Is the No-Carb Diet actually healthy for you? 

No-carb diet, as the name suggests, is skipping the carbohydrates from our food. While this is getting quite popular, one should know about the relevance of this diet and if it is good for our health or not.

No-carb diet claims various potential health benefits like weight loss and improved heart health. While consuming low carbs is one thing, consuming no carbs is something else. There are other diets like the keto diet or the Atkins diet which show emphasis on consuming some amount of carbohydrates along with the criterion for fats and protein intake.

Unlike keto, this one does not have a proper criterion regarding the consumption of proteins and fats. It just says to go as low as possible on carbohydrate intake. In order to achieve this diet, you will need to skip foods like grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. And focus on foods that are rich in proteins, fats, or fibers. Consuming meat, eggs, cheese, fish, and butter are some of these low carb foods.

Let us look deeper into the no carb diet, its potential health benefits, downsides, and if you should include this in your routine or not.

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No-carb diet: What are the potential health benefits of this?

What are the health benefits of this low carb diet?(Image by pvproductions on Freepik)

The motive behind this diet is quite simple. Opting for this diet will give you benefits like rapid weight loss, and potentially improved insulin sensitivity and blood sugar.

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Rapid weight loss

There has been research that says that reducing carb intake can significantly help in reducing weight loss. This is possible since the water weight in our body significantly reduces. For every few grams of carb, there is some water in your body. So, eliminating carbs completely can help in the reduction of water weight and rapid weight loss initially. But again, there is no solid proof for the same in the longer term.

Thus, weight loss can still be achieved even without opting for this extreme form of diet.

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May improve our heart health

It has been seen that following this no carb diet may reduce triglyceride levels and also improve the levels of high density lipoproteins that is the good cholesterol. Thus, this diet may be useful for your heart, however, there is no concrete research to prove these claims.

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Keep you full for longer

What makes this diet more appealing is the fact that you will feel fuller for a longer time. Since this diet strictly cuts out on carbs but appreciates fats or proteins. Foods rich in fats or proteins keep you fuller for longer and reduce your appetite and cravings.

Thus, this zero carb diet is quite helpful, especially if you want to get ahold of your cravings.

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Control of blood sugar levels

Reducing carbohydrates in your diet can significantly reduce the chances of spikes in the blood sugar levels. So no carb diet can also potentially help prevent these blood sugar spikes and help diabetic patients.

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What are the cons of this extreme no-carb diet?

Downsides of no-carb diet (Image via Freepik)

On the contrary to the positives, there are significant risks that come along with this strict carb restricted diet. Following this diet can cause various nutrient deficiencies in the body. With the consumption of fruits and veggies, we get the essential minerals, vitamins, and fiber. Consuming a low-fiber diet can cause constipation and digestion problems.

Since carbs are the primary source of our energy, restricting this can significantly reduce our energy levels and may cause fatigue. Further, another downside to this is that the no carb diet does not have much research behind it. So simply following a carbohydrate deficit diet without any research can have some health implications in the long term.

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There can be several benefits from the no carb diet but it can have significant risks related to it. Before inculcating this in your routine it is better to take advice from a medical professional to avoid any complications.