Less carbs
joselo2
Posts: 461
Hello.
I am being told the main issue with my diet right now is too much carbs so I have some questions. First, is carbs the same as carbohydrates? And how do I reduce them? All my staple foods seem to involve it- bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. I thought these were quite healthy things! I am not very clever about this matters. So what should I be eating instead, for the bulk of my diet?
Thanks
I am being told the main issue with my diet right now is too much carbs so I have some questions. First, is carbs the same as carbohydrates? And how do I reduce them? All my staple foods seem to involve it- bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. I thought these were quite healthy things! I am not very clever about this matters. So what should I be eating instead, for the bulk of my diet?
Thanks
0
Replies
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carbs do not make you gain weight ...over eating makes you gain weight.
if you are eating in a calorie deficit, then you can eat carbs and you will still lose.
A good percent setting for your carb macro is 25% (low end) to 35% (higher end)....Now if you are at 60% carbs a day or something it would not hurt to get down to 35 to 40% range to bring your other macros in line...
If you are eating in a calorie surplus then this will make you gain weight, not carbs...
calories in vs calories out ....there is no one food that makes you "fat", overeating does....
This advice is predicated on no overlying medical condition...0 -
Carbs is short for carbohydrates and yes, all of those things you mentioned have them. I do a low carb diet but there are carbs even in fruits and vegetables, just maybe less of them. I eat a lot of veggies and lean meats. I treat myself now and again to a sweet potato but I have pretty much eliminated bread, pasta and rice from my day-to-day diet. I do have some on rare occasions. You just have to fit them into your calories for the day and not go over. It will be hard at first but you will be amazed at what you get used to.
You can google a list of foods and their carb content to get an idea of which are higher or lower.
Good Luck!0 -
Carbs make me overeat! I also have high cholesterol and a reduced carb diet helps with that. You have to do what works for you. Its calorie deficit that works however, in my case, when I eat carbs its like I am addicted to them and can't stop so I just stay away from them.0
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Dude. Saw this on your wall. Your main issue with your diet and the one you should be focusing on right now is the calories. Hit your calorie goal.
Carbs vs fat vs protein is something that is always going to be hottly contested around here. My housemate (who has a degree is dietetics) looks at my food diary and proclaims it fine and I average 50% or more carbs.
Its all about what works for you. If you're satiated eating carbs then eat carbs. You may have to switch to more protein based foods when your calorie goal decreases but you can worry about that later.
P.s. I tried a high protein, low carb diet that a trainer put me on. I've never felt worse in my entire life. It doesn't work for me, it might for you.
P.s. carbs equals - starches (bread, pasta etc) and fruit and veg.0 -
You've lost 67 pounds which is pretty amazing... are you worried because you've stalled? Or just worried?0
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I don't agree with worrying to much about carbs right now! You just need to eat more veggies and some protein would be a good thing and not skip meals, to help you stop craving therefore binging, that should be your main focus right now, eating better more fulfilling things.0
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yep it's true. you should limit your carb intake. although there are two different kind of carbs: simple and complex. simple carbs are the ones that have high gi and will spike your insulin (which is a fat storing hormone) and give you a mood crash shortly after you eat as it gets quickly absorbed into your blood stream. you may recognize these in the form of sugar laden food like chocolate, donuts etc. you should also note white bread, white pasta, white flour also falls into this range.
Complex carbs are good for you as they are slowly absorbed into your bloodstream and release energy slowly. complex carbs take in the form of grains (brown rice, quinoa, wholegrain bread) , nuts, vegetables
if you want to lose weight, i definitely encourage you to cut out your simple carbs and replace them with complex carbs. it's quality over quantity over here.
even though counting calories can assist you with weight loss, what you really want to do is feed your body with good food and take care of your body. so the best way to reconcile weight loss and feeding your body with nutrients, limit your intake of simple carbs - chocolate, candy, white rice, white pasta. you may wish to replace this with fruit which despite being a simple carb, will satisfy your sweet tooth cravings. i would stick to 1-2 serves a day to avoid insulin spikes. just substitute your white rice and pasta for brown rice or white bread with wholegrain!
