“Low carb diet” (also called “reduced carbohydrate”, “controlled carbohydrate”, or "low glycemic" diet) is a broad term, encompassing many popular diet books (examples: Atkins, South Beach, Zone, Protein Power, Sugar Busters, Carbohydrate Addicts Diet) as well as eating plans that don’t follow a rigid format, but advise limiting the consumption of a lot of foods that are high in carbohydrate. Some diets limit the amount of overall carbohydrate, while others focus on certain types of foods, generally ones high in starch and sugars. (Since starch turns to sugar in our bodies, many diet writers do not make a distinction between the two.) Still others focus on how glycemic the diet is.
The “No White Foods” approach is a fairly popular low carb diet, means simply eliminating sugars, white flour, white rice, and potatoes.
A common mistake is to equate “low carb” with the very low carb phase of some popular diets, such as the Induction Phase of the Atkins Diet. These phases are usually meant to be quite short, with more carbohydrate phased in after that. Other diets begin at a higher level of carbohydrate, but still less than the USDA Food Pyramid suggests. Any diet whose primary focus is the reduction of carbohydrate in any way is what is meant by “low carb” on this site. In terms of percentages, since the usual “mainstream” recommendation is a diet with 50-65% calories from carbohydrate, I consider a diet with 40% or less energy from carbs a “low-carb diet”, though most of them don’t measure it in this way.
The “No White Foods” approach is a fairly popular low carb diet, means simply eliminating sugars, white flour, white rice, and potatoes.
A common mistake is to equate “low carb” with the very low carb phase of some popular diets, such as the Induction Phase of the Atkins Diet. These phases are usually meant to be quite short, with more carbohydrate phased in after that. Other diets begin at a higher level of carbohydrate, but still less than the USDA Food Pyramid suggests. Any diet whose primary focus is the reduction of carbohydrate in any way is what is meant by “low carb” on this site. In terms of percentages, since the usual “mainstream” recommendation is a diet with 50-65% calories from carbohydrate, I consider a diet with 40% or less energy from carbs a “low-carb diet”, though most of them don’t measure it in this way.
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