Is The Low Carbohydrate Diet The Best Choice For Weight Loss?

Scott

Dr. Miller

English 102

March 7, 2006

Is The Low Carbohydrate Diet The Best Choice For Weight Loss?

When somebody decides on a diet to help them lose weight they usually pick a diet that has been influenced upon them by either family members or the media. Unfortunately, this diet choice is not made based upon information about what diet is best for your particular health and weight situation. One of the most prominently promoted diets in the world of "fad diets" is the low carbohydrate diet, more commonly known as the Atkins diet. The media love this diet and you see much talk about it all of the time. Therefore, this is a diet that is chosen by many uneducated persons to help them with weight loss. Unfortunately, it is not the best choice for losing weight if you look at all of the information concerning this diet.

A low carbohydrate diet does indeed produce a great amount of weight loss in the beginning of the diet. This is usually encouraging to dieters and is what makes this diet look so good to the uneducated population. The two main reasons for this great amount of weight loss in the beginning is due to a decreased caloric intake from the strict beginning of the diet and the fact that the taking in of a small amount of carbohydrates produces a large amount of water loss. The scientific fact concerning the water loss is that the human body holds 2.4 grams of water for every 1 gram of carbohydrate consumed.

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So, if you consume less carbohydrates you hold less water which makes it seem like you have lost weight. In fact, you may have lost pounds but you have not lost any body fat.

A typical low carbohydrate diet is high in protein and fat and low in foods that give off natural sugars such as fruits and grains. It has been proven scientifically that foods such as fruits, vegetables and grains give the person a sense of fullness and therefore will consume less. Whereas a diet that is low in these sugars has a low storage of glycogen. Glycogen is sugar that is stored in the muscles which is used to fuel your muscles. So, if you are on this diet and not giving your body what it needs to fuel your muscles you will begin to feel sluggish. Also, carbohydrates provide am important source of fuel for our nervous system.

When a person is eating an abnormally high amount of protein and fat, this puts the body at risks for certain problems. The first problem associated with this diet is the high protein intake. The kidneys are what breaks down protein for digestion and excretion. When a person eats excess protein the kidneys have to work extra to break it down. Another problem associated with the low carbohydrate diet is the lack of nutrients that you would normally get from the fruits, vegetables and grains that you should consume on a daily basis. Some people think that a low carbohydrate diet, which would mean less intake of sugar, would be a good way to prevent diabetes. In fact, when you do not consume sugars, your body begins to have problems with controlling insulin secretion and can lead to diabetes. Another obvious problem with this diet is the fact that would seem apparent to everybody; the excess consumption