Do you want to go on a diet and are looking for fast results? Many quick diets that guarantee this result today have one thing in common: the drastic reduction of carbohydrates , whether they are ketogenic diets (the Atkins, the Dukan etc.) or not (the South Beach). But why is it thought that cutting carbohydrates leads to weight loss? And is it really so?
Let’s find out in brief .

1) Cutting carbohydrates makes you lose weight because it makes you eat less: proteins satiate more than carbohydrates, so with a reduced-carbohydrate diet you generally tend to eat less. So it’s not the elimination of carbohydrates in itself that makes you lose weight, but the fact that you still create a calorie deficit due in part to the fact that we eat less food (you can eat a pound of pasta and not get full, but you don’t have the same problem with three and a half ounces of chicken breast or three large cans of natural tuna) and that proteins require a little more energy to digest (thermogenic effect of food).

2) Cutting carbohydrates makes you lose weight because people actually eat too many carbohydrates: carbohydrates by themselves do not make you fat, but it is also true that they are at the base of our food pyramid. We find whole carbohydrates, potatoes, fruits and vegetables. Let’s ask ourselves two things: how many people eat carbohydrates taking into account their level of physical activity and their actual energy needs. How many people eat those carbohydrates and not others, such as refined grains, snacks and sweets. Desserts are not the basis of our food pyramid, so doing without carbohydrates or with fewer carbohydrates often means depriving yourself of a large part of our daily food, when it would be enough to make the right choices and balance the dish with proteins and fibers to lose weight. .

3) Cut Deflated Carbohydrates: People confuse excess weight with excess fluids, and this has enshrined the triumph of ketogenic diets. Those who eat more carbohydrates retain more water. For every gram of carbohydrate converted to glycogen, the body retains 2-3 grams of water. When carbohydrates are cut, glycogen stores are depleted and extra water is lost. But it doesn’t mean losing body fat! That is, these are liquids that, when we resume eating carbohydrates, will be retained again to create glycogen. The deflating effect should not be confused with actual weight loss.

Ultimately, is it worth cutting out carbohydrates?
Yes, if we eat too many, without completely eliminating them . Make sure we eat at least 50-60 percent of daily carbohydrates in accordance with current guidelines, while if we play sports, our carbohydrate quota can increase in agreement with a sports nutritionist. Yes even if we eat the wrong carbohydrates. Eliminating unhealthy carbohydrates and introducing the right carbohydrates little by little allows us to reduce the habit of that type of unhealthy carbohydrates: if we are addicted to sweets, reducing them is a good thing, for example by getting used to eating only fruit and vegetables for a few weeks, and then increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates between potatoes and whole grains.
No, in all other cases. Better to focus on the right calorie deficit and balance dishes with fiber and protein.
This way, we get fuller.