Low-Carb Diets for Weight Loss
The low-carb diet fad got its start in 2003 with the release and instant popularity of the Atkins Diet book. In it, the author described a diet which was phased, beginning with as little as 20g of carbohydrates per day (about the amount in a medium apple), and eventually increasing slightly to 40g, then as high as 100g as you find your “carb balance”.
But Why?
The Atkins diet, as well as the almost-as-popular South Beach Diet and the newly trendy Keto diet, claim that low-carb diets are best for weight loss. They give carbohydrates a terrible rap and have people cutting out fruit to keep from gaining weight. They argue that a diet high in carbohydrates causes high blood sugar and insulin spikes, constant cravings, and that eating a diet high in animal protein and fat will cause rapid fat-loss and improvement in overall health.
And it worked! People who followed Atkins and other low-carb diets lost weight, which is really how the popularity with these diets ramped up.
But are carbohydrates in the diet really the problem?
In short, the answer is no. They aren’t. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a plant-based food that doesn’t contain a hefty amount of carbohydrates. We also can’t argue the fact that many societies around the world eat diets that consist of up to 68% carbohydrates, and are around 90% plant-based. Some of these people are the longest-living on the planet (look up the “Blue Zones”). And that weight loss? Likely due to water weight, overall lower calories, and an increase in the quality of their food choices overall.
The reality is that there are some very strong myths, or “misguidances” I’ll call them, surrounding carbohydrates. Here are 3 common ones:
Carbohydrate Misguidance #1: Carbs Trigger Insulin Which Stops Fat-Burning
One of the main arguments that low-carb diets are best for weight loss is that consuming carbohydrates triggers insulin release. Insulin is a hormone that, when released, tells your body to stop burning fat while working to shuttle the sugar in your blood (from eating carbohydrates) where it needs to go - Either in your cells to be used for energy, or in your liver to be stored for later. When insulin has completed its job, it retreats back to its den (the pancreas) and normal operating procedures are continued inside your body (including steady fat-burning).
However, guess what also triggers insulin release? Protein.
Protein doesn’t spike blood sugar the same way carbs do, but it does trigger insulin release.
Check out this chart, comparing the insulin release score of some common foods. You will notice that beef triggers insulin release even more-so than white pasta.
Holt S, Brand-Miller J & Petocz P (1997). An insulin index of foods
Now here’s the thing: insulin release is not bad. It’s normal and expected. In healthy individuals without chronically high insulin or diabetes, insulin is an important hormone that does it’s job of regulating our blood sugar very well. Yes, when insulin is released it tells the body to stop burning fat, but only temporarily. In the mean time, it’s dealing with another energy source, which is the glucose in your bloodstream.
Another important point: fat oxidation (fat burning) can only occur in your body when there is an energy deficit, meaning less energy is coming in than is expended. So even if insulin is asleep in its pancreatic den, you’ll only be burning fat if you’re eating at a caloric deficit.
Therefor, you can clearly see that to say carbs are bad because they spike insulin which leads to fat storage is very misguided.
Carbohydrate Misguidance #2: Carbs Have a High GI (Glycemic Index)
In conjunction with the insulin debate is the debate of the Glycemic Index (GI) and its importance when it comes to weight maintenance. A food’s GI rating is directly related to the effect the food has on your blood sugar levels. Foods with a GI of 55 and lower are digested slower and longer, therefore leading to more steady blood sugar levels and, likewise, more steady insulin release. Foods higher than 70 are considered high on the GI scale, which means they digest quickly and lead to spikes in blood sugar and, likewise, spikes in insulin release.
Take a look at this chart, which shows the general GI score of some common foods:
Here’s why this matters: High GI foods spike insulin release. When insulin is spiked too often and for too long, it can lead to chronically high insulin, which has been linked to obesity, chronic inflammation, and cancer. Also, your pancreas can literally get tired and desensitized, which can lead to diabetes, as insulin isn’t released in appropriate amounts or at appropriate times, and can’t properly regulate blood sugar.
Here’s why it doesn’t matter as much: How often do you eat potatoes alone? Or corn flakes? Usually, we eat foods in a combination with other foods - potatoes with sausages and veggies. Corn flakes with milk. When you combine foods, you balance out the GI load.
Secondly, we all respond to glucose differently. A study done by Tufts Medical Center, where environment was controlled and specific foods isolated, showed up to a 25% difference in GI ratings between individuals. For example, a specific brand of white bread had a GI score ranging from 35 to 105 among participants. That means that the bread could either be a low-GI food or a high-GI food, depending on the person! (https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/104/4/1004/4557132)
Also important to note, occasional spikes in blood glucose and insulin, once again, is normal. It’s the chronic spikes, from eating mostly high GI foods like refined carbohydrates, processed foods and candy that becomes a problem.
Guys - white rice with your stirfry is not bad. Potatoes are not the devil incarnate. White pasta with your Bolognese sauce is not something you need to avoid like the plague. As long as you balance your intake - for example, not eating dry cornflakes mixed with watermelon and topped off with a strawberry glazed donut for every meal - your body will handle your blood sugar levels.
So again, claiming that many carbs are bad because they spike blood sugar is also very misguided.
