Opponents to low-carbohydrate diet plans often claim that these diets pose significant health risks due to the restrictions they place on some healthy foods. A low-carbohydrate diet, for example, may allow you to eat red meat that's high in saturated fat while prohibiting you from enjoying certain starchy fruits and vegetables. Eating a low-carbohydrate diet in moderation, however, allows you to obtain the nutrition your body needs while also enjoying health benefits you may not receive from other types of diet plans.
Higher HDL Cholesterol
A 2010 Heartwire report notes that individuals on a low-carbohydrate diet have higher HDL cholesterol levels than those adhering to a low-fat diet plan. HDL or "good" cholesterol, carries LDL cholesterol through the bloodstream to the liver, where the liver removes it from the body. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute notes that the higher your HDL cholesterol level, the lower your risk of ever developing heart disease, since LDL cholesterol could otherwise build up along the walls of your arteries -- restricting crucial blood flow to your heart.
Weight Management
Your body's preferred energy source is carbohydrates. When you eat carbohydrates, your body converts those nutrients into glucose which it uses to provide you with energy. In the absence of carbohydrates, your body will instead burn its fat reserves for energy. Therefore, limiting the carbohydrates in your diet helps you maintain your weight and prevents obesity by encouraging your body to burn fat. Preventing obesity is important since obesity can cause health problems such as heart disease and gallbladder problems.
Nutrition
By exchanging carbohydrate-rich starches, such as potatoes, white rice and noodles, for lower carb fare, such as leafy greens and whole grains, you aren't only reducing your carbohydrate intake, you're increasing the amount of nutrients your body receives from food. Leafy greens contain calcium, vitamin C and antioxidants to fuel natural processes such as bone formation and immune system function.
Whole grains contain carbohydrates, but these carbohydrates are lower on the glycemic index. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, foods lower on the glycemic index digest more slowly--helping you avoid a rapid increase in blood sugar that can lead to weight gain and other long-term health problems such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Lower Blood Pressure
The BBC News reports that a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrates that low-carbohydrate diets are beneficial at reducing blood pressure. High blood pressure, a condition known as hypertension, can cause blood vessels to constrict and increase your risk of a stroke.
While weight loss often lowers blood pressure levels, the study suggests that limiting your carbohydrate intake can have a added positive effect on your blood pressure. A total of 47 percent of the study's low-carb dieters were able to stop taking their blood pressure medication as a result of reducing the carbohydrates present in their diet while only 21 percent reduced their blood pressure levels enough to cease their medication when adhering to a low-fat diet.
References
- HeartWire: Similar Weight Loss, HDL Edge for Low-carb vs. Low-fat in Randomized Diet Study
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: What Is Cholesterol?
- Weight Control Information Network: Do You Know the Health Risks of Being Overweight?
- Harvard School of Public Health: Carbohydrates--Good Carbs Guide the Way
- BBC News: Low Carb Diets Like Atkins 'Better for Blood Pressure"
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