Review of Low Carb Diet

Low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins have strong short-term effects. I don’t know anybody who couldn’t lose a ton of weight with it.

I also don’t know anybody who was able to keep the weight off once they reintroduced carbs.

This doesn’t work for a bunch of reasons.

1. A lot of the weight that you lose on the low carb diet is water weight. Every gram of carbohydrate that you ingest is generally accompanied by 3-5 grams of water. When you lose the carbs, you lose the water. After you decide to start eating carbohydrates again, not only do you get the water weight back, but your body also rebounds against you and starts retaining all new water that comes in. Sure, after a few days, your body will stop retaining the water, but at this point, your mental state has been wreaked upon. This does not help you psychologically when trying to maintain weight loss.

2. If you drop your carbohydrate level too low while exercising, you can alter your body’s T3 levels. This will lower your metabolic rate, which will cause all sorts of bad effects, including losing weight slower.

3. When you don’t eat carbohydrates, your body takes whatever protein you get and converts it into glucose, which is then used for energy. This is usually what the role of carbohydrates are, but since you’re depriving yourself, your body needs to adjust accordingly. The result of this is that you don’t get to experience the important benefits of protein (maintenance, repair, and growth of body tissues), because it’s too busy being converted into energy instead.

4. Your muscles lose their density and flatten out when on a low carb diet. Your muscles feel softer, and your energy level goes down.

5. When this diet was popular in the 1970s, doctors saw that people regained their weight very quickly after getting off the diet. They found that this was because people became very carbohydrate sensitive when coming off the diet. The effect was magnified if these people exercised while on the diet. The body would horde as many carbohydrates as possible when they were eaten again, out of fear that they wouldn’t get more later.

People gained a lot of water weight that did come off, but people noticed that it was much easier for them to gain weight in the future, and much harder to lose it.

Foods in Low Carb diet

There are certain foods to have on hand for low carb baking, cooking, and eating.

Generally, these include dairy products, vegetables, fruits, foods containing protein and fats, and nuts and grains. People on a low carb diet can choose from a wide selection of dairy products, including cottage cheese, hard cheeses, and soft cheeses. Other dairy products such as full-fat cheeses, cream cheese, and butter are allowed, but consumption should be more limited.

High-protein foods form the basis of low carb diets such as the Atkins diet plan. Nutritionists and medical practitioners recommend a limit of 35 percent of calories, which can be consumed in the form of protein-rich foods. Animal foods are low in carbs and rich in protein. Such foods are veal, lamb, beef, and low-fat cuts of pork. Other sources of protein include all kinds of seafood and fish, low-fat meat substitutes, tofu, beans, and eggs.

While some fruits are allowed, you can include plenty of vegetables in your low carb menu. You can eat cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, and green leafy vegetables. Broccoli and cauliflower are allowed, but consumption should be limited.

Generally, a healthy low carb meal should include a large salad or vegetables should cover at least half of your plate.

Avoid starchy vegetables such as corn, squash, beets, potatoes, and peas. There isn’t a perfect substitute for starchy vegetables such as potatoes, but other veggies can work as well. You can have celery root, mashed cauliflower, and other root vegetables.

There are plenty of low carb recipes with fruits, but you should choose fruits that are low in sugar. For example, you can eat lemons, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Dried fruit such as figs, raisins, and dates contain the highest quantity of sugar, along with tropical fruits such as pineapples and bananas.

There are special low carb breads you can include in your menu. However, make sure you read the labels carefully. Other healthy options are high-fiber ‘crisp breads’, low carb tortillas, and breads that are less glycemic. These breads are made from sprouted grains, have pieces of grains, and are very heavy. Whole wheat breads and white breads raise blood sugar because they are made from finely ground wheat.

You can keep some canned foods in your pantry as well. Keepers include salsas, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and pasta sauce with no added sugars. Finally, you can eat plenty of seeds and nuts, including cashews, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios.

There are many other effects that come with the low carb diet as well… many of them are devastating.