If your blood pressure, blood cholesterol or blood sugar levels are elevated and you carry excess weight around your waist, you have a higher risk of suffering from cardiac problems. The traditional recommendations given to prevent cardiac problems are based on a low-fat, high-carb diet, encouraging the consumption of plenty of grains and fruits. In addition, the American Heart Association warns against fats, especially saturated fat found in butter, meat and animal products. A no-carb diet consists in doing exactly the opposite, by increasing your fat intake and restricting your carbs, which could help you improve your cardiac health.
No-Carb Diet
Adopting a no-carb diet means eliminating all carb-rich foods, which are staple foods in the standard American diet. Foods with the highest carb content include all grains, such as breads, pasta, rice, breakfast cereals and baked goods, starchy vegetables, such as potatoes and corn, fruits, some dairy, and all foods containing added sugar. A no-carb diet restricts your carb intake to a small amount of carbs provided by nonstarchy vegetables and replaces the energy you would get from the missing carbs with slightly more protein and a lot more fat.
Saturated Fats and Cardiac Health
A no-carb diet tends to be higher in saturated fats, the type of fat that the American Heart Association warns you about. Saturated fats are mostly found in animal fats, such as butter, cream, eggs, cheese, meat, chicken skin, bacon and lard, although some vegetable fats, including cocoa, coconut and palm, are also high in these fats. The latest data from the largest meta-analysis conducted, regrouping almost 350,000 participants followed for up to 23 years, showed that there is absolutely no evidence of a link between saturated fats and the risk of suffering from a cardiac problem, as published in the January 2010 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."
No-Carb Diet and Cardiac Health Markers
Dr. Eric C. Westman, co-author of "The New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great," states that following a carbohydrate-restricted diet is a good strategy not only for weight loss, but also to prevent cardiovascular diseases. A study published in the May 2004 issue of "Annals of Internal Medicine" showed that eliminating all carb-rich foods and including less than 20 g of carbs a day, only from nonstarchy vegetables, resulted in better triglycerides and HDL cholesterol levels when compared to a traditional low-fat diet.
Special Considerations
If you are interested in cutting carb-rich foods out of your diet and follow a no-carb diet, you should first discuss your plan with your doctor. If you take medications, your doctor may have to adjust the dose as you restrict your carb intake. It is also advisable to get comprehensive blood work done to be able to objectively track the changes induced by your new way of eating and determine whether it is a good approach to help you optimize your cardiac health.
References
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies Evaluating the Association of Saturated Fat With Cardiovascular Disease; Patty W Siri-Tarino, et al.; January 2010
- "The New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great"; Eric C. Westman, Stephen D. Phinney and Jeff S. Volek; 2010
- "Annals of Internal Medicine"; A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Versus a Low-Fat Diet to Treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia; William S. Yancy Jr., et al.; May 2004
