The Problem With Almost All Low Carb/High Protein Diets

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:41:55 +0000

Do they work? Yes — you do lose weight initially on a High Protein/Low Carb diet but 90% of your initial weight loss is water. And that’s where the problems begin.

What happens after your body has shed its water weight? It starts to burn the left over fat and then, because it lacks carbohydrates to burn for energy, it starts to burn protein – your muscles. These diets induce a metabolic condition known as ketosis which is really an unhealthy condition found in people who suffer from kidney disease and diabetes. It is not usually found in healthy people. Burning protein is not healthy because protein is nature’s building material and is vital for repairing and rebuilding your body’s cells, tissues and organs. Advocates of the Low Carb/High Protein/Fat diets play down ketosis and claim it’s proof your body’s burning fat. That’s true in part. Ketosis does burn fat but will also, eventually, burn your body’s muscle tissue.

If you’ve ever been on one of these diets, you’ve noticed that your urine gets yellow. This is due to ketones which is a by-product of ketosis. This is evidence that your body is burning and breaking up muscle tissue which is protein. That’s dangerous because if too much of your body’s protein is broken down you could suffer irreparable liver and kidney damage. Further symptons of muscle breakdown is evident in general weakness, fatigue and lack of energy.

Another thing to consider about Low Carb/High Protein diets is that during the process of ketosis your body also breaks down fatty acids and converts them to ketones and acetones which are used for fuel. A side effect of this is that your body loses vital minerals like potassium and sodium. This reduces your thyroid hormone level which in turn slows down your metabolism and subsequently your rate of weight loss. Furthermore ketosis could boost your blood cholesterol levels which is definitely not a safe situation.

Once you stop the regimen the weight piles right back on and then some.

There’s a simple way to avoid this. Do not restrict your diet to any one food group or category.

Rather than blindly cutting Carbohydrates and increasing protein and fat intake, you should opt for a healthy ratio of 30% protein, 15% fat, and 55% Complex Carbohydrates. This ratio will help you to lose weight steadily and safely. The key is to reduce fat and SIMPLE carbohydrates not Carbohydrates in general.

Another downside of Low Carb/High Fat diets is that studies show that the less carbs you consume the more likely you are to consume more fat. And this excess fat is stored up in your body’s fat cells where they’ll linger indefinitely, clogging up your arteries with unhealthy cholesterol. Thus the more fat you eat the more your body will retain no matter how little carbs you eat, even if you eat no carbs at all.

Now here’s the secret about eating complex carbs. Because complex carbs have a low glycemic index your body has to use 250% more energy to convert these carbs into fuel than it does to convert fat into fuel. Your body works harder to metabolise and burn calories from complex carbs than it does High Protein/Low Carb. The result? Safe, systematic weight reduction – the best way to avoid health problems and sagging skin caused by too rapid weight loss.

Haley Abrams is a Nutritionist and Researcher at SunSlim-Diet sunslim-diet.com?is1 and AsherHealth asherhealth.com?is1.

Article Source: http://www.thecontentcorner.com

Low Carb Diets – What Are They and How Do They Work

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:19:38 +0000

Low carbohydrate diets have been made popular by weight loss schemes such as the Atkins diet and South Beach diet. They are appealing due to the fact that the foods you can eat are essentially the opposite of most other diets. That is, you eat a lot of protein and fats and very restricted carbohydrates.

The basis of this diet is that you require carbohydrates to produce insulin, and it’s this that makes you metabolise the fats in your food. Without the carbohydrates, you put yourself in the position that the food you eat goes essentially undigested. Your body reacts by using up it’s stored carbohydrates (in the form of glycogen) very quickly and you then go into a state of ketosis. This results in a very rapid initial weight loss since a lot of water is also stored with the glycogen.

Depending on the particular diet, the carbohydrate restriction can be very severe – for example on the Atkins diet, in the initial phases you may eat no more than 15-20 grams of carbohydrate a day. Also, the type of carbohydrate becomes important too. It becomes permissible to eat restricted amounts of fruit, but the real issue is refined carbohydrates, as these cause spikes in insulin production.

So, the foods which are a no-no are things which contain milled white flour and white sugar (and other sources of refined carbohydrates). These include

* Sugar
* Bread
* Cakes
* Sweets (candy to our American friends)
* Alcoholic drinks
* Rice
* Pasta
* any non-diet drinks
* almost all ready-meals

and also, in the initial strict part of the regime,

* Potatoes
* Rice
* Fruit
* Vegetables (apart from a small quantity of leafy green vegetables)

The things which you may eat are

* Any unprocessed fresh meat
* Unprocessed fish
* Eggs
* Cream
* Oils
* Cheese
* Nuts

A typical day on this kind of weight loss regime might consist of a cheese omellete for breakfast, perhaps some chicken and salad for lunch followed by steak and salad for dinner. So this type of diet is good if you are a meat eater, but near impossible if you are a vegetarian. It also seems to be more popular than some other regimes with men.

Some variations on this type of weight loss scheme allow you to eat fruit, but at least 30 minutes before any meal and at least 4 hours after any meal. This is so that the natural sugars in the fruit do not mix with the protein and fats in your main meal.

Still other variations also restrict your calorific intake to further hasten your weight loss.

However, do bear in mind that like all diet programmes, it relies on denial. In this case, denial of items like bread, sugar, alcohol, coffee, most desserts, many sauces, and almost all pre-packaged foods. It’s also relatively expensive since it’s all meat, fish and cheese.

Article Source: ADB Article Directory

Vince Lewis is webmaster for Free-Diet-Tracker.com which provides free tools for those trying to lose weight. Note that the site is run by dieters for dieters and so the site is totally free, not a free trial.

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The Problem With Almost All Low Carb/High Protein Diets

Low Carb Diets – What Are They and How Do They Work