There has been a huge rash of late of diets claiming that starchy carbohydrates such as rice, bread, pasta and potatoes are bad for you, that they are the cause of all things evil in our society, that obesity, diabetes and such can be traced to an over-consumption of such items. Instead, these diets say that we should cut out all such carbs from our diets, some even going so far as to say that we should subsist only on fat and protein, and remove carbs altogether. Is this a wise course of action? Would we be well served by doing such a thing?
First, let's take a look at the role that carbs play in our diet and what our bodies use carbs for. When you eat carbs of any kind, they end up as glucose in your blood stream. This glucose is our primary source of fuel for much of our body, which depends on glucose to keep itself going. What glucose is needed is burned up, and then what remains is stored in our liver and muscle cells as glycogen. This glycogen can be called upon and turned into glucose should our glucose levels drop, but there is only so much as would sustain us for half a day.
Now, if you cut carbs from your diet, your body still needs glucose, and so it derives glucose from the protein in your muscles. This is why people become so skinny and wasted looking when they starve, because the proteins in their bodies are called in as a source of fuel. That is why traditionally people have considered carbs to be a source of ‘protein sparing' nutrition, because when you eat carbs the glucose they result in spare your body from turning to your muscles for fuel.
However, when you have no carbs you generate no glucose and as a result your body not only turns to protein for fuel but also to fat, which is why cutting down carbs causes people to lose so much weight so quickly, as both fat and protein are used to fuel the body. Thus carbs not only are ‘protein sparing', but they are also ‘fat sparing', as they prevent your body from using fat as a source of fuel.
That is why it is so tricky to say whether or not a low carb diet is good for you. It isn't simply a question of going low carb or not, but rather how you handle the other elements of your diet.
First, let's take a look at the role that carbs play in our diet and what our bodies use carbs for. When you eat carbs of any kind, they end up as glucose in your blood stream. This glucose is our primary source of fuel for much of our body, which depends on glucose to keep itself going. What glucose is needed is burned up, and then what remains is stored in our liver and muscle cells as glycogen. This glycogen can be called upon and turned into glucose should our glucose levels drop, but there is only so much as would sustain us for half a day.
Now, if you cut carbs from your diet, your body still needs glucose, and so it derives glucose from the protein in your muscles. This is why people become so skinny and wasted looking when they starve, because the proteins in their bodies are called in as a source of fuel. That is why traditionally people have considered carbs to be a source of ‘protein sparing' nutrition, because when you eat carbs the glucose they result in spare your body from turning to your muscles for fuel.
However, when you have no carbs you generate no glucose and as a result your body not only turns to protein for fuel but also to fat, which is why cutting down carbs causes people to lose so much weight so quickly, as both fat and protein are used to fuel the body. Thus carbs not only are ‘protein sparing', but they are also ‘fat sparing', as they prevent your body from using fat as a source of fuel.
That is why it is so tricky to say whether or not a low carb diet is good for you. It isn't simply a question of going low carb or not, but rather how you handle the other elements of your diet.
SHARE
