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Carbohydrates do play a very crucial role in our diet. But, if you are on a weight loss journey, it is important that you find ways to reduce carbohydrate intake. The main reason behind the same is because it does little to no good for your weight loss goals.
It is important to ensure not to cut out carbohydrates completely because that’s where you affect your body in a negative way. Carbs do play a quintessential role in brain function and some other accessory physiological functions. So, reduce carbs in the diet but don’t cut it off completely.
By the end of the article, we are hoping you will have a fair bit of idea about the varying ways in which you can lower carbs intake for a healthier body.
What are Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are a part of the macronutrients that is beneficial for our body apart from proteins and fats.
Predominantly classified as simple and complex forms, carbohydrates are the compounds which after consumption, breaks down in our body to provide with the necessary energy for performing the tasks round the clock.
If studies are to be considered, carbohydrates are found beneficial for a number of factors.
How Many Carbs is Too Many Carbs?
The list of cons of consuming too many carbohydrates often overwhelms the list of pros. If you are trying to shed off those extra pounds, it is important you opt for ways to reduce carbs intake.
Not only does it help in making you feel better in your own skin, it does have beneficial impacts on the body functions too.
When it comes to discussing about the limitation of carbohydrate intake on a daily basis, the same is definitely going to be a lot different for someone on a normal diet and for someone trying to lose weight.
For people on a normal diet, the range of carbohydrate intake predominantly should be between 225-325 grams in a day according to the dietary requirements. This makes up for 50-60% of our daily dietary requirements of calories.
But, for someone who is looking on to how to lower carbohydrates from the diet, the limit of consumption should be around 60-135 grams in a day. This is what people on a low carb diet consume on a daily basis.
As mentioned before, it is okay to reduce cars to lose weight but don’t cut it out from the diet completely because it might end up affecting the body negatively.
Side Effects Of Too Many Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates might end up boosting the energy levels in the body in an instant but the same also does have its fair share of negative impacts on the body.
Some of the common side effects of consuming too many carbohydrates include:
Obesity and Weight Gain
It goes without saying that the consumption of excess carbs end up contributing to weight gain and obesity, in long term.
Even studies (R) have established the link between the two with science backed reasons which should be more than enough to get the point across.
If you are wondering how or why, it is mainly because the consumed carbs end up being stored in the body as fats, only when they are consumed in excess amounts.
1 gram of carbohydrate consists of 4 calories which when excess in the blood stream gets accumulated in the body as fat molecules.
Diabetes
Consuming too many carbohydrates, especially the refined carbs tend to have a negative impact on the blood sugar levels in the body.
While the healthy levels of the blood sugar in the body are beneficial to provide us with energy and boost an active lifestyle, it is not necessarily the best when the levels are out of whack.
Refined carbohydrates tend to have a higher glycemic index which is often the primary reason behind the increased risks of development of Diabetes in the individual, especially Type-II Diabetes.
Even studies (R) have established a stable connection between the enhanced risks of diabetes with the excess consumption of carbohydrates.
Atherosclerosis
Our blood vessels have a certain diameter and elasticity which promotes the easy and non-invasive flow of blood.
For patients suffering from atherosclerosis, the blood vessels start becoming narrower because of the deposition of fats along the line.
The main reason behind the same is the excess of carbohydrate consumption. The excess carbohydrate in the body is often transformed to fats which end up getting accumulated in the blood vessels, thus obstructing the smooth blood flow throughout.
Atherosclerosis is quite a dangerous condition because of the fact that it forms blood clots throughout which often end up contributing to risks of heart diseases.
Fatigue
If you are finding yourself tired or in a constant state of fatigue, chances are that you are either consuming too many carbohydrates or your there is an underlying condition affecting your body.
While the carbohydrates you consume do provide you with an instant dose of energy, the same is also responsible for making your body crash and making you feel tired.
Instead of depending on just carbs, try and switch up your diet with all the necessary macronutrients, ensuring the carbs are the least in them.
Constipation
This does come as an accessory side effect and might not necessary affect everyone.
When you consume too many carbs, chances are that you are drawing it from unhealthy sources and too much calories and saturated fats in the body end up being the primary reason of indigestion.
