Low-carb, high-fat diets – fad or fab?

In the last few years, we’ve discovered that many things we believed about foods are untrue. For example, fats are actually good for you, and in fact, cutting out essential fats can cause your body to function abnormally, bringing on disease and making you gain(!) weight, among other things. That’s why high-fat/low carb or ketogenic diets have gained popularity in the past few years, to resounding approval from their subscribers.

Here are just a few of the many, many reasons you should consider going low carb, high fat.

It’s SO much easier to diet.

Low-carb diets kill hunger and cravings. Thus eliminating the BIGGEST obstacle to dieting right there. You experience an automatic reduction in appetite, and when you cut carbs and eat mostly protein and fat, you actually end up eating fewer calories. Without having to try.

You lose WAY more weight.

You lose far more weight than your friends on low-fat diets – faster, and without feeling as hungry! Low carb diets expel excess water from your body, helping you shed water weight, and cause your kidneys to get rid of excess sodium – leading to huge weight loss in the first couple of weeks. In fact, if you go on a high-fat, medium protein and low-to-no carbs and sugar diet, your body will go into ketosis – begin burning fat instead of glucose for energy! Just add on a calorie deficit diet, and you’re burning your body fat.

You lose weight in a #1 Problem Area.

Visceral fat, the fat in our abdominal cavities, is the most dangerous of our body fats, and the one that lodges itself around our organs and causes all kinds of problems over time. It’s also an extremely difficult fat to lose on your average diet and weight-loss workout regime. Low carb diets are very effective at reducing this harmful fat, and over time decrease risks of Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease.

You reduce blood sugar and insulin levels, and your blood pressure normalises.

Carbs are broken down into simple sugars, like glucose, during digestion – upon which they enter the blood stream, spiking our blood sugar levels. Our bodies respond with insulin, which lets our cells know they need to grab the glucose and either burn or store it. However, people with insulin resistance find it harder for their cells to detect and respond to the insulin, leading to Type 2 Diabetes, which affects over 300 million people across the globe. Cutting carbs removes the need for that insulin, letting your blood sugar and insulin levels normalise – fast. One study showed that 95.2% of Type 2 Diabetics reduced or eliminated their medication within 6 months of starting a low-carb diet!

Of course, if you’re on medication, you should discuss this dietary change with your doctor first, so that your dosage is adjusted accordingly.

There are tons more reasons, including beneficial patterns in your LDL (harmful) cholesterol, increased levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, and so on. Keto diets have also been used for years to treat epileptics, as they stabilise your neural function. Studies are currently being carried out for their potential benefits against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as well!

So there you go – there’s nothing to lose, except your weight!