By Team eLifestyle Fitness and Lifestyle Expert Robb Armstrong
Last week we taught you how to perform stretching techniques to help bolster your exercise efforts.
In this week’s Fit Tip we give you 10 top reasons why cutting too many carbs from your diet can actually halt your weight loss progress, and what you can do to avoid this unintentional, yet common, dietary mistake.
While it’s true that cutting back on your daily carbohydrate intake will help the progress of your weight loss efforts, cutting too much carbohydrates from your diet however, can actually have the opposite intended effect. The frustrating result may be that your body weight may remain the same, or even worse, you’ll gain additional weight!
10 top reasons why carbs are an essential part of your daily diet:
1. The effects of a low-carbohydrate lifestyle will result in a “carb crash” that includes constipation, bad breath, headaches, irritability, fatigue and potential vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
2. You need carbohydrate calories to burn for energy.
3. Drastic carb cutting may lead to faster weight loss, but can also lead to fast regain of body weight once carbs are reintroduced into the diet, even in smaller amounts!
4. If carbohydrate intake remains very low and overall caloric intake with regards to proteins and fats aren’t properly adjusted, your body will revert into “starvation mode” as the body tries to conserve energy.
5. In terms of exercise, if carbs are too low during dieting you will be weaker, more lethargic and will lack the ability to concentrate and maintain an effective training intensity to produce desired results.
6. You need carbs to ensure you’re getting enough fiber and cancer protective phytochemicals.
7. Because serotonin is a byproduct of carbohydrate metabolism, a low-carbohydrate intake depletes the serotonin levels in the brain. With lower serotonin, individuals become more depressed and more obsessed, and in extreme cases that can lead to an eating disorder.
8. Cutting carbs too low may not be effective for your body type.
9. The sudden loss of energy-burning fuel can stall your metabolism, which is counterproductive to weight loss.
10. A state of ketosis can result from drastic carb-cutting. Common in the malnourished and those who suffer from diabetes, if not treated, ketosis is a potentially fatal condition that first leads to a coma as the nervous system becomes depressed because of the blood pH drop caused by the ketones in the blood stream.
Note: Check back every week for more helpful health and fitness tips from eLifestyle's Fit Tips!
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