Reading food labels is an important part of your weight-loss plan, whether you are following a calorie restriction or carbohydrate restriction regimen. The total number of the two groups is listed on food labels and nutrition sites, but the nutritional value and high fiber will not tell you how important they are on your way to choosing the best of the two approaches.
Carbohydrate and calorie counting system
The premise of the carbohydrate counting system for weight loss is to rely on fat and protein, in exchange for reducing the carbohydrate ration per day to less than 50 grams, less than the amount found in medium bread, which means depriving the body of glucose as the main source of energy, which is found in carbohydrate foods.
Some low-carb diets are the same, such as "keto", "paleo", "South Beach" and "dokan", and they are all rich in protein, except for "keto," which has a fat content of up to 80% in meals.
For a 2,000-calorie diet, you can eat an average of 165 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbohydrates and 75 grams of protein.
The calorie counting system for weight loss involves regardless of the source of calories, whether it is carbohydrates, fat or protein, all of which are converted into calories that turn into physical energy or fat that your body stores unless you consume them.
The Mayo Clinic bulletin confirms that reducing calories is the basic system for losing weight, and here comes the need to reduce your caloric intake so that your body relies on energy reserves, or by increasing physical activity until you burn more calories.
To lose weight by calculating calories, you must determine the number of calories your body needs daily, according to your type of work, your age and your gender, and then deduct 500 calories from your food ration.
The number of calories the body needs to lose weight safely ranges between 1,200 and 1,500 calories (pixels).
How do these systems work?
The body stores fat and cannot store glucose. If you follow a carbohydrate restriction, the liver will produce an alternative fuel called "ketone bodies" from fatty acids, which it usually produces when the body is starved and exercising extreme sports.
And if this continues for a period of between 3 and 4 days, levels of the hormone insulin in the blood will decrease, and the body will begin to use "ketone bodies" as the main fuel to save the body, and provide what the heart and mind need by only 30%, and the percentage will rise to 70% after the first week in an empty body. Glucose.
The possible symptoms of severe carbohydrate restriction last from days to weeks and include: hunger, fatigue, low mood, constipation, headache and brain fog.
If you follow a calorie reduction diet, you must know that the number of calories the body needs to lose weight in a safe way ranges between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day for adult women, and 1,500 and 1,800 calories per day for adult men.
When you follow this system, the body will start to break down stored fats to obtain energy, then the liver will secrete more cholesterol to compensate for the deficiency, and usually the body loses during that period a mixture of fats, water and tissues that make up muscle mass.
The side effects appear after 4 to 16 weeks of reducing calories, and you may feel fatigue, constipation, nausea, and diarrhea, and these cases usually improve within a few weeks, and some may abandon the system during that period due to its difficulty.
Where to start to lose weight?
If you follow the carbohydrate restriction diet, you may find yourself banned from some foods, such as: bread, grains, pasta, rice and biscuits, potatoes, corn, legumes and most fruits.
Most low-carb diets allow foods rich in saturated fats, such as: fatty cuts of meat, processed meats and butter, as well as sources of unsaturated fats, such as: nuts, avocados, vegetable oils, and high-fat fish.
Nutrition experts at Harvard School of Public Health recommend low-carb diets until the desired weight is lost, and when this is achieved, you can follow the diet for a few days a week or a few weeks each month, alternating with other days, which allows eating larger amounts of carbohydrates, to maintain Your weight, and avoid the harm of lack of carbohydrates
Reducing the number of calories requires a change in what you eat, not avoiding types of food, you can reduce the sizes of your meals, and replace high-calorie foods with low-calorie options, such as replacing the whole milk in a cup of coffee with coconut milk, eating popcorn instead of fried potatoes, and calculating the lost calories Through your physical activity to match what you eat.
A low-calorie diet can benefit most obesity-related health conditions (Pixabay)
The crisis is in the two systems
A low-calorie diet can benefit most of the health conditions associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure or heart disease, and carbohydrate counting is an approach that type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients usually use to maintain a constant blood sugar level throughout the day.
But the crisis in the low-carbohydrate system lies in the accumulation of "ketone bodies" in the blood, causing a condition called "hyperketoneemia", which is the stage that the follower of that system should not reach, because it produces a highly toxic level of ketoacid, so the blood loses its fluids, It increases the risk of developing kidney stones, osteoporosis, and increasing levels of uric acid in the blood, which causes gout.
These cases arise if the focus is on eating foods rich in fat, and depriving the body of the amounts it needs from fiber, vitamins and minerals in whole grains that are prevented by the carbohydrate reduction system.
Focusing on foods high in saturated fats also conflicts with the recommendations of the American Heart Association.
It may tempt you to follow a calorie reduction regime now, also given its quick results, but you cannot follow it for more than several weeks because your body follows preventive mechanisms that may actually prevent you from losing weight if you eat less than 800 calories, and gallstones are one of the most common effects. A common dangerous aspect of low-calorie diets is because the liver produces more cholesterol to counteract rapid weight loss.
To ensure that you benefit from the benefits of dieting to lose weight, it is recommended that you consult a physician and a nutritionist to monitor any changes after starting the regime, and prescribe a meal plan specifically designed for your health conditions, nutritional deficiencies or any other health complications.