Has anyone managed to sustain eating low-carb in the long term?

[Breakfastatlarrys]

I feel really good eating low carb and lose weight, but always end up eating carbs again (a lot!) and put the weight back on, feel sluggish and ill. Has anyone managed to eat low carb in the long term (and in winter) - and do you have any tips?
I’m willing to be pretty moderate about it ie still eat pulses etc just cut out rice, potatoes, bread, chips etc… I even allow myself treats in restaurants but still always seem to end up sliding back, and it’s not just a weight thing. My skin, sleep and so many things are better when I eat low carb.

Or they have a very disordered relationship with food

Yes. I was addicted to carbs, particularly sugar. Keto helps me not be. The same as an alcoholic can't have a healthy relationship with alcohol. I shouldn't tell one to just have a glass of red and stop, that would be foolish. Their brain works differently to mine.

And I have a science degree and know how studies work. If you post the actual study about cortisol, I'm willing to bet there were women whose cortisol didn't spike or at least not significantly. Studies tell you about averages, trends, causation. They don't tell you how your body behaves.

If I hate running after eating, I just wouldn't go, I'd give up. Which is worse than running fasted, I'm willing to bet. Life isn't a study with parameters and control groups. I do what works best for me. You do what works best for you.

And I know you think you're making a point with all the little 'restrictive' digs. But let's be honest, eating a healthy diet with no UPF is restrictive. It;s actually hard to do as you navigate real life. But I bet you don't call it that. Just keto. As I eat a bog standard dinner just with no potatoes.

This is a typical day for me

smoothie made with high protein yogurt and four types of fruit.

salad with protein such as chicken or salmon
or eggs and smoked salmon

roast dinner with turkey, lots of veg and gravy or something like meatballs with a massive amount of peppers, onions, mushrooms and sauce.

I am never hungry.

I haven’t read it all, but @Breakfastatlarrys if low carb doesn’t work for you (and if you always fall off the wagon and gain weight it doesn’t) then find something that does. Calorie counting, Slimming World, intermittent fasting, whatever. Or a combination. But whatever you do has to feel natural or it’s not sustainable and won’t work.

That's very scary.

It is unfortunate that so many people confuse low carb and keto, or use the terms interchangeably. In the paper quoted by a PP, it is never actually explained what low-carb diets the cohorts in those studies were actually eating, or whether there was coherence in this regard between the various studies.

To my mind, what I consider keto is high-fat, high protein, with hardly any carbs, especially refined carbs. It may be appropriate as a short term weight loss strategy, but could potentially be risky, so I'd consider medical supervision to be essential.

Low carb, as far as I am concerned, includes small to moderate amounts (1/2 to 1 cup a day) of complex carbs, i.e. legumes and whole grain carbs. I know many vegetables also contain carbs, but I would not restrict those unduly because as far as I'm concerned, all vegetables are better than sugar and UPF.

I acknowledge that my approach is not overly scientific, but I feel that I am eating a sensible, healthy diet.

Yes as a runner you need carbs to fuel that exercise. Performance will suffer otherwise.

Again, not strictly true. There is a myriad of research out there that debunks this, particularly for long distance/endurance athletes.

It is unfortunate that so many people confuse low carb and keto,

I agree. Keto is not healthy nor sustainable long term, low carb as part of a balanced diet absolutely is and is a much healthier option than the 50% + carb based diets the majority of people eat.

This for me too.
I have felt great when on the low carb wagon, although part of that is the buzz of losing weight.
but as someone prone to binge eating I have to accept that it doesn’t really work for me and I have to try and take a more moderate approach, so I try to have more whole meals and whole grains along side protein and fat. But most of all try to eat intuitively, eat when I’m hungry, stop when I’m full and try and pay attention and notice what foods make me feel good (and sugar and white carbs generally don’t). I have found the Brain over Binge podcast and books really helpful

I’d love to see the research that says long distance endurance athletes don’t need fuel.

I’ll agree men and women are different and fuelling is individual but zero fuel isn’t a great strategy for any athlete. You can actually damage your endocrine system, and fall into low energy state called RED-S. You can hammer your thyroid (as seen happen with some long distance runners).

Very dangerous.

Thanks for all the replies. I actually found the article quite alarming!

