I discovered low carb (ketogenic) dieting the hard way. It started about ten years ago, when I decided to get in the best shape of my life (in terms of body composition). I joined a well known amateur fitness competition, which involved sending “before and after” pictures. I trained hard and ate a low-fat diet–I never cheated. I thought this would turn me into a super-lean machine.

Well, I did lose fat, but there were problems:

• I did not get as lean as I thought I would–especially considering the discipline I had with my diet/exercise.
• I lost too much muscle mass.
• I was constantly fighting hunger.

Years before I had heard about a “high fat” diet, but I never paid much attention to it (sounded crazy to me). I was ready to give it a second look. I did some research and ran across some good articles. I read about the Body Opus diet, the Anabolic Diet, and a few others. These diets/books were more for bodybuilders (I roughly fit into this category, though I don’t compete). I also read a few websites written by those using the Adkins diet. I remember one guy who used to weigh 300 lb until he tried low carb approaches.

Now I’m a low-carb fan. I drop carbs whenever I want to get lean. Here are some of the benefits I’ve seen:

• I retain almost all of my muscle and strength, even on a calorie restricted diet.
• Hunger is not nearly as much of a problem.
• I’m not as tempted to cheat. This sounds crazy, but knowing that I can’t eat any carbs keeps me from eating junk–I know that eating too many carbs will break ketosis.*
• I get leaner, faster than with any other approach.

If you haven’t had results with other approaches, consider giving low carb a try (assuming you are healthy or have checked with your doctor). I’ll try to write a few more articles as I have time, but there’s no shortage of information out there.

*Ketosis is a state in which your body is primarily using fat (body fat and dietary fat) as fuel.

Do you feel run down all the time in spite of your having a regular meal and having a regular exercise regime? And thinking about it is making you more miserable. Not to worry, help is at hand. A simple answer for you is to try alkaline ash diet.

Still confused? Well, when we are talking about alkaline ash diet we are referring to eating those foods and drinks which have an alkaline effect on the body. In other words the food we eat is based on the mineral content of the food and the ash residue that it leaves in the body after consumption.

Some of the food which we consume leaves an acid ash and others an alkaline ash. We just have to be careful enough to choose those foods which will leave an alkaline ash rather than an acid ash and thus not cause harm to the body.

Although we all have a different body composition, the scientific studies show that we should aim to have 70 - 80% alkaline food and the remaining 20 - 30% as acid forming food.

So a little change of lifestyle is going to help you in the long run about regaining your lost energy. And you need not worry much about where to get hold of the alkaline food. Do you know most of the foods which we consume in our daily diet are either alkaline or acidic in nature? So a little knowledge of which food is what will solve the problem for you.

Most of us know that low sugar foods; fresh vegetables and fruits are good for our body, isn’t it? Yes, these are the foods which falls under alkaline food category and sweets, alcohol, saturated fats, meat etc. leaves acid ash residue in the body.

So if you are looking for a healthy body you must avoid very acid ash producing foods. There is another advantage of having alkaline ash producing foods as they help to counteract an acid imbalance of the body.

Don’t settle for short term remedy to your never-ending tiredness and lack of energy. Lead an energized and full of vigor life. There is more to life than sitting and cribbing about how it used to be when you had more energy and you were more productive.