Carbohydrate Misguidance #3: When You Cut Carbs, You Lose Weight
Here’s my favorite… but your friend did the low-carb thing and instantly lost 10 lbs. All logic aside, that’s incredible…so low-carb diets must be best for weight loss!
Most definitely wrong.
Let me address the weight loss first: the reason low-carb diets tend to get repackaged and redelivered time and time again (think Atkins, South Beach, Paleo and now Keto) is because they work in the short term. And unfortunately, our society tends to diet in the short term. That’s why the term “yo-yo diet” is a thing. Our general mentality is to lose weight for a wedding, a bikini, a vacation…but rarely do people make the changes necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle long-term.
This is where the diet industry really profits.
Low-carb diets are at an advantage because, like I said, they work, and they work right away.
Here’s why: for every 1 gram of glycogen (the storage form of carbohydrates) your body stores in the liver or skeletal muscle, 2-3 grams of water is stored with it.
1 gram of glycogen being stored with 3 grams of water.
Image by Strength by Jaime Barroso
So, when dropping your carbohydrate intake, you drop a lot of water also, leading to rapid weight loss on the scale.
Notice I said weight loss, NOT fat loss.
>>>>> The weight that is lost in the first few weeks of starting a low-carb diet is mostly water, NOT fat. <<<<<
However, when scale weight and inches drop, people feel successful, and thus, low-carb diets continue to be repackaged and resold to the masses.
So you can see how this water-glycogen relationship can be tricky. Many people who only rely on the scale to gauge progress assume that low-carb diets are best for weight loss because of the affect eating carbohydrate-heavy foods has on their scale weight. Drop carbs, drop weight. Have a carb-heavy evening, scale jumps 3 pounds.
Now, CAN a low-carb diet be a long-term solution to continued fat-loss?
Absolutely! IF the dieter remains in a caloric deficit. Cutting out a large number of carbohydrates from your diet is one way to reduce overall caloric intake. And if someone beginning a low-carb diet sustains a caloric deficit over a long period of time, they will lose fat.
Where it can be frustrating for low-carb dieters is that since the scale weight drops so significantly in the beginning, a continued rapid weight-loss is usually expected. True fat-loss is a slow process that requires patience and consistency, and feeling like they hit a “plateu”, low-carb dieters often get frustrated and quit.
But, “it worked”. It’s the only thing that ever really “worked” and so, next time there’s a wedding or a bikini or a vacation, guess which diet is most often turned to once again? Low-carb, or one of it’s new-and-exciting siblings.
Carbohydrate Misguidance #4: Carbs Are Addicting
This is a tough one.
Many will claim that sugar (and subsequently, carbs in general) is addicting.
However, here’s my argument: if sugar itself was addicting we would all be popping sugar cubes on the regular.
Where sugar/carbs typically get addicting is when it is combined with fat, sodium, amazing texture and/or other chemicals. Remember, the food industry is literally designed to keep you buying, to keep you coming back for more. There are literally studies done before a product is released to test how delicious and irresistible said-product is. Typically, what is “addicting” is high-fat, high-carb, processed foods. Think candy, chocolate, cream-based sauces with pasta, cake, cookies, sweet breads, white bread, donuts, chips…gosh I could go on forever!
What’s also at play here is tastebud turnover. Have you ever noticed that after a while of eating highly processed, delicious foods, salads and other nutrient-dense foods are literally harder to enjoy? And you are simply craving the same processed foods and can’t be satisfied unless you eat them?
There’s a scientific reason for that. Our tastebud cells replenish about every 8-12 days on average (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3864165/). This means that by crowding your diet slowly with vegetables, fruits, lean meats and other high-protein sources, complex carbohydrates and heart-healthy fats, while simultaneously limiting processed, high-sugar, high-fat foods, you can literally retrain your tastebuds to enjoy a diet rich in close-to-the-ground whole foods and stop craving the processed stuff as intensely.
Bottom Line
So are low-carb diets really best for weight loss? You tell me.
The bottom line is that sustainability and moderation is key.
Look friends: all diets work. Truly, they do. Every single one.
The thing that all diets have in common is that they find unique and trendy ways to cut overall caloric intake, either by cutting food groups or macronutrient groups, or specific meals all together. Get a couple of doctors to sign off on the health benefits, and you’ve got a money-making diet trend.
And if the structure that a diet gives works for you, if it’s something you can sustain long-term or gives you a jump-start to a healthier lifestyle, then that is amazing. The truth is, we are all different. Mentally, some things work better than others. And physically, our bodies all respond to food in different ways. So finding what works for YOU is incredibly important.
>>>>> For the majority of the population of healthy individuals, carbohydrates are an important nutrient that should make up about 40-60% of your diet. They are found in almost every single food, and our body relies on them as our main source of fuel. <<<<<
Unless you have an underlying, diagnosed health issue, there is really no reason to severely restrict your carbohydrate intake. Please, just remember, there is no one diet that is superior for fat-loss. And, in the words of my friend Jordan Syatt, if anyone ever tries to tell you that there is, they are either lying, ignorant, or trying to sell you something.
Until next time my friend, love and sunshine!!!
- Jaime
Gain Strength
My focus is helping others ditch the dieting mentality and focus on building strength, in AND outside of the gym. Let’s get strong together!
