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Low-carb diets
Anyone doing low(ish) carb, NOT for weight loss?
12 replies
GertrudeTheGreat ·
07/04/2021 16:40
...and if so, what sort of low carb do you do?
I really want to try a low carb diet; maybe a Paleo diet. I'm not skinny, but I'm alright, so weight loss isn't my goal, necessarily. It might be a nice bonus though.
I'm mainly interested in the longer term health benefits.
I envisage paleo as a sort of happy medium between too many carbs and keto, which I understand is very low carb.
Yes! I’m about to go back on it. I did a hard core weight training program a while ago as I felt I needed to focus on strengthening my body (50’s, post menopause etc). I followed the diet I was given religiously and honestly I’ve never felt so good but the main thing was my hot flushes stopped and I slept SO much better.
I stopped, mainly because I started to lose weight. I’m about 170cm and about 55-56 kg normally but dropped to 53 which I wasn’t comfortable with. I’m going to just cut out pasta and rice and sugar, but eat my own sourdough (just 1 slice per day). I’ll still have legumes, root veg and the sweeter fruits occasionally (banana, mango). Everything else (meat, all other veg, berries) unlimited.
Not interested in ‘counting’ anything though (carbs, calories etc). Too much faff. I’m also giving up alcohol for September. Hopefully the hot flushes will go and my sleep will come back!
Yes me! I recently read a zombie threat from about 2012 started by Queenstromba (I think) which was absolutely invaluable in terms of information, for doing low carb-ish.
How long have you been doing it for blingers? One thing mentioned on that thread was that your electrolites can take a dip after 2 or 3 weeks I think, so get some Lo-Salt down you or one of those sachets things (I've yet to try either myself).
I'm loving not having an energy dip mid-afternoon, not getting hangry, bloating is reduced and zero headaches for now. The prep and food expense is the down-side, but I think the benefits outweigh this
Yep I’ve been doing it for several weeks and have maintained the electrolytes but the mood is beginning to be an issue.
Great you’re doing so well on it! I wish I had had so many benefits. We need to get better (ANY!) treatment for LC but the political approach is to (eventually) suggest lifestyle approaches and just pretend it’s all over…
Unless you have an abnormal glucose metabolism disorder such as diabetes, there are no health benefit from a low carb diet and possible more health harm if maintained over time.
I often low carb simply because I feel better on it, rather than an actively trying to lose weight.
I cut out all grain-based foods and 'made' foods high in sugar, which are often the same things: bread, pasta, cakes, biscuits, chocolate etc.
I eat whatever fruits and veg I want, rather than only low carb ones, and I eat plenty of protein and fat.
I try to eat slowly and enjoy the taste and texture of my food. That's quite important for digestion and satiety.
And if from time to time I fancy a bit of cake or chocolate or whatever, I have it. But only in company. Solitary carbs are for me a bit like solitary drinking: much harder to stop at one.
Matcha, there's a lot of information in that study that I don't understand (I'm sure it's a better read for those who have a better volcabulary than me). I am open to the suggestion, though, that to be in ketosis for a long-period might have unwanted side effects (I've no idea whether it does or not, but am open to whatever research has been medically proven).
My aim isn't ketosis, just to be low carb under 100 - 150g getting loads of fresh fruit and veg, fish, nuts, seeds, oils from olive oil, avocados and a bit of full fat dairy and a small amount of red meat.
Can't see how the introduction of bread pasta and sugar will give me any health benefits on top of that.
I don't really understand the bit about gene and gut something or other either (and to what type of fats and what type of quantities it relates to) but happy to accept alternative points of view, and I always want to be learning...
@MatchaTea That’s interesting. pls can you explain how Keto diet can affect gene methylation & gut dysbiosis?
The journal relating to those points are only available as abstracts - & I don’t understand!
My diet has no extra protein.
I am desperate to improve the Long Covid and many people use a paleo keto diet to help recover from CFS. In the absence of drugs - I will try anything to get back to a normal life. The Doctors just aren’t helping right now so …
I am not telling anyone to eat pasta or bread. Or cakes and chocolates. @HeresWhatYouReturned and if you are eating 100-150 g of carbs, it is not low carb, you eat whole food which is great.
I think it is time to stop talking about carb as one category alone. A slice of watermelon is not a slice of cake. A hearty lentil soup is not a bag of chips.
We are pure chemistry, All of our body, every process, from growing to repairing, the immune system, our brain, even our thoughts, everything is chemistry.
Those who sell programs, memberships , books, plans demonising carbs oversimplify and often manipulate how this chemistry works.
The cell has many receptors that send and receive messages. The powerhouse of the cell is centred around energy. The source of this energy will alter its functioning. Neurotransmitters are damaged by high fat diets which lower dopamine and GABA . We know that ADHD is worse in diet low in fruit and vegetables.
Long covid seems horrible, I hope you can get over it very soon.
We need carbs. We have evolved with them. The paleo crowd has this romanticised picture of hunters. Primitive hominids were mostly plant based and scavengers. It is very difficult to hunt an animal without a gun. They weren't eating animals on a daily basis and certainly not three times a day . They were eating whatever plants including wild grains they could find. We have evolved thanks to grains. We would still be living in caves if it wasn't for grains and the ability to cultivate them. Grains allowed us to stay in one location. Socialise and become a society and civilisation. Develop writing, thinking and sharing ideas. Become inventors. And drive Tesla some thousand years later. Agriculture saved and made us.
The primitive human was dead by the age of 30-40.
By all means, cut the crap food, not the carb food.
If you go on pubmed and type "high fat diets and gene methylation" , thousands of papers with titles such as alters genome, and verbs such as compromise, alter, induce, ... and the process is highly complex, it involves inflammation, hormones secretion , metabolic alterations.
Processed , packaged food is damaging us. Not carbs. That chickpeas salad isn't making anyone overweight or sick.
We need to think longterm about our health. It isn't a bag of cherries that made anyone fat, but a bag of lollies.
Pulses and grains have polyphenols, antioxidants, ... they promote longevity.
Industrial food is very different from real food. I can teach volleyball to my kids with supermarket sliced toast bread. I can kill an intruder with my one day old homemade spelt bread.
And it is what we make with the food that changes its value. Take pasta. In Italy, they put very little sauce , they have pasta with clams, eggplants,.. and they don't put half a packet of shredded industrial cheese that is more solidified fat than real cheese. And portion size? incomparable.
