Mindconnection Brainpower Informational eNewsletter 2024-12-22

Lately, I've heard a lot about low carb and no carb diets. You probably have, also. So I am going to talk about that.

Regarding the low carb or no carb approaches, is there something to it? No, it's all BS.

But, wait, how can that be? Plenty of people have lost a lot of weight with this or that low carb or no carb diet. True, look at them a year later. Usually, they have regained all that lost fat while also having less lean mass than before. It's very common for people who manage to stay on a low carb (or worse) regimen to look and feel considerably older a year later.

There is an exception. An acquaintance of mine went on a "low carb" diet. He clarified that he cut out highly processed foods. Mostly, he stopped eating bread. He also stopped eating crackers. He told me he doesn't eat popcorn "because of the carbs" and I told him if you make popcorn properly (using real butter or some non-toxic oil such as avocado oil), you can consider popcorn to be a fat. There aren't many calories in plain popcorn. He's not going to die from a lack of popcorn, so he actually got this right. He still eats sweet potatoes, rice, beans, fruit, and other foods that certain people classify as "carbs". I got the feeling you could pry his daily banana from his cold, dead fingers....

Why it seems to work

There are three reasons people lose weight (including fat) when they knock out "carbs":

They are suddenly more conscious of what they eat, so they eat less.
They are, like my acquaintance, getting the calorie-dense, nutrient-poor highly refined grains out of their diet. This spares their endocrine system a lot of trouble.
Their total calorie intake plummets. However, this can work to their detriment and often does.

Some of these diets ban eating root vegetables. Beets and sweet potatoes are superfoods, they are also root vegetables. Root vegetables tend to be nutrient-dense. Such diets, therefore, do more harm than good.

You need carbs

Every serious athlete takes in a prodigious amount of carbs. I weight train 6 days per week, I need those carbs to fuel my workouts. I also climb in gyms, and it's normal to burn several thousand calories in an afternoon. I carboload before heading to the gym. Those who climb on rock faces will often have carb-heavy snacks with them, such as oats with honey and raisins. Iron Man athletes use glucose monitoring during training to figure out when they need a carb boost during competition.

If you deliberately put yourself into a carbohydrate depletion state, there are consequences. Among them:

The general tendency is to make up for the carbs by consuming extra protein. A big problem there is your body can manage only so much protein at a time, it converts the excess into sugar and several waste products, thus taxing both your pancreas and your kidneys.
They lack the energy to push their workouts enough to get the adaptive response. Among its many positive effects, the adaptive response results in a testosterone spike, an increased base metabolic rate, and prolonged fat burning. Hop off a treadmill, and your fat burning, if it ever started, stops. Complete a "leg day" style workout on Monday, and you will still be burning fat on Friday.
They generally lack energy, so subconsciously do things to save energy.
Their brains may not get enough glycogen to operate properly. The damage can be permanent. Same thing for heart muscle, lung tissue, bones, etc.
They go into starvation mode, which causes them to burn fewer calories while sitting still than a properly carbed person burns.

In short, you can't change your fat setpoint or anything else by merely restricting "carbs" as if they are somehow the cause of your excess body fat. Your body will adjust to the deficiency as long as it can. And when it can no longer adjust your health will decline.

What does work?

Remember what my acquaintance did. That's all he did, and his appearance gradually improved and so did his sense of well-being. He didn't cut out "carbs" in the strictly technical sense and really there is no food that is just a carb. All plants have the same 20 amino acids that a hunk of steak does. But some foods have more starch or other carbohydrates and your body needs those carbohydrates. What it doesn't need is a diet loaded with highly processed grains, corn syrup, and other endocrine modifiers. If you simply eliminate the "made by man" stuff, you're going to have a reasonably healthy level of body fat unless your portions are absurdly large.

So enjoy the rice with your beans, enjoy the sweet potatoes, and eat beets often. Don't worry about "the carbs". In fact, you need to make sure you have sufficient carbs to fuel your physical activity, whether intense like an athlete or not. If you find yourself to be a little heftier than you'd like, cut back your portions of just one of your meals and see how that goes. One thing I do when leaning down for a photoshoot is I cut down on fats. Jut a little, as those fats are good for me. I use a little less olive oil over my greens. I cut an avocado wedge in half rather than adding the whole thing to a meal during meal prep. I skip eating the yogurt (grass-fed, cream on top) for a month or two. Maybe I buy smaller sweet potatoes or use a little less rice, but not on leg days and not on climbing days.

Mindconnection eNL, 2024-12-22

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