One of the most compelling evidence about the devastating
effects of dietary carbs is the modern epidemic of obesity and type - 2 diabetes.
It's a diet that triggers a metabolic process known as ketosis, where the body burns stored fat for fuel
instead of dietary carbs.
Many animals achieve so many of their calories from bacterial
fermentation of dietary carbs that their diets are actually highly «ketogenic» and nearly zero - carb.
In low carb diets, the goal is to induce «ketosis» or the metabolic state of burning fat for energy
instead of dietary carbs.
The
lack of dietary carbs might enhance exercise - induced glycogen depletion, which itself would bias more post-workout calories toward glycogen synthesis / supercompensation.
I learned that the «keto flu» reaction I experienced was a result of low electrolyte levels in the body due to the
loss of dietary carbs, which help the body retain hydration.
«You can sort of think of this experiment as a dose - response study, where we exposed individuals to a
range of dietary carb levels and monitored their fatty - acid levels to determine if they were accumulating saturated fatty acids and turning carbs into fat,» Volek told Live Science.
Starvation response was not affected by the
amount of dietary carbs or the glycemic index, at least not when carb intake was moderate to high.