Carbohydrate is Needed for Successful Weight Loss
Carbohydrate is Needed for Successful Weight Loss
By: Anderson A. Cooper, M.D., Ph.D.
Many people, even
professionals, assume carbohydrate is "unnecessary" for weight loss. They are
wrong.
Even among nutrition professionals, the "conventional wisdom" often assumes that
carbohydrate provides only an unnecessary form of energy (Calories), and that
therefore dieters can eliminate carbohydrate from their diets. The theory is
that this will force their bodies to use more stored fat Calories for energy,
thus burning more fat.
This is an attractive theory. It has elements of truth. But it doesn't work that
way in practice.
Rather than being unnecessary, carbohydrate is so necessary that your body will
quickly begin to make glucose (the main biological form of carbohydrate) out of
muscle proteins (and a few other things) if you don't get enough from food.
It is true that although the brain and nervous system prefer glucose and are the
main users of it, they can do without it if they must. The brain and nervous
system are able to "switch over" to using the "ketone bodies" that are a product
of the incomplete burning of fat. This reduces your overall need for glucose.
This switchover takes a day or two to actually happen. When it happens, it very
likely produces an inefficient functioning of nerve cells cells because it
forces them to use their "second preference" as their main fuel source. It
certainly produces the very noticeable and very unpleasant states known as
"hypoglycemia" and "ketosis". But this switchover capability does keep the brain
and nervous system alive in an emergency and allow them to function at at least
the minimum level required of them.
However, there are other cells (mainly certain blood cells) that cannot stay
alive without a steady supply of glucose. They cannot switch over to the ketones
from fat metabolism or to any other fuel source. They will die if they don't
have glucose.
This is almost certainly the reason your body starts to "cannibalize" muscle and
organ protein in order to make glucose. Since muscle and organ tissues tend to
use fat as their main fuel source, gradually losing these tissues to this
cannibalizing process is a poor strategy for weight loss.
In other words, without a certain minimum amount of dietary carbohydrate, your
body goes into an "emergency" mode of operation in which it is slowly destroying
tissues you need. It is also making unpleasant adaptations that don't really
help you lose weight.
This state is very unpleasant. It is doing gradual, long-term damage to muscles
& organs. And it tends to both lower your metabolic rate and decrease your
activity level so you don't burn as much fat.
It's not a good mode to be in for the weeks or months that may be necessary to
lose the amount of weight you may want to lose.
How much carbohydrate should you eat to prevent this? Not much, but you should
make sure you get that amount and no less. Most physiologists accept that
between 50 and 100 grams of dietary carbohydrate per day is the minimum needed
to prevent "gluconeogenesis" (the term for the process of manufacturing glucose
in the body).
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