Lack of fibers and the toll of indigestion combine to contribute to the condition of constipation.
How To Reduce Carbohydrate Intake?
Majority of the times people try to find ways to reduce carbs intake and if you are one of them, there are actually a number of ways in which you can achieve that.
Hang in there, my friend!
Check Out These Effective Ways To Reduce carbs Intake.
1. Cut Down the Sweetened Carbonated Beverages
If you have been actively trying to shed off those extra pounds, it goes without saying that the best way to reduce carbs in diet is to say no to the sweetened drinks.
Even when you are drinking the “diet” version of these drinks, you are still consuming sugar.
The high levels of added sugar in these drinks are predominantly the reason behind the heightened risks of Diabetes, Insulin resistance and weight gain as well.
The high levels of fructose in these drinks (R) (R) are often quite bad for one’s health, especially if you are trying to reduce carbs to lose weight.
Instead of drinking these, stick to just water or even infused water recipes work fine.
2. Cut Down the Consumption of Refined Grains
More than the natural forms of carbohydrates, the refined grains end up being a negative impact on the body.
If you are wondering which ones to stay away from, make sure to stay clear off of the bleached flour and grains like the ones found in wheat bread and such.
If possible and if you can get it, try and source flour from whole sprouted grains and sprouts because they are lack of these refined grains and won’t do you bad.
3. Sugar is Also a Form of Carbohydrate
Even when you are consuming sugar, you are consuming carbohydrates. This is often times what many tend to forget.
If you are looking for ways to reduce carbohydrate intake, it is important that you cut down the sugar intake too. If possible, cut it out completely and consume the healthier forms of carbohydrates.
Even honey and maple syrup are loaded with refined sugar and do add up to your overall carbohydrate count in the body.
Try and cut all of them out and simply either habituate yourself to enjoying natural forms of sugar or try for healthier alternatives.
4. Make Healthier Snack Choices
Unknowingly, even when we are actually consuming healthy food, we do end up eating things that end up making our whole process to lower carbs intake a big fail.
If you are finding ways on how to reduce carbohydrate intake, make healthier snack choices.
Instead of consuming something that’s loaded with carbs, try and binge on some nuts and even crisp and fresh vegetables work amazingly.
A study (R) conducted even found that people who consumed a high protein snack were less likely to feel hungry for more in comparison to the ones who didn’t.
You will be shocked to know that even cheese is an amazing form of snack when you are on a low carb diet.
5. Increase the Protein Consumption
Yet another amazing way to lower carbs intake is by consuming a high protein diet.
Protein is an amazing macronutrient which helps in not just helping you achieve satiety sooner but also keeps you full for a longer stretch of time.
Carbs tend to do the complete opposite and gets broken down as soon as it enters the system to generate energy.
When you are making switches by lowering the carbohydrate intake and increasing the protein intake, make sure that both of it is balanced out.
Even the excess of protein sometimes ends up being stored as fats in the body.
6. Time Plays an Important Factor too
The time of consumption of the carbohydrates also does play a very crucial role in the process.
Experts (R) suggest that the time gap between the high carb meals is what makes up to be the primary ghastly factory.
Studies have shown to avoid consuming carbs in the evening because that is the time when your body is the least active. For effective results, it is always best suggested to consume more carbs during the start of the day and then gradually make it fizzle out throughout the day.
This is actually one of the best ways to reduce carbohydrate intake effectively.
7. Choose Healthy Sweetener Alternatives
With hopes of making “healthier” amends, many people find themselves being tied consuming the sweetener alternatives. For the most part, they are doing worse than what the normal sugar would do to your body.
In cases you want to reduce carbs in the diet and make healthier choices, it is best to be aware of the healthy sweeteners and alternatives for sugar.
Stevia is derived from a plant under the same name and is actually an amazing way to include sweetness in your diet without the unhealthy carbs. It has shown some amazing impacts in reducing the risks of insulin sensitivity and blood sugar levels (R) in some pre-clinical trials.