‘Also, low carb consumers were 51 percent more likely to die from coronary heart disease, 50 percent more likely to die from cerebrovascular disease, and 35 percent more likely to die of cancer. The associations were strongest among older, non-obese people.’

It would be good to know if this was keto or just lower carb. I think a moderate (perhaps gluten free/wheat free) approach might be best for me, building in more exercise so I can maintain the weight loss/lack of bloating. I genuinely seem to visibly lose weight from my face and stomach within a week or two of low carb, it is quite striking but obviously pointless if I can’t maintain it! I think I’ll try to transition to a lower (healthy) carb approach rather than swinging from one extreme to another…

I was recommended a low carb diet by my GP due to being pre-diabetic. It worked a treat & I’m no longer pre-diabetic. I stick to it because of my health & I feel a million times better in terms of energy & sleep. I was definitely addicted to refined carbs. I eat a lot of veg, Greek yoghurt, eggs, nuts & chicken.

Healthy diet is very important for type 2 diabetes, so its important.
Eating less sugar filled carbs help bring levels down , and changing diet often means not having to take medication

The problem with very low carb low term is that it negatively affects the composition of the gut microbiome as it is generally low in fibre. Given that the gut microbiome is key to a huge number of processes in the body this is very harmful and can lead to a wide range of diseases as the OP has illustrated.

The short term benefits of low carb are largely due to cutting out the highly refined carbs which also lead to a wide range of diseases through their impact on glucose metabolism as well as through the huge number of additives they contain which the body does not know how to handle.

For long term health you are best having a whole food diet with no highly processed carbs but maintain your intake of pulses, legumes and vegetables which are key for health. Look at the diets of the blue zones where the most centanarians live and you will see they follow this approach.

The paper that article uses
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/40/34/2870/5475490

Interestingly the lowest carbs also drank most and consumed least fibre.

Excuse my ignorance but does the typical Mediterranean diet not include pasta/potatoes/polenta etc? Or is it just that they are balanced with lots of good stuff?

I used to be able to do it, as recently as last year. The last two times I have tried I’ve had such horrific migraines that I just can’t do it. I get migraines anyway but they get so much more frequent and intense when I try low carb that I can’t do it as I can’t miss work and normal life for however long it would take to stabilise.

If you watched the blue zones program they ate lots of healthy carbs. They made their own pasta/bread/wraps. Loads of pulses and beans. I think it was the balance and the unprocessed nature of the food.

I don't understand the anger either!
People do well on different diets. We are not all the same.
I tried being a vegetarian for a while and felt hideous. No energy at all and low moods.
Low carb doesn't work for me either and I've given it a shot a few times.
What works best for me is no simple sugar's at all.
Intermittent fasting until lunch or Greek yogurt and fruit.
A low carb lunch (soup/salad with protein)
A dinner with a small amount of carbs.

This works really well for me and I get no disruption in my sleep.

Yes but beans and pulses make some people I'll. We are all genetically different!
I find blanket statements too simplistic.

Yes but beans and pulses make some people ill. We are all genetically different!
I find blanket statements too simplistic.

If you are allergic to them they will
make you ill so yes avoid. But they were definitely heavily featured in the diets of people in the blue zones. Make of that what you will. Reminded me to eat more!

I think a lot depends on your definition of low cab

keto <50g of carbs, probably even lower
low carb <100g
reasonably low carb <150g
supposed normal = 250g

Again if you eat all your carbs tied up with fibre as whole grains, pulses and vegetables the results you get will be different from someone who gets them all from chocolate bars/upf

@Lollygaggle do you have any reading recommendations on what you follow to manage T2D, and any recipe books? Trying to send info my DMs way, who has been diagnosed and been given metformin and the usual terrible NHS dietary advice

Replace carbs with lots of green veg. Plenty of carbs in there that aren’t processed. I sat around 7oz cooked veg and 7oz raw veg each meal to compensate

I read a critical review of that programme and it indicated that the health outcomes were largely due to the lack of processed food not due to beans etc. This is also indicated in some areas which eat a lot of fish/meat veg.

It's also not just about allergies, some people do not process certain foods very well and would not be healthy consuming these regularly. For example some people, especially certain ethnicities may not process cheese.

We are all different. I would not thrive on beans and bread. I would feel terrible even though I am not allergic. I do best on meat/veg and a small amount of carbs.

This should tell you it is not sustainable and makes you very ill.
(So you go right to eating them )