Health - Carbohydrates and Fat Burning

With all the confusion out there about "carbs" vs. "no-carbs" - what works best for burning that fat off your wasteline?

No matter what you eat - if you eat more calories than you burn during the day, your body will convert it to fat - and store it. And, you'll burn more calories processing protein, than you will carbohydrates. And, everybody has heard about the Atkin's diet, and wondered if a low-carb diet is healthy.

Surprise! Cutting back on the carbs in your diet, may help you burn more fat during exercise! In a recent study done in Australia, researchers fed trained cyclists a low-carb diet for 5 out of 6 days. And, to compare, they fed another group of trained cyclists, a high carb diet for 6 days straight. On Day 7 - they exercised, and the cyclists that were on the low-carb diet burned 45 percent more fat than their low-carb bretheren.

Why? Well, the researchers found that the low-carb group's muscles had increased their ability to pull energy from fat stores in their body. And, another fringe benefit - a new review in the Journal of Nutrition found that since 2003, all 13 studies that compared low-fat and low-carb diets found that low carb eating was superior in reducing heart-disease risk factors!

And, what's the best way to make sure you stay on a low-carb diet? Let yourself have one "cheat-day". You'll keep burning the fat, and may be more likely to stay on your low-carb diet!