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Conventional wisdom for over 100 years used to convey that foods high in carbohydrates, like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and sweets were fattening. But since the 1970s, we've been taught that fats are bad and that they are the primary cause of our excess weight. During this period of time, lots of us increased our carbohydrate consumption, and decreased our fat consumption and at the same time, rates of diabetes and obesity have skyrocketed. Then, the latest low carbohydrate fad came into place, with many low-carb foods being sold to those trying desperately to lose weight. But we are still getting fatter as a nation, so what's the real truth?
Excess Carbs Can Cause Weight Gain
We believe that it is true that eating high glycemic foods by themselves as well as excess carbohydrates does cause weight gain. In fact, it is well known that eating carbohydrates causes the body to release insulin, and the insulin tells our bodies to put on fat. In addition, refined carbohydrates seem to produce more of this insulin response and so are especially fattening. So we do recommend staying away from refined carbohydrates, and also eating whole grain carbs like brown rice and whole wheat bread in moderation unless you are getting a lot of exercise, in which case you need more carbs. Different people with different body types, however, probably need different amounts of carbohydrates in their diet. If you already have problems with your blood sugar, you may want t
be even more restrictive with the carbs while you are healing your body.
In addition, if you eat fewer carbs, you will by default eat more protein and/or fat, and these foods tend to be more filling, and they also tend to be harder and thus take longer to digest. This means that you will most likely eat less when shifting to a lower carbohydrate diet, which will also faciliate weight loss.
Low Carb Diet Foods Often Contains Soy, Which Can Depress the Thyroid
Although low carbohydrate breads and other foods usually have more protein in them, and can also keep you from getting hungry again for a longer period of time, you have to be careful because often they contain lots of soy flour or other soy products. In the long run, consuming lots of soy has been shown to interfere with your thyroid function, which in turn can slow down your metabolism and make it hard for you to reach or maintain a normal weight. So if you want to lose weight, you need to stay away from most soy products, except perhaps a little bit of fermented soy, like soy sauce.
Low Carb Diet Foods Often Mean Bad Fats
Another problem is that low carb diet foods usually have the wrong kinds of fats in them, like various vegetable oils and often hydrogenated oils. Vegetable oils are another food that have been touted in the press as being healthy, but if you look closely at the facts, you will see that vegetable oils contribute to cancer, heart disease, lowered immune function, accelerated aging and more. In fact, vegetable oils are often prescribed for transplant patients in order to depress their immune systems enough so their body does not reject the transplant. In addition, some low-carb sweets use large amounts of sugar alcohols, such as malitol, instead of sugar. This can have a laxative effect, and may not be good for you in other ways.
So if you are trying to lose weight, it's probably a good idea for you to cut back on your carbohydrate consumption, but you may want to stay away from packaged low carb diet food items, as they can slow down the metabolism and cause other health problems.
Copyright 2008 Karen Pijuan. This article may be copied only in its entirety and only if all links, including those in the resource box or the about-the-author section, remain intact.
Karen Pijuan is the owner of several health-related websites and has written numerous articles about nutrition, vitamins, healthy living, whole food supplements, natural body care and cleaning products, natural weight loss and more. Find out more about what to look for in a truly healthy vitamin, as well as resources for where to find the whole food vitamins she recommends at http://www.Healthy-Vitamins-Rx.com
Many truly natural, healthy and organic products including excellent whole food nutritional supplements can be found online at http://www.EcoViva.com