Welcome to Part Three. We\’ll discuss how combining proteins and carbohydrates can work together to help increase your metabolism.

The best advice I have found is to always eat a protein with your carbohydrates. It will slow the carbs conversion into sugar, and keep it from \’spiking\’ your insulin and slowing down your metabolism. It really depends on your body type for what type of protein your body needs; for me, it\’s chicken breast, turkey breast and fish. Red meat causes me to gain weight too quickly, and my body needs the lean muscle that chicken, turkey and fish proteins provide. No matter what your body type- if you ingest too many carbs at one time, your insulin levels will peak, and slow your metabolism, which will slow your weight-loss.

One of the best explanations of processed carbohydrates comes from Michael Thurmond\’s Six Week Body Make-Over, which stated: Think about it — to make a little bit of flour you start with a lot of grain. Then you grind cups and cups of that grain into flour, say wheat or semolina, and make it into two or three ounces of pasta. It is still the same amount of carbohydrate, but it\’s been concentrated into several bites of pasta. It takes a lot of work for your body to process all that “grain,” plus it contains plenty of carbs that would, in turn, be converted into sugar in your blood stream, which would spike your insulin and slow even the fastest metabolism. That is why you often feel tired or sluggish after a big plate of pasta. Processed carbs simply aren\’t an efficient way to eat and be satisfied.

When it\’s thought of in that context, it makes a lot of sense, doesn\’t it? It gives you a way to actually weigh how heavy carbohydrates can be.

Green vegetables, like spinach, collards, turnips, kale and arugula, are also carbohydrates, but they have so few calories and so much fiber that they usually have little affect on your metabolism. Most vegetables are full of so many vitamins and fiber, that they are beneficial to any diet or eating plan.

Don\’t ever eat anything you don\’t like. There\’s enough food in the protein and carbohydrate categories where you can safely replace the ones you don\’t like. You may have to do a little adjusting in the amount you eat- but eating foods that you do not like will not only make you slip off of your eating plan, but will also leave you unsatisfied. If you\’re unsatisfied with your meals, you\’re more likely to splurge at another meal.

Part Four, the final article in the series will look into Fats and also recap much of what we have discussed in the previous articles.

Tracey Criswell Wilson is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writers. Many of Tracey\’s writings can be found on this interactive site.