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Low Carbs and the Low Carbohydrate Diet
: The best way to get lean or just another diet fad? Part 3 By Chad
Tackett
For your low carbohydrate diet ("low carb diet") to be a success, it’s
absolutely critical that you understand carbohydrates ("carbs") and
their roles, how to select the right kind of carbohydrates and the carbs
to avoid, and several low carbohydrate diet techniques that can help you
achieve excellent results.
There are all sorts of low carbohydrate diet plans out there that can
help you lose weight (not necessarily fat), but they are so miserable
that it's impossible to stay on them very long - even more difficult is
keeping the results you achieved before going off the low carbohydrate
diet program.
Low carbohydrate diets first emerged decades ago; today they are
enjoying something of a renaissance as the diet of choice. Everywhere
you look there are low carb bars, low carb drinks, low carb meal
replacements, low carb frozen dinners, etc. Low carbohydrate diet books
like The Atkins Diet, Protein Power, and Sugar-Busters have all been
best-sellers.
Virtually 100% of all bodybuilders and fitness
competitors use some version of a low carbohydrate diet when getting
ready for contests. But despite their immense popularity, low
carbohydrate diets have many drawbacks and are still the subject of
controversy.
Because of the popularity of low carbohydrate diets,
carbohydrates in general have gotten a bad rap. Many people believe
carbohydrates are fattening. This simply is not true! Carbohydrates are
not fattening as long as you eat the right kind and you don't eat too
many of them. However, it is true that a reduction in carbs and an
increase in protein will give you some interesting hormonal and
metabolic advantages for fat loss. It's also true that some people don't
respond well to the conventional high-carb, low-fat diet.
Some
people are "carbohydrate-sensitive" and "insulin-resistant." This means
that these people release more insulin than normal when they consume
carbohydrate foods. When excess insulin is present, they do not release
stored body fat as readily and they are more likely to store free fatty
acids into adipose tissue. The result is that even on a low-fat,
low-calorie diet combined with regular exercise, some people still have
a difficult time losing body fat if they eat a lot of carbohydrates.
Reducing carbohydrates and increasing protein with a low carbohydrate
diet gives you a metabolic advantage: the high protein in these diets
speeds up your metabolism because of the "thermogenic" effect of the
protein. This means that protein foods speed up your metabolism because
your body has to work harder to digest, process, and utilize this
nutrient as compared to fat or carbohydrates.
Protein has the highest thermogenic effect of any food: nearly 30%. For
example, if you eat 100 calories of chicken breast, 30 of those calories
are burned off just to digest it! Therefore, the net caloric value is
only 70 calories. Too much of any food will be stored as body fat, but
because of its high thermogenic effect, protein is less likely to be
converted to fat than any other food type.
Reducing your
carbohydrates with a low carbohydrate diet from the traditional
recommendation of 50-55% of your total calories to 40%-45% of your total
calories may help you lose fat more quickly. Some
"carbohydrate-sensitive/insulin-resistant" people might benefit from
reducing carbs to as low as 30% of total calories for very brief periods
(do not do so without the recommendation of your physician), but under
no circumstances should you ever remove all or even most of the
carbohydrates from your diet.
Unfortunately, many people take
carbohydrate restriction too far when on a low carbohydrate diet, often
going close to zero carbs. These diets are almost impossible to stick
to, and most people end up gaining back all the weight they lost as soon
as they re-introduce carbs to their diet. Going to such extremes is not
necessary and may be hazardous to your health. Other disadvantages of
very low-carb diets include reduced energy levels, irritability,
inability to concentrate, slower metabolic rate, and loss of lean body
mass. This is why you need to understand how best to use a low
carbohydrate diet.
Low Carbohydrate Diet
Part 4 >>>
Low
Carbohydrate Diet Part 2
Low Carbohydrate Diet
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