The Hemp Connection [Search results for low carb diet] 

I was just provided a copy of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Jeff S. Volek, PhD, RD, and Stephen D. Phinney, MD, PhD. Knowing how many of you are leaning toward low carb eating in an attempt to pull your hormones back into balance, I figured this would be an important book to review.

Two very important issues to consider that may preclude your even needing to read the entire review.

1. This book advocates for ketosis. While there may be times in your life where ketosis might be something to consider pursuing (which I will cover in tomorrow's post), it has not been reported that a ketotic state in a mother is safe for the baby she is pregnant with. Therefore, if you are trying to conceive, or are pregnant, or are not trying to conceive but might become pregnant, I do NOT, repeat, do NOT, advocate that you follow this diet. The word pregnant did not appear even once in this book and I do not believe this was a consideration of the two male authors who wrote it. Reader beware.

2. I used two of the menu plans in the back of the book for diet analyses. I came pretty close to the total calorie, as well as protein/carbohydrate/fat breakdowns they listed. Both days I analzyed came up short. Day One was deficient in fiber, vitamin D, and iron.

Day Two was deficient in pantothenic acid, iron, calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin C.

I think the basic premise of the book, that fewer refined foods are better, is something most people would agree with. I actually think that be it vegan, raw, paleo, or low carb, advocates of each of these ways of eating are trying to say that less processing is better. They then frame it in a way of eating that makes the choices easier. In each case, however, when taken to extremes, the diets become unbalanced and potentially deficient.

The whole time I was reading this book, the words of my grad school statistics professor were on my mind. He used to always say,"If you torture the statistics long enough, they will confess whatever you want them to."

These scientists were able to prove that an extreme diet accomplished a counterintuitive effect. I won't deny that. However, I had the sense in reading the book they were so singluarly focused on proving that point, they forgot about the big picture, namely balanced nutrition. I'm on board with much of what the book says. But you can't throw out all vitamin, mineral, and pregnancy recommendations just because you proved one singluar point.

inCYST nutrition is very high liability nutrition. We are not just making recommendations for Momma. Baby (and in many cases, especially those of you undergoing IVF, multiple babies) is at the mercy of what we say as well. In this case, I felt very uneasy with what I read. If the authors were willing to take the time to do research on pregnant women, I'd be willing to listen to what they have to say. In the meantime, it feels like at the very least they should have provided a disclaimer for this population to protect themselves.

Because that was neglected in the spirit of demonstrating that bacon, meat, and ice cream are ok to eat, for inCYSTers, this book does NOT get a recommendation.

Yesterday I reviewed a book entitled,"The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living". I started with the negative part of the review because years of reviewing blog statistics has taught me that people don't stick through much of what I write to get the main idea. Because avoiding ketosis is such a crucial concept I felt like that point needed to be made before getting to something I really liked about the book.

What this book discussed that I did like, was the concept that human brains, even though we're taught that they depend on glucose, can learn to live on ketones for energy. I immediately thought of the many of you who comment here and elsewhere that you feel as though you're addicted to carbohydrates. It's certainly going to feel that way if your brain has become so used to using glucose as its only fuel source that when it's not there it feels as if it's run on empty.

I tend to think of an addiction as a chemical reliance on a nonessential substance. A dependence is a reliance on something we need. We're not addicted to oxygen, for example, we're dependent on it. So I prefer to think of the relationship many of you have to simple sugar as a dependence, not an addiction. You can teach your brain to use low-glycemic carbohydrates and protein as sources of low-glycemic sugar, and you can even learn to use ketones.

If you've tried to jump from a simple carbohydrate-dependent diet to a carbohydrate-deficient diet overnight, chances are it felt like you were going through withdrawal. It is possible to gradually learn to use ketones over time, but if your experience in getting there is so miserable, you're likely to not stick with it. There are a lot of options between all and nothing.

As I mentioned yesterday, the extreme carbohydrate restriction described in this book proved a point, but in the process it also created some other potential nutrition deficiencies.

Instead of jumping to that extreme, why not try gradually removing the simple carbohydrate from your life and replacing it with protein and low-glycemic carbs? It will help the carbohydrate you DO eat distribute itself more evenly over the course of a day (just like your carburetor does for your car), and you might potentially (and gently) teach your brain to be less dependent on one source of fuel, pure sugar.

Be scientific about it. Use an analysis program such as http://www.fitday.com/ to track what you're doing and plan how to experiment with other ways. Record how you feel. Feel what feels best. You'll know when you've hit that place because that next drop in carbs will leave you feeling hungry, moody, and low in energy.

Let us know what you learn about yourself! Everyone is different, and therefore everyone's carbohydrate needs are different. The concept underlying the book is not unsound, it's just likely not necessary for everyone to restrict carbohydrates to that extreme.

The beauty of nutrition is that there are many paths to the same destination. Be it raw, vegan, Paleo, low-carb, low-glycemic, we prefer to show you how, once you've decided which food philosophy best fits your personality, to make it work on your behalf.

I've had this conversation with two different clients recently and it occurred to me it's a phenomenon likely to be more common in women with PCOS, because of their focus on carbohydrates, than even the average dieter. Figured a blog post would be helpful to others.

Both of these clients shared with me that they went on low carbohydrate diets and did very well on them, until a few weeks into it, when, for whatever reason, they"fell off" the plan and started eating carbohydrates. And within a few days they'd gained a few pounds and felt more than a little discouraged…not to mention bloated.

