Study after study has shown that the low carb lifestyle can not only help with weight loss, but is great for diabetics. Indeed, going low carb can even lower your risk of heart disease by lowering triglycerides and raising good cholesterol.
Cutting carbs seems to be sound nutritional advice. But why does low carb eating work? And will low carb dieting work for you? Read on for more information.
Proponents of low carb lifestyles often point to evolution to justify their beliefs. Human beings, they say, evolved eating a diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts and meat. Think of hunter-gatherers and what they eat. Thus our digestive tract and our entire bodies are optimized for this kind of low carb, natural diet.
Eight thousand years ago, the low carb era ended with the cultivation of cereals (grains like maize, wheat, etc.). Instead of migrating, humans settled down. Instead of hunting, they farmed. And, instead of low carb meats and vegetables, they began to eat grains rich in carbohydrates.
Modern society has magnified this problem to a great degree. We exercise less and eat more. Additionally, the manufactured food corporations use cheap, easy-to-grow grains in everything. High fructose corn syrup and bleached refined flour are two leading carb sources that are empty of nutrition – they provide nothing but calories.
In order to recapture the bodies and the metabolism nature intended us to have, we must eschew these relatively modern dietary changes and return to the low carb diet of the past.
There are hundreds of studies supporting low carb eating and dozens contraindicating the low carb lifestyle. Here's a thumbnail sketch of how it works:
Your body either burns carbs or turns them into glycogen for short-term storage. Glycogen that isn't used by your muscles gets turned into fat for long-term storage. That's right – that spare tire or those extra pounds are like a gas can stored in your body's trunk, just for emergencies.
A diet low in carbs, the source for easy fuel, forces your body to burn up stored glycogen. After glycogen is depleted, the body goes to its long-term storage and starts burning fats, including all those extra pounds it squirreled away for a rainy day.
Whether low carb eating is for you is a question for your doctor. But thousands have gone low carb and never looked back – they're feeling better, losing weight and doing their bodies a favor.
Low carb dieting may very well be for you, too.