When trying to lose weight, the first thing many people do is to remove carbohydrates from their diet. They look at a scale and see a reduction in weight for the first month. They are happy at first, but that doesn’t last. In fact, research shows that only 20% of them are able to maintain this weight. Why do you think that is?
Carbohydrates are a major source of fuel for the body. The Central Nervous System relies on carbs to function properly. Your body runs on Glucose. Carbohydrates help the body use fat more efficiently and also provide dietary fiber. Since carbs have as much as 3 times the water as other nutrients, they help your body keep hydrated (60% of your body weight is water) . Three days of reduced carbohydrate intake can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and ketosis (increased blood acids), which are associated with nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and irritability according to American Council on Exercise (ACE Personal Trainer Manual -Third Edition- P126). This is because you are reducing glycogen (your energy source) and water intake. So guess what!? The immediate weight loss you see is most likely due to water loss. Low-carb diets tend not to last for long because they make you tired all the time and can lead to health problems. Carbs are the most important nutrient for exercising muscles.
Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat, Vitamins, Minerals, and water are the six major classes of nutrients. You should consume at least 50-65% of your total calories from carbs (a minimum of 125 grams, optimal 350-400 grams) on the assumption that you exercise regulary. (You should be exercising to lose weight anyway!) These should eat more nourishing carbs such as whole grain breads w/ no additives or preservatives, brown rice, un-processed corn, millet, and buckweat rather than undernourished carbs or sugars such as white breads, conventionally prepared pasta, long rice, and Satsuma (Island/Okinawa sweet potato). Carbs doesn't make you gain weight, but over-consumption of calories and lack of exercise/activity do. So, Eat the GOOD Carbs!
For more information:
www.NEJM.com
www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/
www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nutrition/carbohydrate.asp
www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php
Comments
Uh. Wrong. Your body can burn fat for a long time without needing any carbs, and will turn fat and protein into the fuel it needs. When carbs are present, fats are stored. When carbs aren't present, fats are burned. Your body burns carbs first, then uses fat. Ketoacidosis is the condition to worry about, not ketosis. People need to do serious research, not listen to people who don't read primary research.
2Sharon; I think you're missing the point of this article. Are you saying that the body has to have zero carbs before it starts burning fat? Think about that statement for a little bit. If that was true, then we'd all be in the hospital whenever we burned even one ounce of fat (due to hypoglycemia). When someone goes on a low-carb diet, the proteins they eat are converted into sugars and may cause ketosis (like this article says).
Either way, this article does not talk about burning fat for a long time before needing carbs, it simply explains (correctly) what happens when one goes on these types of diets.
If you went online and visited one of the many low-carb forums, you would find many people who have managed the following: they have lost a lot of weight easily; they have maintained their weight loss easily; they have managed to successfully deal with various health issues through keeping their carb intake very low. 350-400g of carbohydrates is not ideal; this would make many people unable to lose weight. Read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" before you next sound off about low-carb diets: this article is poorly researched and some of it (ketosis does not equal ketoacidosis) is just plain wrong!!!
When does this article say anything about ketoacidosis? Any ketone bodies (including acetone) are going to make your blood more acidic. Just because you haven't reached that magic threashold between ketosis and ketoacidosis doesn't change the fact that ketone bodies are acids.
You want research? How about the American Medical Association?
atkinsexposed.org/atkins/75/American_Medical_Association.htm
Now please stop defending your fad diets! Next thing you know you guys will be trying to sell me on one of those 3-day detox diets.
The subject of low carb dieting always starts a debate. Weight loss is a matter of Energy In vs Energy Out. Restricting an entire food group is not the ideal way to lose weight. Until people really understand this, there will always be a pro vs con debate for all diets.
Anyways, there is a lot of research supporting benefits and drawbacks of a low carb diet. Granted, benefits such as lowered blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and decreased triglycerides have been reported with low/reduced carb diets.
However, there was a reseach published by the New England Journal of Medicine that compared participants on a low carb/high fat vs low fat/high carb diet (not 100% similar to your topic) for 2 months. As one would have expected, after the initial 6 months, the low carb particants lost more weight then the low fat dieters. Interestingly, during the next 6 months, the stats were virtually identical for both groups because the low carb dieters reportedly gained back the initial weight lost.
Low carbohydrate intake, below 130 grams (many low carb diets suggest levels as low or lower) may impact brain funtioning. In fact, a research conducted by Tufts University found that those who followed a low carb diet performed worse on tasks involving memory and also experiences slower reaction times. This is not a surprise considering that the brain requires glucose as energy.
