Milk and other dairy products are best known for providing calcium, a nutrient needed for maintaining bone mass. Your body uses calcium in the heart, muscles, and nerves. If you don’t provide enough in your diet, your body will essentially steal what it needs from your bones. But what about the carbohydrate level in dairy products? How do they figure into a low carb diet?
Milk products contain varying levels of lactose. Yogurt is often cited as an excellent food for dieters, but nutritional labels don’t necessarily show it to be low carb. Here’s something you might not know about yogurt. If the yogurt you buy contains live cultures, those bacteria are actually munching away on the lactose in the yogurt. So the carb count of yogurt actually declines somewhat between the time it is packaged and the time you eat it. You can also opt for some varieties of Greek style yogurt that strain out the whey, which contains most of the lactose in dairy products.
If you are a Type 2 diabetic, you should be aware that intake of dairy products has been shown to reduce risk factors associated with your condition, including insulin resistance. However, health agencies suggest choosing low fat varieties to avoid the normally high levels of saturated fat and calories.
Eggs can be very useful when it comes to low-carb dieting. They are practically perfect when it comes to Atkins, South Beach and similar diets. Eggs are a high protein, low carb food source that is versatile enough to be used at any meal of the day. They can be cooked in a variety of ways and added to many different recipes. The protein will help trigger a feeling of fullness and will delay feelings of hunger between meals.
Considering their low carbohydrate count - one egg typically contains less than a gram of carbohydrates - eggs are an excellent food if you suffer from diabetes. Their high protein levels provide nutritional content with minimal to no impact on your blood sugar levels.
Both dieters and diabetics often express concern about the high cholesterol content found in egg yolks. Several well-respected health sources suggest that egg intake should be limited. However, fascinating new research has indicated that eggs can actually increase HDL levels (that’s the good cholesterol), while simultaneously increasing the blood levels of lutein, a powerful antioxidant.