Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [7]
The biggest problem with low-carbohydrate diets is that they teach you a lie. They tell you that high-fat eating is healthy eating. They take you away from healthy fruits and vegetables, and make you feel guilty for eating rice or pasta. Not surprisingly, many people on these diets find that their cholesterol levels skyrocket. Not only do the lost pounds return, but your health can suffer as well.
So basically, the high–animal protein, low-carb diet appears to work at first because of water loss (this happens because the body, starving for glucose normally found in carbs, is using up stored glycogen, which holds a lot of water—1 pound glycogen holds 3 pounds of water; the first bit of weight loss you see on the low-carb diet is just water loss from losing your natural glycogen, and as soon as you allow a few carbs back in, your water weight comes right back). The diet keeps working for a bit simply because you are cutting out so many of the things you used to eat—you’re cutting calories. It will eventually cease working and could cause you serious health problems. The problem is that most people can only keep up the rigid carbohydrate restriction for so long, and even Atkins relaxes the restriction as the diet proceeds to its maintenance phase. As they bring back the range of foods they were eating before, their calorie intake rises back to where it had been. This losing and gaining is, of course, incredibly disheartening but also very unhealthy.
What to Eat to Lose Weight without Going Hungry
Eat fiber rich food! Fiber not only reduces cholesterol and keeps you regular, but it also fools your brain into thinking you are full. It holds water so your stomach feels full. You won’t go overboard with too many calories because you feel satisfied—thus, no weight gain. And fiber is only found in plant-based foods like whole grains, beans, veggies, and fruits.
Another mechanism underlying the craving and overeating cycle is blood sugar and insulin imbalance. When we feed our bodies nutrient-dense, fiber-rich, whole foods, which are absorbed slowly and steadily, the craving-overeating cycle is again broken. Whole grains like brown rice, steel-cut oatmeal, and quinoa are ideal staples that will keep you feeling full and satisfied. When grains are processed, however, like the flour used in white bread and the white rice served in most restaurants, the fiber so necessary for the proper slow processing and digestion of food and the release of a steady supply of energy is stripped out, along with many other vital nutrients. The refined carbohydrates that are left (you know, the ones you get from most pastries, breads, and cereals) are released almost immediately into the bloodstream. Our bodies read these refined carbohydrates sort of like they do sugar, and we get a quick high followed by a crash, followed by a craving for another hit. When we say we’re addicted to cookies or chips, we’re not entirely wrong.
Unrefined complex carbohydrates from whole grains like brown rice or kasha (buckwheat groats), yams or sweet potatoes, lentils or chickpeas, on the other hand, are very important for healthy weight and should be a central part of your diet. They break down slowly during digestion and provide the body and brain with a steady and gradual source of energy.
This is where the low-carb brainwashing we’ve all been fed really led us wrong. We may not need white bread, but we do need unrefined carbohydrates from whole foods! Don’t drive yourself too crazy trying to be perfect. Just try to stick to foods that are still in their natural state, unrefined and un-processed, and you’ll find the weight simply melting off.
As Dr. Barnard advises: the key is to think about which carbohydrate