Reducing or 'cutting out' carbohydrates has been a common diet approach for a long time, but is it something you should be doing? Here are the pros and cons of it.

Why do we need carbs?

Carbohydrates are one of three key macronutrients that our body uses to function normally - the others being protein and fat. Carbs get used as a primary energy source to fuel our body's physical actions such as muscle movement as well as our brain function for the control of our nervous system.

It's important to note here that all carb-restricting diets - even the more extreme ones such as the Ketogenic diet or zero carb diet - do incorporate some carbohydrates. Foods rarely contain just one macronutrient and are often made up of a combination of two or all of carbs, fat and protein. For example, milk contains milk fat, protein and milk sugar (lactose) although it is often classified as a protein-dense food for logging/journalling purposes.

Not only that, most zero or low carb diets usually allow vegetables  as well as fruit in limited quantities which contain... you guessed it - carbohydrates. Low carbohydrate diets may also affect mood and emotional behaviour.

Why would you cut out or reduce your carb intake?

Typically people restrict their carbohydrates to lose weight, and carb usually works as removing ANY food group or reducing calorie intake from your diet should lead to weight loss. It's important to remember that foods rarely contain just one macronutrient, so if you think about all the junk foods and treat foods that usually make weight management difficult - cake, cookies, donuts, chips, lollies, chocolate... They are often carb-heavy as well as containing fats. With carbs clocking in at 4 calories per gram, and fats at 9 calories per gram, you can see how removing these foods  from your diet could add up to big results fairly quickly.

Also, Western diets tend to be relatively carb-heavy in terms of breads, cereals, grains, pasta, potatoes and other root vegetables and for many people it's become quite difficult to gauge what a standard portion size should look like.

Carb-restricting diets often advocate eating more healthy fats and/or protein while carbs are almost referred to as non-essential to our needs.

The negatives? The problem with this weight loss focus is that it isn't yet understood completely how this type of dieting may affect our nervous system or delicate hormone balance in the long term, especially if it's done in a stop/start yo-yo diet manner. Additionally, this style of restrictive eating can potentially trigger a negative relationship with food (sometimes even obsessive). Physical appearance is often given priority over health which reinforces diet culture.

The Ketogenic diet

Everyone's currently talking about the Keto diet. This way of eating advocates removing almost all carbohydrates from your diet and increasing your healthy fats so that your body goes into the metabolic state of ketosis. This means that your body begins to burn fat more efficiently, converting it into ketone bodies which become your primary form of energy until you eat carbs again.

This typically involves at least two to four days of eating fewer than 20-50 grams of carbs per day which is around the equivalent of just one serve a day. Because of the drastic carb reduction, it can work very well for weight loss and studies have also indicated it may help with certain medical conditions including Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, certain types of cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and insulin sensitivity.

An initial transition period during the first 1-4 weeks after beginning this diet often referred to as the 'keto flu' can occur causing energy issues, digestive problems, bad breath, vomiting, sleep issues and nausea.

It's important to note that if you have uncontrolled diabetes, ketosis can potentially lead to ketoacidosis which is a medical emergency, so those following this diet may be playing with fire if they aren't doing it under professional supervision. As a little background knowledge, the Ketogenic diet was originally created to treat epilepsy and seizures, so it wasn't intended for weight loss purposes. Also as it's so restrictive, it's very difficult for most people to maintain in the long term.

That said, we aren't saying Keto is the big bad here. For many people it does work and they get the results that they want. It's important to recognise though that what works for one person may not work for you, and it's good to be well-versed in the pros and cons of any diet you decide to follow so that you can be aware of its benefits and potential downsides.

What should I do?

Our recommendation is that if you can't sustain it beyond six weeks, it's drastically different from what you've already been doing or you have difficulty at social gatherings, when eating at home or when on holiday, it's probably not flexible enough to maintain in the long term. This means it's likely that when you stop the diet for whatever reason, you may end up back where you started later on whether it be months or years down the track.

If it sounds good to you, give it a go - if it works, fantastic! If it doesn't work but this way of eating resonates with you, shift away from the black or white focus and think of it more as a sliding scale. How could you eat a little less carbohydrate rather than remove carbs completely? How could you add a little more protein and healthy fats into your life rather than making them your entire diet?

REFERENCES

• Campos, M. Ketogenic diet: Is the ultimate low-carb diet good for you? (2019) - https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/ketogenic-diet-is-the-ultimate-low-carb-diet-good-for-you-2017072712089

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