Low-carb diets may not be your best solution for weight loss. You must consider whether you can commit to a low-carb diet better than a low-fat diet. Include exercise in any weight loss regimen, as a combination of aerobic exercise and a healthy diet encourages weight loss.
Low-Carb Diet
Low-carb diets emphasize protein and limit your intake of dietary carbohydrates. People generally use low-carb diets to lose weight. You may choose to practice a low-carb diet because you enjoy foods that the diet emphasizes or because you believe the diet provides a fast and easy way to lose weight. The Atkins and Zone diets are common examples of low-carb regimens.
Function
Your body converts carbohydrates in the food you eat into sugar. The amount of insulin in your blood increases as your blood sugar rises and insulin takes sugar into cells in your body for energy. Excess sugar goes to your liver and muscles in the form of glycogen. The theory behind low-carb dieting may erroneously assume that insulin prevents your body from burning fat, because insulin supports the use of sugar for energy. However, according to MayoClinic.com, any weight loss from a low-carb diet likely is not related to blood sugar or insulin levels.
Menu
Low-carb diets emphasize meats like chicken, fish and eggs. These diets limit fruit, sweet foods and starchy vegetables. Low-carb diets may allow you to eat between 50 and 150 g of carbohydrates each day.
Results
Low-carb diets promote weight loss that may not be long-term. Low-carb diets may have diuretic effects that decrease your water weight. These diets may have high fat and protein contents that take longer to digest and increase your feeling of fullness. Low-carb diets may result in fewer total calories because these diets strictly limit the variety of food that you eat. Low-carb regimens may restrict carbohydrate intake without increasing intake of other food groups like fat or protein. Acu-Cell suggests that low-carb diet regimens may mimic the caloric intake of starvation diets.
Long Term
Low-carb diets may not provide a solution for long-term weight loss that is healthy or superior to traditional low-fat diets. The National Institutes of Health funded a study, published in the August 3, 2010 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, that compared weight loss in low-fat and low-carb dieters over the course of two years. The results suggest that low-carb and low-fat dieters showed relatively equal weight loss.
Low-carb diets do not provide a long-term common sense approach to weight control such as balancing a moderate intake of a variety of foods. Low-carb diets that produce quick or significant weight loss may increase your risk for developing gallstones. Following a low-carb diet may also lead to potassium and zinc loss by encouraging sodium and phosphorus retention over the long term. Abandoning a low-carb diet may lead to regaining the weight that you lost.
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