How carbs and insulin make you fat and/or ill!

[SpiderDan]

One other point,

I will always recommend a low carb diet to begin with to kick bad habits like regular soda, white bread, crisps and sweets

Once someone learns a modicum of self control a person

should be able to have the odd bit of cake or oatmeal without turning it into a binge fest.
should be able to make better choices when eating
should not suffer huge cravings for sweets or crisps

[Ripped Barbarian]

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One other point,

I will always recommend a low carb diet to begin with to kick bad habits like regular soda, white bread, crisps and sweets

Once someone learns a modicum of self control a person

should be able to have the odd bit of cake or oatmeal without turning it into a binge fest.
should be able to make better choices when eating
should not suffer huge cravings for sweets or crisps

Good post, i think one of the major benefits of a low carb diet is the fact you simply arn't allowed a lot of modern crappy carby food.

I have had great experiences with a diet that still contains carbs that just avoids the sugars, unfermented breads, excessive fruit etc, look at my training journal from earlier this year.
I still eat that way.

Buckwheat, sprouted spelt bread, rollmops, mussel meat, yoghurt, beetroot, a few greens, nuts....just a generally mixed and nutritious diet.

[Nicholars]

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One other point,

I will always recommend a low carb diet to begin with to kick bad habits like regular soda, white bread, crisps and sweets

Once someone learns a modicum of self control a person

should be able to have the odd bit of cake or oatmeal without turning it into a binge fest.
should be able to make better choices when eating
should not suffer huge cravings for sweets or crisps

Thing is though if you tell someone to go on a low carb diet they are probably tmore likely to have a massive binge on carbs lol... maybe better to suggest something like a low gi diet and eating the right carbs at the right times...

[NU_nutrition_TS]

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All I know is I tried low carb (i.e. less than 30g a day) for three weeks whilst splitting 40/60 P/F on 3600 calories a day, for the entire period I was depressed and had a constant headache (not dehyrdation) admittidley my gym performance did not suffer but my life did, Im not repeating it again its just not worth it.

That was precisely my experience but I couldn't last 3 days! I had splitting migraines. I tried it two or three times with the same result each time. But I persevered and decided to take a different route - I didn't cut back carbs so brutally or quickly but gradually reduced them over a period of months.

It's not that some people are genetically incapable of adapting and must eat carbs it's because everybody has a slightly different adaptation experience - some can shift quickly with some it takes longer and they have to do it more gradually.

It shouldn't surprise me really - the body-building fraternity is all for quick fixes and instant results - that's why they go through each 'new improved miracle supplement' hoping to find the one that turns them from zero to hero overnight. Unfortunately good things take time and don't live up to the modern expectation of instant gratification!

[SpiderDan]

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Thing is though if you tell someone to go on a low carb diet they are probably tmore likely to have a massive binge on carbs lol... maybe better to suggest something like a low gi diet and eating the right carbs at the right times...

Possibly your right

But thats down to the person and their will power and you dont have any control over that.

In my view if you can get someone to go low carb for a period of time, you will get them to change their overall dietary habits. A low-carb diet forces you to pay attention to your food intake and consider what you're eating and really if people did that then most would be better off.

Furthermore as its been said low carb eliminates most of the processed crap that makes up modern day diets and that allows people to appreciate good carb sources all the more.

[Nicholars]

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That was precisely my experience but I couldn't last 3 days! I had splitting migraines. I tried it two or three times with the same result each time. But I persevered and decided to take a different route - I didn't cut back carbs so brutally or quickly but gradually reduced them over a period of months.

It's not that some people are genetically incapable of adapting and must eat carbs it's because everybody has a slightly different adaptation experience - some can shift quickly with some it takes longer and they have to do it more gradually.

It shouldn't surprise me really - the body-building fraternity is all for quick fixes and instant results - that's why they go through each 'new improved miracle supplement' hoping to find the one that turns them from zero to hero overnight. Unfortunately good things take time and don't live up to the modern expectation of instant gratification!

What I dont understand personally is what is such a great benifit of eating no carbs.... considering probably 60%+ of the choice of food in any supermarket would be carbs...

Theyre so hard to avoid and eating all fat makes it a nightmare if you slip up on carbs and suddently you will gain a load of weight because of all that fat floating around and the sudden insulin spike...

