Low carb, paleolithic, blood type, soup, baby food diets — at different times, a series of miraculous proposals appear to lose weight and get in shape, especially for those who want to speed up this process and conquer the body of their dreams sooner.
Currently, one of the most popular trends is the low-carb diet. Its advocates claim that restricting the amount of carbohydrates leads to quick and painless weight loss. More than that, they feature before and after photos with often impressive weight loss results.
And you, what do you think of the low-carb diet? Have you tried reducing your carbohydrate consumption and had difficulties putting together a healthy and attractive menu? Do you know if this approach brings health benefits or if it involves risks? Do you want to understand better how it works and if it is the best option for those who want to lose weight permanently? Read on!
What Is A Low-Carb Diet?
The low-carb diet advocates a weight loss method based on reducing carbohydrate consumption. According to its advocates, anyone who wants to lose weight fast needs to limit the amount of these foods to a maximum of 200 g per day. The reduction is even more drastic in many cases and can be between 50 and 150 g daily.
Therefore, the menu of low-carb dieters has three very important characteristics:
Reduction In Carbohydrate Consumption
Low-carb dieters reduce their consumption of bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, oats, wheat, corn, sweets, and other grains and tubers. So, as you can see, they practically take away dishes that form the basis of people’s diet here in the West.
More worrying, however, is that the low-carb diet also restricts the consumption of several fruits. Because they are rich in sugar, they leave the menu and take vitamins and other important nutrients to maintain health and prevent diseases.
With this item, it is also possible to notice why people who adopt low carb usually lose weight quickly. They remove from everyday life a series of foods that, in addition to being very caloric, are harmful to the body, such as refined bread, cakes, sweets, pizzas, snacks, etc.
Increased Consumption Of Fats
Carbohydrates form a large part of the Western population’s plate. It cannot be denied that they are quite caloric, which contributes to the rise of the obesity epidemic. However, they have a very important function: they provide the energy the body needs to carry out daily activities.
If the low-carb diet reduces carbohydrates, where do people get energy for everyday life? To supply this deficiency, they increase the proportion of consumed fats. Although the recommendation is to increase the number of good fats (such as olive oil), it is common to see a menu rich in saturated fats.
Increase In Protein Consumption
The low-carb menu also provides for increased protein consumption. This macronutrient would have some very important functions in this diet. The first would be to preserve the body’s lean mass, composed of muscles, bones, internal organs, and body fluid.
To maintain this lean mass, the body consumes more energy. Therefore, food calories would be spent faster, preventing fat accumulation and accelerating weight loss. In addition, a diet with this composition would make the body release less insulin, facilitating the use of fat as an energy source.
What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Low-Carb Diet?
Despite its success in promoting rapid weight loss, many professionals understand that the low-carb diet is controversial. In the same way that there are defenders of this method, scholars also point out some risks of this type of food program. Therefore, it is important to analyze each of them.
According to supporters and professionals who recommend the low-carb diet, it has several benefits. Among the main ones, we can highlight the following:
- weight loss;
- glycemic control;
- significant increase in HDL (good cholesterol);
- decrease in triglycerides;
- reduction of some parameters that indicate cardiovascular risk.
On the other hand, studies point to other problems related to maintaining a low-carbohydrate diet. See what these points of disagreement are:
- fatigue and difficulty performing day-to-day activities and physical exercises due to lack of muscle glycogen;
- Weight gain after the period of metabolic adaptation (catch-up fat phenomenon);
- Difficulty maintaining a carbohydrate-reduced diet, as it eliminates a series of foods used daily in Western civilization from the menu;
- Lack of energy to feed the Central Nervous System, as it is unable to use fat as an energy source;
- symptoms such as headaches, diarrhea, weakness, and muscle cramps;
- Risk of hypoglycemia (drop in blood sugar levels) and hypotension (drop in blood pressure);
- Increase in LDL (bad cholesterol) due to increased consumption of fats.
As you can see, the low-carb diet has both positives and negatives. However, talking about losing weight and maintaining long-term health brings worrying effects and the possibility of regaining lost weight due to the fat catch-up phenomenon.
Is A Low-Carb Diet The Best Option For Weight Loss?
Losing weight is important not only for aesthetic reasons but mainly to avoid other health problems. However, when the weight loss process brings risk, each person needs to assess whether it is worth paying that price to reach the ideal body.
The low-carb diet generates controversy even among experts. During some claim that it is the best option for everyone, others argue that it should only be adopted by specific groups, such as patients with diabetes, epilepsy, and polycystic ovaries.
What cannot be denied is that a large part of the responsibility for the obesity epidemic that exists in the West is the high level of carbohydrate consumption. However, it is necessary to question whether adopting a low-carb diet and increasing the amount of fats and proteins is necessary or is the best option to rethink the whole diet and find a balanced and healthy alternative.
The low-carb diet goes against the recommendations for a healthy diet that nutritionists have studied and elaborated on for years. The DRIs (Dietary Reference Intakes) still understand that most energy consumed by people should come from cereals, grains, and tubers, as long as they are in moderate portions and used in their healthier version (whole).
Also Read: Flexible Diet: What It Is, Its Benefits, And What’s On The Menu