Is a Low Carb Diet Healthy or Harmful?

“Is a Low Carb Diet Healthy?” This question has been swirling around the blogosphere lately with many different answers.

Some claim that really low-carb is the only way to go, others claim that eating low carb messed up their thyroid or other hormones.

One important distinction that must be made is between low-carb and grain-free. These two are often lumped together and then the argument is made that grain-freeis unhealthy because it is too low-carb.

Certainly, one could eat a very high carb grain-free diet, or a somewhat low-carb diet with grains. For the sake of understanding the health aspects of either diet, they must be separated.

You know how I feel about the dangers of grains, so for now, let’s just address the low-carb aspect.

Can Low Carb Affect Your Hormones?

Short answer: Yes. But this can vary widely by individual and can be both positive or negative, depending on the person.

Some people (a very small percentage of my clients) who jump into low carb from a very high carb diet will experience some thyroid-like side effects a few weeks or few months after switching such as fatigue, coldness in extremities, hair-loss or other problems.

The interesting factor here, is that when these people have their hormones tested, most thyroid panels will come back normal (because most doctors only test Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or TSH and T4 hormones).

In my experience, these clients are also ones who went low-carb for weight-loss reasons and often have an underlying hormone issue to begin with.

Interestingly, even for those who have completely normal blood results, adding a lot (like Standard American Diet a lot) of carbs back to the diet will make these symptoms go away. This obviously means that low-carb is bad for these individuals…. right? Nope! And actually could mean quite the opposite.

I’ve noticed with clients that those with the worst “carb flu” in the beginning either had a lot of weight to lose or had an underlying hormone imbalance, and that logically, these people would benefit the most from going low-carb in the long run. Unfortunately, because of the carb flu, these people often had a to take a gradual path to low-carb, or the symptoms would be overwhelming and they’d be overly fatigued.

For a long time, I considered this slow-transition a problem, and was able to find some things (adding more natural salt into the diet, taking magnesium and gelatin, etc.) that made the transitions easier.

While these supplements do help the transition, and I’d recommend them anyway, a recent article by Dr. Cate Shanahan helped me understand why some individuals experience these thyroid like-symptoms after going low-carb for a while and explains why the slow-transition might actually be the best thing for these people.

What Causes It?

Dr. Shanahan explains that advanced thyroid testing will often reveal that these individuals have an extremely elevated reverse T3 level (rT3) and at this point, most doctors will prescribe T3 and think that the problem is solved. Dr. Shanahan explains the rT3 has the opposite effect of regular T3 and essentially makes the body think it needs to hibernate and prepares for such (weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, etc.).

Since high levels of rT3 can also lead to high LDL Cholesterol (that’s the bad one) this is definitely something that needs to be addressed!

Dr. Shanahan has a theory on this and explains it much better than I could:

In doing research on rT3, I ran into afascinating article on a group of little-understood compounds called thyronamines (pronounced thigh-row-na-meens). The key to understanding rT3, and unlocking the relationship between carbohydrate consumption and thyroid function, may lie in these newly discovered compounds.

Thyronamines have powerful effects on energy metabolism

Studies performed in 2010 showed that injecting thryronamines into the belly cavity or brain tissues of experimental animals cause the following physiologic and behavior changes:

Impaired ability to utilize sugar as an energy source

Insulin resistance

Lowered basal body temperature

Weaker than normal heart contractions

A marked decline in activity (We can’t ask the lab animals, but presumably this would be induced by what we would describe as feelings of extreme fatigue)

She goes on to explain that this phenomenon is similar to bears before hibernation, and this drop in rT3 caused when berries and other readily available carbs disappear creates the fatigue needed for hibernation. Unfortunately, for those of us not interested in hibernation, this can be a problem.

So No Low-Carb?

That’s not what I’m saying at all, and compared to the amount of carbs that the average person consumes these days, “low-carb” is definitely more healthy. I still advocate removing grains, since, carbs or not, there is no need for grains.

If you are part of the group that suffers from severe carb flu when you remove carbs, or if you’ve gone low-carb for a while and then started to lose energy and gain weight, it’s possible that your rT3 is elevated.

Fortunately, while suddenly removing carbs shocks the system, doing it gradually often helps the system adjust. Dr. Shanahan recommends that patients who suffer from these symptoms go low-carb slowly beginning with breakfast and slowly reducing overall carbs over a period of time.

From what I’ve seen with my own clients, this can be helpful and necessary, especially for those who already have an underlying hormone struggle or who have a severe reaction to removing carbs.

I’d also suggest certain supplements to help support the body during the transition!

Bottom Line

Despite the recent firestorm of information about the possible “dangers” of low-carb and the “importance” of eating more carbs, especially from grains, I maintain that there is NO biological need to consume grains, even if you want to eat a high carb diet (try sweet potatoes, fruit, squash, etc.).

Most people will be able to transition to a low-carb diet, even quickly, without a problem, and those with a history of thyroid problems or hormone imbalances may just need to take it a little slower.

Unless a person’s endocrine system is severely damaged, he or she should be able to transition to a low-carb diet over a period of a few months without any adverse health reactions and see weight loss and health improvements as the body adjusts.

Do you eat too many carbs or too few? Are you even worried about your carbs? Weigh in below! (no pun intended!!)

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

87 responses to “Is a Low Carb Diet Healthy?”

