why does low carb work?

danielg810

In addition to greater satiety, less cal intake, less processed food ie more nutrition, and working muscles with less glycogen as well as less sugar in the bloodstream- i believe is going to likely lead to your body oxidizing more fat (and sometimes protein, based on exercise intensity) before, during, and after the workout.

Im actually super interested in this myself and trying to find some proper studies to support/disprove this theory bcs theres a ton out there. Here's some useful links on the carbs around exercise fat burning effects articles/study

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/exercise-carbs-a-game-changer

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14748459

ngyoung

There are some out there claims that Toubes makes that can be debunked but he's not wrong with a most of what he's said.

Water weight from reduced glycogen does not account for a huge amount of weight loss and is common for a lot of people with many different diets. Losing water weight is not exclusive to a low carb diet.

Fat and protein take more energy to metabolize. Your body can only handle a small amount of carbs at time before blood sugar gets too high and insulin has to convert what's left to fat. Too much sugar and simple carbs effects your normal function of hormones that are responsible for hunger and satiety.

Eating low carb typically equates to better appetite control and reducing calories naturally. Also typically means the person is limiting eating most junk food, cutting out nutrient sufficient processed food. For a many people just doing that is enough to see results.

Fat takes almost no energy to metabolize, carbs take more energy to metabolize than fats, and protein takes the most energy to metabolize. Carbs do trigger an insulin response that causes glycogen replenishment and fat storage, but all calorie intakes being equal, this is inconsequential. Anything stored as fat will be oxidized later as part of the energy balance in your body. This is why the Glycemic index is completely irrelevant to those who do not have a medical reason to worry about insulin production or blood glucose level. The glycemic index was developed for diabetics for a reason...Also, the glycemic index is practically washed out when high GI foods are eaten in a complete meal with protein and fat because protein slows digestion and thus prevents the insulin spikes that carbs consumed by themselves on an empty stomach produced when testing foods for the glycemic index.

I will agree with you that low carb diets do offer better appetite control, because you feel very satisfied all day, but if you don't have a problem with feeling hungry all the time, then they are unnecessary.

Dietary fat is utilized for multiple systems in you body. Repairing damaged cells, mylen sheath of your nerves, and other tissues. Carbs like you said replenish glycogen and the rest is stored for later.

Acg67

There are some out there claims that Toubes makes that can be debunked but he's not wrong with a most of what he's said.

Water weight from reduced glycogen does not account for a huge amount of weight loss and is common for a lot of people with many different diets. Losing water weight is not exclusive to a low carb diet.

Fat and protein take more energy to metabolize. Your body can only handle a small amount of carbs at time before blood sugar gets too high and insulin has to convert what's left to fat. Too much sugar and simple carbs effects your normal function of hormones that are responsible for hunger and satiety.

Eating low carb typically equates to better appetite control and reducing calories naturally. Also typically means the person is limiting eating most junk food, cutting out nutrient sufficient processed food. For a many people just doing that is enough to see results.

Lol, might want to research DNL a little bit more

Acg67

I highly recommend that you read Gary Taubes' book Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It. He explains the whole process and the history of low-carb diets in fascinating detail.

Taubes has been debunked again and again. He has no credibility.

Oh and what AG said.....it does not have some magic property to change the calories of the food you eat.

I've read this so many times, but I can't seem to find anything credible that actually debunks anything he has written.

We call that confirmation bias

ngyoung

I highly recommend that you read Gary Taubes' book Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It. He explains the whole process and the history of low-carb diets in fascinating detail.

Taubes has been debunked again and again. He has no credibility.

Oh and what AG said.....it does not have some magic property to change the calories of the food you eat.

I've read this so many times, but I can't seem to find anything credible that actually debunks anything he has written.

We call that confirmation bias

That can cut both ways. who's the one being more bias? Is it you or the other guy? Whoever calls it first wins? Whoever smelt it dealt it?

As for long term possibly fairly unbias research comparing multiple diets and successful weightloss, this is presented by a vegan that in the end found that starting with an Atkins type diet beat out all the other for multiple healthy factors. It is a long video but was pretty well presented. Compared the USDA/AHA diet, Ornish Diet, Atkins, and one other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo

Acg67

I highly recommend that you read Gary Taubes' book Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It. He explains the whole process and the history of low-carb diets in fascinating detail.

Taubes has been debunked again and again. He has no credibility.

Oh and what AG said.....it does not have some magic property to change the calories of the food you eat.

I've read this so many times, but I can't seem to find anything credible that actually debunks anything he has written.

We call that confirmation bias

That can cut both ways. who's the one being more bias? Is it you or the other guy? Whoever calls it first wins? Whoever smelt it dealt it?

As for long term possibly fairly unbias research comparing multiple diets and successful weightloss, this is presented by a vegan that in the end found that starting with an Atkins type diet beat out all the other for multiple healthy factors. It is a long video but was pretty well presented. Compared the USDA/AHA diet, Ornish Diet, Atkins, and one other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo

Without even clicking the link, I'm guessing it's for the A to Z weightloss study? Notice anything odd in the results? That is if you've read the study and didn't rely on a youtube video to tell you about it

And this one seems to have some different findings

Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone Diets for Weight Loss and Heart Disease Risk ReductionA Randomized Trial

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=200094

linalovekitty

I need some clarification on why low carb (NON KETOGENIC) diets work. I am not talking about Atkins or ketogenic diets bc i understand fully how those work. Is it bc protein and fat is not as easily converted to fat as carbs are? or is it bc protein and fats balance insulin levels, thereby naturally supressing appetite which causes u to eat less calories which leads to weight loss? or both?

For example, paleo. Paleo requires carb sources be solely from fruits and veggies- thereby naturally lowering net carbs since fruits/veggies have tons of fiber & require a far greater volume of both to reach the amount of carbs in grains.

The reason low carb diets are seemingly better for faster weight loss is because when you go low carb, you store less glycogen, and for each gram of glycogen in your body, it has 3 grams of water attached to it, so when glycogen stores become depleted, you lose a bunch of water weight. Low carb does not cause faster FAT loss if the calorie intake is the same as any other diet, and fat loss is the real goal, not weight loss. Also, low carb by definition means you're eating more fat and protein which are both very satisfying and can lead to lower calorie intake. Calorie intakes being equal, low carb does not cause faster fat loss than any other type of eating. It has absolutely nothing to do with how your body metabolizes different macronutrients, or how different macronutrients affect insulin etc. Calories are all that matters, for the average person without a metabolic disease

so its really all about what it does to insulin? meaning, lowcarb will cause you to eat less by virtue of the fact is balances insulin which keeps u fuller longer. whereas high carb eating can spike insulin levels causing us to eat more.

but i have heard carbs are easier stored as fat as well?

linalovekitty

Low carb works simply because people automatically eat less calories on a low carb diet.

Incidentally, It didn't work for me, because I have no problem chowing down a couple pounds of 85/15 ground beef in place of a hamburger with buns and fries.

got it! i have found recently that upping my protein and lowering my grain helps a lot- but that i still have to eat some grain to fill up. for example
oatmeal in the am
tuna handrolls (no rice) ie seaweed, raw tuna, avacado, mayo for lunch w cup of plain cooked brown rice
dinner small cobb salad no grain
snack handfull peanut m &ms/ fresh green juice

if i were to not eat the rice and oatmeal id prolly eat 5000cals of meat too