you will hopefully see a difference in your body and your mood by doing so also.0 -
Reducing carbs is a means to an end. For some people reducing carbs can help them hit their calorie goals while also hitting their protein goals. Personally, I've found that abstaining from cereal grains is a GREAT way to reduce my overall caloric intake and I feel better physically when I omit them from my diet. I'd rather get my carbs in the form of fruit or non-starchy vegetables.. that way I feel like I'm getting more nutritional bang for my buck rather than eating something like say, cold cereal or bread which I can eat infinite amounts of and never feel satisfied AND not really get a lot of quality nutritional benefit from either. Now maybe my problem is just because I have a wheat sensitivity. (I know, I know, I used to roll my eyes whenever anyone would mention their food "sensitivities" I thought it was all a lot of bull**** until it happened to me!) If you don't have sensitivities to these foods, and you don't overeat on them, and you're coming in under your calorie goals while meeting your protein goals, then I see no reason to change.0
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I do agree with reducing simple carbs and replacing them with complex carbs, even if it's just switching to whole grain stuff. For me the only reason to reduce carbs is to make sure I eat enough protein (100g+ a day), and typically carbs don't fill me up as much as protein anyway, especially as they are higher in calories.0
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YES carbs are carbohydrates. BUT there are good carbs and bad carbs. My rule of thumb is the old rule--nothing WHITE---no white potatoes, no white bread, no white rice and absolutely NO refined sugar. Now I do fine.0
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YES carbs are carbohydrates. BUT there are good carbs and bad carbs. My rule of thumb is the old rule--nothing WHITE---no white potatoes, no white bread, no white rice and absolutely NO refined sugar. Now I do fine.
true that :flowerforyou: especially sugar! it was quite hard for me to cut out sugar but it's certainly worth it! although , i still have my sweet tooth cravings here and there
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YES carbs are carbohydrates. BUT there are good carbs and bad carbs. My rule of thumb is the old rule--nothing WHITE---no white potatoes, no white bread, no white rice and absolutely NO refined sugar. Now I do fine.
Not true that. There is nothing bad about "white carbs"; often, they're not even too nutritionally different from more complex carbs, other than fiber content or a 1-2% difference in micronutrients. White potatoes are a particularly maligned food--if you're not eating it as a french fry, it's a pretty darn good COMPLEX carb.
If you're finding you don't get full or have good energy with those carbs, then by all means, go for denser carbs (straight veggies, whole grain, etc.). Otherwise, these are not going to suddenly ruin your goals unless you have another existing issue (like bloating from carbs like some people get, or any sort of insulin issue).0 -
If reducing your carbohydrates helps you keep under your calorie goals and you can sustain eating that way, by all means do it. That's what I'm doing, reducing but not completely removing. Carbs are not inherently good or bad, just usually very calorie dense and one of the easiest ways to reduce overall calories.0
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There is nothing wrong with carbs but you might want to look at your whole diet and see how much you are getting of the other macros - fat and protein.
If your intake of these things is low then think about increasing them rather than trying to eliminate carbs, of course while still staying within your calorie goal.
Plan your meals based on protein and fats and then however many calories you have left alloted for that meal, fill the remainder with carbs. Many people find that once they focus on getting their protein intake right, the rest falls into place by itself.0 -
If reducing your carbohydrates helps you keep under your calorie goals and you can sustain eating that way, by all means do it. That's what I'm doing, reducing but not completely removing. Carbs are not inherently good or bad, just usually very calorie dense and one of the easiest ways to reduce overall calories.
This!^
I'm not reducing carbs .....but portion control is very important. I can scarf down several hundred calories without thinking.....I know I need to watch portions when I am eating carbs.
Whatever is sutainable for you.
Carbs good & bad debate....... to me there are more nutritious (for the calories) .....or "better" for you carbs. Friut has fiber & vitamins, candy bars not so much. That doesn't mean I will never eat candy bars .... these are not everyday items (anymore) ... just once in awhile items.0 -
You are going to get 2 very different answers here.
There are the people who have had success on just calorie deficit and lots of excerise, and subscribe to the tranditional ideas of healthy balanced diet.
Then there are people who have read the science behind the ketogenic state, the effects carbs have, and related subjects and then had success on a very low carb diet.
I am in the second group, so as unpopular as this can get, if even one person reads the below and gets interested it might help them I'll be happy for them.
carbs, short for carbohydrates. Turn into sugar in your body. High GI vs Low GI or bad vs good carbs, just effects how quickly it becomes sugar.
When your level of blood sugar rises, this is dangerous for your body, so it releases insulin.
Insulin tells the body to store away any of the sugar it can't use up quickly. It stores it as fat. The thing we are trying to lose here.
