Carb Conundrum - Low Carbs Diet

Low Carbs Diet

Many people have turned to a low carbs diet to lose weight and have had great success with it. But before you cut too many carbs out of your diet, make sure you know about the side effects.

Side Effects of a Low Carb Diet

When you go on a low carbs diet, chances are the first two weeks will be the most difficult. Why? Because you only get 20 grams of carbs a day. What you probably don't realize is how many carbs you currently eat. Most people who aren't counting carbs take in around 225-250 grams of carbs a day or more, so cutting back to 20 can be tough--especially when our bodies need 130 grams of carbs a day to be healthy. And when we need 130 grams a day but cut back to only 20 grams, bad things can happen. Now, you might argue that it's only 20 grams a day for a couple of weeks, so what harm can that do? Probably not much, admittedly. But after the first two weeks, you only get 60 grams a day at the most. That's still less than half of what you need.

During that first two weeks, your body will go into a fat-burning mode known as ketosis. Side effects of ketosis include:

Bad breath
Headaches
Nausea
Constipation

Some people have so much success during that first two weeks of their low carbs diet that they continue eating only 20 grams of carbs a day. Others work out during their low carbs diet, which speeds up the fat-burning process. Eventually, when there's no more fat to burn for fuel, your body starts burning protein for fuel. That produces uric acid, which can cause kidney damage.

Since fruits and vegetables are restricted on a low carbs diet, you miss out on a lot of fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. All of these are cancer fighters. Of course, supplements can help all that, but nothing is a substitute for the real thing. And if you eat a lot of fatty foods on your low carb diet, you put yourself at risk for heart disease.

Consider all of these things before you begin your low carb diet. It never hurts to cut back on your carbs, but just don't cut back too far.