The Pros and Cons of Carbohydrates - Is Cutting Them Out Unhealthy?
There’s two sides of the story here, because generally speaking, 75% of Caucasians do well on a low carbohydrate diet. What happens to the other 25%? Well there are pros and cons to a low carbohydrate diet, as well as misconceptions. Here’s my view on the pros on cons, and a conclusion of which is superior.
The misconception is some people think that if they are eating the right number of calories, then the type of calories they eat doesn’t matter.
For example, leftover pizza, and several Tim Tams are supposably fine, if they fit into your daily calories. In my view, any carbohydrates that weren’t around 2,000 years ago aren’t worth eating, as you could be eating something better. These are obviously quite different views on carbohydrates, so let me explain the pros and cons.
First here’s a quote from Anssi Manninen who is a Finnish exercise physiologist specialising in sports nutrition:
“It is implausible that an animal that adapted to a high protein diet for 5 million years suddenly in 10,000 years becomes a predominant carbohydrate burner.” – Anssi H Manninen, PhD
I’m not totally for any one diet, it matters what works for you. This quote is important because it shows the relevance in today’s time of a low carbohydrate diet to be effective. Also, carbohydrates are a non-essential macronutrient. If you were on an island with access only to healthy fats and protein, you would live and do just fine.
1 – Cutting Out Some Types of Carbohydrates is Healthy
Some people can eat grains and do well, others not so much, and they need to avoid them. Here’s a list to avoid:
2 - Decreased inflammation
It’s true that some people can get lean eating fast food and milkshakes, but when you look at their blood test results, there’s a ton of inflammation.
There is good and bad inflammation in the body. The good inflammation is your body’s automatic immune response, fighting against infections, disease, and healing wounds. Though too much and chronic inflammation leads to auto immune diseases such as Lupus Rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and Chron’s disease.
Eating too much junk carbohydrates will have a big effect on chronic inflammation.
This means that eating doughnuts and soft drinks can cause degenerative diseases, and the calorie content of the food isn’t all we’ve got to worry about.
For the people who don’t feel the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet, this just means they utilize carbohydrates as fuel much better, and feel more sustained energy on an average amount of carbohydrates.
Generally, people will feel more energy and stamina once they are used to the lower carbohydrate diet. This can take a few days for the body to adapt, which isn’t a long time. During the interim between the generic Western diet of high glycaemic foods and a low carbohydrate diet, also known as the ketogenic diet, people tend to feel tired, and crave carbohydrates.
If you are wanting to obtain or maintain an attractive body, or you just want to stay healthy and prevent disease, then your best bet is to have a go at the low carb diet, and see how you feel. Make sure to try it out properly, and give it at least 14 days before you decide it’s not right for you.
5 – The non-carb breakfast
The most important meal of the day to get right is breakfast. There are so many benefits of eating a non-carb breakfast, and you will really feel the difference. You won’t spike your blood sugar or insulin levels by having a high carbohydrate breakfast, and you will feel you have more focus and concentration for the rest of the day.
In conclusion, cutting out carbohydrates isn’t unhealthy, rather it’s more about optimizing your diet to suit you. There are more benefits to a low carbohydrate diet than a diet high in carbohydrates. I believe everyone should at least try this diet to see the benefits. For the people that do better on an average amount of carbohydrates, they should shift when they eat them throughout the day.
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