Diet which is low on carbs and high on exercise

Low fat foods are finally finished !

For years the official nutrition advice has been to reduce fat intake. Most nutritionists have been trained to advise clients to follow a diet which is:

• rich in whole grains
• fruits and vegetables in abundance
• low-fat dairy
• lean meat
• minimal fat.

At last it is dawning that this is pretty poor advice.
The final conclusion:

• Get carbs down to 10% of total calorie intake. This means that just about all your carbs come from vegetables (and maybe some fruit)
• Push protein up to 30% total calories. This means that almost inevitably the fat eaten goes up as well.
• The fat calories in your diet is now 60%. Totally different to all previous official recommendations about keeping fat down to 30% total calories.
• Reduce your total calories by 600 calories a day (but do not go below 1200 calories a day)
• Resistance and/or weight training twice a week
• Walk or cycle 5 days a week.

Researchers like Donald Layman in Illinois and Jeffrey Volek in Conneticut have been beating a different drum. Their conclusions after years of research:

• keep carbohydrates low


• keep protein intake up


• eating fat will not make you fat


• a calorie is not necessarliy equivalent to any other calorie - it all depends upon what you are eating


• exercise is key.

None of this is particularly amazing but the strangest new knowledge is that keeping the carbs low (which means that fats are much higher than in a low fat diet) results in:

• easier to lose weight


• all the markers for health like good cholesterol increasing, bad cholesterol reducing, triglycerides reducing (even if weight is not lost)


• decrease in insulin resistance


• muscle is preserved through weight loss.
  
  

  Resistance Training (or Weight Training) is vital. Just doing cardio does not give you the same health and weight loss benefits of tough weight training.

Now all of this seems very Atkins-like because this is pretty much what Dr Atkins proclaimed over nearly 30 years. However now there is good research backing it all up.

This is a key paper from Professor Layman showing that increasing protein in the diet (while getting carbs down) plus exercise for an additive effect. Doing the two together is much better than just doing one on its own. This is also a significant paper from Professor Layman emphasising the importance of high protein and low carbohydrate.

Volek's research group on Connecticut has delivered very similar conclusions in their paper Carbohydrate Restriction and Resistance Training Have Additive Effects on Body Composition during Weight Loss in Men. Link even though it is difficult to access.