Is limiting carbs bad for you?
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lisaloolovesblue wrote: »blankiefinder wrote: »What matters is a calorie deficit, however you choose to achieve that. Just be aware that if you are low carb, and then splurge on carbs or resume a normal diet, you will have a jump in weight as your body restores it's normal water levels.
There is a lot more that matters than just a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is all that matters to pure and simple weight loss. But weight loss can happen in a variety of ways, and not all of them are healthy.
For example, the Atkins diet. That diet says NO carbs, (including the little bit in milk), but you can have all the fat you want. All that fat and protein is supposed to make you fuller longer, which helps you to achieve your calorie deficit. However, you "mortgage your future," as my professor says.
Can you lose weight on the Atkins diet? Yes. Is it contributing to your overall health? Absolutely not. It contributes to heart disease.
Our bodies get energy from three "buckets," if you will. It draws from these sources in order:
1) Glucose in the blood.
2) Glycogen in the liver.
3) Fat in the body.
When we eat carbohydrates, the body breaks that up into glucose, and stores some in the blood. That is your blood sugar. When that "bucket" gets full, the body stores the fuel in the liver in the form of glycogen. When that bucket gets full, the rest is stored as fat.
When you do aerobic exercise, your body first draws energy from the blood, then from the liver, and then from the fat. That is why we are recommended to do at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise; at that point we are burning more fat than glucose and glycogen.
SO, how does this all relate to the carbohydrates that you eat? Without carbohydrates, your body cannot fill up those first two buckets as their initial source of energy.
It sounds all fine and dandy to have your body's only source of energy to be fat, but that's actually really bad for you. Your body produces ketones when you burn fat, which, when not filtered out properly, lowers the pH of your blood, meaning your blood is more acidic than it's supposed to be. This can lead to a variety of health problems.
Now, I'm not a health professional (yet); I'm just a student. So if any part of that needs tweaking, please correct me! But as far as my knowledge goes, this is correct.
nice explanation, what I'd be interested to know is what % of energy are coming from each source at any moment in time? My hypothesis is that most of our fat loss occurs in our sleep, as for a few hours after eating we've got enough energy and are even storing surplus as fat - so in a typical day on calorie deficit, your body does still store some fat, it just uses more.0 -
hamlet1222 wrote: »so in a typical day on calorie deficit, your body does still store some fat, it just uses more.
Yeah--focusing on fat burning from specific activities (the fat burning zone or exercising fasted) or based on certain ways of eating seems to me to be pointless. We are always burning and storing fat, the trick is just to make sure you burn more than you store, which happens in a calorie deficit, period.0 -
lisaloolovesblue wrote: »For example, the Atkins diet. That diet says NO carbs, (including the little bit in milk), but you can have all the fat you want.
I don't think no carbs is healthy at all, and I think diets that are enormously high in sat fat aren't good for you, probably (with more evidence against processed meats and deep fat fried foods if they are a significant part of the diet, as well as transfats, of course). However, Atkins isn't recommending that, I don't think, or no carbs. It has a brief very low carb induction period and then different levels, and it does recommend vegetables. (I haven't done it, but I know people who have.)0 -
what puzzles me is where glycogen fits in. Some low-carb diet proponents suggest that it not possible to burn fat until you've depleted your glycogen stores.0
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I struggled with doing lower carb. I saw faster progress for the little time I did it. But I woke up with headaches every day, was tired all the time, got horrible sleep and consequently negatively affected my workouts and I felt like binging all the time. I decided it wasn't something I could maintain and feel good. I don't feel like I should feel crappy to lose fat. But my hubby did it for several months a few years ago and lost a ton. However he has since found it harder to lose weight. Not sure if it affected him?0
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hamlet1222 wrote: »what puzzles me is where glycogen fits in. Some low-carb diet proponents suggest that it not possible to burn fat until you've depleted your glycogen stores.
I don't think that's the case, although I'd read the evidence for it. We do lose fat without seeming to be in a state of glycogen depletion all the time, after all.
I'm not sure how reliable it is, but when I did my DEXA I also agreed to some other tests, including some cardio stuff and an RMR test that also claimed to measure how much I was burning fat while at rest. It was something like 50%, even though I don't eat a low carb diet at all.0 -
Take care, @hamlet122 that you don't make the cognitive mistake of thinking that two opposing positions mean that the "truth" is somewhere in the middle, or even that the positions/opinions are equally valid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjuGCJJUGsg
I suspect the answer to your question, hamlet, is complex.
