for decades fat has been demonized and carbs have been praised
we have been told to base our diets around healthy whole grains
breads pastas cereals eating this way was supposed to
keep us at a healthy body weight and reduce our disease
risk unfortunately it hasn't worked out that way
obesity rates and modern diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease
are skyrocketing so clearly something isn't working
and that is where low-carb high-fat diets come in
there are many different variations of a low-carb diet
with some including the keto or ketogenic diet
low-carb paleo and the zero carb or carnivore diet
low carb diets go against everything the mainstream has told us about nutrition
and health fat is supposed to make us fat so why do
low carb dieters see tremendous weight loss results and
it's not just weight loss diabetics and those with autoimmune
conditions are also seeing improvements to their symptoms
and sometimes a complete reversal of their conditions
several doctors around the world have started prescribing low carb diets to
their patients for a wide range of symptoms and
conditions and the results have been overwhelmingly
positive in today's video i'm going to talk about the benefits of low carb
diets why carbs are seen as bad and how
reducing your carb intake can help you to optimize your health
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a
health coach and i post videos on a high fat nutrient dense way of eating
if you like this video please give it a thumbs up feel free to share
and make sure to subscribe and make sure to follow me on instagram twitter and
facebook where i show new posts every single day i'm going to start off
today's video talking about how the body operates
differently on a low carb versus a high carb diet
then are going to get into the different variations of low carb
and make sure to stick around until the end because that is when we are going to
be getting into the top four benefits our bodies have
two main energy sources we can use glucose or
sugar for energy or we can use fat we provide our bodies glucose anytime we
eat foods that contain carbohydrates carbs get broken down into sugar glucose
which is then absorbed into the bloodstream it then
travels to cells in the body where it is used for energy
our bodies can also make glucose internally
when our glucose intake is low as it is on any variation of a low-carb diet then
our bodies turn to using fat for energy and this can be both
dietary fat in the forms of animal fat butter or
avocado or this can be your stored body fat now
glucose is a faster energy source it is broken down quicker by the body
and can be used for energy sooner but this energy
is short-lived when we eat foods high in carbs
our blood glucose spikes and then as the glucose is transported to
our cells our blood sugar goes down and our energy
tanks this is when we will start to get hungry again
our bodies can only store about 500 grams of glucose
in the form of glycogen which is about 1 800 calories fat on the other hand is a
consistent energy source providing almost twice the potential
energy the carbohydrates do we store excess
energy as fat on our bodies so when we aren't getting energy from glucose
our bodies start to break down and use this stored energy
instead even someone who is very lean has over 100 000 calories worth of
stored energy in the form of fat that they are
carrying around but here is what the problem is because
glucose is a quicker source of energy whenever it is available
our bodies will use it first so if we are
constantly eating carbohydrates throughout the day this doesn't give our
bodies a chance to tap into our stored body fat
think of it like this we have two fuel tanks
one for carbs and one for fat as long as we keep the one with carbs topped up
we will never be able to access the one with fat
when you are eating a low carb diet the glucose tank is
always low and you are always pulling from the fat tank
again this is both dietary fat and stored body fat
when our bodies are running on fat this is called being
in ketosis ketone bodies are produced during the metabolism of fat and this is
where the keto diet gets its name ketosis is a normal
metabolic function without it we would die if we let our
glycogen stores deplete so if anyone has ever told you that
being in ketosis is bad that's not true as i said before if we
always have our glucose tank topped up we will never tap into
our fat stores and we lose our ability to to some
extent because we are relying so heavily on
glucose i am sure we have all experienced an
energy crash where we are just craving sugar and this
is your body signaling you that it needs more glucose if you can
push through this long enough your body will eventually start
producing ketones but that first initial transition can be
tough metabolic flexibility means we can
switch between being in ketosis and burning glucose for energy
seamlessly this should be what we strive for even if you
are on a keto diet you do not need to be in ketosis all the
time the longer you have been in ketosis the
easier it will be to switch to using glucose for energy
and then back to being in ketosis the variations of low carb generally low
carb diets are said to be when you eat less than 100 grams of carbohydrates per
day to put this into perspective the dietary
guidelines recommend between 225 grams and 325 grams carbohydrates
every day so 100 grams is significantly less but it isn't super
low this amount should allow you to be in
ketosis for at least part of the day ketogenic
or keto diets generally have less than 50 grams of
carbs per day you eat high fat and moderate protein
this limit usually puts most people in ketosis for most of the day
and then we have the zero carb or carnivore diet
as the name says this style of eating has close to
zero carbohydrates some people do this diet eating high fat
and moderate protein others do it eating high protein and moderate fat
and i'm going to have a whole video coming up next week on the pros and the
