Low Carb Diet

Introduction

The popularity of low carbohydrate diets is soaring, with men, woman, adolescents and even children under the illusion that they are the "quick fix" to all their weight grievances. Followers of these diets believe that carbohydrate rich foods are the cause of weight gain and that the amount of energy you consume does not matter if you are eliminating carbohydrates.

It is important to remember the basic rules of weight maintenance- if the energy you take in equals the energy you put out (through exercise, body functions, temperature regulation and even sleeping) your weight will not change. So now, if you are eliminating a food group from your diet (particularly carbohydrates, which are meant to make up the basis of your meals) and you do not increase your intake of the other food groups, you will lose weight-simple. It is, however important to remember that seeing results in the short term doesn't give any indication of what you are doing to your body in the long term. Low carbohydrate diets put your body into a state called ketosis, where your energy is provided by ketones which are produced by the breakdown of your fat stores. This may sound great in theory because if you are producing ketones, you must be burning fat. There are however various risks that come with this form of weight loss that I will discuss later.

Carbohydrates explained

The reason behind all the misconceptions about carbohydrates is simply a lack of understanding of what exactly a carbohydrate is and what it does in your body.

Carbohydrates make up one of the three major food groups in the diet and they provide energy for everyday survival and activity. Carbohydrate rich foods such as whole grain products, fruits and vegetables are essential in the diet as they provide vitamins, minerals, fibre and phytochemicals which cannot be provided sufficiently by other foods and are essential for optimal health and prevention of illness and diseases.

There are two types of carbohydrates- simple and complex. Simple Carbohydrates are those found naturally in fruit, dairy and some vegetables they provide a sweet taste to food.The simplest example of these is sucrose, the sugar we use in our food and coffee. Complex carbohydrates are not necessarily sweet at all; they include starch, which makes up the basis of potatoes, vegetables and grains such as pasta, rice or bread. Fibre is also a form of carbohydrate, but it cannot be digested by the body and thus does not provide any energy. Simple and complex carbohydrates have different structures but they are treated similarly by the body and they provide the same amount of energy. The difference between them lies in the speed at which the energy is released into the body or the glycaemia index.

The core of low carbohydrate diets

Popular low carbohydrate diets suggest an