LOW FAT VS LOW CARB DIET

Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is tonight’s main event. In one corner, we have the current reigning champion of loss weight, the low fat diet! His main tactics involve eating plenty of vegetables, whole grain products, fruits and lean meats such as fish and poultry. In the other corner, we have the challenger, the mastermind of limiting carbohydrates by intake of whole grains and starchy vegetables. His focus is intake in protein and fat for optimal emphasis; introducing the low carb diet! Well folks this battle seems to be a tight one, let’s take a look at the history of both fighters to determine who’s got the edge over the other one. As we all know, the body treats carbohydrate calories different from protein or fat calories. There’s been a lot of speculation over which method of caloric loss is better.

Traditional weight loss specialists maintain that decreasing total calories is more important when it comes to losing fat. Most case studies performed tend to back the fact that subjects who were given a low fat diet lost weight at a faster rate than those who were on a low carb diet. Why was this the case? Well most participants on the low carb diet burned more fat for energy, but they had a smaller net fat loss because they also took in more fat from the protein rich foods they ate.

However, researchers supporting the low carb diet insisted the participants were missing one crucial element in their bid to lose weight; exercise.  The theory behind the low carb diet is that naturally, carbohydrates tend to promote more weight gain than proteins and fats because they increase levels of insulin in the body, which is a crucial element in fat storage. Therefore, cutting your carb intake effectively stokes up your metabolic engine instead of reducing calories. With a higher functioning metabolic engine, inclusion of routinely exercises would greatly boost the ability of the body to burn more calories more effectively. So simply put, if you’re going on a low carb diet, there’s got to be an element of exercise present on a routinely basis. In both cases however, both techniques seem to lock horns and the only person who suffers is the trainee. When it comes to low fat diet, you’re going to have to play the patient game a lot my friend. When it comes to the low carb diet, you have to put in the effort to exercise daily for a faster rate of weight loss. Well, it’s never that easy right? There’s definitely a stalemate in both case scenarios when it comes to speed.

However, I think low carb slightly edges low fat because with it, you are able to handle hunger cravings better.  Personally, my advice to people losing weight; the best diet for you is the one that you can stick with. Don’t stress yourself too much; your diet should consist of high quality carbohydrates and healthy fats rich in nutrients for optimal health. Note however that this does not apply to people who are dangerously overweight. If losing weight is a life or death situation, then restricting carbs would be the best option for you.