Low Carbohydrate Diets

Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, and fiber.

Is it smart to significantly reduce carbohydrates?

Low carbohydrate diets fall in and out of fashion, and have gained a lot of attention recently, with the added twist of the glycemic index. Like many other popular dietary approaches to solving the weight control problem, these diets take an extreme approach by limiting one type of food and focusing on it as the sole source of obesity and other chronic metabolic disorders. It would be great to have a simple solution!

To understand what a low carbohydrate diet is, one needs a very basic understanding of the sources of calories in the diet. There are four nutrients that provide calories: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and alcohol. Carbohydrates are essential in maintaining healthy activity of the sympathetic nervous system and in preventing ketosis, a condition that occurs when the body must breakdown ingested fat for fuel because of a lack of carbohydrate. Ketosis is a potentially dangerous condition that produces the breakdown of bone, among other things.

Carbohydrates are the body’s primary source of energy, and are quickly and easily converted to blood glucose, the body cells’ preferred source of fuel. In particular, the brain must have glucose as a source of energy. The brain will not use other sources of energy except in the extreme case of starvation, in which ketone bodies (from the breakdown of body fat) are used by the brain. The body cannot store a large amount of carbohydrate; there is only a short supply available as glycogen in the liver and muscle. Therefore, carbohydrates must be supplied on a regular basis.

So, we need a certain amount of carbohydrate to prevent ketosis, but where does it come from? Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, and fiber. Foods that contain mostly carbohydrate are grains, cereals, beans, fruits, and vegetables. Sugar and flour are forms of carbohydrate, so any food made with sugar (like soda pop) or flour (breads, pasta, bakery goods, cookies, crackers, etc.) are sources of carbohydrate as well.

If carbohydrate is so necessary, why would anyone want to limit it to lose weight?