my latest blog post - Low carb diets

SHBoss1673

http://banks1850-machinations.blogspot.com/2011/03/low-carb-diets.html

hope you guys like it. feel free to follow it, share it, comment on it, or question me about it.

-Banks.

tammietifanie

bumping!!!!!!

ladyhawk00

Off to read....

cmriverside

Thanks Steve, great blog post. I appreciate your level headed approach. :flowerforyou:

coronalime

great blog post! Wish I could follow it but I dont have any of those accts...

kelika71

Job well done!! I'm a Type 2 Diabetic and I don't follow that "low carb" stuff. As of Dec. my doc said he was staying out of my way because I was in "maintenance mode" for controlling my sugars. I firmly believe there is a place for carbs, especially if I don't want to come crashing down. I stay just under 200 grams/day and spread them out almost evenly except for the meal before my workout.
I just wish people would see that carbs aren't the enemy. There are better ones than others, obviously, but everything in moderation is just fine.

Thank you for this!!

Elzecat

BUMP

bizco

Another great post from Banks. Thank you!

chrisdavey

So can be beneficial for short term weight loss (for a weigh in for example) but not recommended long term.

lodro

Indeed:

My knowledge comes from 2nd hand sources. I NEVER participated in a low carb diet for any extended period.

And then come the usual sweeping statements and confusing one way of eating with another.

I'm sorry, I'm passing this one. Neither do I find it balanced.

Lyadeia

BRAVO!!!

As someone who did a low carb approach for a while...and not losing anymore fat than doing a balanced diet with calorie deficit, this blog was music to my ears. I did, however, lose one very important this doing low carb long term as opposed to balanced diet.

MY ENERGY.

Carbs are certainly not our enemies. In fact, when I get ready to a strenuous heart pounding workout, they are concidered my best dietary friends. :flowerforyou:

lodro

Many people get stuck in Atkins induction phase and then take that as their model for "low carb". With the standard diet so insanely high in carbohydrates, anything less than 100g carbohydrates daily would be considered "low carb". Weight loss should not be the first on people's minds when reducing carbohydrates: for those who are insulin resistant, improving their insulin response and improving bio markers that are related to insulin secretion is far more important, I think.

SHBoss1673

lodro, I gotta ask this as it seems like you're just randomly posting stuff and I can't seem to understand why, what was the meaning of your first reply, was that an insult or something? It went right over my head.

This last post, for the life of me, I can't really understand why you post it. To my knowledge, I didn't mention Atkins at all, nor will I unless someone asks.

It almost feels like you're answering a question, but .... nobody asked any questions, so I guess you're just defending low carb? I dunno, I mean, nobody attacked it so it just seems weird to me.

SHBoss1673

So can be beneficial for short term weight loss (for a weigh in for example) but not recommended long term.

It's quite the opposite actually. Low carb is something people choose for a variety of reasons, people who have grain allergies, or gluten allergies often choose low carb, people who are treating a specific condition do it as well, these are perfectly valid reasons. but they are lifestyle choices, not temporary fixes. body builders do it sometimes right before competition to remove hydration and make the body tighten up, but that's something else entirely (and not something I specifically condone mind you). In the short term, essentially, all you lose is water. Well, let me rephrase that. You don't lose any more fat than you would with any other diet, AND you lose water, which doesn't really help anything and can become an issue if hydration levels aren't monitored quite closely.

zcosborne86

Great post SHBoss, I've just started a low carb diet so this is a great help and an exceptional read. Would you mind if I added you so I can check out your other blogs?

Thank you

SHBoss1673

Great post SHBoss, I've just started a low carb diet so this is a great help and an exceptional read. Would you mind if I added you so I can check out your other blogs?

Thank you

not at all. Feel free.

ladybug1620

I have a question. Can you clarify what is considered a carb in a "low carb" diet? I never followed Atkins or any other low carb diet, but I thought the goal of that type of diet was to cut out bread, pasta, rice, AND any fruit/veggie/etc that might have carbs or sugars.

I am considering cutting out the breads, pastas, etc to an extent (allowing myself one small serving per day). I will still eat my daily fruit (usually a banana, strawberries, blackberries, or some mix of these) and vegetables (usually broccoli, salad, or other veggies). Would this be considered low carb and have the negative effects you mention?

dave4d

How many carbs do you consider "low carb" I try to balance my proteins and carbs, for the most part. I am usually over my sugar levels due to fruit. I probably average 150 grams or more per day.

SHBoss1673

How many carbs do you consider "low carb" I try to balance my proteins and carbs, for the most part. I am usually over my sugar levels due to fruit. I probably average 150 grams or more per day.

It depends on what your lifestyle is like really. For someone who is more into resistance (weight training and such), then higher protein levels are necessary for muscle growth and repair, and thus, carb levels are going to be lower. I consider anything above 35% to be normal carbs, and below 35% to be "low carb" but only those that are below about 15% to be ketogenic. Entering ketosis is different for everyone, but it usually happens around 15 to 20%.

NOW
for someone who does a lot of cardio and HIIT training, it's probably better to stay around 40% or higher, simply because glycogen reserves are depleted quickly with lots of cardio training and HIIT training.

For myself, I'm pretty balanced between types (2 days of HIIT, 2 days of cardio, and 2 days of resistance) I do 45% carbs, 30% protein, 25% fats

SHBoss1673

I have a question. Can you clarify what is considered a carb in a "low carb" diet? I never followed Atkins or any other low carb diet, but I thought the goal of that type of diet was to cut out bread, pasta, rice, AND any fruit/veggie/etc that might have carbs or sugars.

I am considering cutting out the breads, pastas, etc to an extent (allowing myself one small serving per day). I will still eat my daily fruit (usually a banana, strawberries, blackberries, or some mix of these) and vegetables (usually broccoli, salad, or other veggies). Would this be considered low carb and have the negative effects you mention?

it depends on how much veggies you're considering. Fruits generally have a decent amount of carbs (sugar, any type of sugar, is a carbohydrate), but fruits usually also contain fiber and other good stuff that can mitigate the carbohydrate effect (somewhat). Breads, rices, and pasta's are carbs yes, but I think you're thinking more of gluten than carbohydrates. The body doesn't care whether a carb comes from veggies or from wonder bread. The difference is mainly in how fast that carb can be broken down and re-built as glucose, and THAT depends on what type of carb it is. Excess simpler sugars can result in to much energy coming in all at once, the only option your body has at that point is to send it along, if there's to much for the body to use at any one point, it becomes free floating blood sugar, and that's fine until your blood sugar also gets to high, which causes the body to start storing it as fat. Thats a main reason why the medical community says eat "good" carbs, these are usually more complex sugars and/or are locked up with fiber (like lots of veggies, and whole grains that haven't been processed to remove parts of the grain husks), fiber forces the digestion process to take longer, and thus metering out the digestion of carbs.

cacrat

Just as a technical aside, the process is ketogenesis. The state that the body is in is ketosis. Saw that you switched the two in your blog.

cacrat

Just as a technical aside, the process is ketogenesis. The state that the body is in is ketosis. Saw that you switched the two in your blog.