Low-Carb Diets!?

Hey everyone, sorry it has been a while since I last updated. But I'm sure you are not hear to hear long explanations as to why I have so busy.

So let's get straight to it shall we.

So continuing on from the last post about intermittent fasting, I want to talk about another popular weight loss tactic: low carb diets.

So as the name says, this is a type of diet in which you limit your carbohydrate intake usually accompanied by high protein intake. The idea is that by reducing blood sugar levels, we can encourage our body to burn the fat storages, which in turn leads to fat loss. The high protein helps because protein is known to be more 'filling' than carbs or fats. Therefore, high protein intake should prevent us from over-eating and snacking.

Now, while the idea and scientific proof is solid, I have some reservations towards this so-called 'low carb diet'. And this isn't necessarily because of the idea, but because I feel that many people take this a little too extremely.

I don't think a restrictive low carb, high protein diet is necessarily beneficial - especially in long term.

I do think decreasing carb and increasing protein can be helpful in temporary weight loss, however, I personally feel that if you are decreasing carbs, you need to at least balance this with 'healthy fats'. Although protein does provide energy, I don't find my body work very well with just protein.

In addition, restrictive diets such as this can really limit your intake of essential vitamins and minerals found in carbs or fat heavy fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, this diet is bound to decrease your intake of fibre. Therefore, even if you are technically losing fat, without fibre you may struggle to lose weight and feel bloated.

In addition, heavy reliance on protein can greatly increase cholesterol level, and cause heart diseases. Furthermore, reliance on protein can cause you kidneys' to overwork and cause detrimental diseases if overdone.

Overall, while I do see the short term benefits of decreasing carbs and increasing protein for weight loss, I think an extremely restrictive diet should be avoided, especially if you want to maintain the diet for a longer period of time. In addition, I think you should only do this diet if you are young and relatively active.

So hopefully that gives you a different insight to this popular diet trend, and I hope you consider what was discussed here before you try to jump on the 'hype train'.

Until next time!