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Tag: low carb - Organic Lifestyle Magazine Tag: low carb - Organic Lifestyle Magazine

Should You Be on the Ketogenic Diet? The Pros and Cons of Limiting Carbs

There is a ton of hype surrounding the ketogenic diet. Some researchers swear that it is the best diet for most people to be on, while others can provide us with plenty of evidence that it is just another fad diet.

To some degree, both sides of the spectrum are right. There isn’t one perfect diet for everyone or every condition, regardless of how many people “believe” in it. The ketogenic diet is no exception to this rule.

However, there is also plenty of solid research backing up its benefits. In fact, it has been found to be better than many diets at helping people with:

  • Epilepsy
  • Type 2 Diabetes
  • Type 1 Diabetes
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Chronic Inflammation
  • Obesity
  • Heart Disease
  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
  • Fatty Liver Disease
  • Cancer
  • Migraines

Even if you are not at risk from any of these conditions, restricting your carbohydrate consumption may be helpful for you too. Some of the benefits that most people experience are:

  • Better brain function
  • A decrease in inflammation
  • An increase in energy
  • Improved body composition

As you can see, the ketogenic diet has a wide array of benefits, but is it any better than other diets?

The Calorie Conundrum

Many researchers argue that ketosis (burning ketones for fuel) and carbohydrate restriction only play a minor role in the benefits of the ketogenic diet. Their argument is that people tend to eat fewer calories on the ketogenic diet, and this is the main reason for its benefits. The two most important selling points of the ketogenic diet, ketosis and carbohydrate restriction, may just be a red herring.

It is true that people on the ketogenic diet tend to eat less because of how satiating eating a high-fat moderate-protein diet like the ketogenic is for us. It is also true that less calorie consumption leads to improved health and weight loss. These two statements are backed up by plenty of research, but there is something that many researchers don’t consider.

The ketogenic diet elicits many mechanisms in the body and cells that are nonexistent in other diets. These unique mechanisms explain the benefits of the ketogenic diet that eating fewer calories cannot.

Related: Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included

What Restricting Carbohydrates Does to The Body

Frist, let’s see what happens inside of the cells in our body during the ketogenic diet:

  • Ketones are produced, which burn more efficiently than sugar.
  • Burning ketones creates much less reactive oxygen species than sugar, which decreases inflammation.
  • Carbohydrate restriction triggers autophagy (cellular cleaning) and anti-inflammatory processes.
  • Mitochondrial function and production are enhanced, making our cell’s more efficient at using ketones and fat for fuel.

And here’s what happens in the body on a larger scale:

  • Insulin levels decrease because dietary carbohydrate isn’t stimulating its release.
  • Stored fat is burned because the body needs to use alternative fuel sources.
  • Inflammation is reduced because inflammatory fat levels decrease and less reactive oxygen species are formed.

The combination of the cellular and bodily effects of the ketogenic diet provides us with a basis for why they may be more useful than other diets in the treatment of many of the conditions we mentioned earlier.

Who Would Benefit Most From The Ketogenic Diet?

There is convincing evidence supporting that the ketogenic diet can reduce the severity of epilepsy, type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes (especially if dairy is eliminated), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, heart disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver disease, migraines, and certain types of cancer. However, it is important to keep in mind that plant-based whole food diets are also useful in helping people with most of these issues as well.

The primary issues that the ketogenic diet may help with more than a plant-based diet are probably neurological conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy. This is due to how efficient ketones are as a source of fuel for the brain. Some studies also indicate that ketogenic diet may be best for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes and for people with certain types of cancer that cannot survive without sugar.

Who Shouldn’t Be On a Ketogenic Diet?

Although the ketogenic diet can help with a plethora of conditions, it can also deteriorate the health of others. For example, people with thyroid or adrenal issues and many women will struggle with carbohydrate restriction. This is because carbohydrates help regulate thyroid function, adrenal function, and fertility.

If you are already having issues with one or all of these things, then the limiting carbohydrates may make your health worse. This why it is important to have your lipid, blood sugar, and hormone levels checked before and during a profound dietary change like the ketogenic diet. Everything you do is an experiment on yourself. Just because someone else swears by a certain diet doesn’t mean it will work for you too.

