Laura Lamont - The New Low-Carb Diet Cookbook: Ground-breaking recipes for healthy, long-term weight loss

Are you fed up with fasting? Crabby from your crash diet? And tired of being on a different diet plan every month? Are you looking for an easy, fresh, new approach to losing weight quickly and maintaining it for life, while being able to include your whole family in your improved healthy lifestyle at the same time? Well, I know from personal experience exactly what that feels like. I also know from my experience as a qualified nutritional therapist and diet coach exactly what to do about it. The crucial factor is what I believe to be the missing link in the traditional way of low-carb and low-fat dieting that seems to have taken centre stage in the dieting world.

Once I had qualified as a nutritional therapist, I decided to focus all my attention on weight loss, as this single factor is such a huge trigger to so many other health problems that we have today. As the director of a diet coaching clinic, I saw many different people with the same weight issues and battles. After seeing endless clients in the clinic who had been struggling with yo-yo dieting, I began to notice a strong correlation between carbohydrate addiction and the inability to stick to a weight-loss programme. I also noticed that every one of these clients had that same old-school understanding that in order to lose weight you had to cut down on fat. Because fat is high in calories, cutting it out of the diet generally leaves you hungry, and so you fill up on starchy carbohydrates like bread, pasta and potatoes as well as oodles of vegetables and fruit. The latter may be low in fat and full of healthy nutrients, but they are also extremely high in sugar and refined carbohydrate both of which will cause you to put on weight, not lose it. So I found that this old- fashioned way of dieting would potentially give good results in the short term, because it did reduce the calorie intake, but as a long-term strategy, it was just not sustainable. The downside of this kind of weight-loss programme is that it also leads to very unstable blood sugar levels, which inevitably result in energy fluctuations and cravings for more carbohydrates. And, of course, that means you dont stick to the diet.

These ingrained, old-fashioned ideas of weight loss combined with the huge numbers of low-fat and low-calorie but high-sugar products available today have really played havoc with peoples blood sugar levels and left them feeling hungry and out of control. This left me pondering. Could the low-fat craze of the 1950s and the array of low-fat, half-fat, reduced-fat and low-calorie foods that have come on to the market be the trigger for the sudden rise in obesity and diabetes that followed?

So I devised a plan for a new version of a simple carbohydrate-controlled diet. Even if you are trying to lose weight, carbohydrates are still a valuable source of energy but what we want are the complex carbs that release their energy slowly, not the simple carbs that give you a sugar rush followed by a dip, so my programme was structured so that carbohydrates were not cut out completely, but complex carbs were allowed in small quantities, with the main hit of carbohydrate being at breakfast. This creates a slow release of sugar into the blood stream, giving you plenty of energy, but avoiding the energy crash later.

As well as being centred around the carbohydrate-control principle, this diet is also calorie controlled, which is always a very important element of any diet for weight loss. But dont worry, as you wont be doing any calorie counting yourself if you follow this book. This has all been done for you.

Once I had established the success of my low-carb diet, I began implementing the addition of fats into the diet, either combined with or in place of carbohydrates and sugars, and I monitored the effect on my clients that this had on cravings and hunger levels. The results were astonishing in both weight loss and improvement in many health conditions. And the best thing was that the cravings went away completely, meaning that my clients were actually able to stick to the plan long term, signalling the end of their yo-yo dieting nightmares for ever!

The only problem that I encountered with my clients on this diet was that they seemed to hit a plateau of weight loss after a few months on the plan. This is very common in weight loss as your body naturally starts to adjust to the new, lower calorie intake. But the good news is that getting stuck on this plateau is easily prevented with the addition of a tasty treat how good is that? This is why you can enjoy a decadent dessert once a week on this plan without the slightest feeling of guilt because this regular calorie surge will prevent your body hitting this plateau and stalling your successful weight loss.

While a high-fat diet may seem controversial, there are actually scores of current research papers showing this to be a safe and very effective way to lose weight. Despite that, this new concept in dieting and weight loss just isnt getting out into public awareness fast enough to benefit all the people who are struggling to achieve and maintain a healthy weight in the long term. This book aims to change that. All fingers point to this low-carb, high-fat diet being the magic key to getting to grips with the obesity epidemic, and even providing a possible answer to the diabetes problem that is being fuelled by the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet industry that we have today. From this new understanding and improved way of thinking, I have created my New Low-Carb Diet in order to try and put this right for the many people who are suffering from the adverse effects of traditional diets.

This is a diet designed to help you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. The plan is simple, straightforward and it works I know this because it is the original plan I use in my clinic to successfully treat clients with obesity.

So what can it help you to achieve?

Shed at least 900g/2lb a week while dieting, losing it mainly from your waist

Stop yo-yo dieting: constantly losing weight, then putting it back on

Boost your metabolism and increase your energy

Curb your cravings for sugar-laden junk foods and heavy carbohydrate-based meals

Improve your blood sugar stability

Lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure

Even out mood swings

Improve your skin

Give you better sleep patterns

Teach you portion control and strengthen your willpower

Establish a pattern for healthy eating for life

The plan is based on low-carbohydrate, high-fat, high-protein principles, so you choose foods in the right ratios and the right quantities. But it also incorporates other scientifically proven findings that help speed up weight loss.

So, if you are finally ready to stop yo-yo dieting and end that binge-diet cycle for ever, lets get started on the road to a new, slimmer, happier you!

The New Low-Carb Diet is tried and tested, easy to follow and really works. It involves no calorie counting or point scoring. All you do is choose from the recipes in the appropriate section of the book, or construct your meals by choosing the right proportions from several different colour groups.