Is low-carb food (low-carb) really that healthy?
What people think about low-carb
How often do I hear it from people that they want to lose pounds quickly and then use as a strategy to carbohydrates skipping. "If I just eliminate carbohydrate sources then I don't actually have to pay attention to anything else," I hear them say. Is this actually true?
In the short term, these people are often right when they talk about kilos on the scales. In fact, you often lose several kilos in fluids when you go really low-carb (less than 50 grams of carbs a day).
But what about this for fat loss? Surely, to lose substantial fat you really can't avoid the laws of thermodynamics and you will have to reduce calories have to eat than you consume. And what makes this so tricky is that this is about 7000 kcal to lose a kilo of body fat.
So losing a few kilos of fat is a lot more difficult than losing a few kilos of fluid, and you can't do this in a few days. Conversely, you can't gain a few kilos of fat in a few days and a few kilos of fluid can.
A weekend of 'cheating'
For example, people following a low-carb diet often get a huge scare after a weekend of 'cheating', where the body just starts retaining the lost fluid again. These people sometimes even become afraid of carbohydrates because of this reason and sometimes without fully understanding why this is so.
For example, there are fans of low-carb diets who think that carbohydrates make you fat because you are insulin rises. To them, insulin is a kind of fat-storage stimulating hormone, which causes fat gain when you don't even have to eat excess calories to do so. This misunderstanding is really far from over, unfortunately.
And of course, reducing carbohydrates can lead to a lower calorie intake, especially if you don't increase calorie-rich foods to compensate fatty food sources is going to eat, instead of low-calorie low-fat protein sources or vegetables. However, it often turns out that an overly lean meal is not satiating enough for many people when they take, for example, some vegetables and a piece of fish without complex carbohydrates.
People with insulin resistance
At insulin-resistant people, low-carb can also have a beneficial effect on the eating behaviour, because they are more likely to blood sugar dips that occur after a rapid rise in blood sugar. With a low-carb diet, there will be far fewer blood sugar dips, reducing the likelihood of snacking and, in that case, calorie intake.
But you really don't necessarily need a low-carb diet for that, as you can also opt for high-fibre carbohydrate sources such as brown rice, legumes or sweet potato, which don't make blood sugar rise quickly and thus also reduce the risk of blood sugar dips.
Personally, I am not really a fan of greatly reducing your carbohydrate intake if you care about lowering your fat percentage. Many carbohydrate sources are good sources of all kinds of nutrients and fibre and fine to include in a varied diet. However, it is important to avoid rapid blood sugar spikes by eating high-fibre foods.
So I am more a fan of 'slow-carb' than 'low-carb'.
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