Many of us at least know someone who has tried a low carb diet, if we haven’t already tried one ourselves. Low carb makes up the bulk of fad diets that promote a quick way to the sought after summer body, but with no long term sustainability. Now everyone sees carbs as the bad guy in the diet and maybe even more so that fat, but could cutting the carbs actually be causing more harm than good?

Many people are initially satisfied with immediate weight loss from a low carb diet (often due to a reduction in glycogen stored in skeletal muscle and the liver, subsequently leading to a reduction in water weight). However, carbs are an important part of a healthy and balanced diet and can help us to feel and function at our best.

Long term restriction of carbohydrate intake may lead to damaging effects on hormonal, metabolic and immune function, not to mention the negative effects it can have on mood. But it all seems worthwhile for the summer body right? Well, the most discouraging fact of all is that you might not lose much weight long term after all. In fact, there are much smarter ways we can go about ‘dieting’:

• Think sustainable rather than restrictive – reach for the long  game
• Everything in moderation
• Steer away from processed foods – eat whole and fresh foods
• Do what works for you – fad diets are generalised and you are unique
• Track how you look, feel and perform rather than only judging success by a number on the scales

It is crucial to understand that every individual is unique and some people may function best with more carbs than others. Whilst lowering carb intake to a sustainable amount could be beneficial for weight loss, drastically lowering carbs or cutting them from the diet completely could have damaging effects, as well as reducing the chance of sustaining the diet long-term. So it seems as though there are smarter and more sustainable ways to achieve weight/fat loss.

Although low carb diets may help us to achieve initial weight loss, we need to look to make small and sustainable changes to our lifestyle that will promote our health and wellbeing for the long term. After all, there are many better ways to get that summer body as well as improving long term health as opposed to taking on a heavily restricted low carb crash diet.

Adie Blanchard – Researcher

References

Bravata, D. M., Sanders, L., Huang, J., Krumholz, H. M., Olkin, I. et al. (2003). Efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets: a systematic review. Jama, 289(14), 1837-1850.

D’Anci, K. E., Watts, K. L., Kanarek, R. B., & Taylor, H. A. (2009). Low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets. Effects on cognition and mood. Appetite, 52(1), 96-103.

Foster, G. D., Wyatt, H. R., Hill, J. O., McGuckin, B. G., Brill, C. et al. (2003). A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet for obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 348(21), 2082-2090.