Here’s how the 30 Day Low Carb Challenge affects your body
So what happens if you consciously eat low carb for 30 days? Carbohydrates are our main source of energy. If you eliminate carbs from your diet, the body has to find its energy elsewhere – it taps into fat reserves in the process, which promotes weight loss.
Another advantage that the low-carb diet promises: Carbohydrates cause the blood sugar level to rise quickly. As a result, the body releases more insulin to get the sugar to the cells. If there are no carbohydrates, the blood sugar level becomes more constant. To compensate, protein-rich foods such as dairy products, eggs, meat and fish are consumed. These help to create a long-lasting feeling of satiety and prevent unwanted cravings.
30 days low carb: how it works!
During the 30-day low carb challenge, you should keep a few basic things in mind:
- Eat regularly and ideally 3 meals a day.
- Eat lots of vegetables – ideally low-starch ones.
- Consume sufficient unsaturated fatty acids in the form of vegetable fats (e.g. oils or nuts).
- You don’t have to give up carbs completely: complex carbohydrates (e.g. whole grains) can be eaten.
- Drink at least 2 to 3 liters a day – preferably water or unsweetened tea.
After regarding four weeks, you can expect a weight loss of regarding five to seven pounds.
Important: Anyone who eats the same food as before following the 30-day low-carb challenge can expect a yo-yo effect and will soon have the old weight back on it – there are also other difficulties with a permanent, strict low-carb diet.
Disadvantages of a low carb diet
Even if a low-carbohydrate diet can lead to weight loss in the short term, nutrition experts and doctors advise once morest a long-term low-carb diet. They criticize that a low-carb diet can be too one-sided and that a high proportion of animal products can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition, a strict low-carbohydrate diet can create metabolites that are not as easily broken down. Health consequences can include gout and kidney problems.
In addition, the risk is particularly high that you will quickly regain your old weight following your low-carb diet if you return to your previous diet. Therefore, crash diets or one-sided forms of nutrition are not recommended. A permanently healthy change in diet will lead you to your desired weight more slowly, but in the long term.
However, there is nothing to prevent you from reducing your proportion of short-chain carbohydrates and only eating pastries or sweets in moderation. In order to lose weight in a long-term and healthy way, you need a permanent change in diet in combination with regular exercise.