Even erythritol and xylitol which are a form of sugar alcohol have beneficial impacts on the body in making replacements for the refines sugar.
8. Consume less of the starchy veggies
Anything unhealthy or not good for your body is going to taste good. That goes without saying.
While vegetables are good for you, if you are trying to reduce carbs to lose weight, cutting out potatoes and sweet potatoes is actually beneficial for your body.
Potatoes and any other form of starchy vegetables might taste amazing but the same is not necessarily the best for your low carb diet altogether.
It doesn’t take much time to go overboard with the overdrive of the carb consumption and that is where the problems start arising.
If you are working around ways to reduce carbohydrate intake, try and consume potatoes and other starchy vegetables like beetroot only once or twice a week.
9. Kick out Insomnia
You must be here thinking, what even is the connection between sleep and the carb consumption, right? Well, the connection is actually quite strong and pans out to be one of the most important factors altogether.
Study (R) (R) suggests that lack of sleep (R) often ends up making the levels of leptin to drop. The lack of balanced levels of leptin in the body is a trigger for the body to feel hungry, especially finding carb filled snacks as a recluse.
In order to manage this hunger hormone and to reduce carbs to lose weight, make sure you get 6-9 hours of sleep every day.
10. Opt for Plant Based Milk
You might find this alarming but the normal milk that you consume does contain around 12-13 grams of carbs (R) per glass.
While that necessarily isn’t a lot, if you are looking for ways to reduce carbs intake, switching this up with plant based milk can actually be an amazing option altogether.
Sometimes, switching to plant based milk is actually amazing because they contain around a mere of 2-3 grams of digestible carbs in them.
11. Consume Healthy Fats
Yet another amazing way to switch up and lower carbs intake is by increasing the consumption of healthy fats.
Majority of the people on a Ketogenic diet tend to increase their fat consumption while lowering down their carbs in the diet.
Healthy fats not just promote your satiety and keep you full for a longer stretch of time; it is also quite amazing for someone trying to shed off those extra pounds.
Some of the healthy forms of fats include avocados, olive oil and a wide variety of nuts and seeds which not just keeps you full but boosts your body with nutrition too.
12. Try and Cook your Meals
When you are conscious of what you are putting into your body, it makes it easier for you to keep count of the carbohydrates you are consuming.
It is always best advised to stick to consuming meals you cook at home because they are way better than the pre-packaged meals that come with little to no description about the kind of constituents they have in it.
While you may get veggies and healthy food variants from outside, getting a salad dressing that’s loaded with carbs can end up making your efforts go to complete waste. It is quite important to be thoughtful of what you are eating when you are sourcing ways to reduce carbohydrate intake for weight loss.
13. Alcohol on the Rocks
Alcohol, especially the mixture of cocktails tend to be high in sugar and sweeteners which is not something you want if you want to lower carbs intake altogether.
Instead of opting for cocktails, try and stick to “on the rocks” drinks for a healthier drink.
14. Binge Eat Veggies
We often find ourselves in such a haste of counting the carbs we are eating that we fail to consume the correct amount of food altogether.
Instead of worrying about how much carbs you are eating, try and bulk up your plate with more vegetables to get in that load of fibers into your body.
When your body is filled with the essential fibers, it makes it easier for you to skip out on the unnecessary hunger pangs (R) (R) and keeps you distracted from the unhealthy snacks that make you gain weight.
15. Pay Attention to the Food Labels
How often do you check the labels before buying any kind of packaged food? Not a lot, right?
If you have been following ways to reduce carbohydrate intake, it is essential that you read the labels of the packaged foods you are buying from the stores.
It is necessary to ensure that the food you are consuming doesn’t have any kind of added sugars or constituents that will end up affecting your health altogether.
Make sure to read through the labels of every food item and jot down the carbohydrate amount every time you do so.
This helps you keep a track of the number of carbs you are putting into your body.
All in all, if you have been seeking ways to reduce carbohydrate intake, it is important to start off with the easy and effective ones first. Sticking to such diets can actually prompt you to lose a lot of weight without having to worry about affecting your health in a negative way. Just make sure that if you are lowering the carb intake, supplement it with some healthy.
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