So what do you need to do? Well the highly 'unpopular' idea of eat more fat. No matter how many thousands of people lose weight and improve their health dramatically this way I bet you still find it hard to believe but just try it.
So lets see what happens when you eat no carbs and eat fat+protein instead.
Most people still want to avoid fat, so they try just eating lots of protein
If you eat protein, the liver can turn this straight into sugar which will give you the same problem as carbs, but this will also strain your liver. It also then teaches your body to eat protein so your muscles may degrade.
So lets see what happens if you eat a diet made mainly of fat?
Your blood sugar level initially drops, as does your energy as the body looks for carbs to burn to sugar(glocose) as energy.
When it cant find any, it looks to what else you have been eating. Some parts of your body can feed on fat directly so do this.
For other organs that need sugar instead, your body first creates things called 'ketones' in your body. These ketones then can turn the fat into fuel for the body to use as energy.
Blood sugar does not rise, so you do not store any fat.
(also dont get up and down hunger cravings caused by up and down of blood sugar)
Any ketones that are not needed for energy you just pee out.
your body is also then full of ketons and in a 'fat burning mode'
so when you eat under your maintenance calories, it is already used to burning fat, so then moves onto eating the fat on your body. BINGO - just what we want right?
Change your macros to 5% carbs (under 20g) 65% fat and 30% protein
Drink a lot of water as carbs cause you to retain water, without carbs you will drop water weight (literally pee more than you drink) so you need to keep hydrated more as you no longer store in in lumps like a camel haha
google 'keto recipies' for ideas of what to eat.
Basically lots of Cheese, full Cream, Red Meats, Chicken, Fish, Dark Green Veg, and NOTHING that says 'fat free' or 'lo fat'as this just means 'extra sugar' in most products anyway.
aim instead for 'sugar free' foods
You still keep within sensible calories but do not have to be quite as strict, also you can still do cardio if you want but it is more recommended to do bodyweight training. Building muscle increases the amount of calories you use in a day, and improves your body from inside, so is better in the long run. You have to do a LOT of cardio to burn off even a few calories, your body soon gets used to it and burns less and less for the same activity and in the end you put pressure on joints and spend hours and hours on the tredmill for nothing0 -
I do not agree with the good carb, bad carb concept. That usually boils down to the quantity of added sugar (added or natural) in whatever food it might be. You will probably read about the Glycemic index at some point too. While this is a scientific value you need to keep in mind they are tested for that specific food. The GI value changes when you mix foods and important thing is how a meal benefits you, not one specific food in that meal.
At the stage you are at the most important thing is the daily deficit. Lowering carbs can be beneficial to some when they get down into the lower BF range, but you have a ways to go before. That said, I do suggest you experiment with lowering your carbs. Studies prove that protein is more filling and it does help some deal with hunger issues. I for one find it helps me. Too many carbs and my brain keeps sending signals that I should have more. That sensation magnifies when I have sweets. Sugar...
Great progress by the way, keep at the daily grind and you will get there.0 -
Hey Joselo - in a nutshell, for me personally, I look at it like I have so many calories to use/spend a day.
The more of those calories that come from protein and fats the more full I stay for longer.
On the other hand, if I use a lot of those calories on carbs then I'm likelier to get hungry sooner and therefore likely to go over my calorie goal.
The problem with this approach is that a lot of 'convenience' foods are carb heavy - Greggs, fish n chips, crisps, pies, ready meals - tend to be made of or full of carbs which don't give you much bang for your calorie buck. And if you're not organised or you're getting food on the run then grabbing a couple of pasties and a butty might be the option you chose. And it might mean for quite a high calorie price you end up hungry quite soon.
It's trial and error honey. you're obviously doing something right - 67lbs! - it's like anything else, you learn more the longer you do it. And you make the choices that fit your lifestyle.
I'd always opt to push more protein into my day if I can because it works for me. But as always there is never one size fits all solution or one right way to do this.
Good luck!0 -
I've done low carb so while I do think it works for me and gives me more energy, I wouldn't recommend maintaining at just 5% of calories from carbs per day for a long amount of time. Atkins recommends about 20g of carbs per day DURING THE FIRST PHASE WHICH LASTS 2 WEEKS.
As far as staying away from everything white, choose whole grain bread instead of white bread, brown rice instead of white rice. Foods with complex carbs instead of simple carbs have more nutritional value to them.
