subject: Can A No Carb Diet Be Healthy? [print this page] Just like any relatively new eating plan, there are a lot of myths about low carbohydrate diets. Notice I say "low carb" not "no carb" diet. That's because, to the best of my knowledge there isn't a single eating plan or diet out there that really states you should eat no carbs at all.
People who object to a particular way of eating often seem to be ignorant of the details and theories behind the plan they're criticizing. You get the extreme reports, where someone decides to see how they get on by eating only bacon, egg, steak, burgers etc. for a week, or a month. Well surprise, surprise, they feel unwell. And their conclusion is that low carb diets are really bad for you this is in spite of the fact that no low carb, high protein diet plan suggests you eat nothing but high fat, processed, heavy protein foods! So let's take a slightly more sensible and balanced look at this kind of eating plan.
How does a low carb/ no carb diet fit in with metabolic typing?
If you've read any of my other articles you'll know by now that there are two main things that I believe contribute to dieting success. One is discovering your metabolic type and the other is the quality of the food you put in your body.
Whether a low carb diet is going to be good for you or not may have less to do with what you eat and more to do with your body and its genetic type. If you've tried the usual high complex carbohydrate, low fat diets and struggled on them, feeling constantly hungry and irritable, then maybe you're a protein type and a low carb diet may be exactly right for you.
A low carb diet may be healthy or unhealthy. It all depends on how you approach it. Again I need to stress that we're talking about a low carb diet, not a NO carb diet. Forget any pre-conceived notions that the Atkins Diet or any other high protein diet really means eating no carbohydrates and no fruits and vegetables. It's just a myth.
None of the well known low carb eating plans suggest that you live exclusively on bacon and eggs for a month, but the fact is that most of us on a normal western diet are eating too many empty, unhealthy, refined carbohydrates, packed with sugar and refined white flour. We could all benefit from reducing our intake of these, and this is where to begin a healthy move towards lower carbohydrate eating.
Next, let's assume you suspect or have discovered through metabolic typing that you are actually a protein type. This doesn't mean you should just launch into eating loads of highly processed, poor quality meat, with little or no vegetables or fruit. It's important to eat the best quality food you can. By this I don't mean dining out in luxury at expensive restaurants! I just mean buying good, locally sourced organic foods as often as possible. Avoid heavily processed foods. Use cold-pressed olive or coconut oils in your cooking, and those carbohydrates you do eat should be full of nutrients and flavor, not sugar!
Your high protein meals can be accompanied by small portions of salad or lightly cooked vegetables, and even small amounts of potato or rice. You didn't expect that did you? That's because the secret to all eating plans is to read up properly about them first. Make sure you understand how they work, plan carefully, buy what you need, and only then actually start your diet whether it's a high carb, low carb or that fictional no carb diet!
