10 Health Benefits of a Low Carbohydrate Food

Low-carb diets have been controversial for since a long time.

People believed that these diets would raise cholesterol and cause heart disease because of the high fat content

But after many human studies conducted on low-carb diets, low-carb diets come out ahead of the diets they are compared to.

  

Not only does low-carb cause more weight loss, it also leads to major improvements in most risk factor such as cholesterol.

The 10 Health Benefits of a Low Carbohydrate Diet are

1. More weight Loss with low carb diet

Cutting carbs is one of the simplest and most effective ways to lose weight. Studies show that people on low-carb diets lose more weight, faster, than people on low-fat diets, even when the low-fat dieters are actively restricting calories.

One of the reasons is that low-carb diets tend to get rid of excess water from the body.

Since they lower insulin levels, the kidneys start shedding excess sodium, leading to rapid weight loss in the first week or two.

In studies comparing low-carb and low-fat diets, the low-carbers sometimes lose 2-3 times as much weight, without being hungry.

Think of low-carb as a lifestyle, NOT a diet. The only way to succeed in the long-term is to stick to it. However, some people may be able to add in healthy carbs after they have reached their goal weight.

2. Low-Carb Diets Kill Your Appetite (In a Good Way)

Hunger is one of the main reasons why many people feel miserable and eventually give up on their diets.

One of the best things about eating low-carb is that it leads to an automatic reduction in appetite

The studies consistently show that when people cut carbs and eat more protein and fat, they end up eating much fewer calories.

So when we cut carbs, the appetite tends to go down and we often end up eating much fewer calories without trying.

3. Abdominal Cavity Fat a.k.a Visceral Fat

 Not all fat in our body are the same. The place where it is stored determines how it will affect our health and risk of disease. Most importantly, we have subcutaneous fat (under the skin) and then we have visceral fat (in the abdominal cavity).

Visceral fat tends to lodge around the organs. Having a lot of fat in that area can accelerate inflammation, insulin resistance and is also believed to lead to metabolic dysfunction.

Low-carb diets are very effective at reducing the harmful abdominal fat. Over time, this would lead to a drastically reduced risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

 4. Triglycerides Tend to Go Way Down 

Triglycerides are fat molecules. It is a well known fact that Triglycerides is also one of the risk factor for Heart disease.

Perhaps the main driver of elevated triglycerides is carbohydrate consumption, especially the simple sugar fructose.

Low-carb diets are very effective at lowering blood triglycerides.

5. Increased Levels of HDL (the “good”) Cholesterol 

High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) is often called the “good” cholesterol. It is not actually cholesterol.

HDL and LDL refer to the lipoproteins that carry cholesterol around in the blood.

Whereas LDL carries cholesterol from the liver and to the rest of the body, HDL carries cholesterol away from the body and to the liver, where it can be reused or excreted.

The higher your levels of HDL, the lower your risk of heart disease will.

One of the best ways to increase HDL levels is to eat healthy fat and low-carb diets include a lot of fat.

Therefore, it is not surprising to see that HDL levels increase dramatically on low-carb diets, while they tend to increase only moderately or even go down on low-fat diets.

The triglyceride to HDL ratio is another very strong predictor of heart disease risk. The higher it is, the greater your risk of heart disease is.

Low-carb diets lead to a major improvement in this ratio.

6. Reduces Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels, Benefits people with Type 2 Diabetes

 When we eat carbs, they are broken down into simple sugars (mostly glucose) in the digestive tract. From there, they enter the bloodstream and elevate blood sugar levels. Because high blood sugars are toxic, the body responds with a hormone called insulin, which tells the cells to bring the glucose into the cells and to start burning or storing it.

People with Type 2 Diabetes have an impaired system of Glucose uptake and storage.

But there is actually a very simple solution to this problem -  by cutting carbohydrates, you remove the need for all of that insulin.

Thus with Low carb diet blood sugars and insulin go way down

If you are currently on blood sugar lowering medication, then talk to your doctor before making changes to your carbohydrate intake, because your dosage may need to be adjusted in order to prevent hypoglycemia.

7. Reduces Blood Pressure 

Hypertension (Elevated Blood pressure) is an important risk factor for many diseases.

This includes heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and many others.

Low-carb diets are an effective in reducing Blood pressure which eventually reduces the risk of various diseases.

8. Low-Carb Diets Are The Most Effective Treatment Known Against Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is a medical condition that is highly associated with the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

It is actually a collection of symptoms:

Abdominal obesity

Elevated blood pressure

Elevated fasting blood sugar levels

High triglycerides

Low HDL levels

It also leads to Polycystic Ovarian Disease which is an important cause of Infertility in women.

The good news is… all symptoms improve dramatically on a low-carb diet .

9. Low-Carb Diets Improve The Pattern of LDL Cholesterol

 Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is often referred to as the “bad” cholesterol (again, it is actually a protein). It is known that people who have high LDL are much more likely to have heart attacks. However scientists have now learned that it is the type of LDL that matters. Not all of them are equal.

In this regard, the size of the particles is important. People who have mostly small particles have a high risk of heart disease, while people who have mostly large particles have a low risk.

It found that low-carb diets actually turn the LDL particles from small to large, while reducing the number of LDL particles floating around in the bloodstream.

Thus, with a low Carb diet, small LDL(Bad) is converted to Large LDL(Better) reducing the risk of diseases

10. Low-Carb Diets Are Therapeutic For Several Brain Disorders

Glucose is necessary for proper functioning of Brain which is derived from carbohydrate. But a large part of the brain can also burn ketones, which are formed during starvation or when carbohydrate intake is very low.

This is the mechanism behind the ketogenic diet, which has been used for decades to treat epilepsy in children who don’t respond to drug treatment.

In many cases, this diet can cure children of epilepsy.

(BEWARE: It is only of Historic use, though not practiced nowadays.)

Very low-carb/ketogenic diets are now being studied for other brain disorders as well, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.