The Takeaway — Should YOU be on the Ketogenic Diet?

Who would benefit the most from going keto? People who have:

  • Epilepsy
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Type 1 diabetes
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Certain types of cancer that cannot survive without sugar

Who shouldn’t restrict carbohydrate intake?

  • People with adrenal issues
  • People with thyroid issues
  • Some women

So, what do you make of this information?

In general, eating more whole foods and less processed foods is what will give you the most bang for your buck. The simplest way to do this is by giving yourself an unbreakable rule like “eat less than 35 grams of carbs per day” (ketogenic diet) or “eliminate added sugar and limit animal product consumption” (plant-based diet). Both of these rules will help you consume more whole foods and less processed foods, which results in fewer calories consumed, less inflammation, less disease, and better health.

Choose whatever rule you think you can stick too and adjust your diet from there based on how your body reacts. It’s that simple. Well, at least it is that simple if you only care about your own health.

Recommended: The Way We Used To Eat – The Real Paleo Diet

The Long-Term Effects of The Ketogenic Diet vs. a Plant-Based Diet

If you have some form of diabetes, a neurological issue, a carb-reliant form of cancer or want to lose weight rapidly, the ketogenic diet may be the best diet for you — at least for the short term (less than six months). Although many research studies have found that the ketogenic diet has no adverse long-term effects and is perfectly safe (for most of the people that were studied), we must consider the impact that this diet has on the environment as well.

Animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy make up the bulk of calories on the ketogenic diets. These animal products are commonly sourced from controlled animal feeding operations that pollute the environment, destroy our soil, torture the animals, and produce nutritionally inferior food. With each purchase of mass-produced, unnaturally-raised animal products, we cast a vote for animal abuse, depleted soil that can’t grow crops, and climate change.

This is why it is best to stick to the rule of “eat whole plant foods and eliminate processed foods” rather than “limit carbohydrates.” If, however, you want to experiment with ketones or the ketogenic diet to see how it affects your health, keep reading below.

The Healthiest Way to Approach the Ketogenic Diet for You and The Environment

There are a couple of ways to get the benefits of the ketogenic diet while improving the environment.

Here’s a brief list of some options:

  • Source your animal products from environmentally conscious farms and businesses. If you are going to eat animal products, source them from U.S. Wellness MeatsWhite Oak Pastures, Polyface Farms, Vital Choice, and Udder Milk to get the healthiest animal products for you, the environment, and the animals.
  • Source all of your produce from local, biodynamic farms. This cuts down on transportation costs and supports local farmers that work with the environment rather than against it.
  • Supplement your diet with ketone boosting supplements. Ketone salts and MCT oil will put your body into ketosis quickly and provide you will most of the benefits of the ketogenic diet. (I personally prefer MCT oil because it is easy to add to salads, sauces, and smoothies, and doesn’t give me any weird side effects like ketone salts do.)
  • Include intermittent fasting in your daily schedule. By skipping one or two meals a day or fasting for the whole day, you can activate many of the health-promoting mechanisms that are commonly experienced by ketogenic dieters.
  • Do a strict environmentally-friendly ketogenic diet for 6 to 12 weeks. Think of the ketogenic diet as a short-term strategy to help improve specific health conditions. After about 6 to 12 weeks, your body will be keto-adapted and you’ll be ready to slowly increase your carbohydrate consumption by eating more whole plant foods.
  • Try a vegan or vegetarian ketogenic diet for 6 to 12 weeks. Eat plenty of low carb vegetables, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado, and nuts. Pasture-raised eggs are also an environmentally friendly option (if you are an ovo-vegetarian).

By following one or all of these strategies, you will experience the benefits of ketosis for yourself. The easiest way to do so is by combining intermittent fasting with MCT oil supplementation.

On the other hand, If you want to experience all of the effects of being keto-adapted, then it’s best to do a strict ketogenic diet for 6 to 12 weeks. This is enough time to see if the ketogenic diet works for you.

