A reduced-calorie, low-carb diet is one of the most popular forms of nutrition used by people with the goal of losing weight. Why, in my opinion, low carb is a very good approach for many people (including myself), I would like to explain in this article.
It is very important to mention in advance that a low-carbohydrate diet does not have to be a crash diet with the aim of weight loss. For various health reasons, it can make sense to limit the intake of carbohydrates without wanting to lose weight. In the same way, of course, you can slowly lose weight by gradually reducing your carbohydrates.
In order to give you my perspective on the subject, I want to explain in this article what low carb actually means from my point of view, how a low carb diet differs from other diets and where the advantages and possibly also some disadvantages of these Diet variant lying.
What does low carb mean anyway
First of all, low carb simply means “few carbohydrates”. How little that should be now, there are a whole host of different nutritional concepts with a wide variety of rules. However, these are all sub-concepts that I don’t want to deal with now.
What low carb means to me is simply that the intake of carbohydrates is reduced. In many cases, this is simply the most sensible step, because this is where the greatest number of (unnecessary) calories can be saved. I will come back to this later.
If you want to try it out in a simple way, you can do it with an easy first step, no carbohydrates in the evening to eat more. If you just want to see that it works, just give it a try. If you want to understand why this is so, then read the linked article. 😉
Basics: What is food actually made of?
So that you understand why low carb simply makes the most sense, you should first understand what foods are made up of (very simply). In theory, our food, whatever its form, is pretty simple.
It consists of the three macronutrients fats, proteins and carbohydrates. These alone can be used to generate energy. In addition, there are fiber (which is usually assigned to carbohydrates) and so-called micronutrients. The latter are vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Then of course water (of which most drink too little ) is still part of the diet. That was actually it. At least that’s basically everything our body can do with.
Typical representatives of the three macro-nutrient groups
For your diet this means:
If you reduce the intake of one or more macronutrients, then you also directly consume fewer calories. If you ultimately get below your calorie requirement, you lose weight.
Why Low Carb – Importance of Macronutrients
Why should one now do without the carbohydrates? The short and clear answer is that you don’t necessarily need it as the only macronutrient.
Protein deficiency is definitely not to be trifled with and most people do not consume enough proteins (and thus vital essential amino acids ) anyway. Especially in a diet if youIf you want to define your muscles and ensure maximum muscle maintenance in the diet , you should make sure you get enough intake. It is best to try this with your food and not just with protein shakes . 😉
Fat is also a vital nutrient for your body. The essential fatty acids are needed for hormones, enzymes and various metabolic processes in your body. For this reason, it can even be dangerous if someone on a diet tries primarily to avoid fat. In particular, Omega 3 deficiency is very common. Here you can, so only to a certain extent, restrict your consumption.
But what about the carbohydrates? These are actually only used as fuel, i.e. for pure energy generation. Don’t get me wrong, carbohydrates are really very good for that. The brain in particular loves to work with carbohydrates. In fact, this also makes the carbohydrates replaceable.
Why low carb still works so well
Now you know at the latest that fat and protein are essential, so vital. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, do not. At first I thought that was unbelievable, because most of our food supply apparently consists of carbohydrates. Bread, toast, potatoes, pasta, rice, muesli, chips, french fries, gummy bears, cookies, all of these foods mainly contain one macronutrient and that is the carbohydrates.
If you look at this list again, you might also notice some supposedly unhealthy foods right away. If you now consciously reduce your carbohydrates, you will also do without these foods more.
In addition, an approach like low carb also leads many people to an overall more conscious consumption and an examination of ingredients. Honestly, another diet approach called “If it fits your Macros” or IIFYM for short is also the case. Why low carb is still better than IIFYM .
Above all, low carb works very easily and at least up to a certain point also very healthy and effective without having to constantly count calories. Nevertheless, I recommend that you concern yourself with how many calories you need and which foods have how many calories. This ensures you the success of your purchases and alone helps you to make better decisions if you want to shop healthily .
Low carb doesn’t have to be boring at all !
Why low carb is still not always the best solution
While I believe that reducing carbohydrates is the best (because it is the simplest) approach for most people, it also has some potential disadvantages. Because of this, low carb may not turn out to be the best diet for you.
So giving up carbohydrates is more difficult for some than for others. There are now some really good substitute products, such as low-carbohydrate protein bars, which is why I’m a real protein bar junkie , for example, but this is still not a real substitute for many lead the diet. If you just can’t stick to a certain type of diet, you should probably try a different approach.
In addition, the risk of too many calories in a low carb diet should not be underestimated. Very many protein foods are also high in fat and calories. Ultimately, if you take a careless approach, this can even lead to you gaining weight despite low carb.
Another risk is a micronutrient deficiency due to the fact that a poorly thought-out low-carb diet does not include fruit and lots of vegetables in order to save carbohydrates. One or the other tries to compensate for this with supplements . This is not a sensible approach. Fruits and vegetables should also be eaten in a low carb diet.
If you keep these things in mind, there is nothing to prevent you from trying low carb at least once.
Your conclusion – why you should try low carb
As you can see, there are many good reasons why low-carb diets are so common and known to be effective. In the end, the frequent wrong interpretation and a poorly thought-out approach on the part of the users speak against this.
I can only advise you to give low carb a try if you are looking for a simple and effective approach to healthy weight loss. However, do it correctly to make sure that you can stick to the diet and that it will be successful. You may have to overcome your weaker self one time or another for this, but it will ultimately be worth it.