Dangers To a Low Carbohydrate Diet

Posted By on July 14, 2011

What are the dangers to a low carbohydrate diet? Fads come and go, and with dieting this commonplace. One of the latest fads that has become very popular is the low carbohydrate diet.

There are several versions of this diet the most well known being the Atkins diet and The South Beach Diet. These diets limit the amount of carbohydrates consumed and promise quick, permanent weight loss if the diet is followed properly. However there are dangers to a low carbohydrate diet.

The most obvious danger is that a healthy balance isn’t maintained. In diet as in life a healthy balance must be kept. It’s vital for your health and wellbeing to include all food groups in your diet, and you should be eating a mix of fibre, protein, unsaturated fats and carbohydrates. Fibre comes from plant material and animal products contain no fibre.

In low carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet the amount of plant based foods is reduced and therefore your fibre intake is also lowered. Fibre is used as a cleansing agent by the digestive system and without it there is a significant increase in the danger of developing cancers of the digestive tract.

Another one of the dangers to a low carbohydrate diet is that they are too restrictive. The reason that anyone starts a new diet plan is to lose weight.High protein diets offer a quick initial weight loss that’s generally due to losing water weight.

Therefore the dieter gets excited as she or he sees some initial success, but it’s generally unsustainable. A low carbohydrate diet is difficult to maintain because it’s not realistic.

The body craves a balance of nutrition and people who follow such a diet will find that they start to crave “forbidden foods”. The whole idea of a diet is not to make it short term but to make it a permanent lifestyle change. With low carbohydrate diets this is almost impossible to maintain.

When someone begins to follow a low carbohydrate diet as explained above there is an initial weight loss. This loss is due to the water that is consumed and also muscle loss. This muscle loss also causes the metabolism to slow down and this in turn makes weight loss harder.

In order to lose weight you would either need to burn more calories or cut back on more food. Following this diet for long periods would mean that as you continue to lose muscle so your metabolism would slow down even further and you would need to cut back on even more calories.

Another one of the dangers to a low carbohydrate diet is an increase in saturated fats, and these have been linked to many diseases including heart disease and clogged arteries, as well as high blood pressure, strokes and some cancers.

With a low carb, high protein diet a person eats a much larger percentage of animal products that contain a saturated fats. Any diet does need some fat to make it viable. But, the type of fat consumed and the quantity are important. You can get the needed dietary fats by using olive, canola, or peanut oils (which promote heart and artery health.)

To summarize, there are initial benefits to starting this type of diet plan. However, the dangers of a low carb diet far out weigh any health benefit. The damage to your heart, blood vessels, and muscle tissue may not be reversible. Therefore, it is not wise to even start these programs.

Random Posts

  • Delicious
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
  • RSS Feed

2 Responses to “Dangers To a Low Carbohydrate Diet”

  1. Anonymous says:

    replica omega constellation watchesthe gentle low shallow seabed extends into the sea far away

  2. Anonymous says:

    so quite a few variations and colors to select from,cheap chiefs jerseys the enormous choice is key.cheap youth nfl jerseys

Leave a Reply