The major complaint of those who use the Atkins diet is the intestinal problems that are associated with reducing carbohydrates. These problems can include constipation and diarrhea. These symptoms can happen to anybody at some point, but those who follow a low-carb diet are especially prone.

Most commonly dieters will experience diarrhea during the early days of induction. This is a result of the body getting rid of excess carbohydrates. It also marks the beginning of the ketosis process. So in actuality, experiencing diarrhea at the beginning of the diet is a good thing. It indicates that you are on the road to becoming a fat burning machine.

Constipation is a side effect of lack of fiber in the low carb diet. Whole grains, legumes and fruit are the normal sources of dietary fiber, and they are all restricted on the Atkins diets initial phases.

However, you shouldnt be scared off from the low-carb way of life because of these issues. There are simple solutions that can prevent and help with these symptoms and allow you to continue with staying on the diet plan.

The first tip is to make sure to include the proper amount of low-carb vegetables in your daily diet. In the induction phase, you can eat up to 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. This is roughly equal to 3 cups of salad vegetables. Some people are tempted to use their carbohydrate grams on cheese or artificially sweetened soda. Eating acceptable vegetables is a vital part of maintaining intestinal health while following the Atkins plan. Its also important to drink a minimum of 8 eight-ounce glasses of water per day and get exercise. Both of these steps can help with intestinal programs.

If you are experiencing constipation specifically, then there are many methods for relief. When you switch from a diet full of processed and refined sugar products, your body will need some time to adjust to this new way of eating. Youll need to make sure to up your fiber intake with acceptable vegetables and fruits (certain fruits are allowed after the initial induction phase). You can also try a fiber supplement like sugar-free Metamucil.

Make sure you are eating enough fats and oils. Constipation can be a result of too little fat in your diet. Adding tablespoon of olive oil or flax oil to salads or other vegetables can help your intestinal health. Also, try to incorporate a variety of vegetables in your salad. Pale iceberg lettuce does not have much fiber in it. Try dark green lettuces or have a serving of dark green steamed veggies (broccoli, asparagus or spinach are good choices).

If these tips dont work, try cutting out all salt from your diet for a couple of days. This includes pickles, mustard, diet soda, ham, bacon and bottled salad dressing. This will decrease your fluid retention and sometimes helps with bowel movements.

Diarrhea should not be a problem after the first week of the Induction plan. However, on rare occasion, it does persist longer. First, analyze your diet. If you are eating low carb protein bars or other sugar free products, eliminate them. They may contain sweeteners like glycerine, sorbitol and malitol which are known to cause diarrhea and gas. Homemade low carb desserts may also be a cause of problems. Most of them use maltodextrin, an artificial sweetener used in baking. Maltodextrin is made from corn and can cause problems for some people.

If you are not used to eating raw vegetables everyday, this may be a cause of diarrhea. Understand that your body will adjust to the vegetables and the intestinal side effects wont last forever. Make sure you are chewing your raw vegetables thoroughly. Also, using lightly steamed vegetables rather than raw can be a solution to this problem.

Intestinal problems are common during the first portion of the Atkins diet. Keep in mind, however, that these problems will go away within the first few weeks of the new way of eating. If the problems persist, try the previously mentioned tips to get relief.

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Most of the talk these days is about losing weight but what if you find yourself in the position of needing rapid weight gain? If this is your case, say, needing to gain weight for a sport you play then you need to do the opposite of burning more calories than you take in each day. You need to take in more than you burn.

How do you make this rapid weight gain work and still stay in good shape to continue playing your chosen sport as effectively as you did before? You will need to be very careful while overloading your body with the calories it needs and maintaining the workouts you need to stay in shape so you build lean muscle and not pack on the fat.

Start by creating a plan or two. One for eating the right kinds of foods to help you gain muscle and one for working out. You will need to balance these two plans correctly to get the results you want. If you don’t know where to start then ask for help from your coach or your parents. Maybe even make an appointment with a nutritionist recommended by your doctor.

Start by figuring out the total amount of calories you need in a day. There are formulas for this kind of thing and then add good calories to each meal until you have a meal plan that will work for you.

If you watched the last summer Olympics seven gold medal winner Michael Phelps, at one point they interviewed him and asked him how many calories he needed to maintain his workout schedule. I believe it was in the range of 10,000 calories per day or something like that. An enormous amount, at any rate.

You may not need that many calories to achieve your weight gain but do not be surprised if you are close to that amount. Keep your meals balanced though, with protein and the right kinds of carbs and good fats. Good fats are the mono and polyunsaturated types found in olive oil and fish.

Keep the proteins lean, protein is needed for building muscle mass. Before you prepare them make sure that you cut off all the fat. It is no good for you. If you like fish then that is a great way to get lots of lean protein in your diet. Shrimp is especially good for you as it has the best source of protein packed into those little bite sized morsels.

The carbs you take in should be good ones also, like whole grain. Change up the cereal you eat in the morning to oatmeal or a whole grain cereal. Stay away from the sugary cereals and the flavored oatmeal instant packets. Too many bad carbs. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, too.

Use these tips and the advice you get from your coach, doctor, or nutritionist to safely get your rapid weight gain so you can start your next season as healthy as you can with the same competitiveness you had the last season.

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There are a lot of diets that have come and gone over the year, but there are always a few that work well enough to stick around for a while. One such diet is the South Beach Diet. This is an eating plan that is broken down into various stages. This type of plan works well for a lot of people for various reasons. Perhaps you are wondering about the South Beach Diet Phase 1. The general idea of the diet is to start out with some basic foods, and then add more and more foods in each successive phase.

This strategy works very well for a good number of people. They are not only able to lose weight early on, but they are able to keep it off. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of the South Beach Diet, with a focus on the first phase.

Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet has a lot of benefits. One of the best things about it is that it retrains how your body handles food. It works by fooling you into craving healthy foods, while losing your cravings for less healthy foods. Phase 1 does a very good job at not only changing what you eat, but how you think of food. There must surely be a catch, right? Yes, but only that you have to follow the diet for it to work. But that can be said of just about any diet.

Another benefit of Phase 1 is that it is relatively easy for most people to transition into it from their current diet. The main reason for this is that the South Beach Diet Phase 1 contains a lot of foods that a lot of people like to eat. This way they don’t feel deprived as they are starting a new diet. And if you can start on a positive note, there is a much better chance that you will be able to stick with the diet for the long term.

So what kind of foods can you eat? Well, how about cheese, vegetables, chicken, nuts, beef, turkey, fish and eggs for starters? Another aspect of the diet is to eat garden salads using nothing but olive oil for the dressing. It is also recommended that you have three meals per day. Generally speaking, most sweets are eliminated, but not completely. Just follow what the diet says and you will do fine.

What really counts, though, is that you will be retraining your body to stop craving unhealthy foods. This is a big difference when compared to other diets that only make you feel deprived by cutting out your favorite foods. But what if you stopped having those cravings and would start craving (yes, craving) foods that are better for you nutritionally and help you to lose weight? That would be awesome! That’s one of the biggest benefits of the South Beach Diet Phase 1…and that is only the beginning!

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