthy diet plan based on plant-based, natural, unprocessed foods.

Find out why and how this vegan diet helps you with permanent healthy weight loss.

Discover what foods you should eat a lot, what foods you should restrict, and what foods you should avoid by all means!


A few initial words on the dangers of the low carb high protein diets - to set the stage for the skeptics out there:

• The truth is, if you eat a low carb diet, you deprive your body of sufficient carbohydrates (glycogen) needed for essential bodily functions, like fueling the brain and central nervous system, and creating organs and cells.
• The diet dangers of glycogen depletion are that muscle mass will decrease, and it can lead to muscle atrophy and slow your metabolism.
• With an onslaught of mostly acidic, high protein animal foods in dangerous diets, our body can't keep up with the elimination of harmful acids anymore, and an acidic environment is created. This can lead to acidosis, which increases the risk of low blood phosphate, kidney stones, kidney failure, osteoporosis, certain cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes, gall stones, immune system disorders, and weight gain.
• Excess protein consumption puts your kidneys into overdrive, as they need to work very hard to flush the overdose out with the urine in high protein low carb diets. This process uses up precious calcium and the strain can easily lead to kidney stones or kidney failure.
• High fat intake is directly linked to weight gain, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, several cancers, and long-term obesity.
• After the muscle loss induced by the glycogen depletion in your body, your metabolism burns on a very low rate, which means it's extremely efficient and needs much less calories to sustain the same weight than before. Now try holding that weight once you start eating "normally" again! In fact, you will have to be on this dangerous diet continuously to keep the weight down!

You can find much more detail and many more reasons why low carb high protein diets are dangerous. They will work well for a short time - but not for long, and at what cost for your health?

How to be happy - a popular New Year’s resolution under scrutiny

Have you noticed that to "be happy and enjoy life more" is a common New Year's resolution? I found this one on every single resolutions list over the past few years.

Why do so many of us feel that they are not enjoying life enough? Could there be regret for not spending enough time with loved ones? Are we embarrassed about being overweight and the failed attempts to lose weight? Are we concerned about diabetes or high cholesterol levels?

We humans are masters in finding plausible excuses for harming ourselves, such as smoking, drinking, and eating ourselves into cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Of course the overcoming of these actions are famous New Year's resolutions too, with mixed outcomes and ever more excuses for their failures.

Now, if we fail to be kind to ourselves for the sake of our own health, how about for the sake of increasing our happiness range drastically?

Imagine the level of happiness you could gain within just one day:

• Instead of having morning cereals with cow's milk and coffee with cream, try the cereals with almond milk and use coconut creamer for your coffee. After some time this saves a dairy cow from many years of slavery in a brutal dairy farm - a heart-warming thought!
• Skip the turkey sandwich for lunch and reach for a wrap with roasted veggies and a lentil salad - this even scores 2 happiness points: both, the turkey and your blood cholesterol level will thank you!
• For dinner, try to replace spaghetti and meat balls with vegetarian chili and brown rice, or switch the chicken breast for a roast made of vegetable protein (i.e. gardein) - you get far more nutrition and much less calories. Of course the chicken and cow you have spared will smile along with you, as you notice that you actually lose weight on these newly found healthy eating habits. Now that's happy thoughts!

Fact is, changing your diet to include more nutritious plant-based foods will automatically raise your happiness level!

Within a short three weeks, your taste buds will adjust nicely to the new interesting foods, you will shed weight effortlessly while eating the same portions, and you will be very proud of yourself for avoiding animal cruelty, and for successfully reducing your carbon footprint.

Bang - that's a whole lot to be happy about, and to brag a little too: you look and feel better, you are healthier, you reduce suffering and help others, and you do your part to save the planet – all at once with just some simple diet changes!

And on top of that, you get to spend quality time with your loved ones by preparing these great new meals together, so all of you can share the added benefits!

Start now and score your first happiness points by trying out a few healthy, delicious, and cruelty-free meals made from unprocessed whole foods with Belsandia's healthy recipes.

If you are unsure why choosing veg options over animal products will make your body really happy, check out some healthy eating guidelines with astounding facts about preventing diseases with your food alone.