Whether or not you decide to try these suggestions, it is important to keep one thing in mind — there is no magical diet that works for everyone. Nutrition is so complicated that gurus, researchers, and health professionals will argue about it for centuries to come.

There is, however, one healthy eating rule that most people can agree on:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – Michael Pollan

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Are Low-Carbohydrate Diets Healthy for Women? How Do Carbs Affect Fertility and Pregnancy?

Women are the gatekeepers of the next generation. Their bodies handle dietary changes differently than men. For example, women tend to be more sensitive to the stresses of their environment as a way to ensure that a baby isn’t brought into an environment that it cannot live in.

This is why it is important for women to pay attention to their menstrual cycles, especially when they make lifestyle changes like eating less or exercising more.  If the changes a woman makes are too stressful for her body, then menses are likely to shut down. When this happens, the body is focusing on self-preservation rather than diverting resources to maintain fertility. Maintaining fertility and making a baby are extremely energetically expensive for women, and raising children in a stress-filled, food-scarce environment is going to be too risky for the life of the mother and her child.

Much of the research, however, doesn’t consider the differences between men and women, especially the effects that dietary changes have on the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and child rearing. One specific diet that is gaining attention from many health practitioners and researchers is the low-carbohydrate diet. This diet requires you to limit or eliminate all high carbohydrate foods like grains, legumes, fruits, breads, sweets, pastas, and starchy vegetables from the diet. The goal is to stay below 130 grams of carbohydrates per day to shift the body into fat, burning more fat for fuel and reap all of the benefits that come with it, but does this apply to women as well?

The Most Common Causes of Stress that are Under Your Control

We already know that excess stress will cause fertility issues, but where does the stress come from? Stress can come from the environment, the food you eat, the thoughts you think, your relationships, and the things you do, but in this article, we will focus on a few common stressors that we have control over:

  • excess exercise
  • chronic emotional stress
  • not eating enough calories
  • restricting carbs

Each one of these factors can cause an unnecessary amount of stress that tells the brain that the environment is not safe to reproduce in. Reproductive function is then shut down, and the menstrual cycle becomes irregular or may even stop completely.

Becoming Regular Again

In American society, it can be difficult to feel at peace with yourself. Emotional triggers are lurking around every corner and the overly-simplistic health advice to exercise more and eat less has led many down a path of hormonal problems and other health issues. This is the unfortunate state of reality for many women, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t be healthy and happy regardless of what comes your way.

The path to taking back your health starts by listening to your body. An irregular or “heavy” menstrual cycle should be taken as a sign that something is off, and if your cycle stops completely, it is time to take note of what has changed in your life that could causing the stress instead of looking for ill-advised health advice.

Here are some simple ways to mitigate the stressors that may be causing fertility issues:

  • Make sure you are eating enough so that you are full for at least 3 hours after the meal
  • Exercise in a way that energizes you rather than destroys you
  • Use meditation, breathing techniques, and cognitive behavioral therapy to relieve emotional stress
  • Try stress-relieving herbal remedies

These suggestions, however, do not address one of the most sneaky causes of fertility issues in women — carbohydrate restriction.

The Menstrual Cycle on a Low-Carbohydrate Diet

Low blood sugar — which can be caused by the restriction of carbohydrates — will create a stress response in the body, and women tend to be much more sensitive to these shortages of energy. This is because women’s fertility depends on thyroid function and thyroid function relies on insulin (a blood sugar-lowering hormone) and glycogen (the storage form of sugar that is found in muscles and the liver).

On a low-carbohydrate diet, our insulin and glycogen levels will decline, which will slow down our thyroid hormone production. Impaired thyroid function will cause the hormones that start and maintain the menstrual cycle to decrease as well. If carbohydrates are restricted and thyroid function is poor, it can lead to amenorrhea, which is the term for when a woman has no menstrual cycle for 3 or more months.

Low-carbohydrate diets also cause lower leptin levels. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that regulates appetite in men and women. Studies that were done on women, however, suggest that low levels of leptin can also cause irregular menstruation.