If you're just starting out you may just want to focus on a calorie deficit. Once you get the hang of that you might want to look into making the calories you eat "count" more such as staying away from simple carbs and looking at your protein and fat intake. If you "spend" all your calories on potatos, bread, and rice, then that takes away calories spent on protein and fat.0 -
If reducing your carbohydrates helps you keep under your calorie goals and you can sustain eating that way, by all means do it. That's what I'm doing, reducing but not completely removing. Carbs are not inherently good or bad, just usually very calorie dense and one of the easiest ways to reduce overall calories.
They're also a convenient way to pad out your calories if you're having a hard time "eating healthy" and meeting your target. Starchy carbs are the last part of the meal I select, only after I've planned out sufficient quantities of protein, healthy fat, fruit, and veggies. For a given meal it might be anything from a 60 calorie slice of toast to a 135 calorie sweet potato to a 280 calorie bagel, depending on what else I'm eating and how many calories are available. The only time carbs are considered up front is when they're an integral part of the main course, as with pizza or lasagna.0 -
Well, conflicting views on this as ever, but thatnks for the input everyone. I do sort of feel that carbs aren't my problem. It's more likely just eating too much and too high fat. And the main reason for that is like Nix say- not being organised enough and planning, so grabbing stuff on the go whichtends to be less healthy.0
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just stay away from any 'diet' plan that says you can eat whatever meat and fat, but the carbs in fruit and veggies will make you fat ...0
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yep it's true. you should limit your carb intake. although there are two different kind of carbs: simple and complex. simple carbs are the ones that have high gi and will spike your insulin (which is a fat storing hormone) and give you a mood crash shortly after you eat as it gets quickly absorbed into your blood stream. you may recognize these in the form of sugar laden food like chocolate, donuts etc. you should also note white bread, white pasta, white flour also falls into this range.
Complex carbs are good for you as they are slowly absorbed into your bloodstream and release energy slowly. complex carbs take in the form of grains (brown rice, quinoa, wholegrain bread) , nuts, vegetables
if you want to lose weight, i definitely encourage you to cut out your simple carbs and replace them with complex carbs. it's quality over quantity over here.
even though counting calories can assist you with weight loss, what you really want to do is feed your body with good food and take care of your body. so the best way to reconcile weight loss and feeding your body with nutrients, limit your intake of simple carbs - chocolate, candy, white rice, white pasta. you may wish to replace this with fruit which despite being a simple carb, will satisfy your sweet tooth cravings. i would stick to 1-2 serves a day to avoid insulin spikes. just substitute your white rice and pasta for brown rice or white bread with wholegrain!
you will hopefully see a difference in your body and your mood by doing so also.
Wrong... just wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs out. Unless there is a medical reason to limit carbs, carb intake and source is irrelevant to weight loss. Caloric deficit will provide weight loss. Over feeding your body anything, even "good food" will lead to weight gain. There is no magic.0 -
You are going to get 2 very different answers here.
There are the people who have had success on just calorie deficit and lots of excerise, and subscribe to the tranditional ideas of healthy balanced diet.
Then there are people who have read the science behind the ketogenic state, the effects carbs have, and related subjects and then had success on a very low carb diet.
I am in the second group, so as unpopular as this can get, if even one person reads the below and gets interested it might help them I'll be happy for them.
carbs, short for carbohydrates. Turn into sugar in your body. High GI vs Low GI or bad vs good carbs, just effects how quickly it becomes sugar.
When your level of blood sugar rises, this is dangerous for your body, so it releases insulin.
Insulin tells the body to store away any of the sugar it can't use up quickly. It stores it as fat. The thing we are trying to lose here.
So what do you need to do? Well the highly 'unpopular' idea of eat more fat. No matter how many thousands of people lose weight and improve their health dramatically this way I bet you still find it hard to believe but just try it.
So lets see what happens when you eat no carbs and eat fat+protein instead.
Most people still want to avoid fat, so they try just eating lots of protein
If you eat protein, the liver can turn this straight into sugar which will give you the same problem as carbs, but this will also strain your liver. It also then teaches your body to eat protein so your muscles may degrade.
So lets see what happens if you eat a diet made mainly of fat?
Your blood sugar level initially drops, as does your energy as the body looks for carbs to burn to sugar(glocose) as energy.
When it cant find any, it looks to what else you have been eating. Some parts of your body can feed on fat directly so do this.
