Some people imagine that a low carb lifestyle involves plates laden with bacon and eggs, huge steaks and meals devoid of vegetables, dairy foods, and nuts or seeds, but this is a misconception.
While there are individuals that choose to eat ”zero-carb” for a variety of personal reasons, it is not something I promote outside of being prescribed by a physician for therapeutic management of a specific medical condition.
I encourage people to eat a wide variety of low carb vegetables, some fruit and dairy products, as well as nuts and seeds — all of which have some carbohydrate in them. There is no one-size-fits-all low carb diet, but there are a few low carbohydrate approaches which can be chosen from depending on a person’s medical and metabolic conditions, any medications they may be taking, as well as stage of life and lifestyle factors.
Another fallacy is that low carb diets involve ”lots of meat for dinner” and “eggs every morning for breakfast” but people eating low carb can eat a wide variety of food for breakfast and meals can be vegetarian or pescatarian (include fish and seafood) and involve no meat whatsoever. This makes a low carb suitable for those that don’t eat meat or eggs for religious or ethical reasons.
Three main low carb approaches are;
(1) low carb higher protein
(2) low carb higher healthy fat
(3) higher protein / lower fat intake during weight loss, then a moderate protein / high healthy fat intake during weight maintenance.
What makes a low carb diet ketogenic is the low amount of carbohydrate that is eaten relative to the overall caloric intake, so not all low carb diets are ketogenic.
Low carbohydrate and therapeutic ketogenic diets have a variety of clinical applications. For example, a ketogenic diet may be prescribed by a person’s physician for management of epilepsy or seizure disorder, for treatment of some kinds of cancer, or for weight loss before and after bariatric surgery. Different types of low carb diets may be used for improving insulin sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetics or those with pre-diabetes, improving fatty liver disease, for reducing symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) or for gradual weight loss.
[Another misconception is that low carb diets are used for ”rapid weight loss”, which is not the case.]
For each type of low carb diet the ratio of protein to fat is specific to the clinical condition and person’s requirements. Everybody’s macronutrient needs (the amount of protein, carbs and fat they require) as well as overall energy needs are different and are dependent on several factors including their gender, age, height, weight, clinical conditions and any medications they’re taking.
Our body requires essential amino acids found in the protein foods we eat, as well as essential fatty acids found in the different types of fat we eat, along with essential vitamins and minerals however there is no essential requirement for dietary carbohydrate – provided that ”adequate amounts of protein and fat are consumed” (Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein and Amino Acids, 2005). This article will elaborate, but explaining it in simple terms, it means is that our body does not need to have carbohydrate in food if we eat sufficient protein with all the essential amino acids and sufficient fat with the essential fatty acids.
That doesn’t mean that I recommend that people without a clinical reason eat food with no carbohydrate in it (I don’t), as they wouldn’t be able to eat any vegetables, fruit, dairy, nuts or seeds – as these all of these have some carbohydrate in them.
I encourage people to eat a wide range of food from a variety of categories to ensure they have adequate dietary intake. I recommend whole, unprocessed foods that are naturally low in carbohydrate, including non-starchy vegetables, plant fats (such as olive oil, avocado oil, macadamia or walnut oil, coconut oil), low sugar fruit (such as tomato, lemon, lime, cucumber), meat, fish, poultry and seafood of all varieties, and small amounts of animal fat such as butter and cream.
If people working toward losing weight then the fat that is naturally found in meat is okay, but I would encourage them to trim excess visible fat. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, folks can add a bit of cream to their coffee or some butter on top of their cooked vegetables if they like it (especially if they’ll eat more veggies that way) but I don’t encourage people to ‘add fat’ to foods for the sake of adding fat (e.g. ‘bulletproof’ coffee or ‘fat bombs’). That said, there is nothing intrinsically ‘dangerous’ about eating fat, even saturated fat but what needs to be considered is “how much” and “how often”.
High blood cholesterol and high triglycerides is the result of eating too much carbohydrate, not eating too much saturated fat, or dietary cholesterol.
A healthy person that eats more carbohydrate than their body can use will move the excess carbohydrate they eat off to their liver and will make triglyceride and LDL cholesterol and store the rest as fat. A person who is insulin resistant or has Type 2 Diabetes may have high blood sugar levels but even if a person has normal blood sugar levels, their high carbohydrate intake may be reflected in their “cholesterol tests”. Often what we see in such cases is high triglyceride results or high LDL cholesterol results or both. This easy-to-understand article titled Understand High Blood Sugar & High Cholesterol will explain the process in more detail. If eating excess carbohydrates continues for an extended period of time, it ‘s possible that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFL) may develop.
Each person’s ability to tolerate carbohydrate is different — depending whether they are insulin sensitive, insulin resistant or Type 2 Diabetic. Someone who is insulin sensitive for example can eat considerably more carbohydrate without causing a spike in their blood glucose level than someone who is insulin resistant. For those who are Type 2 Diabetic, both the degree of insulin resistance and the length of time they’ve been Type 2 Diabetic will affect the amount of carbohydrates they can tolerate. To explain this, I like to use the analogy of ‘lactose intolerance’. Some people who are lactose intolerant can manage to drink and eat milk products, provided the quantities are small and the person doesn’t have it too often. Others who are lactose intolerant can’t even tolerate a small amount of lactose without symptoms. Ability to tolerate carbohydrate is similar. People who are insulin sensitive or only mildly insulin resistance will be able to tolerate more carbohydrate than those who are very insulin resistant or have had Type 2 Diabetes a long time.
The average intake of carbohydrate in the Canadian diet is ~ 300 g per day, which is a lot. People who are insulin sensitive or mildly insulin resistance may do well lowering their carbohydrate amount to a moderate level whereas those who are insulin resistant or Type 2 Diabetic will likely need to eat considerably less carbohydrate in order to begin to see their blood sugar levels or cholesterol / triglyceride levels come down.
Factors that can affect how much carbohydrate a person can tolerate include gender, whether or not they are insulin sensitive or insulin resistant (and to what degree) and whether they have Type 2 Diabetes and if so, for how long.
What some people find challenging about deciding to follow a low carb lifestyle is knowing how much protein they need to eat, the amount and types of fat they can use, as well as the total amount of carbohydrate they can tolerate, as well as how those carbohydrates should best be distributed throughout the day.
Where it becomes particularly challenging is when people have Type 2 Diabetes or high blood pressure and are prescribed medications for these conditions. In such cases, it’s not as simple as them just “cutting carbs” because by not doing so gradually it could result in a sudden drop in blood sugar or blood pressure which could be dangerous. People taking medications for these conditions (or for some other conditions) need to be monitored by their doctors and the reality is that not all doctors have more than a few minutes to see patients and may not feel equipped to counsel them on diet. This is where working with a Dietitian that’s knowledgeable and familiar with the use low carb diet is very helpful as they can coordinate dietary and lifestyle changes with your doctor while they monitor your health and adjusts the levels of prescribed medications, as needed.
Another situation where it can be very helpful to have a Dietitian’s support is when youth or teenagers need to lose weight, or bring down their blood sugar, cholesterol or blood pressure levels, because a there’s a need to ensure that they have adequate intake to support healthy growth.
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To our good health!
Joy
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