Six Secrets For Low-Carb Success Personal Trainer and Exercise Physiologist Kate Street shares some secrets to keep you on the path to losing weight with your low-carb lifestyle. Secret No. 1: Learn about the carbohydrate content in foods The more you know about what carbohydrates are and which foods contain them, the better your low-carb success will be. Many "healthy" foods you're eating right now may contain high quantities of carbs, such as rice, potatoes, breads, cereals, rice cakes, low-fat crackers and soda. Carbohydrates are ubiquitous! Even foods you wouldn't think contain carbohydrates do, such as milk and yogurt. Most people count these dairy foods as protein sources, and they do contain 7-8 grams of protein, but if you look the food label, you'll see they are primarily carbohydrates. Skim milk contains 13 grams of carbs, 12 of which are sugar. Low-fat yogurts contain anywhere between 19 and 40 grams of carbohydrates. Even foods such as ketchup, tomato sauce and salad dressing can contain a significant amount of carbs. You don't have to totally eliminate these foods from your diet; just make sure you are counting them as carbohydrates and adjust the rest of daily carb intake accordingly. Learning to read a food label is a must! Don't just look at the calories and fat grams. Look at the carbohydrate grams and the fiber. The less carbs and the more fiber, the better. Be sure to read the ingredients as well. Maltodextrin, sucrose, fructose and dextrose are sugars as well. Beware anything that ends in "ose"! Secret No. 2: Increase your FAT and PROTEIN consumption to compensate for the carbohydrates you are removing Cutting down on carbs without replacing them with fats and proteins will ultimately lead to low-carb failure. Eating fat and protein will ensure that you're getting enough calories and will also satisfy your tastebuds. Choose heart-healthy fats such as olive oil, canola oil, nuts and peanut butter. (Don't bother with reduced-fat peanut butter -- the fat is replaced with sugar!) Eat more fish and seafood to increase your consumption of omega 3 fatty acids. If you can't stand fish, take a fish oil supplement daily. If you find that you're too hungry or don't have enough energy on your low-carb diet, chances are you're not eating enough fat. We don't have to be afraid of fat anymore! Eating fat will not make it turn into fat on our bodies -- unless we couple a high-fat diet with a high-carb diet. When we limit our carb intake on a low-carb diet, we become much more efficient at burning dietary fat and our own body fat. That's a promise! Eat high-quality proteins such as lean meats, chicken, turkey, cottage cheese and eggs (including yolks!). Watch for the sodium content in foods like bacon, prepackaged lunch meats and sausage. Make sure you eat frequently throughout the day. This will keep your metabolism revved up and also ensure that you never get ravenously hungry. Aim for four to six small meals a day, no more than four hours apart. Secret No. 3: Double your vegetable consumption in place of carbohydrates Vegetables are really the secret of success on a low-carb diet. Although technically they are considered carbohydrates, they have fiber, vitamins, minerals, and fat-burning properties that make them very different from all other carbs. For this reason, you shouldn't even count vegetables as carbohydrates. Consider them a free food and eat as much as you want. The only exceptions are potatoes, yams and corn. Eat vegetables at most meals and aim for AT LEAST five servings a day. Choose vegetables that are all colors of the rainbow: spinach, red peppers, carrots, squash and dark lettuce. Raw is better, but steamed is good, too. If you aren't a big vegetable fan, add butter, cheese, olive oil or dip (make sure you choose full-fat dip that has little to no carbs). Secret No. 4: Exercise at least three times a week at a moderate to high intensity You don't have to spend hours exercising. Shorter, more intense workouts are best for burning fat and building muscle. A 45-minute workout that combines weight training circuits with intervals of cardio is a great way to step up your metabolism. Sample workout: Warm up with five minutes of easy cardio on the bike, treadmill or machine of choice. For the next 10 minutes, bump up the intensity (either by speed, incline or level) until you feel like you’re working at level eight on a scale of one to 10. This should be slightly uncomfortable. After this, go immediately to an eight-exercise circuit of weight training with either dumbbells or machines. Aim for 10 to 12 repetitions per set of each exercise (about 80% of your total capacity). Move from one exercise to the next with no rest in between. Once you've completed all eight exercises, take a two-minute rest, drink water, and then repeat the circuit. This should take no more than 20 minutes. After you're done with your weight training circuits, get back on your cardio machine. Start with two minutes at an easy pace. For the next six minutes alternate each minute with a hard pace and an easy pace. Cool down for five minutes. Drink water. Done! Secret No. 5: Keep water consumption HIGH! Most of the initial weight loss on a low-carb diet is water loss. It is especially important to drink more water to make sure you're well hydrated. When you're dehydrated, your metabolism slows down by 2 to 3 percent, and this inhibits fat burning. Dehydration also leads to fatigue, belly bloat, headaches and irregularity. Water should by your best friend, as it will help alleviate all of these ailments. Aim for at least 10 glasses of water a day (a glass is eight ounces). Decaf tea and coffee can count as water. Flavored water and carbonated water count, too. Just make sure you read those food labels. Many brands of flavored water contain as much sugar as a can of soda! You know you're well hydrated if your urine is pale yellow or clear. Secret No. 6: Don't become carb-phobic — instead, become carb-conscious! It is important not to make carbohydrates a source of guilt, like fat has been for the last 20 years. Feeling guilty about food perpetuates a vicious "avoid/binge" cycle that is detrimental to one's health, peace of mind and self-image. Who needs that? The trick lies in choosing the right carbs when you can and limiting your refined carb consumption. Make better choices that include low sugar, more fiber and less overall carb abundance. With some low-carb diets, you may not be able to have any carbs in the beginning. When they are reintroduced later, you should choose good carbs like low-glycemic fruits, low-carb breads and beans. You might also allow yourself your very favorite carb meals once a week, whether it's on the weekend or a special occasion. Have two slices of pizza on the weekend -- with a salad. Have two pancakes on Sunday morning –- with scrambled eggs. Just realizing that you CAN eat these foods once a week takes them off the forbidden list and lessens their power over you. Just be sure to get back into the low-carb way of eating once you've indulged. A carb-conscious lifestyle can be very rewarding AND fun! When you live carb consciously, you can have your carbs and eat them too!