For other organs that need sugar instead, your body first creates things called 'ketones' in your body. These ketones then can turn the fat into fuel for the body to use as energy.
Blood sugar does not rise, so you do not store any fat.
(also dont get up and down hunger cravings caused by up and down of blood sugar)
Any ketones that are not needed for energy you just pee out.
your body is also then full of ketons and in a 'fat burning mode'
so when you eat under your maintenance calories, it is already used to burning fat, so then moves onto eating the fat on your body. BINGO - just what we want right?
Change your macros to 5% carbs (under 20g) 65% fat and 30% protein
Drink a lot of water as carbs cause you to retain water, without carbs you will drop water weight (literally pee more than you drink) so you need to keep hydrated more as you no longer store in in lumps like a camel haha
google 'keto recipies' for ideas of what to eat.
Basically lots of Cheese, full Cream, Red Meats, Chicken, Fish, Dark Green Veg, and NOTHING that says 'fat free' or 'lo fat'as this just means 'extra sugar' in most products anyway.
aim instead for 'sugar free' foods
You still keep within sensible calories but do not have to be quite as strict, also you can still do cardio if you want but it is more recommended to do bodyweight training. Building muscle increases the amount of calories you use in a day, and improves your body from inside, so is better in the long run. You have to do a LOT of cardio to burn off even a few calories, your body soon gets used to it and burns less and less for the same activity and in the end you put pressure on joints and spend hours and hours on the tredmill for nothing
Do you even understand the role that insulin plays in the body?? Or that protein releases insulin as well, not just carbs? You do realize that your body NEEDS glucose, right? Does the term gluconeogenisis mean anything to you? I'm not knocking the keto diet - but your lack of understanding and blatant misconceptions doesn't help and is scary.0 -
You are going to get 2 very different answers here.
There are the people who have had success on just calorie deficit and lots of excerise, and subscribe to the tranditional ideas of healthy balanced diet.
Then there are people who have read the science behind the ketogenic state, the effects carbs have, and related subjects and then had success on a very low carb diet.
I am in the second group, so as unpopular as this can get, if even one person reads the below and gets interested it might help them I'll be happy for them.
carbs, short for carbohydrates. Turn into sugar in your body. High GI vs Low GI or bad vs good carbs, just effects how quickly it becomes sugar.
When your level of blood sugar rises, this is dangerous for your body, so it releases insulin.
Insulin tells the body to store away any of the sugar it can't use up quickly. It stores it as fat. The thing we are trying to lose here.
So what do you need to do? Well the highly 'unpopular' idea of eat more fat. No matter how many thousands of people lose weight and improve their health dramatically this way I bet you still find it hard to believe but just try it.
So lets see what happens when you eat no carbs and eat fat+protein instead.
Most people still want to avoid fat, so they try just eating lots of protein
If you eat protein, the liver can turn this straight into sugar which will give you the same problem as carbs, but this will also strain your liver. It also then teaches your body to eat protein so your muscles may degrade.
So lets see what happens if you eat a diet made mainly of fat?
Your blood sugar level initially drops, as does your energy as the body looks for carbs to burn to sugar(glocose) as energy.
When it cant find any, it looks to what else you have been eating. Some parts of your body can feed on fat directly so do this.
For other organs that need sugar instead, your body first creates things called 'ketones' in your body. These ketones then can turn the fat into fuel for the body to use as energy.
Blood sugar does not rise, so you do not store any fat.
(also dont get up and down hunger cravings caused by up and down of blood sugar)
Any ketones that are not needed for energy you just pee out.
your body is also then full of ketons and in a 'fat burning mode'
so when you eat under your maintenance calories, it is already used to burning fat, so then moves onto eating the fat on your body. BINGO - just what we want right?
Change your macros to 5% carbs (under 20g) 65% fat and 30% protein
Drink a lot of water as carbs cause you to retain water, without carbs you will drop water weight (literally pee more than you drink) so you need to keep hydrated more as you no longer store in in lumps like a camel haha
google 'keto recipies' for ideas of what to eat.
