Today’s topic is for anyone who is interested in following a low-carb diet — whether it’s for weight loss or blood sugar or both.
These days, everyone is on some “fad” diet that’s usually some kind of an “extreme” eating plan.
They might be on a very high protein diet or high-fat diet or intermittent fasting diet or low carb diet or no-carb ketogenic diet or something similar.
And the end result is always that people can NOT sustain this type of eating long-term.
They feel deprived, they get frustrated, they have low energy, and they lose willpower… which ends up causing them to feel like crap, give up and gain all the weight back.
Not only is this bad for you physically – but it really kills you emotionally.
Your body doesn’t like extremes. It likes stability and in the medical world, this is called “homeostasis”.
Anyway, today I’m going to quickly discuss why “low carb diets” can be bad for your health – both physically AND emotionally.
Okay, so why is the extreme “low carb” diet bad for you?
Hard To Exercise & Build Muscle
I think one of the most important ingredients for life-long health and better hormones is exercise. This includes BOTH aerobic (such as walking) and anaerobic (such as lifting weights).
However, it’s very hard to put in the effort, or have the energy or have a good, muscular workout if you’re on low carbs all the time. It’s impossible. You’ll quickly lose strength and muscle.
And the more muscle you lose, the slower your metabolism.
Screws Up Your Hormones
Another problem is that long-term low-carb diets decrease thyroid production – which as you know, is one of the keys for a faster metabolism. And this negatively affects women more than men.
Also, low-carb diets increase cortisol – your stress hormone. For men, this causes an immediate decrease and shut down in testosterone… which, means lower libido, happiness, and muscle loss.
Low carb diets also decrease IGF, which is an Insulin-like Growth Factor. This hormone causes all the benefits of GH (Growth Hormone). GH requires healthy levels of insulin and thyroid, to convert to IGF.
Low carb diets dramatically decrease this.
Lack Of Fiber
Most people lack fiber in their diets as it is. Low carb diets dramatically lower your fiber and thus, reduces bowel movements, cause constipation, and is the leading cause of colon cancer – which, by the way, is increasing these days.
Lack Of Vitamins, Minerals & Antioxidants
The other problem with eliminating most carbohydrates is the lack of key nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Low or no fruits, vegetables, healthy carbs, and grains causes this and no amount of multivitamin supplements can replace what’s naturally found in nature, in the correct ratios.
I mean, it’s bad enough that the foods are already lacking in nutrients these days, but eliminating carbs guarantees a massive deficiency.
Replacing Carbs With the Wrong Foods
The other problem I see is that people are replacing carbohydrates with the wrong foods — higher proteins and bad, unhealthy fats.
Increase In Cravings
Finally, low-carb diets tend to cause cravings, especially for sugar.
Your brain and muscles like glucose. Too big of a drop in blood sugar causes an increase in hunger and appetite.
So at this point, you have to use willpower all the time and you know that’s not going to last too long. This is why most people give up eventually.
How To Do It Correctly
One thing I want to make clear is that I’m NOT against lowering your carbohydrates, I just don’t believe in “low” carb diets.
To keep it simple, if you want to lower your carbs, follow an “isocaloric” diet. That means ⅓ of your calories come from carbs, protein, and fats.
Super easy to follow.
For carbs, eat lower glycemic/load carbs – such as vegetables, yams, sweet potatoes, squash, white rice (yes, NOT brown), and some fruits that are in season.
Make sure you have some fiber with all meals, as well as healthy fats — such as olive, macadamia nut, coconut, fish, and raw nuts and seeds (no cashews or peanuts).
And then some healthy proteins such as pastured eggs, collagen, grass-fed beef, salmon, and small amounts of free-range chicken.
That’s it.
And if you’re really concerned about your blood sugar levels because your blood test showed that it’s elevated, then add in specific herbs, vitamins, and minerals that can help support healthy blood sugar levels AND most importantly, support proper insulin sensitivity.
Just take these supplements with all of your carb meals – that’s it.
Very simple and easy to follow. You’ll feel great and look younger. And it won’t feel like “work”, nor will be feeling deprived.
Best of all, you can enjoy your food – including when you go out to eat.
Remember, you obviously do NOT want bad blood sugar levels, but you also don’t want “low” either.
It’s definitely one of the most important things you should focus on for health, fitness, and longevity.
I think we can all agree that healthy blood sugar is very important for your health, fitness & longevity (brain & heart health, muscles, fat loss, sexual performance, energy, etc.).
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