Ok so some carbs are not great like wheat etc. but I think its all a tad over the top personally, I just dont see other than being at stupidly low bodybuilding competition type body fat levels what the actual benifit is....

Carbs help you sleep, help produce serotonin, give you the perfect source of energy, make your workouts a lot better, make your muscles fuller etc. etc. I just dont see why cutting them out altogether is such a good idea....

Considering how hard it is to follow and a slip up on high fat diet is much worse than if you were eating carbs and ate a lot of fat for example. I personally dont think the advantages (erm what advantages other than less body fat?) are worth it.

You can possibly lose more fat by carb cycling anyway.... like last week I was eating quite low carb then ate loads of porridge and pasta and stuff for about 3 days and actually lost more fat then when I was low carbs, if you keep shocking your metabolism like that it is a better way to lose fat imo.

[SpiderDan]

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That was precisely my experience but I couldn't last 3 days! I had splitting migraines. I tried it two or three times with the same result each time. But I persevered and decided to take a different route - I didn't cut back carbs so brutally or quickly but gradually reduced them over a period of months.

It's not that some people are genetically incapable of adapting and must eat carbs it's because everybody has a slightly different adaptation experience - some can shift quickly with some it takes longer and they have to do it more gradually.

It shouldn't surprise me really - the body-building fraternity is all for quick fixes and instant results - that's why they go through each 'new improved miracle supplement' hoping to find the one that turns them from zero to hero overnight. Unfortunately good things take time and don't live up to the modern expectation of instant gratification!

You assumed I started from a high carb position, infact carbs only made up 15% of my calories prior to starting and that only came from 3-4 servings of fruit (which was usually 1 apple, 1 banana and 2 servings of berries) and milk.

Fat prior to that trial, for many months, made up around 50% of my calories I didnt think I was making that big of a switch but the change i did make didnt seem to do me any good.

Im only talking from my experience here, very low carb just didnt suit me.

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Well I guess I had been on low carb (say around 20% of total calories) for about three years before I went to virtually zero. That switch didn't cause me any problems that I can recall.

[ATZ]

So what is the point of this thread? To show that carbs are the source of all our problems? I'm yet to be convinced...

[NU_nutrition_TS]

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Theyre so hard to avoid and eating all fat makes it a nightmare if you slip up on carbs and suddently you will gain a load of weight because of all that fat floating around and the sudden insulin spike...

Actually most of the studies show that high carb/low fat dieters have the most 'fat floating around' - high fat/low carb dieters burn most of it for energy.

I think there is another reason why people who have been low carb (high fat) for a while may have problems if they revert back to a high carb diet. It is based on a couple of things: the observation of what happens to indigenous people's who don't consume many carbs, if at all, then get exposed to western foods - they get fat and diabetic. And to this quote from Mauro DiPasquale:

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[And while I'm at it, this whole business about insulin sensitivity and resistance is also a real crock. Being insulin resistant can be a good thing under certain circumstances.

It may not be good for the couch potatoe, who eats mainly potatoes, and who's paunch measures twice as much as his chest, but it can be good for the person who's fit, trains with weights, and wants to maximize health and body composition.

Why? Man that word comes up a lot.

Because first of all insulin resistance is a relative thing. It means resistance to sugar. It means that your body can't or won't use carbs as efficiently as it once did. But that doesn't have to be bad and in fact can be a good thing. Especially if you're on a low carb diet and want to use fat, either dietary or body fat, as your primary fuel. If you want to have less body fat and more muscle than the average mall shopping, carb munching, TV addicted, normal male and female in this anemic society of ours.

I think the reason being that without dietary carbs, we rely on endogenous glucose production via gluconeogenesis. When gluconeogenesis is stimulated, both smaller secretions of insulin and balancing secretions of glucagon are released. The body has evolved to work optimally on subtle changes in insulin, not huge spikes, and more controlled relaeases of glucose. When you have a high carb diet you are producing bigger insulin surges with no balancing glucagon amnd much more glucose is flooding into the system - overwhelming it. This may be more noticeable in the Inuit or a former low carber - but make no mistake it is still happening to a habitual high carber!