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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. At the heart of the matter is the hormone insulin. The function of insulin is to stimulate the cells to take up sugar from the bloodstream (when blood sugar is high, as it typically is shortly after eating) and store it for reserve energy. This extra blood sugar is first stored as a compound called glycogen in the muscles and liver. Glycogen can be quickly converted back to blood sugar when needed for energy to fuel sudden bursts of activity. The available storage space for glycogen is pretty limited, and when insulin has caused the glycogen storage to be filled up, the remaining excess blood sugar is stored as fat. There is considerably more storage space in the body for fat than there is for glycogen. There are billions of fat cells in the body, each of which can enlarge to over 100 times its original size to accommodate extra fat storage. As an aside, this is why it is possible to get fat again after liposuction - even if you remove many of the body's fat cells, those that remain can enlarge considerably to store fat. In addition to its fat storing effects, insulin also blocks the body's ability to burn fat. It is for this reason that avoiding eating carbohydrates is so critically important for effective 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. You may have doubts about that last statement because you may know of people who are losing weight even though they eat carbs. It is important to note that carbohydrate intake causes the release of insulin which prevents the body from burning FAT. Weight loss is still possible because you can lose retained water and the body will still burn some calories, it's just that the calories being burned are from the protein in your muscles and other lean body tissue rather than fat. Because muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in the body, burning muscle is particularly bad, because not only will it make you weaker, your metabolism will start to slow down and it will become more and more challenging to lose weight. It is strongly recommended to avoid eating refined carbohydrates when trying to lose weight in order to avoid the strong fat burning inhibition caused by high insulin levels. Please don't take this to mean that I am recommending that everyone go on a high protein program like Atkins. Large amounts of protein and fat can be hard on the liver and this can create different problems with weight loss in the long run. In my opinion, the best diet in most cases is one that is rich in fresh vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, and contains moderate amounts of animal proteins like chicken, fish, lean meat, eggs, and some dairy products. With such a diet, you will get healthy carbohydrates from sources high in fiber that do not trigger heavy insulin release as seen with refined flours, sweets, and starchy foods. Certain low-carb diets I've seen actually suggest eating one carbohydrate-filled meal per week as a way of rewarding yourself for your efforts. I think you can probably find much better ways to reward yourself that don't have the potential to derail your weight loss program like this approach does. First, as we said, any high-carb eating can produce enough insulin to shut-down fat burning for one to two days. If you do the once a week "cheat", you are potentially eliminating your opportunity to burn fat for up to eight days every month - a reduction in your diet's efficiency of about 25%! The other issue is that eating carbs tends to cause carb cravings that could lead to more cheating and eventually cause you to abandon your weight loss plan altogether. 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.
Article Source: http://www.writedot.com
Dr. George Best writes extensively on the subject of natural weight loss. He has been a practicing holistic healthcare provider since 1992. To get additional resources on starting a natural weight loss plan, please visit www.TrainYourBrain4WeightLoss.com.
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