strive2bethin's Journal, 10 Oct 13

Fruits and vegetables are good for you - they contain lots of vitamins and minerals. However, fruits contain carbs in the form of natural sugar. You can still enjoy them in a balanced diet, but would probably try to limit to 2-3 per day (a serving of bananas is only 1/2 a banana). Unless you are following atkins or south beach, then having carbs should be fine. I would just avoid your processed snacks/carbs (breads, cereals, pasta, chips...) If you stick with whole foods, you should be fine. In the end it is mostly about calories. The deal with carbs: when you eat, excess goes to storage (fat storage but also glycogen storage). Glycogen holds onto water - so if you eat a lot of carbs, end up with increased glycogen stores, then you end up with more water. When you limit your carbs, as with atkins, you lose a lot of water in the beginning b/c you deplete your glycogen stores. Personally, I don't really agree with atkins... I'm a vegetarian and that would be downright difficult to eat low carb, high protein. I lost 80 lbs in 1 1/2 years and have held steady for the past year. I only went vegetarian about 6 months ago. All I did was keep calories under 1500. Then I added exercise. It worked for me. Now I am trying to push through and lose the last 10 lbs and I have decided to try to keep carbs under 250 gm per day - but it's not just about carbs, because the more fiber you eat, the less the effect the carbs have on you - so choosing carbs that have more fiber are better.