Bodybuilding Nutrition : The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet

The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet

The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet (or CAD) is a diet for people who crave sweets, starches, and junk-food snacks or who still feel hungry after eating. According to two doctors, a husband and wife team, named Richard and Rachael Heller, nearly three-fourths of everyone who is overweight finds themselves fighting the battle of the buldge because of an addiction to carbohydrates. The cause of this addiction is excessive levels of insulin. According to the doctors, the rise of insulin created by certain types of foods actually induces the "addict" to eat more carbs. The excessive amount of insulin produced interferes with the serotonin levels in the brain, which signal the person to STOP eating. Without the "stop" message, the carbohydrate addict keeps on feeling hunger.

The most appealing part of the CAD is that one meal a day is a "reward" meal. In this meal you can have equal amounts non-starch veggies (like string beans); protein such as meat or eggs and carbs (including desserts) and you have to finish eating it within an hour. Your other two meals each day must comprise of only protein and veggies… no carbs of any kind allowed at these two meals (with the exception of those in your vegetables). The idea is that, by eating 2 low carbohydrate meals per day and 1 reward meal, the dieter never feels deprived. There is no calorie counting or measuring of foods on this plan, although you do obviously have to watch portion sizes, as overeating on any diet will NOT give you positive results (calories are calories, and if your caloric intake is higher than your caloric expenditure, you will gain instead of lose weight!).

The Hellers suggest that once you follow these rules for a while, your cravings for carbs will all but disappear. If you still have cravings after a week or so, you should you re-check your diet and make sure that you’re following the guidelines correctly. Once you have mastered your carb cravings and achieved your goals you must then follow the lifetime plan in order to keep up your maintenance.

In order to do this diet properly, you should get the book: The Carbohydrate Addict’s Lifespan Program: A Personalized Plan for Becoming Slim, Fit and Healthy in Your 40s, 50s and 60s and Beyond.