High Protein Low Carb Diets – What You Need to Know

 

Everyone wants to get rid of unwanted body flab and look beautiful. In order to get a beach-ready body, women are willing to go to any extent. Weight loss treatments, diet pills, and fad diets have become the norm today. Unfortunately, everyone wants to lose weight fast that too without any pains. Fad diets such as Mediterranean diet and GM diet have all become very popular but these are very extreme diets that almost eliminate certain foods from the diet to attain fast weight loss. One such diet is the high protein, low carb diet. Most people are familiar with high protein diets that are nothing but disguised low carb diets. No matter what you call them, their sole aim is to cut down on carbs from your diet and replace them with foods rich in protein. As such, you are required to choose foods in a way that you get 30% to 50% of the total calories from protein alone.

The Atkins diet is a classic example of a high protein low carb diet though this diet has its own set of pros and cons. To understand them, you need to look at the way high protein diets work. In these diets, carbohydrates are restricted to such an extent that they are reduced to a mere fraction of that found in an average American diet. As a result, the body goes into a metabolic state called as ketosis that forces it to burn its own fat for fuel. Under normal circumstances, your body uses carbohydrates for fuel required for your brain, heart and other vital organs. However, when the body is in ketosis, it gets its energy from ketones, which are tiny carbon fragments formed after the breakdown of fat stores. While in this state, you are bound to feel less hungry and thus consume lesser food.

Once on the high protein, low carb diet, you transform your body from a carbohydrate-burning machine to a fat-burning machine. Thus, instead of consuming lots of carbohydrates and keeping your fat stores on your thighs, hips, and belly intact, you make fat as your primary source of energy. The purported result of such a diet is rapid fat loss and drastic reduction in your size.

Although ketosis does play a major role in weight loss, it also brings along a host of health problems. Your kidney is hugely impacted with a high protein diet. As a result, you may develop kidney disease at a very early age. High protein foods increase the cholesterol levels in your body putting you at a risk of cancer, stroke, and heart disease. You may also develop osteoporosis and kidney stones since the diet causes you to excrete more calcium than usual through the urine. By saying “no” to carbohydrate-containing foods, you also forbid yourself from consuming minerals, fiber, vitamins, and anti-oxidants they contain. This could put you at a risk of developing cancer.

The only way to strike a balance between proteins and carbohydrates and yet attain weight loss is to consume a diet that includes grains, fruits, legumes, and vegetables in the right proportions.

Seven Things you Should Know About Low Carb Diet

1. Any weight loss or diet plan, including low-carb plans like the induction phase of the Atkins Diet will result in water loss during the first week or two. However, one of the real beauties of following a low carbohydrate eating plan is that most of the weight loss than extends beyond the initial induction phase of the diet is really from a drop in fat pounds.

2. Low carb diets can be classified as food plans that require keeping carbohydrates as low as 3% and never more than about 25 to 30%. This is much lower than the 50 to 60% recommended by most good scientists and valid research. Low carb diets include programs like Atkins, Protein Power, The Zone, Sugar Busters and the South Beach diet.

3. Diets at both the top and bottom extremes have their problems. Anyone can lose weight on a diet – fad or otherwise – for a week, a month or even six months. But, for a weight loss program to be truly effective, your diet must become part of your lifestyle and the basis of everyday food choices. Besides health concerns, too many people find both low carb and high carb diets difficult to stick with for a lifetime. Your best bet is to develop a low calorie, healthy eating lifestyle that includes regular moderate exercise.

4. Low carb diets can lead to weight loss, health benefits and an entire lifestyle change – however you don’t have to give up everything you enjoy in order to experience rapid weight loss.

5. All of the low carb diets are consistent on this one fact though – you need to overcome short-term cravings to ensure long term weight loss success. There is definite scientific proof linking simple carbohydrates, such as sugar, to cravings you have for more food.

6. Just by reducing the simple carbs in your diet such as sugar, milk, some fruit you can make a big difference in curbing your cravings for more food.

7. By focusing on foods that trigger chemical and biological reactions in your body resulting in cravings, you can burn fat and increase your health at the same time.

What You Should Know About Low Carb Diets

Low carb diets often seen in Atkins and Zone diets have been a popular choice among most weight watchers. There are explanations behind the low carb diets and why they have a role to play in weight loss.

The Insulin Factor

It all boils down to the simple theory that high carbohydrate foods when taken in excess cause you to gain weight. The reason is simple. High-carb foods when taken will cause your blood sugar to rise quickly. The body secrets a hormone called insulin which carries the extra sugar to the liver and muscles to be stored and any excess sugar are converted to fat. If the amount of carbohydrates intake is immediately converted to sugar, there is no problem with our blood sugar level as it is in a balance mode. On the other hand, if there is an over consumption of carbohydrates food, insulin is required to work harder and more will be produced and in time to come, the insulin becomes less responsive. This leads to diabetes and other health issues.

The Fat and Protein Factor

If we consume a low carbohydrate diet, the available carbs are easily used up so the body will turn to fat and even protein for the energy it needs when the carbs sources run out. This is the basis behind the Atkins diet that promotes a low carb diet but high protein and fat component. We are aware that a diet that is rich in protein has been commonly linked to bad cholesterols and heart related complications. However, there were interesting studies to show that low carbohydrate diets are more effective than low- fat diets though the calories count are the same.

Choose Complex Carbs

Let us review the types of carbohydrates that are available. We have the simple carbs such as sweets, fizzy drinks and white bread that get digested quickly and converted to energy for use in the body. Unlike simple carbs, the digestion and conversion of complex carbs such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables are slower and you don’t get that sugar spike followed by a sugar crash. Therefore it makes sense that unrefined carbs are naturally the best choices due to its high fiber content, its low calorie along with the many antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. In fact, the very low calorie content of these fruits and vegetables is enough to result in negative calorie expenditure for the body. Thus you will lose weight no doubt about it.

Low Calorie or Low Carbs

For weight watchers, if you think that all low carb fad diet is good, you better rethink. Low carb diet is good enough if you take a conscious effort to include whole natural foods such as fruits and organic vegetables in your diet instead of following a particular low carb fad diet blindly. For example, some low carb diet recommends an extreme low percentage of carbs to calories, for example 20 per cent of the total calories consumed. Even then the carbohydrates recommended should come strictly from non-starchy vegetables. In addition, there are some low carb diets that tell you to continue eating pasta, ice-cream and cookies due to their low calorie content but these are processed foods. There are concerns that these fad diets, if followed long-term, may lead to kidney, and other health complications.

Consuming a balanced and healthy mix of food combined with regular exercise is still the most effective and safe method to lose weight permanently. The results may be slow but you can still lose weight with discipline and determination.