The debate has raged on for decades. Should we eat low-carb or low-fat? First, we were told that all we had to do is eat very low fat and do tons of aerobic exercise in order to be physically fit. It did not matter how many carbohydrates or sugars you took in, as long as you avoided fat. Then, the low-carb craze told us that carbs were evil. Instead we should eat as much protein and fat as we wanted, while avoiding carbohydrates as much as humanly possible. Both of these approaches have nutritional shortcomings. And surprisingly, neither approach leads to long-term weight-management success.
The Low Fat Craze
The low-fat craze began with a revising of the food pyramid by the FDA and US government. The idea being that dietary fat makes people fat. According to the "Abs Diet" book, this triggered food manufacturers to race low-fat products onto the grocery store shelves. Carbohydrates, the experts reasoned, were burned by the body for energy, so they would not readily be stored as body fat. Inevitably, this caused manufacturers to fill foods with more sugars to make them taste good. People could eat as many carbohydrates and sugars as they wanted as long as they avoided dietary fats. Problems arise with this philosophy because the body needs essential fatty acids to function properly. In fact, according to the "Muscle Nerd" Jeff Anderson, diets consisting of less than 25 percent fat may negatively impact hormonal balance in the human body. Not to mention that all those unneeded carbohydrates create a insulin hormone roller coaster ride that may cause obesity, food cravings and, eventually, diabetes. Large amounts of carbohydrates--particularly sugar--flood the blood with glucose, causing insulin to spike in order to deliver nutrients to cells. Large insulin spikes trigger fat storage, causing a subsequent drop in blood sugar and insulin, which triggers hunger and cravings for more carbohydrates.
The Low Carb Craze
When the Atkins Diet came along, people realized that sugar was making them fat and began to limit their intake of carbohydrates. When fewer carbohydrates are taken in, the body must turn to stored fat for energy. However, the low-carb craze became something of an over-correction from the original misstep of the low-fat craze. Now that people realized that dietary fat was not the culprit, they could eat all fats, as well as protein, with reckless abandon, as long as they avoided carbohydrates. The problem with this approach is that the body needs essential vitamins and dietary fibers found in carbs. According to the "Abs Diet" book, Mother Nature has hard-wired our brains to crave carbohydrates. In modern times, we have access to many sugary snacks, instead of turning to their natural counterparts--fruit. Eating low-carb can cause irritability, cloudy thinking and overall weakness, due to limiting an essential macro-nutrient. Once again, manufacturers raced to create low-carb foods, convenient for people following this diet. However, many low-carb products replace carbs and sugars with saturated fat and sugar alcohols. It seems that limiting any single macro-nutrient from the diet proves only a temporary solution to weight management.
Balanced Nutrition
Balancing nutrition is the best approach to long-term weight management, according to both "The Fat Burning Bible" and the "Abs Diet" books. Limiting the intake of any one macro-nutrient will initially cause weight-loss. At first, dieters will eat less simply because of the inconvenience of the dietary changes. Fad diets often focus on eating one particular type of food and limiting all others. No matter how much you like cookies, there are only so many that any one person can eat in a day. Your total calories may decrease temporarily, but your nutrition will suffer. Nature has provided a bounty of natural essential vitamins, minerals, macro-nutrients, and fibers in food. Rather than avoiding fat or carbohydrates completely, a more balanced approach involves understanding their metabolic activity and eating the right kinds of each at the right time.
The Right Carbs
Since we cannot eliminate carbohydrates completely for long-term health and weight management, we must learn to eat the right ones in the right ratio. "The Fat Burning Bible" recommends eating 40 percent of our total calories from carbohydrates. So what are the "right" carbs to eat? Lower glycemic carbohydrates digest more slowly, which stabilizes our blood sugar and, therefore, insulin levels, preventing excess body fat storage. Examples of low-glycemic carbs include brown rice, wheat pasta, whole-wheat bread, sweet potatoes and oatmeal. Despite the fact that fruits contain sugars, they are healthy because they offer many antioxidants, vitamins and healthy fibers, which also help to keep them from being stored as body fat. Our bodies treat this natural form of sugar much differently than table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, which is found in many processed foods such as cookies, cakes and pies. Low-glycemic carbs provide sufficient energy for the body without leading to undue fat storage.
The Right Fats
Since dietary fat is also essential, we must eat the right fats in the right proportion to carbohydrates and proteins. "The Fat Burning Bible" recommends that 30 percent of our total calories come from dietary fat. Not all fats are created alike. Saturated fat is necessary for many functions of the body, but should be consumed sparingly because high intake of this kind of fat can lead to many risk factors for heart disease.On the other hand, mono- and poly-unsaturated fats are "good" fats, which lower the risk of heart disease and help us maintain healthy body weight. Monounsaturated fats come from whole eggs, nuts and seeds, avocados and olive oil. Polyunsaturated fats are omega-3, 6 and 9 fats, from fish, flaxseed, borage and evening primrose oil, which are needed for brain, skin and heart health.
References
- The Abs Diet; David Zinczenko; Rodale Inc., 2004
- The Fat Burning Bible; Mackie Shilstone; John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2005
- Combat the Fat; Jeff Anderson; CQC International LLC, 2009
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