Are low carb diets safe?

Are low carb diets safe? Are low carb diets dangerous to your health? These are burning questions for dieters all over the world. The Low carb diet came in to existence as a solution for maintaining the calorie intake variable in precise levels. How it helps you to lose weight is simple logic. Once the caloric intake drops the body starts to make use of the stored fat to burn as energy, which then leads to weight loss. Of course it will lead to weight loss but will it be a safe process?

The answer is not a simple yes or a no. Even though the weight loss gurus emphasize the importance over and over again that it is perfectly safe long term, the nutritionists and the medical community bear a different opinion.

The term “low-carb” means low in carbohydrate.Carbohydrates are usually found in foods like pasta, potatoes, fruit, bread and rice. A low carb diet does not entail any specific diet nor does it include well-defined steps to losing weight.

It is a rather loose term that varies according to the person who uses it. Some common features though, include consuming foods that are low in carbohydrate and glycemic. The consumption of carbohydrates leads the body to excrete insulin which is the body’s function for energy.

As carbohydrates get digested, glucose -the effect of insulin excretion- either gets burned by our body if we need immediate energy or else gets stored as fat.

More seriously, after consuming a meal that consists mainly of carbohydrates, the level of insulin in our body goes suddenly up and after a short time suddenly down. This effect causes us to be hungry only after 2 or 4hours from our last meal, leading us to a vicious circle of being hungry, then eating and finally ending up storing the excess energy as fat.

The main ways to define a low carb diet, following the initial question “What Is A Low Carb Diet?, is to clarify whether you are talking about the actual carbohydrate that an adult consumes daily or about the percentage of the calories in a person’s diet that comes from carbohydrates.

The usual amount of calories that are allowed in an adult’s diet is about 50-60%. So any percentage of calories coming from carbohydrates that is below that, can be thought of as low carb.

For the carbs they do consume, the daily total intake is usually limited to anywhere from 60-130 grams, or 240-520 calories. When compared to governmental dietary guidelines, which typically recommend consuming 225-325 grams of carbs per day, you can see how “low” a low-carb diet actually is.

When the amount of carbs you eat is reduced, theories say that your insulin levels will be better maintained as a result. How so?

When you eat carbs, especially simple carbs, your body breaks them down into sugars that hit your bloodstream. When your body experiences sugar rush, it signals the release of insulin. Once insulin is released,glucose receives a cue to enter the cells in the body. Glucose is used first and foremost for energy, but when it’s present in excess, it’s stored to be used later or is turned into fat. By reducing the amount of sugars (carbs) you put into your body, your insulin levels have a better chance of being level and not experiencing spikes.

When reduced carbs happen over period of time it can lead to ketosis, a condition in which your body uses fat as energy instead of carbs.More commonly referred to as the Keto diet, this is low carb dieting on steroids!

This can cause serious fat loss and is the main reason why living a low carb lifestyle has been popular…

But is it safe?

The established opinion is that no matter how effective the results are, unless cutting the carbohydrates are done at moderate levels the side effects will lead to disorders in bodily functions. Not only moderate but also it has to be properly chosen.

For example, if you reduce the fat intake without paying attention to the type of fat it might even lead to elevated blood cholesterol levels.

You should gain adequate knowledge to determine what should be included and what shouldn’t be. Here according to the example, a properly designed diet plan would have included polyunsaturated fats and mono-unsaturated fats which are considered safe.

Same theory applies to all the nutrients just like to fats.Some low carb diet plans even advise to refrain from fruits and vegetables.Such plans do more harm than good. A restriction on fruits like banana or watermelon that have a high glycaemic level might at least have logic to support it but bananas in turn are a great source of potassium. Limiting all the fruits and vegetables is a baseless advice that will deteriorate your health.

Reduced intake of calcium rich food likes could even cause serious conditions like osteoporosis. Women with calcium deficiencies tend to suffer from menstrual issues. Most low carb diet plans focus more on protein intake. Unnecessary amounts of protein make the kidneys work harder in order to remove the excess waste produced by proteins. Accumulation of harmful waste products might cause kidney stones.

Most importantly before selecting a diet plan one should understand his or her body well. A kidney patient should pay attention to the proteins while a heart patient should concentrate more on the fats. Likewise, there are numerous factors that should be taken in to account before following a low carb diet.

Changes in your lifestyle will require changes in diet plans too. If you start working out or bodybuilding the energy demand of the body is different from what it used to be. Or if you get pregnant changes should come immediately. In cases like these consulting a professional is a must.

It is clear after reviewing the subject, that more,well-designed and controlled studies are required. There just isn’t a lot of satisfactory information available, especially regarding long-range effects.

However, we do know, extremely “low carb” diets might not be safe. But make them “correct carb” diets (which we will cover soon) and get the lean body you always dreamed while being in good health.

As we are all individuals, so too low carb diets go under many guises and have lots of different variations to suit everybody. Turn your attention to this article to sample the different types of low-carb diets.