Low Carb Diet Is Not The Answer
This article is the 5th of an 8-part series! I sent this information out to all of my Transformation Challenge Participants. Click the link if you want to learn more about it or participate in the next one! Cash prizes for the winners!
Over the past 5 years, I have seen praises of low-carb diets as the holy grail of fat loss and health in general. “Influencers” talk about how carbs make them "slow" and feel gross and how much better they look and feel after cutting them out of their diet.
Because of this, "low carb" is stealing the shine from protein and it’s misleading.
A Low-Carb Diet Isn’t What It Seems
Think about what happens when someone goes on a low-carb diet. What foods do they tend to start eating to eat "low carb"?
Beef, poultry, eggs, fish, pork, dairy...
Those foods happen to be pretty high in protein. So maybe it isn't the removal of carbohydrates that makes them feel good and it’s actually the protein that does the heavy lifting?!
It does! Protein is the building block of muscle and boasts a couple of other unique advantages.
It has a higher thermic effect, meaning your body burns more calories just to digest it.
Plus, it's incredibly satiating, keeping hunger pangs at bay for longer periods.
The increased thermic effect isn't enough to get you ripped by itself. But, when you combine it with a decrease in hunger which leads to a decrease in total calorie intake, you get a significant fat loss effect.
And when you feel satisfied from your meals and your body has the amino acids it needs to fuel important metabolic processes, you're bound to have more energy too.
What Does The Science Say?
To fairly evaluate whether it's a high protein or low carbs that is doing the trick, we first look at studies that compared low-carb diets to higher-carb diets while keeping protein the same.
A study by Johnston and colleagues did just that. They found that both low-carb and moderate-carb diets produced similar weight loss. However, participants following a moderate-carb diet seemed to lose more fat and reported improved mood compared to the low-carb group. Both groups saw improvements in insulin sensitivity, but the low-carb group experienced adverse effects like elevated LDL cholesterol and inflammation markers.
That's not the only study to show that low-carb diets are no better for fat loss than higher-carb diets. Many more studies have been published over the years including one as recent as 2023 which showed the exact same results.
I’ll also add in that carbs are your energy source! If you feel tired or moody throughout the day, try increasing your healthy carbs slightly.
Food For Thought
Take a look at the following images which show a lot of high-protein foods as well as a few other options that people market as high protein (Quinoa) but require you to eat a lot of it to reach a meaningful amount.
More High Protein Foods
Whether social media is intentional in its deception of low-carb diets being successful, it's still frustrating that there is so much misleading information about health and fitness.
As a result of that misleading information, people are more confused than ever about what they should do with their diet and exercise routine.
That's why I'm running these transformation challenges to teach you how to do it all successfully and get results that last for life!
I provide the practical knowledge you need for lasting health and my app provides the workouts to take your fitness to the next level.
If you know people who are sick of dieting gimmicks and ready to embrace a sustainable strategy that empowers them to thrive in every aspect of life, send them my way.
Please reach out with questions at any time and check out the next article in this series!
Paul Rabic