July 18, 2011
The Truth About Long Term, Low-Carb Diets
by Lee Labrada
Low carb diets. You hear about them practically everywhere you go. Just check out your local bookstore and you’re bound to find several books on this subject from purported “experts” in the field.
The Truth About Long Term, Low-Carb Diets
Here are my two cents:
As you may know, your brain runs exclusively on glucose. That’s why low carbohydrate diets are very hard on your mental capabilities; like focusing and thinking.
The reason for this is that anytime your carbohydrate intake dips below 40-60 grams per day, your body goes into ketosis and your blood glucose levels suffer. This means less glucose for your brain.
I’ve had friends that have been on low carbohydrate diets that have forgotten where they live, and not remembered their way home after a workout!
I had an unpleasant low carb experience myself where I almost literally passed out from ingesting too few carbohydrates and calories while preparing for the Mr. Olympia competition way back in 1988.
Several weeks before the competition, I was doing a guest posing exhibition in Seattle. My wife, Robin, had accompanied me for this trip and we were in our hotel room preparing to go catch a workout.
We packed our gym bags, and went down to the garage to find our car. Walking through the garage I suddenly felt my legs give out from underneath me and my vision blacking out.
I realized immediately what had happened, regained my composure, and got a quick bite to eat to bring my blood sugar levels back to an appropriate level. It was a very scary experience and it taught me that I could never bring my carbohydrate intake down below a certain point without risking my health (and possibly life and limb!)
The point here is this: If you are involved in any kind of activity where you need to be able to think and focus, and most of us do, then a low carbohydrate diet is definitely not for you. In fact, I only recommend a low carbohydrate diet for a short period of time and then under the supervision of a doctor.
Here are some other reasons why I do NOT recommend long-term, low carbohydrate diets:
1. You can’t follow this type of diet for life. Sooner or later you will fail, because your carb-hungry body will fight you every step of the way.
2. Low-carb diets decrease a thyroid hormone (T3) that helps to regulate your metabolism. This means when you start eating carbohydrates again (and you will at some point) you will likely gain back all of the weight you’ve lost, fast.
3. The quick weight loss you may experience on a no (or low) carb diet is initially attributed to a loss of body water and not body fat. This is only a temporary weight loss.
4. You will break down muscle tissue for energy, which decreases muscle tone, and further decreases your metabolism.
5. You will increase your risk of heart disease, cancer, and obesity. Low carb diets, such as the Atkin’s Diet, call for an increase in “bad fat” consumption.
6. You will rob yourself of ample amounts of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and nutrients which enhance and promote health.
As you can see, the low- or no-carb diet has many flaws that impact your ability to succeed in controlling your body fat levels, for the long run.
Conversely, super high carb diets aren’t the solution either. High carb diets tend to skyrocket a fat storing hormone called insulin. High carb diets are notoriously low in protein, which can also have terrible consequences on your ability to build muscle, and maintain a high metabolism.
The Solution?
I’ve discovered that a diet containing moderate amounts of protein (around 30-40%), moderate carbs (around 40-50%) and lower amounts of fat (around 20%) works best for most men and women, and can easily be followed for life!
Until next time, I am
Lee Labrada
Your Lean Body Coach™
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5 Responses for The Truth About Long Term, Low-Carb Diets
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Carl
July 19, 2011 4:03 pm
Well Said, Beverly… I agree..
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Herman
August 3, 2011 11:44 am
I agree with Lee, I had several problems myself with low sugar levels. There is no better diet than a “BALANCED” diet.
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Kate
August 3, 2011 4:02 pm
Lee, I’m disappointed to read this from you, as usually your articles are great. I really feel like you missed the mark here, though. I’m not going to go into refuting each point but I’ll touch on the really glaring misconceptions.
The “foggy” effect of low carb diets is your body going into Ketosis. The whole point of Ketosis is your body switching over from glucose to fatty acids as fuel. The foggy effect a) lasts only for a short amount of time and b) does not happen to everyone. You make it sound like people go full retard after a few days without sugar – that’s ridiculous. Give it a week and you’ll be fine.
Dieting in general lowers your thyroid hormones. The studies I have read indicate this is the same for low and high carb diets. If you have real information to back this up, I’d like to see it.
The link between heart disease and “bad” fat is tenuous at best. There is no such thing as ‘bad’ fat as long as it comes from a natural source. The Atkins Diet became popular in the 70′s – don’t you think we’d be seeing scores of people dropping dead from heart disease if this was true? But the truth is, saturated fat from red meat is not bad for you. Food that comes in a cellophane wrapper, is fried in fatty oil, or designed to outlive our children – that is bad for you.
If you don’t find that low carb diet is for you, that’s fine – like Beverly said, it’s all individual. But I don’t think someone as respected as you, Lee, should be going around pushing all these BS pseudo-science myths. Study after study has shown that low-carb is just as viable as any other diet program.
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Charles Mclaughlin
August 8, 2011 2:19 am
I think what Lee is pointing out is that a diet that consist of low carbs is one that could potentially lead to serious health problems at any time. His recommendations are sound since the average person is able to tolerate carbohydrates at this threshold. The main problem is that certain carbohydrates digest really quickly in the blood stream causing insulin to rise. I believe its more of what type of carbohydrates someone is consuming instead of how many carbohydrates. They are twp different types of ways to measure how carbohydrates affect blood sugar. There is the G.I. Chart and G.L. Chart. Both can be beneficial in different ways. The main problem with the G.I. Chart is that it measure how this one particular foods affect blood sugar but doesn’t take into the account of how it is measure when we eat it with other foods. Protein plays a critical part in reducing the amount of insulin that is released. The best way to lose body fat is through meal planning, carb tapering, carb pre and post workout, and measuring your waist line on a weekly basis. If I have trouble losing body fat than I need to increase my cardio intensity, increase my water intake, decrease my food intake, increase my green vegetables, sleep more, and increase my intensity in the gym. I do not mean duration but to increase the intensity within the exercise. I select harder exercises to ensure muscle stimulation. Here is a sample.
Lat Pulldowns —–> Chin-Ups or Pull-Ups
Seated Rows ——> Dumbbell Rows
Good Mornings —–> Deadlifts
Bench Press ——–> Push-Ups
Side Raises ———> Shoulder Press
Leg Press————> SquatsI think you get the picture. Your body needs to be stimulated to keep losing fat and gain muscle. Once your body becomes accustomed to your current program than it has no reason to lose body fat or gain muscle.
Carl
July 18, 2011 8:51 pm
This moderate intake of carbs you talk about IS a low carb diet for most people. Most people ARE over weight… Why? Because they over eat carbs..