Low Carb Diet : How It Helps Weight Loss

 A low carb diet is desirable because it makes it more efficient for your body to regulate the hormone insulin.

Insulin controls how various cells in your body take up glucose from the blood and use it to generate energy within the various tissues. This ensures that blood glucose levels are maintained within a narrow range. Whenever too much glucose enters into cells, the excess that is not required for energy production will be stored away in the form of fat.

A report published in one of the leading medical journals recently stated the a low carb diet brought down levels of insulin in the blood by 27%. At the same time, the sensitivity of cells to insulin was increased.

Together this helps optimize the metabolism of glucose without placing an undue burden on any other organ or system. In turn, this reduces the chance of weight gain or development of diabetes. A low carb diet therefore can enhance glucose uptake, keep blood sugar levels low, and safeguard against the later development of diabetes.

How does a low carb diet reduce weight? To know the answer to this question, you must understand how the body handles a low carbohydrate intake.

Two things happen as your body initially adapts to a lowering of carbs in the diet. 

* You lose water

* You burn fat for energy needs

Water loss is the first adaptive response. Insulin plays a part in this because water losses parallel blood glucose levels. Because a low carb diet stabilizes insulin levels and maintains glucose within a narrow range, your body does not need to retain water. This brings down your weight very soon after going on a low carb diet.

But the other adaptive change is also responsible for weight loss.

The shift in metabolism from using glucose for energy and replacing it by burning fat to meet the body's energy requirements leads to a sustained weight loss caused by shedding stored fat reserves.

Reports in some well respected medical journals have confirmed this impact of going on a low carb diet. There is fairly conclusive data to suggest that a reduced intake of carbohydrates can eliminate stubborn belly fat and even get rid of dangerous visceral fat.

A study at Tulane University is widely cited in support of the benefits of a low carb diet. This experimental research conducted on a group of 148 volunteers compared the effects of a low carb versus low fat diet. The trial group of subjects was placed on a stringent low carb diet where they were restricted to just 40 grams of carbs per day.

What was astonishing from the study was that quite contrary to the prevailing wisdom, it was found that the low carb diet group lost 7.7 pounds more than those who were on a low fat diet. It shifted public thinking about the role of dietary fat upon weight loss and showed that carbohydrates were more important than had been believed until then.

This data has been confirmed on other studies also. Low carb diets can reduce insulin levels, put off or prevent the development of diabetes, and achieve weight loss by eliminating stored fat.