While a common weight loss recommendation is to reduce
carbohydrate intake (primarily foods like breads, cereals,
pastas, and sweets), for many people it is unclear why this
is so important. In fact, even some doctors and scientists
insist that weight loss is a simple matter of burning more
calories than one consumes and it doesn't matter what kind
of foods those calories come from. This may seem logical
at first, but with a greater understanding of how the body
processes carbohydrates, it becomes readily apparent that
certain kinds of calories are much easier to burn than
others and consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, even
in the context of a relatively low-calorie diet, most
definitely predisposes the body to storing fat.
At the heart of the matter is the hormone insulin. The
function of insulin is to stimulate the cells to take up
sugar from the bloodstream (when blood sugar is high, as it
typically is shortly after eating) and store it for reserve
energy.
This extra blood sugar is first stored as a compound called
glycogen in the muscles and liver. Glycogen can be quickly
converted back to blood sugar when needed for energy to
fuel sudden bursts of activity. The available storage
space for glycogen is pretty limited, and when insulin has
caused the glycogen storage to be filled up, the remaining
excess blood sugar is stored as fat.
There is considerably more storage space in the body for
fat than there is for glycogen. There are billions of fat
cells in the body, each of which can enlarge to over 100
times it's original size to accomodate extra fat storage.
As an aside, this is why it is possible to get fat again
after liposuction - even if you remove many of the body's
fat cells, those that remain can enlarge considerably to
store fat.
Insulin is extremely powerful in its fat storage effects.
In fact, not only does it stimulate fat storage, high
levels of insulin block the effects of the body's fat
burning mechanisms. This is where the importance of
limiting carbohydrate consumption comes into play.
High carbohydrate intake (and it really doesn't need to be
very high) stimulates the release of large quantities of
insulin. This high production of insulin effectively
prevents the body from burning fat - for 24 to 48 hours!
In fact, a single meal containing 20 to 25 grams of refined
carbohydrates (about the amount in a slice of sandwich
bread) can completely block your ability to burn fat for 1
to 2 days - regardless of what you eat and how much or how
hard you may exercise during that time.
Now, that last point is sometimes confusing to people
because many people eat relatively high amounts of
carbohydrate and still manage to lose weight - at least in
the short-term. Notice that I said that high carbohydrate
intake causes high insulin production that blocks FAT
burning. You can still lose water weight through various
methods (if you happen to be eating a low protein and low
fat diet, you will typically lose a lot of water weight),
and you can still burn calories, but what you burn will be
glycogen and lean body tissue (protein from your muscles)
and not fat. As you may be aware, lean body tissue
(muscle) is highly metabolically active, and if you burn
that tissue, ultimately your metabolism will slow down,
making it harder and harder to lose weight.
Because of the effects of insulin, minimizing carbohydrate
intake is strongly recommended for sustainable fat burning
and the most efficient and lasting natural weight loss.
This is not to say that everyone will benefit from being on
a high protein diet such as Atkins. Excessive protein
intake can create its own problems that can ultimately
interfere with ongoing weight loss due to detrimental
effects on the liver. Instead, the best diet program in
most intances involves eating plenty of fresh or frozen
vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, and moderate quantities
of protein from lean meats, fish, eggs, and dairy. The
carbohydrates you do consume are best obtained in
high-fiber forms from vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts,
rather than from refined grains.
A few diet plans will recommend a low carbohydrate intake,
yet suggest allowing yourself a "reward" of some
high-carbohydrate food like a cookie or other sweet as
often as once per week. I disagree with this recommendation
as it can sabotage your natural weight loss program on two
levels. First, as we've been discussing, the carbs will
trigger a high insulin release which will shut off your
ability to burn fat for up to two days. So, at once per
week, you could lose as much as 8 days per month of
potential fat burning - decreasing the effectiveness of
your diet by as much as 25%! The other problem is that
eating carbs tends to set you up for carb cravings. At the
very least, such cravings will test your will-power, and
they could cause you to cheat on your diet repeatedly.
This could ultimately doom your diet to total failure. My
advice is to save your carbohydrate consumption for special
occasions only - which should be limited to once per month
or less.
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of why high
carbohydrate consumption is so damaging to a natural weight
loss plan. If you commit to a healthy diet and avoid the
carbs for 2 to 3 weeks, you will likely find that you don't
really miss them after that period of time and so avoiding
them becomes much easier. With a little extra effort early
on, you'll find that eating a healthy diet becomes natural
to you and you'll be able to reach your long-term weight
goals.
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Dr. George Best has been in private practice as a holistic
healthcare provider in San Antonio, Texas since 1992. For
more information, to obtain a free natural weight loss
guide, and/or to access his E-Book, "Training Your Brain
For Weight Loss", please visit
http://www.TrainYourBrain4WeightLoss.com .
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