Still Trying To Shed Those Stubborn Pregnancy Pounds?
Try A Low-Carb Diet
By Ann Brown

Shedding those last few pounds can be difficult. It may not call for just a diet per se, but a lifestyle change. Many people are finding that eating low-carb meals regularly not only takes the pounds off, but helps keep weight gain under control. According to Rozanne Gold, who authored Low Carb 1-2-3: The Low-Calorie, Low-Carbohydrate Cookbook (Rodale Books) with Helen Kimmel, MS, RD, developing a low-carb way of eating can be easy, affordable and fast.

“All of the recipes are also low-calorie and low in saturated fat…and also low in sugar,” says Gold, a renowned chef, international consultant, and an award-winning author. “And they are transfat free. Best of all, recipes using only low-carb ingredients can fit into anyone’s busy lifestyle.” (Transfats, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are “fats found in foods such as vegetable shortening, some margarines, crackers, candies, baked goods, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, salad dressings, and many processed foods.”)

In addition, Gold says adapting a new low-carb diet is healthy for new moms. “It is very healthy for moms if they include lots of “good carbs”—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins—in their daily plan,” she points out. “The goal is to avoid faddish low-carb diets that are extreme. Many stress low-carb foods that may be low-carb, but are very high in saturated fat and don’t offer a balanced approach.”

Nursing moms can even adapt this diet, as long as they again fill it with “good carbs,” says Gold, who has also penned Little Meals: A Great New Way to Eat and Cook (Villard), Recipes 1-2-3: Fabulous Food Using Only 3 Ingredients (Viking), Recipes 1-2-3 Menu Cookbook (Little, Brown), and Entertaining 1-2-3. “With nursing mothers it is important to eat foods that also contain fats. But those that are low in saturated fat—recipes that include responsible amounts of cheese, dairy and yogurt—would be good for nursing mothers,” she says.

To start your own low-carb diet, create one that is balanced with vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, whole grains. “You want to get as much good nutrition as possible and not ‘”waste” your calories,” explains Gold. “Stay away from white flour, white sugar, and processed foods.” And you don’t have to deprive yourself, Gold insists. “My nutritionist, Helen Kimmel, MS, RD and I have proven that you can include eggs, cream, cheese, butter, bacon, and chocolate into a very healthy lifestyle plan. And I include lots of dreamy recipes for desserts, desserts that we, all too often, feel we have to do without,” she says. “I sometimes indulge, so when I do, I balance my day of “excess” with a day of moderation.”

Here’s Gold’s one-day menu: You can begin with an Open-Face Bacon-Tomato Pancake or even have Poached Eggs on Buttered Toast (provided that the bread is whole grain.) Lunch might include a bowl of Creamy Carrot-Ginger Soup or Broccoli Soup with Basil Butter served before a lovely plate of Pecan-Crusted Chicken Breasts and Cabbage Slaw. For dinner, light some candles and start with Melon and Prosciutto, followed by Double-Garlic Skirt Steak and Almond-Crusted Baked Tomatoes. Low Carb 1-2-3 also includes more than 35 preparations for vegetables (from Roasted Cauliflower with Cheddar Cheese to Green Beans with Pesto and Walnuts); more than 15 fresh fruit desserts (including Peaches ‘n Cream and Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries with Toasted Coconut), and fish, chicken, beef and pork dishes (from Chicken Breasts with Slow-Roasted Grapes to Sun-dried Tomato Meatloaf to Braised Hoisin Pork with Scallions.)

Developing a low-carb diet now will establish a new approach to eating you can carry with you the rest of your life, says Gold. “Eating low-carb is one approach that many people have had lots of success with. Many people feel a great sense of well-being when they limit their processed carbs and choose good carbs, instead. This is something you can do forever. For the long-run, you must include good carbs—they are the foundation of any healthy diet,” she says. Bon appétit.

Ann Brown is a New York-based freelance writer whose beauty, entertainment, travel, & lifestyle articles have appeared in such publications as Black Enterprise, Big Apple Parent, Queens Parent, Upscale, ESSENCE, Honey, The Source, HealthQuest, Playboy, and Heart & Soul.