Zero carb diet can be really bad for you

There are a ton of people that have lost weight using the "Atkins" or zero-carb diet. This is something that cannot really be disputed because there is so much evidence right in front of us. I have lost weight from a low carb diet in the past and can speak to their effectiveness. I still, to this day, avoid carbs whenever possible and I think avoiding the rather excessive carbohydrate meals that are very common is probably a very good idea. However, a prolonged diet of zero carbohydrates can actually contribute to bad health and honestly, this shouldn't be all that surprising.

Remember the food pyramid that was so popular in schools and well, everywhere in the 80's and 90's? Well it turns out that was incorrect and there is some information out there to suggest that the lie was always intentional in order to boost grain sales in the US marketplace. I tend to look at almost any "official" information as a lie because they are more often than not, wrong or at the minimum intentionally misleading. That could have to do with a strong disdain I have for "official sources" though. If we look at the way that the pyramid has evolved over the years though, we can perhaps deduce that they either don't know what the hell they are talking about, or they are trying to convince us to change our purchasing patterns.

It's easy to understand that a human body, over the course of tens or hundreds of thousands of years, would be more attuned to eating meats and fruit and veg than it would be for processing grains seeing as how in the grand scheme of things, bread, pasta, rice and other carbohydrates were only recently introduced to humanity. Evolution takes a very long time and this is likely part of the reason why we are seeing so much obesity around the world even in poorer countries. The human body simply hasn't caught up with what it is that we regularly feed it.

The zero carb diet, while effective, can be problematic as far as overall health is concerned though because some people take it too far to the point where they will completely cut out fruit that contains carbs as well as obviously bad carbs like beer and cakes. The fact of the matter is that your body needs fuel and how you provide that fuel to it can negatively affect you. One thing I notice about many people that take the zero carb approach is that they tend to get all of their meat in some sort of quick way, such as frying. I'm not judging when I say that because I know from my own meal prep that frying takes dramatically less time.

I don't think that many people take the time to realize that how you prepare something is going to make a rather large difference in how good it is for you. Potatoes are the easiest example of this because a baked potato is something that could be considered healthy and it also keeps you full for a long time. Anyone that has ever chowed down on some fries only to be hungry later has absorbed fewer good things as well as more calories. There also is something I like to call "full factor" that means you are going to be hungry again really soon. Potato chips or crisps are even worse because they have almost no nutritional value. The oils that we use in preparing a "zero carb" piece of meat can end up the same way. Just because your bacon has no carbs in it, doesn't mean that you should be eating a pound of it without any negative effects. It seems as though some of us have forgotten that heart disease and cholesterol issues are still bad things that very much exist.

Also, we need to take into account that your body is actually really good at processing carbs. According to Dr. Theresa Kinsella MD, "research has shown that your brain alone requires around 130 grams of carbs just to remain alive. " 130 might sound like a lot to someone that is aiming for zero carb input, but that isn't the real issue here. The problem is that many people with haphazard diets end up getting significantly more carbs than this in their day-to-day diet. If you drink sodas like Coca Cola or eat at fast-food restaurants, or eat any noticeable amount of processed sugar, there is a really good chance that you are getting more carbohydrates than your body can possibly process in a day. This is why people get fat.

If you exercise at all, you actually NEED carbohydrates and will underperform or feel lethargic if you do not get them. I know I have experienced this in my own life and if you "push through" your body will convert fat stores to energy to keep your body moving but the bad side-effect is that the exercise will feel excessively taxing on you and therefore, you are going to be far less likely to engage in that activity when it comes time to do it in the future.

I am all about sustainability as far as my lifestyle is concerned. I wouldn't say that I like to exercise, but I know that it is something that I need to do and plus, I don't want to be fat or unhealthy. However, I don't want to treat every meal as though it should be a miserable experience either - the same as the exercise that I do.

I think that we need to return to sensible, sustainable eating habits and that means to eliminate things that your body never needed such as Coca-Cola, but also eating (not drinking) fruit as well. If you exercise even a little bit, you don't really need to stress about having some pasta for dinner. We aren't models or boxers that need to make weight for the upcoming bout or runway show, we are normal people, we are normies. If you want to live a long life that has enjoyment aspect in it, I would stay away from the zero carb diet because unless you have tons of money, time, or a personal chef, you are likely going to be preparing the low carb foods in an extremely unhealthy way.

Don't be terrified of carbs. Humans have been eating natural carbs for thousands of years and the body is designed to consume them properly. If you can, stay away from processed carbohydrates though, because those have only been a part of society for a relatively short period of time.