While a common weight loss recommendation is to reduce carbohydrate intake (primarily foods like breads, cereals, pastas, and sweets), for many people it is unclear why this is so important. In fact, even some doctors and scientists insist that weight loss is a simple matter of burning more calories than one consumes and it doesn't matter what kind of foods those calories come from. This may seem logical at first, but with a greater understanding of how the body processes carbohydrates, it becomes readily apparent that certain kinds of calories are much easier to burn than others and consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, even in the context of a relatively low-calorie diet, most definitely predisposes the body to storing fat.
The primary problem with a high intake of carbohydrate is the stimulation of insulin production. The purpose of insulin is to promote the uptake of blood sugar (which after a meal is in usually in greater supply than what is needed at that particular moment in time) and store any excess for future use.
Surplus blood sugar initially is converted to a fast-energy source called glycogen, which is mostly contained in the liver and muscle tissue. The body can re-convert glycogen to blood sugar to be used for energy during short periods of physical activity. There is not very much room to store glycogen, so when additional reserve blood sugar needs to be stored beyond what can be kept as glycogen, insulin stimlates the remainder is converted to fat.
There is an enormous amount of potential space for fat storge. Fat cells are plentiful and each cell can enlarge to more than one hundred times its starting volume to allow for additional storage of fat.
Insulin has very strong effects in stimulating fat storage. In addition, because fat burning and fat storage are opposite processes, insulin has a strong suppression effect on fat burning. It is this inhibition of fat burning by insulin that makes strictly limiting carbohydrate intake so important for weight loss.
Eating a lot of refined carbohydrates will trigger the release of high levels of insulin. High levels of insulin will actually block the body's ability to burn fat for up to two days at a time after just a single high-carbohydrate meal. It actually only takes the amount of carbs in a single slice of bread to shut off fat burning for 24 to 48 hours, no matter what your diet is like and no matter how much you exercise in that 24 to 48 hours.
Some people might dispute that last statement on the basis that some people do lose weight even though they regularly consume carbohydrates. It's not that eating carbohydrates prevents all weight loss, it's that the insulin response prevents fat burning. Loss of retained water weight and weight loss through the burning of muscle and lean tissue can proceed in the presence of high insulin. The big problem here is that lean tissue is highly metabolically active, so any loss of this tissue will reduce the metabolic rate over time and make weight loss very difficult.
Because of the effects of insulin, minimizing carbohydrate intake is strongly recommended for sustainable fat burning and the most efficient and lasting natural weight loss. This is not to say that everyone will benefit from being on a high protein diet such as Atkins. Excessive protein intake can create its own problems that can ultimately interfere with ongoing weight loss due to detrimental effects on the liver. Instead, the best diet program in most intances involves eating plenty of fresh or frozen vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, and moderate quantities of protein from lean meats, fish, eggs, and dairy. The carbohydrates you do consume are best obtained in high-fiber forms from vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, rather than from refined grains.
A few diet plans will recommend a low carbohydrate intake, yet suggest allowing yourself a "reward" of some high-carbohydrate food like a cookie or other sweet as often as once per week. I disagree with this recommendation as it can sabotage your natural weight loss program on two levels. First, as we've been discussing, the carbs will trigger a high insulin release which will shut off your ability to burn fat for up to two days. So, at once per week, you could lose as much as 8 days per month of potential fat burning - decreasing the effectiveness of your diet by as much as 25%! The other problem is that eating carbs tends to set you up for carb cravings. At the very least, such cravings will test your will-power, and they could cause you to cheat on your diet repeatedly. This could ultimately doom your diet to total failure. My advice is to save your carbohydrate consumption for special occasions only - which should be limited to once per month or less.
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of why high carbohydrate consumption is so damaging to a natural weight loss plan. If you commit to a healthy diet and avoid the carbs for 2 to 3 weeks, you will likely find that you don't really miss them after that period of time and so avoiding them becomes much easier. With a little extra effort early on, you'll find that eating a healthy diet becomes natural to you and you'll be able to reach your long-term weight goals.
