With low-carb high-fat (LCHF) and ketogenic (keto) diets in the limelight, you might wonder if you should cut carbs from your diet. But are carbohydratecontaining foods really the root of all ills? DL dietitian and diabetes educator Dr Kate Marsh explains the facts about carbs and helps you decide the role they should play in your own eating plan.
Low-carb diets certainly aren’t new. Most people have heard of Atkins, and those who are a little older, perhaps the Scarsdale Diet. Back in the 1960s there was the Russian Air Force Diet, the Drinking Man’s Diet and even Leben Ohne Brot (Life Without Bread), all low in kilojoules and carbs.
Although these approaches were superseded for a time by low-fat diets, we are now seeing a resurgence of low-carb diets, with LCHF and keto diets being the popular modern-day versions. But are these diets really the solution to our weight and health issues? And are there any downsides, particularly for people with diabetes?
What is a low-carb diet?
There’s no formal definition of ‘low carb’, and the term can be used for diets as low as 20g of carbs a day, or for those with a more modest reduction in carbs (less than 45 per cent of total energy intake – the government recommendation).
LCHF and keto diets belong to the former category and generally exclude all grains, legumes, starchy vegetables, most fruits and carb-containing dairy foods such as milk, replacing them with non-starchy vegies, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and dairy foods such as cheese, butter, cream and Greek yoghurt. They encourage choosing fatty cuts of meat (preferably organic and grass-fed) and full-fat dairy foods.
What’s good about going low carb?
Low-carb diets cut out the processed carbohydrates and added sugars none of us need.
This story is from the May - June 2018 edition of Diabetic Living Australia.
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This story is from the May - June 2018 edition of Diabetic Living Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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