Basically lots of Cheese, full Cream, Red Meats, Chicken, Fish, Dark Green Veg, and NOTHING that says 'fat free' or 'lo fat'as this just means 'extra sugar' in most products anyway.
aim instead for 'sugar free' foods
You still keep within sensible calories but do not have to be quite as strict, also you can still do cardio if you want but it is more recommended to do bodyweight training. Building muscle increases the amount of calories you use in a day, and improves your body from inside, so is better in the long run. You have to do a LOT of cardio to burn off even a few calories, your body soon gets used to it and burns less and less for the same activity and in the end you put pressure on joints and spend hours and hours on the tredmill for nothing
Do you even understand the role that insulin plays in the body?? Or that protein releases insulin as well, not just carbs? You do realize that your body NEEDS glucose, right? Does the term gluconeogenisis mean anything to you? I'm not knocking the keto diet - but your lack of understanding and blatant misconceptions doesn't help and is scary.
I don't think you have anything against the diet based on your knowledge of the diet, but you are asking for a bit more clarity right?
She points out the roll of insulin is to help the body process the sugar in the system. The ways of doing this are sending it to where it is needed and if it can't be used right away the insulin and sugar are stored in fat.
She specifically said that a protein heavy diet turns the protein to sugar using the liver, thereby causing insulin to be released.
This part was missing but sometimes in threads like this simplicity is better. The brain, not the body, needs glucose but that does not need to come from carbohydrates. The liver processes amino acids and turns them into glucose for the brain to use, this is called gluconeogenesis . However, very little glucose is required for the brain to function properly and the rest of the fuel required is very easily taken from the ketones which the body makes from fat.
I don't really see where she had any true misconceptions. Though possibly a bit oversimplified. But once again, on threads like this, simplification is often best and then further clarify after questioned about one part of the other. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify some of the issues you had and also hope to help clarify questions others might have had.0 -
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carbs do not make you gain weight ...over eating makes you gain weight.
if you are eating in a calorie deficit, then you can eat carbs and you will still lose.
A good percent setting for your carb macro is 25% (low end) to 35% (higher end)....Now if you are at 60% carbs a day or something it would not hurt to get down to 35 to 40% range to bring your other macros in line...
If you are eating in a calorie surplus then this will make you gain weight, not carbs...
calories in vs calories out ....there is no one food that makes you "fat", overeating does....
This advice is predicated on no overlying medical condition...
this is great advice.0 -
Wrong... just wrong. Weight loss is calories in vs out. Unless there is a medical reason to limit carbs, carb intake and source is irrelevant to weight loss. Caloric deficit will provide weight loss. Over feeding your body anything, even "good food" will lead to weight gain. There is no magic.
Absolutely, there is no magic.
I've been down the Low Carb rabbit hole, there IS no better solution than calories in vs out.
No magic,no raspberry ketones, no insulin = 'fat storage hormone' woo woo.
It all (fat burning) comes back down to burning more energy than is being consumed.
Occam's Razor ... The most simple solution is probably the correct one ...0 -
You are going to get 2 very different answers here.
There are the people who have had success on just calorie deficit and lots of excerise, and subscribe to the tranditional ideas of healthy balanced diet.
Then there are people who have read the science behind the ketogenic state, the effects carbs have, and related subjects and then had success on a very low carb diet.
I am in the second group, so as unpopular as this can get, if even one person reads the below and gets interested it might help them I'll be happy for them.
carbs, short for carbohydrates. Turn into sugar in your body. High GI vs Low GI or bad vs good carbs, just effects how quickly it becomes sugar.
When your level of blood sugar rises, this is dangerous for your body, so it releases insulin.
Insulin tells the body to store away any of the sugar it can't use up quickly. It stores it as fat. The thing we are trying to lose here.
So what do you need to do? Well the highly 'unpopular' idea of eat more fat. No matter how many thousands of people lose weight and improve their health dramatically this way I bet you still find it hard to believe but just try it.
So lets see what happens when you eat no carbs and eat fat+protein instead.
Most people still want to avoid fat, so they try just eating lots of protein
If you eat protein, the liver can turn this straight into sugar which will give you the same problem as carbs, but this will also strain your liver. It also then teaches your body to eat protein so your muscles may degrade.
So lets see what happens if you eat a diet made mainly of fat?
Your blood sugar level initially drops, as does your energy as the body looks for carbs to burn to sugar(glocose) as energy.
When it cant find any, it looks to what else you have been eating. Some parts of your body can feed on fat directly so do this.
For other organs that need sugar instead, your body first creates things called 'ketones' in your body. These ketones then can turn the fat into fuel for the body to use as energy.
Blood sugar does not rise, so you do not store any fat.
