Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness - Low Carb Vs. High Carb Diet:

Everywhere you look there are low carb bars, low carb drinks, low carb meal replacements, low carb frozen dinners and so on.

Even though there's still a huge amount of interest in these diets, the low carb vs. high carb issue is also still the subject of much controversy.

The problem is, most people fail to take into account their individual goals and unique body type, so they follow the one-size-fits-all prescription of the latest "low-carb guru" and take the carb restriction too far.

Zero carb or close to zero carb diets are completely unnecessary.

Another big problem caused by very low carb diets is loss of lean body mass. The lower you drop your carbs, the more likely you are to lose muscle along with the fat. Body fat becomes a the dominant fuel source in the absence of carbohydrates, but so does muscle protein.


A third problem with very low carb diets is the rebound effect. The lower you drop your carbs, the faster you will rebound and gain the fat back when you put the carbs back in.

The other extreme; the high carb, very low fat diet, isn't the best approach either.

Why does dropping your carbs help you burn more fat?

There are several reasons, but to avoid getting into a complicated discussion of nutritional biochemistry, let's just say that eating less carbs forces your body to burn fat for fuel instead of sugar.

Reducing carbs and increasing protein accelerates fat loss by controlling your insulin and blood sugar more effectively.


The high protein in these diets also speeds up your metabolism because of the "thermic effect" of protein food. It also helps eliminate water retention, giving you the "hard" and "dry" look which enhances your muscular definition.


More at: http://www.fitnessattitudes.com/carbcounting.html