A question: are there any downsides to going low carb- apart from the carb flu and increased dish washing?There seems to be plenty of published work on the advantages but not much on the downsides.I would like to see both sides of the argument so I can form a balanced view.
Interesting question.
I have a fun combo of reactive hypoglycaemia and type 2 diabetes, which means that I kind of have to to do a fairly strict low carb (ketogenic) diet, or I feel like death warmed up.
So really, that is the first thing to say - there are many, many different kinds of low carb diet. we have lowish carb vegans, low carb vegetarians, a meatarian, an organicarian, and a myriad of other people who post here on the forum, all of whom have a different version of eating low carb. I'm a meat eating, non-processed foods (if I can avoid them) kind of LCer.
Which means that I can only speak from my own experience.
I think the whole low carb flu thing is a bit of a red herring. Many of the symptoms are avoidable if the transition to LC is done sensibly. But what first timer knows how to do that? I only had LC flu once, the first time, and it was because I wasn't eating enough, drinking enough, or salting enough. I have been in and out of LC and in and out of ketosis maybe 100x in the last 30 years, and I've made every mistake in the book, but you learn, and it just gets better and better.
The key is to know how to do it, be kind to yourself, plus, I think the body remembers, and makes the transition more and more easily the more times it has done it.
The downsides of low carbing are, in no particular order:
- having to watch other people eat things that I would enjoy, but would make me feel ill afterwards, raise my blood glucose, and affect my health in the long term if I ate them regularly
- having to select low carb foods, if possible, from cafe and restaurant menus - sometimes the choice ifs very restrictive. sometimes I eat like a queen.
- I think that food shopping is slightly more expensive. Carbs like potato, bread and rice tend to be cheap and filling. On the other hand, carbs like processed biscuits, pre-prepared meals, deserts and fizzy drinks are more expensive. So it balances out.
- ignorant people assuming that because some idiot told them that LC is bad for the heart, they can lecture me on my 'bad' food choices. They soon learn different.
- ditto for people who think LC is bad for cholesterol
- ditto for people who think LC will cause weight gain
- ditto for people who think saturated fat is a stab in the heart
- ditto for people who think their particular pet diet will create world peace and enlightenment for everyone (I don't think LC suits everyone, and macrobioticism certainly doesn't suit me. been there, done that, threw away the T shirt)
- ditto for my work colleagues who think that a life without tropical fruit isn't worth living
- sometimes I get cramps if I forget to add enough salt into my diet
All in all, they are very minor irritants compared with the benefits of a ketogenic diet on my body.
these include (but are not restricted to)
- weight loss (slow, but better than any non-LC diet I have tried in the last 35 years)
- less inflammation, aches, pains and joint issues
- better sleep
- better mental acuity and concentration (this is the biggie)
- massively improved BG levels and control
- not needing diabetic drugs
I will stop there, because I would be here all night.
