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If you’re reading this article, you have no doubt been bombarded by the low-carb craze. It seems like everywhere we go we’re hearing about the virtues of eating fewer carbs. The sound bite diet advice offered by the media does not provide anything near a comprehensive understanding of how overall health is affected by each new fad it repetitiously promotes. Marketing driven recommendations to buy books, designer foods and special products certainly aren't objective either. So, are low-carb diets really healthy? Are they deserving of becoming part of your lifestyle? Read on, then you can decide. HOW LOW IS LOW? When the low-fat craze hit it seemed like everyone was reducing their fat intake even though they didn’t know if they were eating too much fat to begin with. In our societal mentality of doing everything to the extremes, reducing fat intake came to mean eliminating all fat from the diet. If low-fat was good, then no-fat was surely better. So it goes with the low-carb craze. The media can so easily convince us we are doing something wrong -- eating too many carbs -- even though I would be willing to bet that the majority of those who are counting carbs have no idea how many grams of carbohydrates they need per day or how many grams they were consuming before they started counting. They are just trying to eat less of them because that’s what we’re told is best for us. HOW THE BODY USES CARBS Carbohydrates, protein and fat are the three main nutrients we need everyday for optimal physical and psychological health. Carbohydrates are the essential source of energy for muscles and necessary for brain, nervous system and red blood cell functions. If carbohydrate intake is lacking, the body will break down muscle to use as its energy source. A high-protein diet does not help rebuild muscle because dietary protein (the protein we eat) gets diverted for use as energy. Registered dieticians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, authors of “Intuitive Eating,” use this analogy to explain the effects of low-carb, high-protein diets: Relying on protein as an energy source is like taking wood from the framework structure of your house to use in your fireplace. The wood will burn and provide heat, but it does so at a high price because you begin to lose the integrity of the structure. Continuing to use protein for energy over time is like having a building supplier provide lots of wood to rebuild the house, but when it gets used for fires instead of to repair the framework, you are left with a structure that keeps getting weaker. WEIGHT LOSS WITH LOW-CARB DIETS When muscle is used for energy, weight loss will occur quickly. Also, lack of carbohydrates results in dehydration. Protein has half as many calories as fat, so it metabolizes twice as fast. With each pound of muscle that is lost, 3 - 4 pounds of water is lost, too. The body doesn’t begin burning fat stores until carbohydrate deprivation has become chronic. Converting stored fat to a form of energy the brain and nervous system can use following chronic carbohydrate deprivation is called ketosis. But, only about half of the brain’s cells can use ketones for energy. So, even when fat is being converted, muscle is still lost at a rapid rate in order to supply nervous system cells with energy since they can’t use ketones. In the end, weight lost through this process is mainly muscle and water. This means the dieter will be left with a higher percent of body fat and a slower metabolism since muscle naturally helps keep metabolism revved up. EFFECTS OF LOW-CARB INTAKE ON THE HEART The use of low-carb diets for those with heart disease has remained a controversial issue. Some say these diets lower cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure and promote that any form of weight loss is good. It is important to know that the protein tissues the body uses due to lack of carbohydrates comes from the liver, lungs and the heart. These are vital tissues the body has to use as energy when adequate carbohydrates aren’t available for energy. If you have heart disease, be aware that your heart muscle can break down while you are on a low-carb diet. Your heart will have to maintain the same amount of work with less power and at a slower rate due to this break down because pumping performance does not decrease based on the amount of heart tissue lost. While two recent studies on low-carb diets showed some improvement in the “good” form of cholesterol (HDL), one study lasted only six months and the other study lasted 12 months. Both studies had a small number of subjects, which means the results cannot be generalized as good for most people. The studies ended up with a small number of subjects because, as with most deprivation diets, many of the subjects dropped out before the studies ended. EFFECTS OF LOW-CARB INTAKE ON MOOD Serotonin is an important brain chemical that regulates eating, mood, impulse control and activity level. Consuming carbohydrates is essential because they increase serotonin levels in the brain and help us maintain a stable mood, good energy, the ability to sleep soundly and a balanced diet. When the body is deprived of carbohydrates, depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, mood swings, fatigue and overeating will likely occur. Protein rich foods like meat, fish, eggs and cheese cause serotonin levels to drop. This means low-carb diets decrease serotonin due to high protein intake and that the lack of carbohydrates interferes with the brain’s ability to increase serotonin -- a double whammy affecting a critical brain chemical that regulates the quality of our daily functioning. Given this, people who have a history of depression or anxiety, those currently experiencing these conditions or those who are taking medications like prozac, effexor, paxil, zoloft, luvox, serzone, remeron, celexa, lexapro or cymbalta should not be following a low-carb regimen for two reasons. One is that a low-carb diet will make depression and anxiety worse. The second reason is that these medications work on the serotonin system to help regulate mood, thus a low-carb diet will interfere with the effectiveness of the medication. WHAT’S NORMAL? Hopefully, the importance of carbohydrates for overall health is much clearer. It is never a good idea to restrict or eliminate a main nutrient whether it be carbohydrate, protein or fat. Reducing, not banning, foods like chips, fries, candy and bakery for example will help lower high-carb, high calorie intake. However, dieticians recommend that about 50% of your daily intake come from carbohydrate sources like whole grain breads, fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, pasta and potatoes. About 20 - 25% of intake should come from protein and about 25 - 30% from fat. It is optimal to have three meals per day with each containing carbohydrates, protein and fat. When the body gets the nutrients it needs, deprivation, overeating and weight gain can be significantly reduced. There are no bad foods, only bad diet rules that put health in jeopardy. NOW, YOU DECIDE Here are several important questions to consider before embarking on a low-carb lifestyle. Is weight loss through low-carb eating worth: 1. Putting vital tissues at risk for short-term weight loss? 2. Further compromising a heart, lung or liver condition? 3. Lowering your metabolism and regaining the weight? 4. Increasing your body fat? 5. Being depressed, anxious, irritable and/or tired? 6. Reducing the effectiveness of anti-depressant medication? Food is not a benign substance that can be manipulated at will -- it plays a significant role in maintaining our physical and psychological health. Remember, they are called “fad” diets for a reason -- they don’t last for long.
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