Low Carb Diet - The Truth and the Lies

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Low carbohydrate diets generally all recommend a low 20-30 grams of carbohydrates a day. Although the types of foods that different low-carb diets recommend is different they almost always recommend against eating anything that has a high glycemic index meaning anything that can be very easily converted to sugar. Foods that take the body a long time to digest are almost always recommended. Processed sugars are always restricted, sometimes even prohibited. The one varying factor that differentiates all the different low-carb diets is the recommended allowance of fats and also what type of fats that can be eaten.

There are a related set of diets called the “Low GI Diets” which basically limits foods that are high in glycemic value. These diets are mostly followed by people who suffer from diabetes and aren’t normally used for people who are trying to lose weight. In reality the function of both diets are almost exactly the same, namely to keep blood sugar levels low and steady through the day. This is to reduce the glycemic response of insulin which is believed to be the agent that allows fat to be deposited on your body.

Ketosis

Ketosis and its recommended state of normalcy which low carbohydrate diets recommend is at the heart of the debate about how successful and safe low-carb diets really are. The professional health industry and even the medical profession simply cannot accept the fact that our bodies are supposed to run on a state of ketosis rather than the normal glucose fuelled state that we are normally in when consuming a carbohydrate rich diet.

Let’s first look at how our normal glucose fuelled metabolic system works. Simple carbohydrates like starches and sugars tend to be broken down very easily by the normal digestive processes and produces glucose. The glucose is then carried into the bloodstream which then supplies all the cells in the body with energy. The problem is that we consume too much carbohydrates and the body actually puts too much glucose into the blood system. This can be fatal if not regulated (think diabetes). When the body sense that it has rising blood sugar levels it will have the pancreas produce insulin which will cause the liver to convert glucose into glycogen and triglycerides. It is these triglycerides that will be deposited around your body as fat.

With a diet that has very little carbohydrates and sugars the blood sugar levels can become low and have to be push up to maintain normal function. When blood sugar goes too low the body will have the pancreas produce glucagons. Glucagon will cause the conversion of any glycogen that you have stored in your muscles into glucose for your metabolic systems’ use. Once all the glycogen stores have been emptied then the body goes into ketosis, which is the last metabolic state and also the preferred metabolic state that most low-carb diets prefer.

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