Although there are many advantages to living in the twenty first century perhaps one of the drawbacks is that we don't use up the calories as our forefathers did because we spend our lives working on computers instead of labouring in the fields and our homes. Because so many of us worry about our weight a huge diet industry has grown up to satisfy us.

Dr Atkins put forward his revolutionary diet plan way back in the 1970s and the medical world condemned him out of hand. Previously it was always believed that we needed carbohydrates in abundance to function properly and here was someone advocating mostly proteins and fats. With steadfast resolve, he continued to shout his beliefs and thirty years later the number of people who find success with his diet far outweighs most of the other diets on the market. There is a side industry in low carb snacks that has started up to help us when we need to eat in a hurry and stores are having to recognize that there is a change happening in our eating habits.

In addition to our generation experiencing weight problems, we are also seeing a huge increase in the number of diagnoses of diabetes. Very few people are told that if we eat excessive amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates our bodies will produce too much insulin and with too much insulin we will convert our food to fat.

Your body will also store carbs away because it worries that it may not be fed again and this means that you're left feeling unsatisfied and all these carbs are simply going on the hips. Many of us are encouraged by 'in your face' advertising to consume lots of 'low-fat' diet foods. They may be low in fat but they are actually high in sugar and therefore increase insulin levels and your fat. Most refined carbohydrates are actually little more than sugar molecules bonded together and will be treated by your body in the same way as a piece of chocolate. These diets don't work!

What you need is a diet that can make a real impact on your weight. But first you need to really convince yourself that you want to lose weight. So many people moan about their bodies but don't have the determination and the will power to do anything about it. Once you've made a commitment to lose weight you need to find out what are the good foods and what are the bad ones. The good ones are those that will convert to energy rather than fat and you'll find these are mostly vegetables, eggs, nuts, cheese, meat and legumes.

The thing you should try to stay away from at all costs is processed sugar.

Make sure that you consume fiber. By drinking psyllium husk you can help to flush out much of the stuff that can hang around making your body unhealthy and fat.

By drinking lots of water you will stop yourself from feeling so hungry and it will also flush out some of the carbohydrates.

There will be moments when you desperately need a snack, so try to be prepared by keeping some healthy snacks at hand. It's possible either to prepare veggies to munch during the day or you can buy snacks that will keep that you know are permissible.

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