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/265/3/E380.short
To this layman's eyes, it looks like there's a bunch of processes going on all the time, all at once.0 -
hamlet1222 wrote: »what puzzles me is where glycogen fits in. Some low-carb diet proponents suggest that it not possible to burn fat until you've depleted your glycogen stores.
And many low carb proponents are anti science and just make things up like the glycogen claim0 -
Take care, @hamlet122 that you don't make the cognitive mistake of thinking that two opposing positions mean that the "truth" is somewhere in the middle, or even that the positions/opinions are equally valid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjuGCJJUGsg
I suspect the answer to your question, hamlet, is complex.
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/265/3/E380.short
To this layman's eyes, it looks like there's a bunch of processes going on all the time, all at once.
great points!0 -
ive been eating about close to 140 grams of carbs a day. Some days I'm under and some days I'm a little over. Is it okay to limit carbs? Some say it's not healthy to do that because your body needs the nutrients. But so far, by eating less carbs/fat and more protein, I've lost body fat. But is it harmful to your body to restrict your carbohydrate intake? I don't think it is. I feel tired a lot but I don't think eating more carbs will give me energy like people think
It depends on the context, certainly restricting carb intake has been shown to negatively impact mood scores, cognition etc. Besides the research on this, the anecdotal evidence showing negative effects on cognition, reading comprehension, simple logic, mood scores is vast.
This seems to happen in the first week or two mainly in those who do not up their electrolytes when going into ketosis. Otherwise, cognitive abilities often improve on a LCHF diet.
My n=1 showed an improved mental ability to the point where my husband actually noticed.... In hindsight, it is a bit disturbing to know how my inappropriate diet was affecting me.
Longer term studies do show an improvement in cognition in carb restricted dieters, however not as large as an improvement as non carb restricted dieters. Anecdotally there is plenty of evidence suggesting that low carb diets are detrimental to cognitive abilities as well as many others
I disagree. The ketogenic diet is now being used to treat dementia and alzheimers. It is beneficial for mental health in all studies and books I have read.
And my n=1 improvements happend with a month of going LCHF. It doesn't take long for improvemnets to happen.0 -
hamlet1222 wrote: »what puzzles me is where glycogen fits in. Some low-carb diet proponents suggest that it not possible to burn fat until you've depleted your glycogen stores.
The body doesn't switch to strong use of ketones until glusoce is used up and glycogen stores won't provide enough energy for our needs. I'm in ketosis, and I have and use glycogen but my body has switched to using ketones to provide most of my energy needs.
When first getting into ketosis, your glycogen levels need to go low so you will switch to fat oxidation. Your body won't make the switch if it still has adequate blood sugar for it's energy needs. That is why it exercise and fasting will speed up the fat adaption process, although it isn't needed.
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Ditto.cwolfman13 wrote: »
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lisaloolovesblue wrote: »Can you lose weight on the Atkins diet? Yes. Is it contributing to your overall health? Absolutely not. It contributes to heart disease.
I hate to get in to these arguments, but I will nitpick this sentence. There is no proof this is true. In point of fact there's a lot of evidence that shows reduction in sugars prevents the plaque from forming in your arteries.0 -
Too often people think the body's operations are like light switches, turning completely off or completely on. The body far more complex - it is a set of chemicals raising and lowering activity by raising and lower quantities of reagents.hamlet1222 wrote: »what puzzles me is where glycogen fits in. Some low-carb diet proponents suggest that it not possible to burn fat until you've depleted your glycogen stores.
Your body is always, constantly, using molecules of amino acids (the breakdown of protein), carbs, and fats as fuel and for material creation / replacement. As glycogen stores lower, it generates signals that lead to increase fat oxidation.0 -
Please don't think that I am saying LCHF, overy LCHF (ketogenic) dietsare the only way to go. They aren't. For some people they are better, for others they aren't. It's an individual thing.
My main point is that eating low carb is a safe and healthy way to eat (unless one decides to subsist on only bacon, transfats, and rancid polyunsaturated oils - which most people won't).0 -
I found a study. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=200094
"The amount of weight loss predicted the amount of improvement in several cardiac risk factors (Figure 4). For each diet, weight loss was significantly associated with changes in total/HDL cholesterol ratio (r = –0.36), C-reactive protein (r = –0.37), and insulin levels (r = –0.39), regardless of diet type (P = .48, P = .57, P = .31, respectively, for difference between diets). No diet significantly worsened any cardiac risk factor in association with weight loss or dietary adherence at 1 year."