How often low-carbohydrate diets actually cause menstrual problems is unclear. One study, in particular, had 20 teenage girls eat a ketogenic diet (the lowest of low-carbohydrate diets) for 6 months. During this study, 45% of the girls experienced menstrual problems and 6 of them experienced amenorrhea. This suggests that menstrual irregularities may not be so irregular for women on a low-carbohydrate diet.

If your diet is causing menstrual cycle irregularities then it is best to increase carbohydrate intake until the menstrual cycle is back to normal. Experts suggest that women should consume around 75 to 150 grams of carbohydrates per day — an amount that may still be low enough to get all of the benefits of a low-carbohydrate diet.

What About Low-Carbohydrate Diets During Pregnancy?

After understanding how important carbohydrates are in keeping a woman’s menstrual cycle normal, it is reasonable to think that restricting carbohydrates during pregnancy will cause issues as well. Studies suggest that this theory is true.

One study concluded that a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet during late pregnancy may program the child to have higher than normal levels of cortisol throughout his or her life. This can lead to a greater incidence of depression, disease, and obesity. Another important finding from this study is that meat consumption consisting of around one pound of red meat per day during pregnancy can also cause health issues for the child. Other studies that were done on pregnant mice found that the ketogenic diet created many organ irregularities like a smaller brain and larger heart. It is uncertain if this effect will carry over to humans, but it is probably best not to try and find out.

Although the literature is scarce when it comes to the effects of low-carbohydrate diets on pregnancy, it is a good idea for pregnant women to increase their carbohydrate intake during pregnancy. The Institute of Medicine recommends a minimum of 175 grams of carbohydrates per day during pregnancy.

The Take-Away for Women

In general, stress causes menstrual cycle irregularities, which is a sign of infertility. Emotional stress, over-exercising, calorie restriction, and carbohydrate restriction are the common causes of menstrual cycle irregularities that we have the most control over. Eating meals that leave you feeling full and fulfilled for hours, exercising in ways that leave you feeling energized, and mitigating stress with meditation, breathing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and adaptogenic herbs should get your menstrual cycle back on track. If these suggestions don’t work, however, you may find the cure in increasing your carbohydrates. (This not an excuse to eat more processed junk food.)

If carbohydrate consumption is too low then it will cause hormonal changes that lead to menstrual cycle irregularities. This is why it is important for women to eat enough carbohydrates to ensure a normal menstrual cycle (75 to 150 grams of carbohydrate per day). A pregnant woman and her child may benefit from a slightly higher carbohydrate intake than normal. A minimum carbohydrate consumption of 175 grams per day is suggested for healthy child development during pregnancy.

But before closing this article and grabbing the nearest starchy snack, it is important to know where you should get your carbohydrates from. If you source your carbohydrates from processed foods like candy, cookies, and potato chips, then you will cause even more stress to your body in another way that will lead to health problems other than infertility. It is important to get your carbohydrates from high-quality whole food sources. For example, your main source of carbohydrates should be from starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, peas, or squash and (soaked and sprouted) legumes like black beans and lentils. Fruit is also a good source of carbohydrates, but it is best to limit fruit consumption.

This article is meant to serve as a guideline that can point you in the right direction if you are confused. Some women will be able to eat a ketogenic diet without problems, while others can’t go below 15o grams of grams of carbohydrates without having issues with their thyroid gland and menstrual cycle. In general, you will be healthy, fertile, and lose weight if you increase your intake of non-starchy vegetables and herbs, decrease your consumption of high carbohydrate and low fiber foods like fruit juices and sweets, and mitigate other forms of stress by using meditation and breathing techniques.

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Are Low-Carbohydrate Diets Healthy?

If orange is the new black, then low-carb is the new low-fat. The hysteria about fat and how it “clogs” your arteries has died off and a new fad has taken its place — low-carbohydrate diets. This fad, on the other hand, has sufficient evidence to back it up.