(also dont get up and down hunger cravings caused by up and down of blood sugar)
Any ketones that are not needed for energy you just pee out.
your body is also then full of ketons and in a 'fat burning mode'
so when you eat under your maintenance calories, it is already used to burning fat, so then moves onto eating the fat on your body. BINGO - just what we want right?
Change your macros to 5% carbs (under 20g) 65% fat and 30% protein
Drink a lot of water as carbs cause you to retain water, without carbs you will drop water weight (literally pee more than you drink) so you need to keep hydrated more as you no longer store in in lumps like a camel haha
google 'keto recipies' for ideas of what to eat.
Basically lots of Cheese, full Cream, Red Meats, Chicken, Fish, Dark Green Veg, and NOTHING that says 'fat free' or 'lo fat'as this just means 'extra sugar' in most products anyway.
aim instead for 'sugar free' foods
You still keep within sensible calories but do not have to be quite as strict, also you can still do cardio if you want but it is more recommended to do bodyweight training. Building muscle increases the amount of calories you use in a day, and improves your body from inside, so is better in the long run. You have to do a LOT of cardio to burn off even a few calories, your body soon gets used to it and burns less and less for the same activity and in the end you put pressure on joints and spend hours and hours on the tredmill for nothing
Do you even understand the role that insulin plays in the body?? Or that protein releases insulin as well, not just carbs? You do realize that your body NEEDS glucose, right? Does the term gluconeogenisis mean anything to you? I'm not knocking the keto diet - but your lack of understanding and blatant misconceptions doesn't help and is scary.
I don't think you have anything against the diet based on your knowledge of the diet, but you are asking for a bit more clarity right?
She points out the roll of insulin is to help the body process the sugar in the system. The ways of doing this are sending it to where it is needed and if it can't be used right away the insulin and sugar are stored in fat.
She specifically said that a protein heavy diet turns the protein to sugar using the liver, thereby causing insulin to be released.
This part was missing but sometimes in threads like this simplicity is better. The brain, not the body, needs glucose but that does not need to come from carbohydrates. The liver processes amino acids and turns them into glucose for the brain to use, this is called gluconeogenesis . However, very little glucose is required for the brain to function properly and the rest of the fuel required is very easily taken from the ketones which the body makes from fat.
I don't really see where she had any true misconceptions. Though possibly a bit oversimplified. But once again, on threads like this, simplification is often best and then further clarify after questioned about one part of the other. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify some of the issues you had and also hope to help clarify questions others might have had.
You put it more eloquently. The over simplification was one issue I had with the poster. Also, the undertone that the role of insulin is solely a fat storage hormone, and therefore insulin release is bad, is misleading. Labeling glucose as bad or a problem is another issue. Yes, the brain can function on ketones, and some studies suggest it performs better on ketones vs glucose, but your brain needs SOME form of glucose. Glycerol is a byproduct of fat metabolism, and will ALWAYS be used in some part by the brain, even when ketones are present.
Again, nothing against the keto diet. And while you can consume a larger amount of calories when truly in a ketogenic state, overconsumption of fat or protein can still lead to stalled weight loss or weight gain. The satiating properties of a ketogenic diet may make it hard to overeat, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to gain weight or store fat on keto.0 -
You are going to get 2 very different answers here.
There are the people who have had success on just calorie deficit and lots of excerise, and subscribe to the tranditional ideas of healthy balanced diet.
Then there are people who have read the science behind the ketogenic state, the effects carbs have, and related subjects and then had success on a very low carb diet.
I am in the second group, so as unpopular as this can get, if even one person reads the below and gets interested it might help them I'll be happy for them.
carbs, short for carbohydrates. Turn into sugar in your body. High GI vs Low GI or bad vs good carbs, just effects how quickly it becomes sugar.
When your level of blood sugar rises, this is dangerous for your body, so it releases insulin.
Insulin tells the body to store away any of the sugar it can't use up quickly. It stores it as fat. The thing we are trying to lose here.
So what do you need to do? Well the highly 'unpopular' idea of eat more fat. No matter how many thousands of people lose weight and improve their health dramatically this way I bet you still find it hard to believe but just try it.
So lets see what happens when you eat no carbs and eat fat+protein instead.
Most people still want to avoid fat, so they try just eating lots of protein
If you eat protein, the liver can turn this straight into sugar which will give you the same problem as carbs, but this will also strain your liver. It also then teaches your body to eat protein so your muscles may degrade.
So lets see what happens if you eat a diet made mainly of fat?