Most interesting (to me) is what they didn't find.0 -
Please don't think that I am saying LCHF, overy LCHF (ketogenic) dietsare the only way to go. They aren't. For some people they are better, for others they aren't. It's an individual thing.
My main point is that eating low carb is a safe and healthy way to eat (unless one decides to subsist on only bacon, transfats, and rancid polyunsaturated oils - which most people won't).
As pointed out though, other people in the thread have stated you "need to stay below 100g of carbs", which is dumb. No one has to do anything when it comes to carbs.
OP, it may not be bad for you unless you don't tolerate it well. Give it a try and see if low carb works for you. Some people find a low carb, high fat diet more satiating and easier to stick to their calorie goal. Others don't find that it works for them. You need to experiment and find the way of eating that works for you and allows you to meet your goals.0 -
Please don't think that I am saying LCHF, overy LCHF (ketogenic) dietsare the only way to go. They aren't. For some people they are better, for others they aren't. It's an individual thing.
My main point is that eating low carb is a safe and healthy way to eat (unless one decides to subsist on only bacon, transfats, and rancid polyunsaturated oils - which most people won't).
As pointed out though, other people in the thread have stated you "need to stay below 100g of carbs", which is dumb. No one has to do anything when it comes to carbs.
OP, it may not be bad for you unless you don't tolerate it well. Give it a try and see if low carb works for you. Some people find a low carb, high fat diet more satiating and easier to stick to their calorie goal. Others don't find that it works for them. You need to experiment and find the way of eating that works for you and allows you to meet your goals.
I agree. No one "needs" to do anything.
It is thought that low carb is when carbs are lept below 150 to 100g. Just a standard that some go by.0 -
I disagree. The ketogenic diet is now being used to treat dementia and alzheimers. It is beneficial for mental health in all studies and books I have read.
And my n=1 improvements happend with a month of going LCHF. It doesn't take long for improvemnets to happen.
I find the science around keto to be really interesting – I knew before I got personally involved with weight loss/fitness that ketogenic diets were sometimes used as a therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy, especially in children, and that there’s ongoing research regarding the ketogenic diet’s possible neuroprotective effects in brain damage, Alzheimer's, and bipolar disorder.
In terms of keto as a weight-loss strategy, I’m neutral. It’s not the way I personally prefer to eat, but I’ve seen it work well for some people. My only issue is when some keto proponents (not you, @nvmomketo) act as though keto is The Way, The Truth, and The Light. “True Believers” of any ilk tend to make me twitchy.
I do think it’s important, in the case of any diet strategy, to try to be responsible about the facts we put forward. In the case of keto, the jury is still very much out in terms of whether keto has any beneficial cognitive effects in the general population. Scientifically speaking, we aren’t even sure why keto is effective in epilepsy or why it seems to help with cognition in some other illnesses.
So far, it’s nearly impossible to say whether the observed cognitive changes are a direct effect of ketosis or if they are based on secondary effects that really aren’t about ketosis at all.
We can be pretty sure that keto is helpful in weight loss when combined with calorie restriction – but as to any claims about cognitive function, we still need to wait for the science to catch up. It should definitely be an interesting ride! But in the meantime, if we are going to be responsible to ourselves and others, it’s a good idea to be very cautious about making big claims about ketogenic diets and neurocognitive function.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to an interesting review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that takes a look at some of the POTENTIAL (please note ‘potential’) therapeutic uses of a ketogenic diet:
nature.com/ejcn/journal/v67/n8/full/ejcn2013116a.html
Some think ketones are better used by a damaged brain. If IR is affecting the brain then the brain may not be getting enough glucose to function. Ketones is good alternate source of fuel. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18625458 It's still in the research stages.
I too tend to get my ire raised when others claim their way (usually moderation - ie. eat cake if you want) is the only way. Some of us low carbers get evangical about the diet because it helped us so much. That's true. It's also true about a few who had success with moderation and claim that it is all anyone needs... Those are the ones I notice the most because of where I am coming from. I haven't double checked this, but I bet there are a few posts in here who are saying one should not go low carb because moderation is all anyone needs even though all the OP wanted to know is is low carb safe.0
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