The scientific literature on low-carbohydrate diets is seemingly endless and highly conclusive. Studies comparing low-fat diets to low-carbohydrate diets have even shown that low-carbohydrate diets pose no greater risk to cardiovascular disease than low-fat diets. Low-carbohydrate diets have also been found to be a healthy diet option for most people, especially those who:

  • are overweight or obese
  • are sedentary
  • have epilepsy
  • have certain forms of cancer
  • have cardiovascular disease
  • have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), fibroids or endometriosis
  • have been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
  • have a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s

A typical low-carbohydrate diet limits the daily intake of carbohydrates to between 60 and 130 grams. This is done by excluding or limiting most grains, legumes, fruits, breads, sweets, pastas and starchy vegetables from the diet and replacing them with meat, poultry, fish, eggs, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, and seeds. When we eat in this way, our bodies begin to change dramatically — especially for those who habitually eat plenty of carbohydrates with each meal.

Why is it so Good for You?

Before you ditch carbohydrates to follow this fad, it is important to consider why so much good can come out of following a low-carbohydrate diet. The most important thing that these diets do is restrict your sugar intake tremendously. The modern diet is inundated with sugar, and many experts agree that this is making us sick more than any other factor. As the national consumption of sugar continues to increase, most consumers have no idea how much sugar they’re getting on a daily basis. For most people, as soon as they start a low-carbohydrate diet their health improves tremendously just by cutting out all the excess sugar.

For example, two pieces of bread on a sandwich will have around 30 grams of refined carbohydrates, that small bag of potato chips has around 15 grams, and if you have a cup of “healthy” fruit juice with that, you will have over 75 grams of processed carbohydrates in one meal. This causes an unhealthy, unnatural spike in blood sugar that stimulates fat gain and inflammation. If you eat processed carbohydrates and starchy foods like this at every meal (most Americans do) then your body will be in a state of chronic inflammation, which leads to more fat gain and disease. On top of all that, excess sugar creates the perfect environment for fungus, parasites, and pathogenic bacteria to thrive and further deteriorate your health.

On the other hand, if you give yourself the simple rule of staying below 130 grams of carbohydrates per day, you will eat less high carbohydrate foods and have a higher chance of eating healthier lower carbohydrate and high fiber foods like leafy greens and other vegetables. To put it simply, the secret behind the success of low-carbohydrate diets is in the shift from eating refined foods to eating more plant foods. This is because vegetables and other plant foods have vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other components like flavonoids that promote the health of our cells. In fact, vegetables help us deal with higher carbohydrate meals by reducing blood sugar spikes, lowering inflammation, and helping the cells use the excess carbohydrates as fuel. This is why demonizing carbohydrates is short-sighted. It is important to look at why things work rather than just following the propaganda of another diet fad.

Related: Healthy Alternative Sugars and More

What many low-carbohydrate aficionados won’t tell you, however, is that not all of the changes experienced on a low-carbohydrate diet are going to be positive. When carbohydrates are restricted, it is stressful for the body because you are forcing it to find another way to fuel itself. This can cause side effects, like nausea and headaches, that are commonly called the “keto flu”. The lack of carbohydrates will also lead to fluid and mineral loss and hormonal changes that can cause health issues if the diet is not implemented correctly.

Must Read: What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

Fewer Carbohydrates Means More Stress

When you first start a low-carbohydrate diet, your body will look for more sugar to burn for fuel. Without getting enough carbohydrates from food, your blood sugar levels decrease and your body responds by increasing its cortisol levels.

Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone that is released by your adrenal glands to ensure you have enough energy to survive when food is scarce. When you have low blood sugar levels, your brain sends a signal to your adrenal glands to release cortisol. The cortisol binds to cells throughout your body to stimulate a process called gluconeogenesis, which is what your body uses to convert protein and fat into sugar for fuel.

Eventually, the body will adapt by burning fat for fuel instead of protein — a process called ketosis. The body uses ketosis to preserve muscle mass and glycogen (the body’s sugar stores) during times of carbohydrate and/or protein restriction. It will, however,  take a couple of days for your to body enter ketosis, which will leave you feeling stressed, fatigued, and weak in the mean time.

After learning about this, low-carbohydrate diets start to lose their appeal because of the stressful burden they put on the body. Yet, research doesn’t back up this belief. One specific study found that cortisol increase on a ketogenic diet (the lowest of low-carbohydrate diets) was insignificant when compared to the cortisol levels of people on a moderate and high-carbohydrate diet.