Your blood sugar level initially drops, as does your energy as the body looks for carbs to burn to sugar(glocose) as energy.
When it cant find any, it looks to what else you have been eating. Some parts of your body can feed on fat directly so do this.
For other organs that need sugar instead, your body first creates things called 'ketones' in your body. These ketones then can turn the fat into fuel for the body to use as energy.
Blood sugar does not rise, so you do not store any fat.
(also dont get up and down hunger cravings caused by up and down of blood sugar)
Any ketones that are not needed for energy you just pee out.
your body is also then full of ketons and in a 'fat burning mode'
so when you eat under your maintenance calories, it is already used to burning fat, so then moves onto eating the fat on your body. BINGO - just what we want right?
Change your macros to 5% carbs (under 20g) 65% fat and 30% protein
Drink a lot of water as carbs cause you to retain water, without carbs you will drop water weight (literally pee more than you drink) so you need to keep hydrated more as you no longer store in in lumps like a camel haha
google 'keto recipies' for ideas of what to eat.
Basically lots of Cheese, full Cream, Red Meats, Chicken, Fish, Dark Green Veg, and NOTHING that says 'fat free' or 'lo fat'as this just means 'extra sugar' in most products anyway.
aim instead for 'sugar free' foods
You still keep within sensible calories but do not have to be quite as strict, also you can still do cardio if you want but it is more recommended to do bodyweight training. Building muscle increases the amount of calories you use in a day, and improves your body from inside, so is better in the long run. You have to do a LOT of cardio to burn off even a few calories, your body soon gets used to it and burns less and less for the same activity and in the end you put pressure on joints and spend hours and hours on the tredmill for nothing
Do you even understand the role that insulin plays in the body?? Or that protein releases insulin as well, not just carbs? You do realize that your body NEEDS glucose, right? Does the term gluconeogenisis mean anything to you? I'm not knocking the keto diet - but your lack of understanding and blatant misconceptions doesn't help and is scary.
I don't think you have anything against the diet based on your knowledge of the diet, but you are asking for a bit more clarity right?
She points out the roll of insulin is to help the body process the sugar in the system. The ways of doing this are sending it to where it is needed and if it can't be used right away the insulin and sugar are stored in fat.
She specifically said that a protein heavy diet turns the protein to sugar using the liver, thereby causing insulin to be released.
This part was missing but sometimes in threads like this simplicity is better. The brain, not the body, needs glucose but that does not need to come from carbohydrates. The liver processes amino acids and turns them into glucose for the brain to use, this is called gluconeogenesis . However, very little glucose is required for the brain to function properly and the rest of the fuel required is very easily taken from the ketones which the body makes from fat.
I don't really see where she had any true misconceptions. Though possibly a bit oversimplified. But once again, on threads like this, simplification is often best and then further clarify after questioned about one part of the other. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify some of the issues you had and also hope to help clarify questions others might have had.
You put it more eloquently. The over simplification was one issue I had with the poster. Also, the undertone that the role of insulin is solely a fat storage hormone, and therefore insulin release is bad, is misleading. Labeling glucose as bad or a problem is another issue. Yes, the brain can function on ketones, and some studies suggest it performs better on ketones vs glucose, but your brain needs SOME form of glucose. Glycerol is a byproduct of fat metabolism, and will ALWAYS be used in some part by the brain, even when ketones are present.
Again, nothing against the keto diet. And while you can consume a larger amount of calories when truly in a ketogenic state, overconsumption of fat or protein can still lead to stalled weight loss or weight gain. The satiating properties of a ketogenic diet may make it hard to overeat, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to gain weight or store fat on keto.
I agree wholeheartedly! The calorie counting thing is one of the major misnomers about it. Many people just tell you that if you eat based on a ketogenic diet you won't have to count calories. While some people don't because the just naturally become full at a deficit with this particular, that does not mean that everyone does. Particularly women need to count calories as the deficit is typically a much smaller window to hit.
I also believe that this isn't a lifestyle for everyone! It is a difficult one to stick to and to master. For me, I have medical reasons that require me to be on a low carb diet for the rest of my life. Right now I am pregnant so I am staying closer to 15% of my calories coming from carbs. But as soon as I can I will be back ketogenic because I feel better on it. Also, I have never been able to lose just by calorie restriction and for people who struggle with that for whatever reason, this could be a good option! But a low carb diet should never be started without doing a ton of research first to find out the correct ways to handle different things associated with the diet!0
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