Strength for Her

In our previous article, Carbohydrates: Friend or Foe, we discussed the necessity of carbohydrates in a balanced diet. If carbohydrates aren’t so bad, and are in fact necessary for optimal health, why is the low-carb diet craze so popular? Everyone knows someone who lost weight on a low-carb diet. There are reasons for this, but it’s not because carbs are inherently evil. The reasons aren’t based on rocket science, but instead on our old friend, calories.

Before we can understand the basis behind the low-carb diet, we need to understand calories. A calorie is simply a unit of energy. Our bodies use calories, or energy, to run our body functions. Getting a handle on nutrition requires learning about foods and their caloric content.

A gram of carbohydrates and a gram of protein each contain 4 calories, while a gram of fat contains 9 calories. This is important to remember when planning a diet that meets your caloric needs. A healthy diet is one that contributes an appropriate amount of calories AND is full of nutrient-rich foods. If you focus only on one or the other, something will fall short.

For instance, a person could eat a diet of only candy. It’d be possible to maintain their weight as long as their calorie expenditure was equal to their intake. But their diet would be extremely unhealthy since the food offered no nutritional value. On the same line, a person could choose only healthy foods, but if they ate too much and took in more calories than they burned, they’d eventually over time put on extra weight. That’s not optimal for ideal health either. So a healthy eating strategy must be two-fold - making good food choices and eating the right amount of food for your body.

When a person goes on a low-carb diet, they are forced to give up rice, bread, pasta, and other carbohydrates. These foods are usually ones that people can eat huge piles of without much thought. These carbs are pretty calorie-dense, meaning that they pack a lot of calories into a small serving. It’s easy for most people to eat several servings of these carbs in one sitting, and of course they’re rarely eaten alone but usually with other high calorie foods. When you’re forced to stop eating these foods, a large source of calories is immediately eliminated from the diet.

Because there aren’t too many non-carb options, often they won’t be replaced by other food sources and the calorie loss will result in weight loss. Also, protein sources tend to come in more manageable servings – it’s easy to eat one chicken breast, or one piece of fish. But the pasta, rice, and carby snacks can be consumed without much thought. It’s tricky to estimate what a cup of pasta or rice looks like.

Some people have other theories on why low-carb diets work. Some sight the glycemic index theory, which states that carbohydrates cause a spike in blood sugar levels, which is then followed by a drop. This drop causes hunger and more cravings. Some people feel that protein and fats make one feel fuller and satisfied longer, and this is true to a certain extent. Eating a lot of starches makes some people feel bloated. But the reason people loss weight when they eliminate carbohydrates remains the same – they’re consuming fewer calories than they’re burning.

There are many problems with low-carb diets. Some allow you to eat ANY protein source, in any amount. This means bacon for every meal would be sticking to the diet. Any diet that is based largely on greasy, fatty meats can’t be good in the long-term for a healthy heart (see more about this in the upcoming article, The Skinny on Fats). Also, by eliminating all carbohydrates, a person is eliminating a chance to get a lot of nutrients and vitamins. Whole grains are full of fiber and are good for the body. Fruits and vegetables are chalked full of nutrients and anti-oxidants. Any diet that suggests you limit your vegetables should be questioned.

As the low-carb craze gained popularity, more and more low-carb snacks hit the market. I’ve always believed that one reason the low-carb diet worked so well originally is because there aren’t many food options available once you eliminate carbs. Almost all snack foods are high in carbohydrates, so people on these diets weren’t snacking as much and had less choice. In turn, this forced a lower calorie diet, which led to weight loss. As the markets filled with tons of low-carb snacks and other offerings, I think the diets became less effective. Now people again had tons of choices when it came to eating a low-carb diet, so they could supplement those calories that they were missing out on. Hence, the diet no longer worked. When it comes down to weight loss, a 200 calorie carb-free candy bar won’t be any better than a 200 calorie carb-full one.

The most important thing to remember is that the idea of a “diet”, meaning a short term plan of meal restriction, is flawed. The body is a dynamic thing, constantly changing and adapting to what we do to it and put in it. While a restricted diet might cause short term weight loss, only adapting a healthy diet permanently will lead to life long results. Being healthy isn’t about dropping a few pounds here or there on the latest diet fad, but about a lifestyle change to treat your body well and give it the proper fuel. More about this is the upcoming article, Why Diets Don’t Work.