Related: Understanding Stress, Chronic Stress, and Adrenal Fatigue

Another concern with low-carbohydrate diets is that they may cause a buildup of excess ammonia in the body that is caused by burning protein for fuel. Theoretically, this ammonia buildup will lead to kidney and brain damage, however, in case studies done on patients with genetic defects that reduced their ability to process ammonia, the ketogenic diet was well tolerated and still effective. Other studies were done on healthy individuals who were on the ketogenic diet for 6 months or less, and there was no evidence of kidney damage.

It is also important to understand the effects that cortisol has on your mineral levels. When cortisol is released (like it is during carbohydrate restriction), it prevents cells from releasing sodium and increases the rate of potassium excretion. This can lead to constipation, fatigue, and weakness — three of the most common side effects caused by a low-carbohydrate diet (and chronic stress in general). The small increase in cortisol release, however, is not solely responsible for the increased mineral and water needs that people have on a low-carbohydrate diet.

Carbohydrates, carbon dioxide, and thyroid function are intimately connected.

How Low-Carbohydrate Diets Cause Mineral Loss and Fluid Loss

Low-carbohydrate diets act as a diuretic in many ways that are much more potent than the effects that cortisol have on potassium levels. This is why studies address dehydration as the most common early-onset complication of a ketogenic diet. Let’s explore why this is the case by learning about the two powerful mechanisms that give low-carbohydrate diets their diuretic effect.

Insulin and Sodium are Intimately Linked

Insulin is a hormone that lowers our blood sugar when it is too high. Its main job is to get the sugar into cells before it causes problems. Insulin also acts on the kidney to promote sodium reabsorption.

Insulin levels tend to be much lower in people who are on low-carbohydrate diets, which is part of the reason why low-carbohydrate diets are beneficial for people with diabetes and obesity. Unfortunately, this is also the reason why low-carbohydrate diets have a strong diuretic effect. The lower levels of insulin lead to more sodium loss. The sodium will then draw more fluid into the kidney for excretion. This is unlikely to lead to low levels of sodium, especially if you have salt on your food. But if you have symptoms like nausea, headaches, confusion, and fatigue that aren’t going away after restricting carbohydrates, it is best to increase your unrefined salt and water intake.

The Relationship Between Water, Glycogen, and Ketones

Humans are designed to handle short periods of starvation with some assistance from liver and muscle glycogen — the storage form of sugar in the body. Once we start a low-carbohydrate diet, our body tends to rely on glycogen for energy. For each gram of glycogen used, twice this amount is lost in the water. This is because glycogen (as well as all other carbohydrates) retain and attract water.

Related: Intermittent Fasting: The Best Breakfast May Be Eating Nothing At All

Once the body is in ketosis, it is finally able to spare glycogen, but the water loss still continues. This is because the ketones that are created from burning fat will attract more water to the kidneys for excretion.

When you are on a low-carbohydrate diet, you will have lower insulin and glycogen levels and higher ketone levels. This will cause your body to retain much less water and fewer minerals than it did before. This is why it is essential to maintain adequate fluid and mineral intake, especially in the beginning of a low-carbohydrate diet.

Fluid and mineral loss, however, are not the only things to consider when you restrict carbohydrates. When the body finally adapts to a low-carbohydrate diet, many changes occur that can lead to unexpected side effects.

The Longterm Problems Caused by Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Carbon Dioxide and Thyroid Function

Dehydration and mineral depletion are the main culprits for the short-term side effects that are common with low-carbohydrate diets. With some extra water, salt, mineral supplementation, and vegetable intake, these side effects are likely to disappear. After your body adapts to carbohydrate restriction, however, other changes will arise that may cause issues.

Ketosis and Low Carbon Dioxide Levels

When we burn fat as our primary source of fuel, carbon dioxide levels in the body drop. One study confirms this fact of biochemistry by finding that ketogenic diets led to a significant reduction in carbon dioxide output compared to a Mediterranean diet. The researchers even suggest the ketogenic diet as a potential treatment for respiratory issues like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Yet this doesn’t mean that lowering carbon dioxide levels is a good thing for everyone. Carbon dioxide is essential for maintaining health — it isn’t a waste product.

