Due to diets such as Atkins and South Beach, when people think of losing weight, the very first thing they think that has to be done is completely cutting out carbohydrates. In today’s society, carbs are the enemy. They are what help make America so fat. But is this true? Should you cut out carbohydrates to lose weight? To examine this closely, people need to know what exactly a carbohydrate is.

Carbs

While it may seem simple, carbohydrates are a huge category. Not all carbs are the same and have the same effects on our bodies. They are a source of energy that is used to fuel cells, like the brain and muscles. Carbs are part of the macronutrients group, the only other two being fat and protein. There are also three different types of carbs: sugar, starch, and fiber. Sugar could be found naturally in foods, like fruit, or added into foods like soda and candy. Starches are sugar units bonded together. This included bread, rice and pasta to help keep energy steady throughout the day. Fiber only comes from plants. It helps keep our bowels healthy and can come from vegetables with skins or wholegrain bread and pastas. Carbs can be broken down even more into simple carbs and complex carbs. Simple carbs include naturally occurring sugars in milk, vegetables, and fruit, table sugar, and corn syrup. Complex carbs include starch and fiber.

Case Against Carbs

The beef with carbs is mainly against simple carbs. These include products heavy with simple sugars and starches. For example, they could be a soda with fructose in it or white bread. These carbs can be rapidly digested. This has been linked to higher fat gain. A study was done on mice where they ate rapidly digestible carbs and slowly digestible carbs. One group didn’t weigh more than the other, but the group eating rapidly digestible carbs did gain excess fat.  Carbohydrates are also what help store water in the body. When you completely cut out carbs, you will lose most of the excess water weight in your body. This is good for diets, such as Atkins, that promise quick weight loss because it will happen. Most people will lose an average of fifteen pounds in the first two weeks to a month of starting a no-carb diet.

Case for Carbs

Many nutritionists argue that carbohydrates are necessary for the body to function properly. They are your body’s main source of energy. Cutting them out could lead to a deficiency throughout your whole diet, such as a deficiency of fiber, calcium, iron, and Vitamin B. This is because most of these supplements are found in vegetables, fruits, legumes, and dairy products. These foods are typically thought of as healthy, but in a no carbohydrate diet they would need to be cut out.  Cutting out carbs also could raise your risk of heart disease. When people cut out carbs, they often replace them with fats and high fat sources of protein, which leads to higher cholesterol and therefore potentially heart disease. Another major concern with a no carb diet is ketosis. This when the body breaks down its stored fat to convert it into energy because it is so low on glucose. Ketones then build up in the blood, causing ketosis. These symptoms include headaches, weakness, nausea, dehydration, dizziness, and irritability. An experiment done to test the difference between no-carb diets and no-fat diets produced mixed results. However, it did show that people with a balance diet faired well.

Middle Ground

Most nutritionists fall somewhere in the middle of the carb argument. They agree that cutting out the bad carbs, so the simple carbs is good for your diet if you want to lose weight. Foods like sweets, chocolates, biscuits, cakes, and soft drinks are often very high in sugar and calories, therefore negating the positives carbs would bring to your diet. They also don’t keep you satisfied for long, so you end up eating more in the long run. Complex carbs, like fruit, vegetables, and starchy foods, are highly recommended for a healthy diet. Around half your daily calorie intake should actually be from starchy foods, fruits, and vegetables. This gives you energy to keep going and generally leaves you feeling full.

Verdict: Cutting out carbs completely will promise quick weight loss. However, it almost certainly promises quick weight gain once you start introducing carbs back into your diet. Just like almost anything to do with losing weight, there is no magic cure. If you want to lose weight proficiently, you need to cut out the “fun” carbs, like candy and cake, and keep the good carbs, such as fruit and legumes. With the increase of these no carb fads, my guess is there will be many more experiments to come. I was only able to find one experiment that showed whether cutting carbs or fat is better. The results were mixed, but showed that people with a well-rounded diet did better. However, since there is only one experiment on this, we could not perform a meta-analysis. Because of this, I felt it was important to mention it, but not conclusive enough to use as evidence one way or another. Right now, all evidence points to the tried and true method of eating an all-around healthy diet and exercise is still the best way to lose weight.  This allows you to still decrease your calorie intake, but enjoy the positive benefits carbs give you and enjoy the energy that comes with them.