Do low carb diets work? The best way to confirm this is through science.
Many high-quality studies have shown that low-carb/ketogenic diets are effective. In many cases, a low-carb diet can cause 2 to 3 times more weight loss than a low-fat diet. It has also been proven that these types of diets are safe, since they do not cause serious side effects.
What’s more, they help us improve different aspects of health, including triglycerides, good cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
It has also been seen that an important part of the fat lost in a low carbohydrate diet comes from the belly area and the liver. This fat is what is known as visceral fat, it usually accumulates around the organs, causing inflammation and diseases, which makes it dangerous. These diets are also very good for people who suffer from Down syndrome or type 2 diabetes.
However, there is a lot of debate around why do low carb diets work.
In this article, we will review some of the most convincing explanations about the effectiveness of low-carbohydrate diets.
Insulin is a very important hormone in the body, if you want to lose weight and have good health you need to take care of this hormone as if it were a child.
Its main functions are to regulate blood sugar levels and energy storage.
It tells the fat cells whether they should produce or store the fat.
It also tells other cells in the body to pick up glucose (blood sugar) from the bloodstream and burn it instead of fat.
Therefore, insulin stimulates lipogenesis (fat production) and inhibits lipolysis (fat burning).
Next I show you a graph of a study on low carbohydrate diets.
Many experts have confirmed that a protein diet reduces insulin levels, this is one of the main benefits of this type of diet.
When this happens, it is easier for fat cells to be used as energy by our body, which reduces the need to eat.
It must also be said that there are experts who do not support this argument.
Conclusion: When we reduce carbohydrates, blood insulin levels are reduced. Having high insulin causes fat to accumulate, lowering these levels makes it easier to burn fat.
In the first 1-2 weeks of doing a low carb diet you usually lose a lot of weight fast.
The main reason for this happening is the reduction of weight in water.
Insulin: When insulin is reduced, the kidneys begin to remove excess sodium from the body, which also lowers blood pressure.
Glycogen: The body stores carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen, which retains water in the muscles and in the liver. When carbohydrates are reduced, glycogen and thus also water is reduced.
Some people use this to criticize low carb diets, but the truth is that reducing water should be considered an advantage.
This eliminates excess weight and swelling.
But this is not the main advantage of a low carb diet.
Studies have shown that ketogenic diets cause more fat to be lost, especially belly fat, which we have in the abdominal area.
With this, we have that part of the lost weight is water, but another part of the loss is fat.
Conclusion: When carbohydrates are reduced, the excess water in our body is significantly reduced. This is the reason why so much weight is lost the first 1-2 weeks.
In studies conducted where low-carbohydrate diets have been compared with low-fat diets, it has been found that the group of people who ate a low-carbohydrate diet took more protein.
This is because many people substitute low-protein foods (cereals, sugars) for protein-rich foods, such as meat, fish and eggs.
Many studies have shown that protein helps reduce appetite, increase metabolism and muscle mass, which metabolically is more active and helps us burn more calories throughout the day.
Many experts believe that the main reason that a low-carbohydrate diet is effective is its high protein content.
Conclusion: Low-carbohydrate diets tend to be higher in protein than low-fat diets. Proteins help us reduce appetite, increase metabolism and maintain and develop muscle mass.
It is also considered that low carbohydrate diets provide a metabolic advantage.
What does this mean? That low-carb diets increase energy expenditure, and that people lose more weight is something produced by the reduction in calorie intake alone.
There are studies that support this.
A study conducted in 2012 found that a low-carbohydrate diet increases energy expenditure compared to a low-fat diet.
The increase was about 250 calories, equivalent to one hour per day of moderate intensity exercise.
However, in another study it was suggested that the increase in protein intake was responsible for the increase in calories burned.
Conclusion: Low carbohydrate diets have a metabolic advantage, which seems to be caused by the increase in protein intake.
Low-carbohydrate diets automatically eliminate some of the most fattening junk foods.
Among them we have sugar, sweetened drinks, fruit juices, pizzas, white bread, fried potatoes and cakes.
Some foods rich in carbohydrates, such as wheat, corn and sugar, are also eliminated, which are in many processed foods.
It is well known that a greater variety of foods can cause an increase in calorie intake.
Many of these foods also cause a kind of addiction, which is easier to exceed with calories when eating.
Therefore, eliminating junk foods that are high in calories and that cause addiction can reduce your calorie intake easier.
Conclusion: Diets low in carbohydrates eliminate many foods that cause addiction and with which it is easy to gain weight. This diet also has less variety of foods, which helps us reduce caloric intake.
Probably the best explanation to explain the weight loss caused by a diet low in carbohydrates is its great effect on appetite.
It is something proven, that when a person reduces carbohydrates their appetite also decreases, and automatically begins to eat fewer calories.
In fact, in studies conducted to compare a low-carbohydrate diet with a low-fat diet, the group of people who eat the low-fat diet are allowed to eat until they feel full, while the low-diet group In fat you are restricted in your caloric intake.
Despite this, the group that makes the diet low in carbohydrates usually lose more weight.
This reduction in appetite is caused by the positive effects of low-carbohydrate diets on the hormones that regulate appetite, leptin and ghrelin.
Now you know more about the reasons why do low carb diets work to lose weight and improve health, any questions you have leave me a comment below, it will be a pleasure to help you.