Why do low carbohydrate diets work so well for most people? For a reason people have been told over years the only way to lose weight is to eat less fat, a small amount of protein and an unlimited amount of carbohydrates. Along with some exercise, this should have been the key to losing weight. The point is that eating 80% fats and protein and only 20% carbohydrates, we could lose much more weight than if we cut out as much fat as possible. Well, it’s true and the object of this discussion is to explain exactly how that works.

If you’ve been on a low-carbohydrate diet and had extreme success, as I have, you’ve seen the wonderful results and are probably a big believer in the diet, however, what most people don’t understand is that the low-carb diet is not just a short term diet to lose a few pounds but rather a complete lifestyle change in which one changes not only the food that they eat, but their entire metabolism is modified for better health and longer life.

The low-carb diet is known by many names. There are variations of the diet that each variation’s developer renames, often for just the marketing’s sake. Essentially, the active part of the diet is the same. A few examples of diets that utilize the low-carb theory are the Zone and the South Beach diets. Both are variations of the original idea which was developed and published by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in the mid 1990s and for whom the original diet is named.

Dr. Atkins studied how the digestion of foods works, what enzymes and hormones are involved in the process and what the results of certain experiments were. He then developed a theory that, in the end, proved to be accurate and certainly workable, especially if certain actions were taken to prevent complications.

He also encouraged the use of daily exercise to enhance the weight loss and tone the body. What follows is a simplified explanation of Dr. Atkins main theory which revolves around the decrease in carbohydrate consumption while, at the same time increasing the consumption of fats and protein. All variations of his original plan use this same theory but with modifications in amounts, exercise and the addition of some specific types of carbohydrates in the later phases of the program.

The Theory

There are two hormones that the body releases in response to eating. There are also many enzymes and acids involved in the digestion process but the two hormones that we are interested in and will focus on are insulin and glucagon. Though most people associate a reduction in insulin with the disease diabetes, the hormone also plays a large role in the storage of unused fat in our body systems. Glucagon, though not nearly as well known, also plays a large role but only when insulin is removed from the picture. We’ll start with insulin and then will naturally flow to the subject of glucagon as we proceed. This way it will be easier to understand how the process works.

Insulin

Insulin is a wonderful hormone that is produced in our pancreas, in an area named the Islets of Langerhans. This tiny area has probably caused more problems than any other area in the body in the course of the existence of human beings. When something goes wrong with it and it cannot produce enough insulin, bad things happen to the body. Normally, insulin acts as what I like to call an accompanying hormone. All of the cells in the body require some form of energy.

This insulin “buddy” has a pass into the “Cell Club”. Without insulin, sugar cannot get into the cell club where it is immediately converted into energy (which is the ultimate honor for a sugar). So, together, sugar and insulin, as partners, get sugar into the cell and sugar is then converted to a form of energy used by the cell. That is the gist of how insulin is used. Whenever someone eats a carbohydrate, the body signals the pancreas that it needs to release some insulin so that the sugar will have a buddy to help him get into the Cell Club.

NOTE: For tips about compact exercise equipment - read more on this blog.

Share This

Link to Trackback | Link to RSS Feed for comments on this post