Staying Healthy on a Low Carbohydrate Diet
It is estimated that about 32 million Americans are following
some type of low carbohydrate diet. This is the result of
fad diet authors claiming that carbohydrates are the cause
for
America's rising obesity problems. The backlash against carbohydrates
is a result of the low fat craze that started in the 80's.When
consumers started cutting down their fat intake, manufacturers
figured out that they could create low fat processed food
products that the public would buy. Because these products
claimed to be 'fat free', Americans didn't pay attention to
the fact that they were not also 'calorie free', and as a
result, the total amount of daily calories has slowly been
increasing. In fact, although the total percentage of calories
from fat has decreased, the actual amount of fat intake has
increased by 10# per year since 1975! The increase of carbohydrate
has also increased, at a rate of 20# per year, mostly as a
result of highly processed foods.
It is estimated that 3800 calories are now produced for every
American man, woman and child. We have evolved from a world
of
feast or famine, but we're in a state of perpetual feast,
although our bodies have not changed. We have no defenses
against excess calories: Every year, 300,000 to 400,000 deaths
in the US are attributed to obesity.
Meanwhile, Asian and Middle Eastern populations consume 50-75%
of their calories from rice and have some of the lowest rates
of
obesity and heart disease in the world. People living in the
Mediterranean also have fewer health conditions commonly seen
in
the US. This diet consists of whole grains, vegetables, legumes,
nuts and fruits. Their diets are rich in fish and low in meats
and poultry. Although their fat intake is about the same as
in
America, the type of fat is primarily monounsaturated fats,
such
as olive oil, where Americans eat primarily saturated animal
fats.
Regardless of the actual advantage or disadvange to following
a low carbohydrate diet, there are three recommendations for
maintaining good health while following such a diet. The first
is to choose healthy fats over the unhealthy, saturated fats,
when considering fat intake. Examples of healthy fats would
be plant fats that have not been 'hydrogenated', which makes
the fat more solid at room temperature. It is believed that
hydrogenation is actually more harmful to health than saturated
fats found naturally in animal products. Plant fats would
include nuts, avocados, and olives. Oils such as olive oil,
canola oil and peanut oil are better choices than fats that
come from animal sources, such as butter, lard or bacon
grease. Multiple studies over the years have shown that excess
animal fats lead to higher risks of cancer, heart disease
and other inflammatory disorders. Saturated fats have been
linked to increased cholesterol, LDL (the 'bad') cholesterol
as well as to increased LDL cholesterol oxidation. In fact,
in January 2004, an Atkins representative put out a press
release advising the public to decrease their amounts of steak,
eggs, and saturated fast to less than 20% of their total fat
intake.
The next recommendation to ensure good health is to eat plenty
of fruits and vegetables. Although fruits and most vegetables
are restricted in the initial phase of some low carbohydrate
diets, they are then allowed back in limited amounts. The
phytonutrients that come from a diet rich in fruits and
vegetables have been shown to decrease blood pressure, as
well
as protect against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic
syndrome, and obesity. It's easy to add more fruits and
vegetables to your diet, once you get in the habit. Examples
are; add some berries to breakfast, eat a tomato at lunch,
include broccoli with dinner, drink some vegetable juice with
snacks, and have a large salad with your meal.
The final tip to ensure good health is to eat a diet of whole
foods, rather than fall back on the 'easy' snack, convenience
foods of today. If American's had just cut down their amount
of
fat intake in the 80's, without finding new ways to snack,
we
may not be seeing the epidemic of obesity we see, today. When
people started going on the low carbohydrate diets, they
eliminated a large number of calories by eliminating snacking,
especially at night, where common snacks are chips, crackers,
and other high fat, high refined carbohydrate foods, such
as ice
cream. Today, though, much like in the 80's, manufacturers
are
now developing 'low carb' and 'low net carb' snack foods.
We can
now find 'low net carb' chips, crackers, ice cream, popcorn,
even low carb pizza! As Americans start to increase their
intake
of these foods, we will soon see a slowing of the weight loss
many had seen initially. In order to call themselves a 'low
net
carb' food, manufacturers subtract the fiber and sugar alcohols
from the total carbohydrates in the product, rather than produce
products without carbohydrate. There is no actual FDA standard
for what a "low net carb" food is, yet, though,
so right now
it's anything the manufacturer wants to say it is. These foods
also are very high in fat and saturated fat, usually through
hydrogenation. So, not only will calories be added back into
the
diet through resuming unhealthy snack habits, but they will
be
calories consisting of high amounts of the unhealthy fats.
So, while following a low carbohydrate diet, in order to
ensure continued good health, follow these three recommendations:
1) Make most fats you eat the healthy, plant fats, rather
than eating a diet high in animal or hydrogenated fats,
2) Eat plenty of nutrient rich fruits and vegetables, which
are high in disease-fighting antioxidants, and
3) eat mostly whole, fresh foods and very little processed
snack foods, even if they say 'low carb', in order to avoid
hidden and unnecessary fat and calories.
About the author:
Marjorie Geiser has been teaching health, fitness and nutrition
since 1982. She is a nutritionist, registered dietitian,
certified personal trainer and life coach. Contact her via
email at margie@megfit.com.