cons of each of these but for most people eating zero carbs
will have you in ketosis for most of the day and now let's get
into the benefits of limiting your carb intake number one weight loss
it makes sense that if we are limiting our carbs
and our glucose and using our stored body fat for energy
that this will work well for weight loss but there's another part to it
as i mentioned before when we eat high carb foods
our blood sugar rises and then lowers as the glucose is transported to our cells
insulin is the hormone that transports the glucose and it is also known as the
fat storage hormone when insulin is high we can't burn body
fat this isn't a problem when it happens
temporarily like ketosis this is a normal metabolic
function and if we didn't have insulin our blood
sugar would rise out of control and we would die which is actually the
problem that type 1 diabetics face their bodies do not produce insulin so
they have to inject it so insulin isn't the bad guy
when it becomes a problem is when we are constantly spiking our blood sugar
and our insulin throughout the day if our blood sugar is
always high insulin is always being released
and we can become insulin resistant this means our cells stop
accepting insulin and our circulating levels always remain
high and this is why it is so difficult for people who are insulin resistant to
lose weight they are sort of in limbo and can't tap
into their body fat on low carb diets your insulin is a lot
lower and this can help to make you more
insulin sensitive when you're more insulin sensitive
it's easier to lose weight and the best part is
you can do this without counting calories
number two type 2 diabetes prevention and reversal i just mentioned type 1
diabetes which is an autoimmune condition and
does not have a cure but type 2 diabetes is entirely
different whereas with type 1 your body is not
creating insulin with type 2 your body is creating too
much type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance
go hand in hand the body is becoming resistant to the
normal effects of insulin and this causes your blood sugar
to be constantly high type 2 diabetes is diagnosed by high
blood sugar levels eating a low carb diet once again will
help keep your blood sugar and your insulin low
and help you to reverse insulin resistance
there have been so many studies done showing low carb diets
improve and reverse type 2 diabetes and the impact is quick one study done
on 21 people with type 2 diabetes found that after only 16 weeks seven got
off their medication entirely and another 10 had their medication
reduced the study concluded that low carb
ketogenic diets improve glycemic control in patients
with type 2 diabetes such that diabetes medications were
discontinued or reduced in most participants
because low carb ketogenic diets can be very effective at lowering blood glucose
patients on diabetes medication who use this diet should be under close medical
supervision or capable of adjusting their medication
and this is something i really want to emphasize if you are
currently on medication for diabetes and you want to try out a low carb diet
make sure you are working closely with your doctor because your need for these
medications will reduce quickly number three
increase energy we already touched on this
briefly but eating a low-carb diet can provide you
consistent and long-lasting energy someone who is very lean has over 100
000 calories of stored energy as body fat
and for someone who is overweight this is much
more because you are not having those blood sugar spikes and crashes
throughout the day your energy remains consistent and you
do not need to rely on food to get a boost a lot of people find that
on low carb diets they can go several hours in between
meals others find that they are energized in the morning
even without eating so much so that they skip
breakfast entirely and practice intermittent fasting and this
increased energy is both physical and mental using fat as your energy source
for aerobic exercise such as jogging and cycling is better
than fueling with carbs your body can only store less than 2 000
calories of glucose and if these stores run out during
exercise you bonk okay and i have to pause a moment
because in a previous video i mentioned bonking and i had a few
comments from people in the uk who use this term in an entirely
different context i use the phrase bonking to refer
to what happens to you when your glycogen stores deplete and your energy
absolutely tanks it's also known as hitting a wall i used to do a lot of
long distance cycling and this feeling was all too familiar
when i was eating a high carb diet when i switched to a ketogenic diet
however i could go on fasted rides for hours and
hours and my energy would remain stable
in terms of mental energy ketones are a cleaner burning energy source for the
brain than glucoses the brain does require
some percentage of glucose to function which can be made internally if you are
eating a low-carb diet but it can run primarily on ketones
and this is something a lot of people experience when they switch to a low
carb diet mental clarity number four chronic
disease prevention as we've touched on several times
already low carb diets are extremely effective for improving
insulin resistance insulin resistance is a huge risk factor
for heart disease dementia and cancer so if you can remain
insulin sensitive you'll reduce your chance of developing these diseases
anyways guys that is all i have for you today let me know in the comment section
down below if you are thinking about starting a low
carb diet and which variation if you enjoyed this
video and you are new to the low carb scene
check out my video on how to start a ketogenic diet here
if you want to catch up on my most recent upload you can click here
and if you want to check out my keto or carnivore diet coaching programs
i have a seven day keto crash course that i
highly recommend you can check those out here
thanks again guys i'll see you next time bye