Here's a little fact you don't often hear in weight loss advice or discussions. Not all weight that you gain, or lose, is fat. Some of it is water. Some of it can even be bone, if you severely restrict your intake for long periods of time, as with an eating disorder.

And some of that weight…can be your own body's carbohydrate stores.

When you are eating enough food to meet your daily needs, your body stores some of it as carbohydrate, in liver and in muscles. The function of this stored carbohydrate, is to help keep your blood sugar levels high at times when no food is directly coming into the system. Your brain relies almost entirely on carbohydrates to function, and the body has evolved with this"storage tank", so to speak, to be sure the brain never, ever runs out of energy.

Carbohydrate that is stored for this purpose is called glycogen. The body uses water to help store glycogen. And for every gram of carbohydrate you store, there are 3 grams of water alongside of it.

So what do you think happens when you suddenly switch to a low-to-non carbohydrate diet? All of the carbohydrate you've stored in your liver and muscles has to break down in order to keep your brain running. The weight loss is rapid, because you're losing 3 times as much water as you are other weight. It feels good when you look on the scales, because we're so cultured to believe that all weight shifts are coming from fat.

And what do you think happens when you eat carbohydrate again? The weight shift moves in the opposite direction, and 3/4 of what you gain is actually water. But again, because you're likely focused on fat if you're dieting…you visualize that what you've gained is more of that stuff.

Have you ever heard of carbohydrate loading, that athletes do before an endurance event? When you diet and bounce back with a high carb binge, that's exactly what you're doing! Here's a description off of the Internet that describes a carbohydrate loading protocol, from the Mayo Clinic website:
■Step 1. About a week before the event, reduce or maintain your carbohydrate intake at about 50 to 55 percent of your total calories. Increase protein and fat intake to compensate for any decrease in carbohydrates. Continue training at your normal level. This helps deplete your carbohydrate stores and make room for the loading that comes next.

■Step 2. Three to four days before the event, increase your carbohydrate intake to 70 percent of your daily calories — or about 4.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight. Cut back on foods higher in fat to compensate for the extra carbohydrate-rich foods. Also scale back your training to avoid depleting your glycogen stores. Rest completely for a day before the event. And…no big surprise…here, farther down the page, are the potential risks associated with this protocol:

■Weight gain. Much of this weight is extra water — but if it hampers your performance, you're probably better off skipping the extra carbs.

■Digestive discomfort. You may need to avoid or limit some high-fiber foods one or two days before your event. Beans, bran and broccoli can cause gassy cramps, bloating and loose stools when you're loading up on carbohydrates.

■Blood sugar changes. Carbohydrate loading can affect your blood sugar levels. It's a good idea to consult your doctor or a registered dietitian before you start carbohydrate loading, especially if you have diabetes I remember when I was working on my master's degree in exercise science, we were taught that the bloating and weight gain from carbohydrate loading could be so extreme and uncomfortable, that athletes should not even attempt to use it for a crucial race if they had not tested it out prior to know how their body would react.

So see, it's not your body, your PCOS, or anything weird about YOU that causes you to gain weight when you eat after restricting. It's exactly how ANYONE's body will react when pushed to extremes.

Try living somewhere in the middle, with a moderate, healthy carbohydrate intake…and see what it does for your weight, your body, and the bloating.

Yesterday, I wrote about a study done with some very fertile Bolivian women.

As expected, I received several e-mails asking exactly what these women were eating. If you did any of the following, you completely missed the point of the study, and of my blog post.

1. Checked out airfares to Bolivia.
2. Started surfing the Internet looking at what people in Bolivia eat.
3. Researched what kind of Bolivian-based supplements you can buy in your local health food store.
4. Considered starting a Bolivian superfood company.
5. Bought a boatload of bananas from a guy in a wooden canoe…or the grocery store.

Let's try again. Women in Cincinnati, and the rest of the world, for that matter…listen up! Here is a top ten list detailing exactly what the Bolivian women DON'T do.

1. They don't eat special diets.
2. They don't take supplements.
3. They don't shop at Whole Foods…have never even heard of it.
4. They don't count calories.
5. They don't count grams of carbohydrate.
6. They don't avoid gluten.
7. They don't eat from a list of top ten foods.
8. They don't read food labels. The food they eat isn't even in packages with labels.
9. They don't eat food that is shipped in from other places.
10.They don't eat food that has been raised with hormones.

If you are caught up in the specifics of the Tsimane diet, you are overthinking the information and therein lies your problem. We were healthier when we had less nutrition information to guide us.

If this study caught your attention, I DO strongly encourage you to consider testing your own blood omega-3 levels. Seriously, readers, as obsessed as you are about your blood tests and your grams of carb, and everything else, taking a few fish oil pills once in awhile, or even taking the wrong dose on a daily basis is about as helpful to your situation as putting on a blindfold and throwing a dart at a target a half mile off in the distance! You have the ability to do it with science, not blindfolded darts. Use it.

As much as I know about this chemistry, even MY DHA levels were low when I had them tested. I did not have to move to Bolivia or study an Indian language to correct them. It takes a whole lot more than exotic foods and supplements or eating fish a couple of times a week to raise them. We work with one of the premier labs in the country and can get you this home-administered fingerprick test at a discount. Assuming you're getting enough omega-3 in your diet may be one of the most counterproductive assumptions you ever make. Contact me at marika@google.com for details.