Thursday, September 18, 2008

Do Low Carb Diets Work?

We noticed that the latest trend in losing weight methods stands in low carb diets. The one example that always appears is the Atkins Diet and the truth is that we are faced with a lot of mixed opinions in weight loss and nutrition. This is why it is quite hard to understand how a low carb diet works and since information is the key let us take a look at this topic so that it can be properly understood.

First of, it is clear why people find low carb diets as a good way to go. We all finally understand that a high carb and low fat approach to nutrition does not work. Such a diet actually makes us fatter and will also lead to illness and diseases. Just think about the fact that most Americans eat too many carbs and not enough dietary fats, thus having poor health. We also notice that many individuals try to cut out carbs as much as possible, which is again a bad idea.

In order to not avoid the topic we can keep it simple in the sense that reducing carbs from your diet will make you lose weight. The problem is that you do not lose that much body fat. The human body will hold around 2.4 grams of water for 1 gram of carbohydrate we consume. If you remove the carbs from your diet you will not hold as much water so we are heading towards artificial weight loss. To make it even worse, you will not only lose water but you will also have less muscle glycogen. This will make you feel energy-less. Our brain also uses carbs for energy. Not having enough in your system will immediately mean that you brain will not work properly.

You surely heard a lot of people that say that carbs are stored as fat in our bodies. This is extremely wrong as any excess energy will be stored in our bodies as fat and it does not matter if it is an apple or high cholesterol sauce. Too much is always too much and it does not matter what that much is.

Carbs are important in our daily diets and they do come with vital nutrients that you will not find in any other foods. They are needed in small to moderate quantities even if you do not work out. To make it even better, when you exercise the carbs are stored in our muscles and not as fat. The bottom line is that you can eat foods that are high on carbs and still lose weight. The problems always stand in overdoing everything. Remember that you need carbs and you should focus on fruits, whole grains, vegetables and beans. Pay attention to how active you are and eat less carbs only when you do not workout. In days when you exercise you have to eat more carbs than when not exercising. To make it all even better, after you work out you can actually eat a lot more carbs. This includes ice cream. Keeping a balanced diet and working out is the right way to lose weight.

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