Many popular diet plans call for a reduction in carbohydrates to aid in weight loss. Problematic carbohydrates include sugars and starches. Although these types of diets encourage some healthy eating habits, such as eating lots of low-carbohydrate vegetables, their reliance on high-protein foods for a prolonged amount of time can prove problematic.
Carbohydrates and Weight Gain
Your body utilizes carbohydrates to produce its main energy source, glucose. When you eat certain types of carbohydrates, your body tends to produce a lot of glucose at once. Your cells use this glucose for energy and your liver stores some to use as energy when needed. Excess glucose gets stored as fat. The goal then, is to reduce intake of carbohydrates that lead to large spikes in glucose.
Many diets that limit carbohydrates base their guidelines on the glycemic index, a ranking of foods based on how quickly they convert to blood sugar. Most sugars and starches rank high on the index. MayoClinic.com explains that the guidelines advise strictly limiting foods that rank 70 or higher; foods under 55 represent optimal choices.
Examples of Sugars
Eating excess sugar can lead to a number of problems; and conventional medical wisdom, not just low-carbohydrate diet plans, advises against eating too much. This represents one of the positive points of these diets. Besides avoiding the obvious foods and beverages loaded with white table sugar, you also want to read food labels to look for certain ingredients that also indicate sugar. Other types of sugars include high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, dextrose, maltodextrin, cane juice, cane syrup, brown rice syrup, agave syrup, stevia, honey and molasses. Fruit juices will contain much more sugar than their whole-fruit counterparts.
Daily Intake of Sugar
The American Heart Association recommends men eat no more than 9 teaspoons of sugar daily, or 150 calories, while women should limit sugar to six teaspoons daily, or 100 calories. When it comes to adding sweeteners to drinks or during baking, try more natural sugars like stevia and agave, which are much sweeter than regular sugar, so you can use less. Substituting unsweetened applesauce can also reduce sugar content. You still must watch intake though, as they fall under the umbrella of added sugars the AHA cautions about. Other tips to reduce sugar intake include choosing whole fruits instead of fruit juice or dried fruits.
Examples of Starches
Starches include bread, pasta, beans, lentils, corn, potatoes, yams, rice and cereal. While restricting intake of certain starches, like refined, processed white flour foods, might offer benefits, other types of starches, such as beans, lentils, whole grains, potatoes and yams, offer rich stores of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Starchy foods tend to contain higher amounts of carbohydrates than do other types of carbohydrates, like broccoli or peppers. For this reason, many diets call for limiting all types. This is one of the criticisms of diets that call for a reduction in carbohydrates.
Cutting these foods out or strictly limiting them long-term can lead to an unbalanced diet and inadequate fiber intake, which will negatively affect bowel health. You must also realize that many other factors affect how your body breaks down carbohydrates, including portion size and what other foods you consume at the same time.
Health Risks
A high-protein, low-carb diet can include too many high-fat and high-cholesterol animal proteins, like full-fat dairy. Eating an excess of these foods for too long can raise cholesterol levels and increase your risk of heart disease. Additionally, when your body does not have enough glucose, it turns to fat stores for energy. This process can lead to incomplete metabolization of fats and symptoms like nausea and loss of appetite.
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