Low-carb diet: how to eat with fewer carbohydrates!

The low-carb diet has been well-known and popular for several years now. Many people are enthusiastic about the possibility of losing weight simply by eating little to no carbohydrates.

In reality, though, it's not always easy to cut them out. First, you actually need to know which foods contain carbohydrates and what a change like this does to your body.

That's why today I want to walk you through the low-carb diet in more detail. I'll explain exactly how to approach this type of diet, what advantages and disadvantages it brings, and where I stand on it.

What is the low-carb diet?

As the name suggests, a low-carb diet means eating with fewer carbohydrates. The trend comes from America and is just as popular here in the fitness scene.

How many carbohydrates you should eat varies a lot. Recommendations differ significantly and split into many different subcategories of diets.

Take the keto diet as an example. Here you're allowed a maximum of 50 grams of carbohydrates a day, so that you reach a state of ketosis. You can read more about the ketogenic diet in my other blog post.

Other diets recommend a maximum of 100 grams of carbohydrates, some 70 or even less. Either way, with this diet, carbohydrates, in whatever form, only play a very minor role. So you have to give up many things, like bread, pasta and rice.

Nutrition on the low-carb diet

Carbohydrates are found in the majority of our foods today. Why not, after all, carbohydrates are cheap and a good source of energy. They raise our blood sugar levels, and in the case of sugar, our brain also releases more dopamine, making us feel happy.

On the low-carb diet, you need to cut out these foods:

• Sweets of any kind, so no chocolate, no chips, no gummy bears
• Bread and pastries, especially white bread
• Cake
• Soft drinks
• Fruit

On the low-carb diet, you should preferably go for carbohydrates that are long-chain. This includes wholegrain bread, oats, legumes, or some vegetables like broccoli. These contain extra fibre, which fills you up better.

The right proteins and fats

What you should of course also build into your diet are proteins and fats.

With proteins, you should have a good mix of plant-based and animal sources. Legumes like chickpeas, soy and lentils are a good protein source. You can also use animal proteins in your diet, but pay attention to quality here. A chicken breast is always healthier than sausage or fatty ground beef.

With fats too, you should pay attention to which ones you eat. Unsaturated fatty acids in particular are highly recommended. Linseed oil, walnuts, avocados or fish, for example, give you good fats that your body needs for hormone balance.

The advantages of the low-carb diet

So as you can see, the shift involved in the low-carb diet is significant. You'll need to change a lot on this diet, since carbohydrates normally make up a large part of our daily diet. So why go low-carb? These advantages stand out:

• Less hunger: If you eat more protein- and fat-rich foods, you'll feel less hungry. Your body simply takes longer to break down fats and proteins. Since you have food in your stomach for longer, you feel full for longer.
• Good insulin levels: Since it's specifically carbohydrates, or sugar, that spike the glycemic index, a low-carb diet is beneficial for anyone who struggles with this. If you eat less sugary food, your insulin level stays at a good level and you can perform consistently.
• Less visceral fat: With a normal diet, it's usually the excess carbohydrates that get stored as an energy reserve. This reserve, in the form of fat molecules, is also called visceral fat. It tends to build up around the belly and around the organs. With the low-carb diet, you reduce this fat.
• Less water retention: If you eat a lot of carbohydrates, your body produces glycogen and binds water to it. The result? You get heavier. Here too, the low-carb diet can help, by emptying your glycogen stores.

If you look at these advantages, you can clearly see why the low-carb diet is so popular. It's not just your body and your body fat percentage that benefit from a lower carbohydrate intake, but your health too. Not only does it keep your blood sugar level stable, it also lowers your blood pressure, and with it the risk of a heart attack.

Who is the low-carb diet suitable for?

Anyone can shape the low-carb diet individually. After all, there are various forms, such as the ketogenic diet or the Glyx diet. The standard low-carb diet keeps carbohydrates at around 30% of your daily food intake. Depending on your body weight and basal metabolic rate, this results in a certain number of grams of carbohydrates.

The diet is very well suited to most people. Many people who don't think much about their own diet consume a lot of carbohydrates and sugar in everyday life. With the low-carb approach, most people can benefit a great deal here.

In particular, people who suffer from being overweight, obesity or diabetes should consider incorporating fewer carbohydrates into their everyday life.

If you're currently building muscle, though, your goal shouldn't be to reduce carbohydrates. After all, they provide valuable energy that you also need for successful training. Pregnant women should also avoid this type of diet.

While this way of eating can make sense for most other people, it's certainly not the ideal diet for everyone. If you adjust very well to an everyday life with fewer carbohydrates, that's great. But there are also plenty of people for whom such a change is very drastic. In that case, the diet wouldn't last very long before motivation is lost.

The ultimate goal should be to change your diet permanently. If you can only stick consistently to a low-carb diet for a few days or a week, you should look into a different type of diet, perhaps one where fat intake is reduced instead.

Nutrition plan with the low-carb diet

At the start, it's certainly difficult to get used to a new everyday routine. That's exactly why a nutrition plan can often be a sensible option to make the start easier.

At this point, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Marco Laterza and I'm a personal trainer from Zurich. During my time as an athlete and coach, I've had the chance to advise many people on nutrition and sport. So I also have a lot of experience with the low-carb diet.

If you want to change your lifestyle and need help getting started, get in touch with me. I'll look at you and your situation individually and create a nutrition plan that makes you happy and gets you to your goal.

Sources

A lower-carb diet is an effective short-term option for type 2 diabetes (gov.uk, 2021)

Low Carbohydrate Diet (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2021)

Proteins (nutrition.gov, n.d.)

Weight loss and carbohydrates (betterhealth.vic.gov.au, n.d.)