Thursday, September 1, 2016
What if I get hungry between meals?
Having a low carb snack between meals helps. If you feel peckish, have a few nuts. Or a piece of cheese. Or snack on some chicken.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Why you don't get hungry on low carb
Excuses for not trying low carb are legion:
1. I will feel hungry.
2. I can't live without carbs.
3. Everything contains carbs.
4. My work is heavy and requires energy.
Etc.
The truth is, living without carbs is not difficult. The main obstacle is psychological.
Why do I say that you don't get hungry when on low carb? After a normal meal, the body breaks down carbs into glucose. This causes a spike in blood glucose. The body produces insulin to bring down the glucose. However, there is a lag. And elevated levels of insulin cause glucose levels to plummet a few hours after the meal. This hypoglycaemia causes hunger.
In a low carb or no carb diet, the insulin response is muted or even absent. Therefore, logically, there will be no late hypoglycaemia. The truth is that you feel less hungry on low carb!
1. I will feel hungry.
2. I can't live without carbs.
3. Everything contains carbs.
4. My work is heavy and requires energy.
Etc.
The truth is, living without carbs is not difficult. The main obstacle is psychological.
Why do I say that you don't get hungry when on low carb? After a normal meal, the body breaks down carbs into glucose. This causes a spike in blood glucose. The body produces insulin to bring down the glucose. However, there is a lag. And elevated levels of insulin cause glucose levels to plummet a few hours after the meal. This hypoglycaemia causes hunger.
In a low carb or no carb diet, the insulin response is muted or even absent. Therefore, logically, there will be no late hypoglycaemia. The truth is that you feel less hungry on low carb!
How to lose weight
I have decided to write down my thoughts on weight loss. This will be an unstructured essay, so please bear with me.
To cut to the chase, the key to losing weight is low carbs. Specifically, losing fat. A bit about the theory behind low carb. When you cut out the carbs, the body starts to break down glycogen in the liver to produce glucose. For most people, this takes some time. Up to 24 hours. Once the liver is depleted of glycogen, the body is forced to burn fat for energy. Hence, the key to low carb is consistency. Once you ingest carbs, the fat burning stops. The body will burn glucose preferentially.
One thing that trips people up is choosing what to eat. Most people don't know what foods contain carbs. Aside from obvious things like rice, bread and noodles, many other foods contains unacceptable amounts of carbs. People always ask me if brown rice or high-fibre bread is ok. They contain carbs. Same goes for oats, cereal, potato, milk etc. A simple rule-of-thumb to use is 'less than 10g of carbs per serving'. Just Google it.
Very often, I get patients saying they don't eat rice for dinner, but are not losing weight. Consistency. Every meal must be low carb.
To cut to the chase, the key to losing weight is low carbs. Specifically, losing fat. A bit about the theory behind low carb. When you cut out the carbs, the body starts to break down glycogen in the liver to produce glucose. For most people, this takes some time. Up to 24 hours. Once the liver is depleted of glycogen, the body is forced to burn fat for energy. Hence, the key to low carb is consistency. Once you ingest carbs, the fat burning stops. The body will burn glucose preferentially.
One thing that trips people up is choosing what to eat. Most people don't know what foods contain carbs. Aside from obvious things like rice, bread and noodles, many other foods contains unacceptable amounts of carbs. People always ask me if brown rice or high-fibre bread is ok. They contain carbs. Same goes for oats, cereal, potato, milk etc. A simple rule-of-thumb to use is 'less than 10g of carbs per serving'. Just Google it.
Very often, I get patients saying they don't eat rice for dinner, but are not losing weight. Consistency. Every meal must be low carb.
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