Carbon dioxide helps us use oxygen more efficiently, dilate blood vessels, and protect cells from damage. It also aids vitamin K in helping us with blood clotting, bone and teeth mineralization, growth, energy utilization, and hormonal health. Does this mean that only people with respiratory issues should be on a low-carbohydrate diet?

After looking through the research, it’s easy to find a clear answer — at least for the short-term. No studies on low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diets reported any complications related to lower carbon dioxide levels. This is due to the fact that the body has a powerful buffer system that keeps your blood pH and carbon dioxide at healthy levels. The long term effect of having slightly lower than normal carbon dioxide levels, however, is not known.

To find out if having lower carbon dioxide levels will cause problems in the long term, we can look to the biochemistry to find clues. Without sufficient carbon dioxide to dilate blood vessels, we rely on nitric oxide, which can inhibit enzymes necessary from energy production. In the long-term, this may contribute to the metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity that low-carbohydrate diets are used to fix. The decrease in carbon dioxide levels may also lead to more inflammation and disease in the long-term, due to the decrease in protection and vitamin K activation.

If having lower levels of carbon dioxide concern you then breathe into a paper bag — seriously. By breathing into a paper bag for one to two minutes you will increase your carbon dioxide levels. This was actually shown to promote blood flow through the tiny blood vessels of the retina, so it is likely to cause positive changes throughout your body as well.

Even if you don’t feel comfortable breathing into a paper bag, your body still has the ability to adapt to having lower carbon dioxide levels especially if you take slow gentle breaths in and out your nose throughout the day. The type of food you eat also can shift your oxygen and carbon dioxide levels slightly. For example, you may notice that you can breathe easier after eating a healthy salad than after eating a burger with fries.

If you do experience negative side effects from restricting carbohydrates, however, it will most likely be caused by dehydration and mineral loss. Occasionally, the side effects can persist due to the impact that low-carbohydrate diets have on thyroid health.

Low-Carbohydrate Diets and Thyroid Health

Carbohydrates, carbon dioxide, and thyroid function are intimately connected. When there are adequate levels of glucose and glycogen in our liver, the production of T3, a thyroid hormone, increases. When T3 is released, it stimulates development, growth, metabolism of almost every cell of the body.

When there are lower levels of glycogen and sugar in the liver, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol are secreted from the adrenal glands to regulate heart rate, body temperature, and mobilize energy instead of thyroid hormone. If this becomes the primary strategy for energy production, it will lead to muscle loss, impaired brain function, and excess organ stress.

To prevent your thyroid from crashing on a low-carbohydrate diet, it is important to consume enough calories from fat and protein. This will give your body enough fuel so that it can spare its glycogen, maintain thyroid function, and save you from unnecessary stress. If you are still feeling sluggish and tired after eating plenty of fat and protein, it is best to increase your carbohydrate intake by having black beans, sweet potatoes, or other starchy whole foods with your dinner.

Must Read: Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid

The Take-Away

In the same way that we have adapted to a diet that has carbohydrates, our bodies have the ability to thrive when carbohydrates are restricted as well. The body can use carbohydrates, proteins, and fat for fuel depending on what is available to it, but it is important to realize that each source of fuel creates different effects in the body. By understanding these effects and what is behind them, you can find a diet that works for you at this particular time in your life.

Low-carbohydrate diets cause you to lose vital minerals and fluids, which can lead to fatigue, weakness, headaches, dehydration, constipation, and diarrhea. This is why it is important to increase your water, salt, and mineral intake when you are on a low-carbohydrate diet.

Long-term side-effects are much rarer, but you may still experience fatigue and weakness that aren’t linked to mineral loss or dehydration. If this is the case then it is important to check your thyroid function, eat more vegetables, and have some starchy plant foods with dinner.

In general, you will experience little to no side effects if you have enough fat, protein, salt, water, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in your diet. The simplest way to do this is by eating plenty of non-starchy vegetables— like leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables, a moderate amount animal products from animals that live a healthy life on an organic pasture, and only raw and minimally processed whole foods. In fact, if you follow these rules, you won’t even have to count carbohydrates.

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