How Low Carb Diets Work

Learn how a reduction in insulin levels helps with weight loss

Low carb diets focus on cutting back on all carbohydrates in your regular diet and increasing your fat and protein intake.

Low carb diets involve cutting back on things such as alcohol, bread, pasta and rice. However, on the diet you are allowed an unlimited amount of butter, cheese and meat. Often, low carb diets claim to be diets of luxury.

The Balance Between Calories Consumed - Calories Burnt

Research shows that people are born with hundreds of hormones and genes that work to maintain the balance between the calorie intake and calories burned. The calorie intake is the amount of calories that you take in through everything you eat and drink in a day.

The calories burned are the calories that your body uses for various physical activities and functions to keep the body running smooth and healthy. Anything that is leftover after the body gets all the calories that it needs is turned into body fat.

It has been proven that dietary fat is not always converted directly to body fat. However, carbohydrates are converted readily through insulin. Many experts believe that a large majority of people are overweight due to an elevated level of insulin in the blood.

A Reduction in Insulin Causes the Body to Burn Fat

A low carb diet works on the principle that diets low in carbohydrates results in a reduction of the amount of insulin that is produced by the body. This causes the body to use the fat stores as a source for energy.

When the body uses fat stores as a main resource for energy, a by-product known as ketones is excreted through the urine. Ketones cause foul-smelling breath that has an odor similar to the acetone used in nail polish. Other side effects include loss of appetite, nausea as well as fatigue.

When you eat a meal that is high in carbohydrates, insulin production is stimulated in the pancreas by the increase in blood sugar. The hormone makes it possible for the cells to use the blood sugar.

The insulin causes the fat to be deposited, but then stimulates the brain into producing signals of hunger. Overtime, the cells of the body become resistant to insulin and the pancreas is forced to work harder to meet the demand for insulin.

Reduce Your Carbs to Reduce Insulin

The cycle is halted by the restriction of carbohydrates consumed. The level of insulin is reduced and the level of the hormone glucagon, which burns off cholesterol and body fat, increases as a result of decreasing the amount of carbohydrates in your daily diet.

All low carb diets have one thing in common with one another, which is a strict decrease in the amount of carbohydrates consumed. The majority of low carb diets replace the carbohydrates with proteins and fats. Even though low carb diets may vary in their recommendations, generally they are high in both protein and fat.

Anyone on a low carb diet makes sure that they are getting a minimum of at least sixty to seventy percent of their calorie intake every day from fat and protein. Carbohydrates typically only make up about ten percent of the daily calorie intake, and with some low carb diets it is less than five percent.