primal

There is indeed a far, far better way to eat, using a diet format that fits our human physiology better than any other. This food plan is intuitively simple, is accessible to just about anyone and everyone, is packed with nutrients, and probably most importantly – is built for the long-haul as it’s tasty, satisfying, and allows you to be as creative as ever in the kitchen. And for those who want to dig deep into the science behind their own physiology, appears to make the most sense in terms of the science-based evidence in hand today.

I’m talking about a low carbohydrate, moderate protein, high fat approach to nourishment (LC/MP/HF); it’s not a novel approach at this point in mid-2018, but appears to be the optimal one for human physiology (for the vast, vast majority of us on the planet today at least) based on evolving scientific understanding of how the body works, in particular with regard to the cadre of hormones that regulate nutrient transport, metabolism, storage, and your hunger.

Granted, there are plenty who disagree, and on a variety of grounds (many of which are based on preference and not physiology). And there are a host of criticisms of LC/MP/HF that typically mischaracterize the approach in some way; i.e. eating low carb means you never any any carbs at all. That’s fine, after all, we’re all ultimately personally responsible for how our bodies function, and how we relate to the world around us.

If you’re truly serious about living life as fully as possible, optimizing your physical, cognitive, and emotional/spiritual potential, you cannot ignore the body of science and experience detailing the successes of low carbohydrate, moderate protein, high fat food plans. Here are just a few of the reasons the LC/MP/HF approach works.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Tastes Good

One of the keys for success of any long term, healthy eating plan is that is has to taste good. A simple concept, yet so often ignored in the past (I’m remembering one of my yo-yo dieting parents eating cabbage braised in tomato juice twice a day for weeks as child…). For a long term eating plan to succeed there needs to be an vast array of food choices that are satisfying and attractive, and eating nutrient-dense, fresh, healthy carbs (leafy greens with high fat dressing, crispy steamed broccoli dripping with butter, sautéed mushrooms, and more), fits the bill quite nicely.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Puts Insulin In Its Place

Insulin plays a number of roles in the body, with one of its principle tasks being to store excess nutrition, and it does so by storing fat. High carb diets chronically keep insulin elevated, keeping fat locked in storage, and the longer you live with elevated levels of insulin, the more risk you become of developing insulin-resistance, which among other devastating things makes it much harder to drop excess body fat.

Eating a low carb/good carb diet lowers insulin levels, one of the first critical steps in getting you back on the healthy track.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Increase Fat Intake (And Fat Ain’t the Bad Guy)

Long demonized in the Standard American Diet (SAD), fats are very likely the preferred, optimal fuel for your body to primarily run on, a point we’ll be addressing at length here over time. Among many other things, fat in a meal slows gastric emptying, prolonging a sense of satiety, which means you’re not eating for longer periods, and thus overall lowering calorie intake (which for most of us, is a good and necessary thing!)

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Emphasizes Quality Protein

Particularly as we age, lean muscle mass diminishes (there are host of reasons for this), and protein intake is critical to combat this natural decline; it’s even more important in the setting of trying to lose excess body fat – you want to the fat to go away, not the muscle!

Quality protein in the diet, particularly in the setting of low carbs, contributes massively to your sensation of satiety, meaning you’re less hungry, sharper longer, and break out of the carb-crash roller coaster pattern the SAD provides.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Implies Embracing the Good and Dumping the Bad

There are several foods, ironically centerpieces of the typical American diet, that contribute more to the damaged and deranged health of the population than anything else – sugar, grains, and the highly-oxidized, polyunsaturated, industrially-processed vegetable and seed oils being the worst of all.

Eating a SAD diet, these three categories often make up the preponderance of calories consumed, despite the hard science record that carbs are the principle driver in determining body composition and that excess glucose (yep, we’re looking right at you grains and sugars) is the root culprit fostering the obesity epidemic and the flood of disorders (i.e. T2DM, heart disease) that walk hand in hand with it.

This isn’t a carb-phobic approach – it’s sweeping the crap carbs out of your diet, and replacing them fully with nutrient-dense, fiber-rich, healthy carbs at levels that make sense physiologically.

This is a meaty topic (slight pun intended), and one not well-covered in a few paragraphs; there’ll be much more to come and there’s a plethora of great information at your fingertips today.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Works Quickly

Not intentionally referring to the quick loss of water weight that often occurs when transitioning to a LC diet (there’s no question that early success in weight loss efforts often encourages longer-term compliance), but more to the reality that particularly in the obese, dropping carbs to a “low or very low” level (in the setting of appropriate protein and fat intake) often leads to rapid drops in fat stores (maybe even targeting belly fat).

My own experiences speaks to this phenomenon of rapid weight loss; after a 100 lb weight loss and subsequent stall, entering a period of thoughtful nutritional ketosis led to a prolonged run of dropping 2 to 2.5 lb of fat per week, eating to absolute satiety every single day.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb is Easy, Intuitive, and Simple to Follow

During my years in practice, I advised overweight patients (when treating their bone, muscle, joint, or spine issues), to take a serious run at weight loss; most often I steered them to what I used to call ‘rational’ programs – like Weight Watchers and The Zone. The most common complaints/reasons for failure that I heard over and over was the fact that patients found the regimented programs too restrictive and regimented, difficult to learn, and unsatisfying.

Successful diets and food plans – whether pursuing weight loss, optimizing health, or high level athletic pursuits – are based on simple, easy to understand, almost common-sense principles that allow one to intuitively navigate the sea of food choices laid before us every day. A carefully crafted LC/MP/HF approach, like Primal and Paleo for example, offer just such a framework.

Eating Low Carb/Good Carb Packs in Nutrients, Not Calories

I’m often stunned at how often a LC skeptic will assert that eating a low carb diet is harmful from the standpoint of missing out on key nutrients. The assertion is almost shamefully easy to counter, as in replacing calorie-dense, carb-dense foods – bread with every meal for example – with a fresh leafy green (or sautéed spinach, broccoli rabe, or green beans, etc.). Doing so ups your micronutrient density significantly, and adds a host of healthy phytochemicals as well.

Sugars are devoid of micronutrients, and grains bring along a lot of unsavory baggage in addition to their unfavorable carbohydrate density – namely lectins (including of course gluten), micronutrient-binding phytates, and the little discussed protein gliadin, binding to opiate-receptors in the brain (more on this little gem later).

More to come.