Low-Carb Diets: Culture Fixture or Food Fad?

At any given moment, 25 percent of adults are on a diet. In the battle to lose weight, carbohydrates have been singled out as the main enemy. That is why low-carb diets like the Atkins diet, South Beach diet and Zone diet have become so popular.

At first glance, a low-carb diet seems to be a God-send for obesity-plagued America. But what you need to remember is that carbohydrates are NOT unhealthy. Carbs give your body energy and are found in highly nutritious foods like fruits, milk and vegetables. Like all nutrients, carbohydrates get stored as fat if you consume too many of them.

If you don't consume enough carbohydrates, your body will turn to its stored energy in the form of muscle or fat cells. In a low-carb diet, only about 15 to 20 percent of calories come from carbs, meaning the other 75 to 80 percent of energy must come from proteins and fats.

Proteins and fats are important in a balanced diet, but if you are cutting down on carbs, you may consume more protein and fat than what your body actually needs to keep you full. Digesting protein gives an extra work load to your kidneys and takes calcium from the body. A high-protein diet may also have you eating too much saturated fat.

It can’t be denied that a lot of people have lost weight while on a low-carb diet but will it help dieters keep the weight off in the long run and keep them healthy?

A growing body of medical evidence supports the notion that short term low-carb dieting will help achieve weight loss and would be beneficial in fighting heart disease and diabetes. However, studies on long-term effects have barely started.

Dieters on a low-carb diet lose weight because they don’t have too many food choices and end up eating less. They achieve weight loss not because they are avoiding carbs but simply because they are consuming less food.

American obsession with dieting is ironic because we are still the most overweight population in the planet. As such, there is no end in sight anytime soon for the prevailing “low-carb culture” because it would take years before conclusive long-term studies on low-carb diet health risks would be available.

Dr. Joseph Mercola agrees that it is primarily carbohydrates that contribute to increased weight again and lead to a number of illnesses and disorders. His revolutionary no-grain diet is designed to help dieters beat carbohydrate addiction to stay slim for life.

The no-grain diet includes:

• The 3-Day Diet – a food plan for eating every 2 hours to help you get rid of grains, sweets and starches from your system
• The 50-Day Diet Plan – a longer food plan for eating 4 to 6 meals a day to help you normalize your cholesterol levels
• The Lifelong Maintenance Plan – Specific food guidelines that allow you to introduce certain grains back to your diet
• The Emotional Freedom Technique – a psychological acupressure method which will teach you how to beat carbohydrate cravings and addiction for life

Dr. Mercola stresses that the key to a successful weight loss program is understanding that what may work for you may not work for others because we all have different dietary needs based on our unique Nutritional Types.

The no-grain diet is not a quick fix; it’s an eating plan that you can follow for a lifetime.

Tweet