- Easy to do
What is it?
The Low Carb Diet is a diet that is low in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates such as breads, pastas, sugars and others that raise your blood sugar levels, which create a rise in a hormone secreted by the pancreas called ‘insulin’. When there is a lack of carbohydrates it starts a mighty powerful chemical reaction.
There are many diets; such as the ‘Atkins diet’, ‘Zone diet’ and ‘South Beach diet’. Diets like these have one thing in common: they are high in proteins and fats and low in carbohydrates.
What are the benefits?
Fast weight loss can be expected due to a chemical reaction in the body when an inadequate level of carbohydrates are available. This allows an individual to burn fat at a much faster rate than a traditional diet and exercise program, for around 6 months that is.
What are ketones?
What are the negative aspects?
Well, after a while of having very little carbohydrates available for exercise or daily activities the body begins producing ‘ketones’. These ketones are the leftovers from fats broken down in the body. With enough production of ketones the body starts to ‘store’ fat (a process called ketosis). In other words, that wonderful chemical reaction that gave you that great feeling of, “Oh wow, look how much weight I lost!” turns into, “Why am I gaining weight?!”.
If you think that the negatives to a low carb diet are overrated you should keep reading.
By exercising and starving your body from carbohydrates you can change the body’s hormone which regulates metabolism. This thyroid hormone is known as ‘T3‘. T3 is a very powerful hormone for weight loss. Low carb diets usually result in a reduction in T3.
What happens when you start ingesting higher than normal carbs when you were starving your body from it?
When a reduction of any major nutrient occurs in the body, the body goes into a ‘sparing‘ effect. This sparing effect is not a welcomed side effect of a low carbohydrate diet. This is because Low Carb Diets cause increased carbohydrate or insulin sensitivity. The higher the insulin sensitivity, the greater the chance that fat will be stored in the body.
Low carbohydrate diets are very effective in their early stages because of several reasons:
- satiety from fat and protein intake,
- a reduction in water weight
- a chemical reaction to increase fat metabolism.
However, with the increased insulin sensitivity and permanent reduction of the T3 hormone eventual weight gain is inevitable. It is an obvious decision to not try any low carb diet.
With a slight modification it can be very successful
Low carb diets focus on little to no carbohydrates, but if have complex carbohydrates in the morning and simple carbohydrates after your workout you are getting the full benefits to your brain and muscles without packing on any adipose tissue (fat).