Thursday 16 May 2013

Diets: Facts and Falacies (II). The Low Carbohydrate Diet (LCD).

The Low Carbohydrate Diet (LCD)


The low carb diet is another commonly used diet. There are many different structures, some good and some bad.

Basically the person drastically reduces the amount of carbohydrate (sugars) they consume.
This includes all flour and sugar products, breads, cereals, rice, pasta, potato, grains, processed foods and even fruit. 

When the carb intake is extremely low the body switches to a state called ketosis. This is where the body turns fat and proteins into sugar for use of energy. If you switch to a higher-protein, higher-fat, higher-fibre and lower-carb diet you won’t have enough sugar to burn as fuel and your body will have to make its own, mostly from fat and some protein.

 
1. Low carb diets do work but can have negative effects. For instance, lack of fruit and fibre cause the bowel to slow, and vitamin levels suffer.
 
2. The human brain needs carbohydrates so brain function and concentration may be impaired.

I would only recommend a more flexible LCD that allows fruit and some good carbohydrates during the day, or a simple version where you drop starchy carbs from the diet like bread, pasta and potato.

 


No comments:

Post a Comment