Another area that may also be affected from long term carb restriction (<100 gms/day) is muscle tissue breakdown. Since our muscles store glycogen, our body will breakdown tissue to release the glucose we need. Unfortunately, when we lose muscle tissue, we lose the metabolic activity it provides. Granted, ingesting up to 350-400 g/carb (1400-1600 cals) may not be ideal for those with lower daily caloric expenditures. Many active people need even more.
If it's about weight loss, keep this in mind:
Less muscle results in less calorie burning which then leads to eventual weight gain even with a low carb diet.
Sharon does bring up a valid point. However, diets do work BUT it does not work for many. Frequently, it doesn't work for long either. What she doesn't mention is if she is active or exercises. As an endurance athlete, I've experienced the dreaded "bonk" like many. The "bonk" or "hitting the wall" is a result of our body running out of sugar not fat! You can't cut carbs out for too long or too low.
For someone like myself who thrives on less than 30% carb diet, this article is rather disturbing. I would like to ask you if you have ever tried a restricted carb diet? Personal experience (as well as scientific evidence) tells me that energy is infact increased as well as overall health. Carbohydrates DO NOT help the body use fat more efficiently. They help the body to store fat. A standard diet of 55 to 65 % of carbs in the diet is precisely what led to the epidemic of both obesity & diabetes in this country. You are dispensing unhealthy and inaccurate advice. For the science behing proper nutrition you can go to the Metabolism Society website.
www.MetabolismSociety.org
Ketosis is a perfectly normal metabolic state. We would not have survived as a species long enough to develop agriculture (and obesity) without it.
I find it particularly distressing to see this much misinformation on a blog from Hawaii. Perhaps you should ask yourself why 12% of Native Hawaiians have diabetes. It's the CARBS.
"When someone goes on a low-carb diet, the proteins they eat are converted into sugars and may cause ketosis (like this article says)."
Actually, ketones are a product of FAT metabolism. If you're going to preach about the dangers of fad diets, try learning something about human metabolism first.
P.S. Brains run better on ketones than on glucose. The more mitochondria a cell has, the better it runs on ketones. There are a few cell types in the human body that have few to no mitochondria, and they need glucose, but you can make that from protein. That's how you can have a fasting glucose level even after not eating for 12 hours. Ever wonder about that?
Ketoacidosis IS a different condition from throwing ketones. Ketones are acids, but in the healthy body they are balanced out by other chemicals in your system being alkaline. (And before you start in about bones dissolving, calcium is not the only buffer against acidity--glutamine is another, and it comes from animal protein.) Ketoacidosis is a particular type of metabolic acidosis of which one symptom is the throwing of ketones but it is also associated with high glucose levels or toxicity from drinking too much alcohol. If you're low-carbing, by definition you do not have high glucose levels and presumably you don't drink very often either, as that messes with your fat-burning. The body has certain fuel preferences: if alcohol is present it's burned first, then any excess glucose, then fatty acids and ketones.
How do you think someone lives for thirty days or more on no food, though? They have to get energy from somewhere. Obviously they're breaking stuff down to get that energy. Body fat is one source. And if in the process of LCing you get enough protein, you spare your lean tissue. That means that overwhelmingly it's the body fat that goes away.
Elementary stuff. Nothing worth arguing over.
Another thing about the energy in versus energy out. That's sort of true. Only sort of. But I think people lose sight of the many different ways a calorie can be expended. We seem to have gotten it into our heads that calories can only be burned by exercising. Not true. They are expended in other ways, and they aren't even always burned.
Fatty acids from dietary fat and amino acids from proteins are often not used for fuel in the first place, especially with a high-carb diet. Instead they're used as building blocks for cells, tissues, and organs all over your body. This would be why nutritionists speak of "essential" fats and "essential" proteins--these are fats and proteins you must eat for rebuilding purposes because your body can't make them. There is, however, no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.
We can make glucose from protein, and a very little from fat (I think it's something like 15 percent of all fat calories, potentially--the process is too "expensive" in energy terms for the body to do it very much), so there's no reason to eat it. But if we do eat glucose sources, we must do something with that glucose IMMEDIATELY or else it can damage the body. This is why diabetics with uncontrolled blood sugar lose their eyesight, kidneys, and limbs and why a diabetic appears to age so quickly.
So with glucose calories, of course you're going to have to burn those off if you don't want them stored as fat. As long as your body is insulin-sensitive, it's going to be one or the other. So, logically, those are the calories you want to control first. The other calories you eat may or may not be utilized as fuel, and nobody has really figured out how to calculate that yet.
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