A low carbohydrate or low carb diet is a diet that restricts carbohydrate consumption below 150 grams per day. Low carb diets were popular treatments for weight loss and diabetes in the 19th century and have enjoyed renewed popularity since the 1990s. There are a large number of diets that qualify as low carb, including Atkins and Paleo diets.
Low-carb diets work by reducing the variability in blood sugar levels, which decreases hunger.
Low Carb Diet list
The most popular low carb diets are
- Atkins – less than 20g of carbs, maintenance phase is flexible.
- Dukan – less than 10g of carbs, maintenance phase up to ~150g. Includes daily oat bran.
- Ketogenic – less than 50g of carbs, began as an epilepsy treatment.
- Paleo –eliminates foods introduced to the diet after the agricultural revolution, which is mostly carbs including all legumes. There is no specific carbohydrate target on a paleo diet.
Net carbs, the glycemic index (GI), and glycemic load (GL)
Net carbs and glycemic index are mechanisms to more specifically measure the blood sugar impact of different types of carbohydrates.
A net carb calculation subtracts from total carbohydrates two substances that do not impact blood sugar levels: fiber and sugar alcohols. It works well as a rough measure of the total blood sugar response caused by the carbohydrates in food. For example, if a food has 10 grams of carbohydrates but 7 grams are from fiber and 1 gram is from sorbitol, the net carbohydrate content would be 10 – (7 + 1) = 2 grams.
Glycemic index is a number assigned to a food based on its impact on blood sugar when consumed. Raw sugar is given a reference value of 100 and other carbohydrate sources are compared to that. Oat bran has a glycemic index of 50, whereas maltodextrin, a common sweetener in meal replacements, has a glycemic index of 105.
Glycemic load is a further refinement to the glycemic index that measures the total glycemic impact of a food based on its serving size. For example, a watermelon and donut have the same glycemic index, but a donut has far more total carbohydrates available per serving and thus a much larger impact on blood sugar. Glycemic load is calculated as the glycemic index * the amount of available carbohydrate per serving, divided by 100.
Problems with low carb diet
Low carb dieters usually reduce their intake of fruits and grains and so often consume less than the recommended x grams of fiber per day. This can be alleviated by increasing the consumption of vegetables or consuming a supplement that contains fiber, such as GentleBelly.
Low carb diets also tend to lack folic acid and many other B vitamins. Again, supplementing with foods such as GentleBelly can be an important step in minimizing these side effects.
GentleBelly, a low carb food
GentleBelly has x grams of net carbs, the lowest amongst competing meal replacements. Our glycemic index is x and our glycemic load is x. One serving of GentleBelly contains over x% of the RDA of fiber, and at least x% of the RDA of all B vitamins. GentleBelly does not support the production or use of soy or legume ingredients.
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