The primary problem with a high intake of carbohydrate is the stimulation of insulin production. The purpose of insulin is to promote the uptake of blood sugar (which after a meal is in usually in greater supply than what is needed at that particular moment in time) and store any excess for future use.
Surplus blood sugar initially is converted to a fast-energy source called glycogen, which is mostly contained in the liver and muscle tissue. The body can re-convert glycogen to blood sugar to be used for energy during short periods of physical activity. There is not very much room to store glycogen, so when additional reserve blood sugar needs to be stored beyond what can be kept as glycogen, insulin stimlates the remainder is converted to fat.
There is an enormous amount of potential space for fat storge. Fat cells are plentiful and each cell can enlarge to more than one hundred times its starting volume to allow for additional storage of fat.
Insulin has very strong effects in stimulating fat storage. In addition, because fat burning and fat storage are opposite processes, insulin has a strong suppression effect on fat burning. It is this inhibition of fat burning by insulin that makes strictly limiting carbohydrate intake so important for weight loss.
Eating a lot of refined carbohydrates will trigger the release of high levels of insulin. High levels of insulin will actually block the body's ability to burn fat for up to two days at a time after just a single high-carbohydrate meal. It actually only takes the amount of carbs in a single slice of bread to shut off fat burning for 24 to 48 hours, no matter what your diet is like and no matter how much you exercise in that 24 to 48 hours.
Some people might dispute that last statement on the basis that some people do lose weight even though they regularly consume carbohydrates. It's not that eating carbohydrates prevents all weight loss, it's that the insulin response prevents fat burning. Loss of retained water weight and weight loss through the burning of muscle and lean tissue can proceed in the presence of high insulin. The big problem here is that lean tissue is highly metabolically active, so any loss of this tissue will reduce the metabolic rate over time and make weight loss very difficult.
Because of the effects of insulin, minimizing carbohydrate intake is strongly recommended for sustainable fat burning and the most efficient and lasting natural weight loss. This is not to say that everyone will benefit from being on a high protein diet such as Atkins. Excessive protein intake can create its own problems that can ultimately interfere with ongoing weight loss due to detrimental effects on the liver. Instead, the best diet program in most intances involves eating plenty of fresh or frozen vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, and moderate quantities of protein from lean meats, fish, eggs, and dairy. The carbohydrates you do consume are best obtained in high-fiber forms from vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, rather than from refined grains.
A few diet plans will recommend a low carbohydrate intake, yet suggest allowing yourself a "reward" of some high-carbohydrate food like a cookie or other sweet as often as once per week. I disagree with this recommendation as it can sabotage your natural weight loss program on two levels. First, as we've been discussing, the carbs will trigger a high insulin release which will shut off your ability to burn fat for up to two days. So, at once per week, you could lose as much as 8 days per month of potential fat burning - decreasing the effectiveness of your diet by as much as 25%! The other problem is that eating carbs tends to set you up for carb cravings. At the very least, such cravings will test your will-power, and they could cause you to cheat on your diet repeatedly. This could ultimately doom your diet to total failure. My advice is to save your carbohydrate consumption for special occasions only - which should be limited to once per month or less.
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of why high carbohydrate consumption is so damaging to a natural weight loss plan. If you commit to a healthy diet and avoid the carbs for 2 to 3 weeks, you will likely find that you don't really miss them after that period of time and so avoiding them becomes much easier. With a little extra effort early on, you'll find that eating a healthy diet becomes natural to you and you'll be able to reach your long-term weight goals.
About the Author:
Dr. George Best writes extensively on the subject of natural weight loss. He has been assisting people with weight loss in his practice since 1992. To get additional resources on starting a natural weight loss plan, please visit www.TrainYourBrain4WeightLoss.com.
