Doesn't our body need carbohydrates?
No. This is a common myth.For example, many people, even medical professionals, will tell you that the brain needs glucose (of carbohydrates) to function.In fact, the brain can obtain up to 80% of its energy needs of ketones, a source of energy produced from fat in our liver.There are some tissues that exclusively require glucose for their energy needs, such as the lens of the eye, the red blood cells and a part of the kidney.The fact is that the liver is capable of producing enough glucose to sustain these tissues through a process called "gluconeogenesis."All other body tissues are happy to burn fat or ketones for their energy needs when there is no glucose.
But have we always heard that ketones are harmful?
We all produce ketones from time to time, especially if our carbohydrate supply decreases in the diet.Many people will produce them in the early hours of the morning after consuming the carbohydrates they ate for dinner.People with a low carbohydrate diet will burn ketones along with fat for most of their energy needs.Sometimes we analyze the urine of people who make low carbohydrates to measure ketones and determine if the diet is working.Blood ketones levels in all these cases are not high enough to cause any damage.There is a condition known as 'ketoacidosis' that is harmful and part of the confusion around ketones may be due to this.Ketoacidosis is a serious problem that occurs in type 1 diabetics when they do not receive insulin.In this case, ketone levels are much higher and blood sugar levels are also very high.While ketoacidosis is harmful,
Is it possible for a low carbohydrate diet to increase my risk of heart disease?
We collide again with another common myth.It is based on the idea that if you eliminate carbohydrates as a source of energy, you will have to increase fat intake to compensate (there is a limit on the amount of protein you can eat).It was thought that an increase in fat would lead to high cholesterol that is associated with heart disease.However, when studies on this were conducted, to everyone's surprise, the opposite happened.People with a low carbohydrate diet improved their cholesterol readings even when they increased their fat intake and even when their consumption of saturated fats increased (the so -called bad fat).It seems that when your body should depend on fat to obtain energy, the saturated fat you eat burns before it can cause damage.Another factor that plays a role in heart disease is the level of inflammation in our system.If inflammation markers are high, we recognize this as a sign of a higher risk of heart disease.We commonly request a C-Reactive protein test, an inflammation marker in the blood, to evaluate the risk of a person.A recent study showed that people with a low carbohydrate diet demonstrated significantly reduced inflammatory markers.
Although long -term studies have not yet been carried out to demonstrate it, existing science suggests that a high fat and carbohydrate diet can reduce the risk of heart disease.Read more
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