Courtney

January 21, 2016

Wellness Mama, most of the time I consume no more than 500 carbohydartes a day. Usually its about 300 to 400 carbohydrates a day. I did go extremely low carb for a short amount of time and I felt good, but unfortunately I cannot eat that way all of the time because I do not know what to cook on a diet like that. At my current 150-400 carbohydrates a day diet, I feel low energy and when I cut back on my carbs a bit i gain weight most of the time. My diet mostly consists of grass fed ground beef, factory farmed and sometimes grass fed eggs, grassfed cheese, factory farmed milk, grassfed butter, factory farmed bacon, tomatoes, jalepenos, one slice of sourdough bread, small amounts of spinach, and small amounts of white potatoes and beans. I also occasionally have a flour tortilla with my meals. I also drink two drinks a day which come to about 56 carbs. The drinks are Mountain Dew Kickstarts and Monster Javas. So most of the time I am low energy and if i go too low carb I gain weight. It has been this way for about a year now, maybe a year and a half. When I go to my parents house and eat a carbier meal (for example, brocolli, a pork chop and a larger serving of mashed potatoes, and maybe drink it with a soda) I feel better. Can you tell me what I am doing wrong and if this feeling will ever go away. A lot of times I feel like my body is craving carbohydrates. Thank you

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1. Anne Croucher
  
  January 22, 2016
  
  If you were to cut out the sugary drinks, the bread and potatoes and increase the low carb but nutritious plant based foods then you would not be spiking insulin, which lowers blood sugars and makes you feel groggy and weary,
  At the rate you are consuming carbs – if the figures are grams of carbohydrate, you will never be in a prolonged state of ketosis and so never reduce your fat stores.
  
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  1. Courtney
    
    January 31, 2016
    
    But Wellness Mama says you can eat up to 400 carbs a day and still be healthy. Are you saying she gets most of those carbs from vegetables. She has at least one recipe that has sweet potatoes in it. Are not her zucchini and squash recipes at least 100 carbs per meal?
    
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Brynn

January 3, 2016

Hello! I did Carb Nite for a few months a while back and really enjoyed the weight loss and saw a number of other health benefits. I ended up getting off of it (for other reasons), around the same time went to the doctor and got bleak news about my thyroid and my LDL levels. When I was on Carb Nite I was admittedly abusive of my red meat, cheese and bacon intake, which I attributed to my poor cholesterol. Six months later my levels are all back to normal and I am planning to do it again only this time with seafood, more greens and less cheese. I am also planning to start the P90X program. I have a terrible time trying to lose weight and am now concerned about my thyroid and cholesterol levels going up again. Problem is nothing seems to be definitive, everyone has a way to “lose weight” and it’s mind numbing. I’m stuck trying this for now and seeing if it works, while hoping that in my attempt to lose 35 lbs I don’t end up with an irreversible health condition. I do like the concept of Carb Nite and the science behind ketosis makes sense, I’m stuck then on what to do after Carb Nite….

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1. Anne Croucher
  
  January 4, 2016
  
  I don’t know what carb nite is exactly – but it is something unsustainable, so I’d say forget it and find something which is going to be your way of eating for the rest of your life.
  Eating a diet of low carb foods – as opposed to low carb dieting – gives you a wide range of foods to chose from and you can decide to lose a few pounds whenever you like, without the sort of deprivation normally required for weight loss.
  I have not been able to find any reason for the normal rules of calorie consumption not to apply when eating low carb foods. No one seems to want to do any sort of research into the accepted rules of eating even though there has never been any testing of such things as the low fat diet being a healthy one.
  I heard a doctor being interviewed for a BBC radio 4 health program asked about a decrease in survival rates after heart attacks amongst men fed on a low fat diet, and they waffled dreadful nonsense.
  
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Rosie

December 20, 2015

I too have PCOS and have done some research online which contradicts one another. One site says to not go to low on carbs and the other says to go very low on carbs. I’ve been on the paleo diet for about 5 months now and I lost weight to begin with but I seem to have put it back on now. I’m stuck between increasing my carbs or going down the ketone diet path. Any suggestions ??

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Jacy

December 14, 2015

I have PCOS and after researching, I’ve read that I could benefit from eating a low glycemic index diet. It’s all so confusing… From what I’ve read that means a low carb diet for me. I’m wanting to get pregnant, and hoping this new diet of mine will help with that. Anyone had success with the low GI diet who has PCOS?!

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Lauren

December 14, 2015

Katie, what are your thoughts on Whole 30 vs. Paleo?

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Michelle

March 18, 2015

I went on the AIP paleo diet for 7 months last year and became terribly ill. My antibodies went way up, I doubled my thyroid medication, started getting horrible boils and cold sores, joint pain, numb hands, no sex drive, awful depression, fatigue, and significant weight loss (110 on a 5’6” frame) and this is WITH rice added to my diet and around 100g + of carbs a day. I started eating normally again, which for me is still incredibly healthy..only grain is quinoa and very occasional corn/beans…and all my levels normalized and my symptoms disappeared. That said I gained 20 pounds seemingly all in my belly. So I went back to Paleo (not AIP) to see if I stayed higher carb if it could go better this time around. Nope. Two weeks in and I have another horrible boil, fatigue, had to up my thyroid meds…etc. Seriously, what gives? At this point I do not think the paleo diet is right for me. I have no idea how to eat enough carbs to stay healthy. Any tips? I am glad to read the above comments and see many of us are in the same boat, though, the paleo diet proponents don’t have many answers for why some of us get horribly sick when LC.

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1. Anne Croucher
  
  March 18, 2015
  
  Recently I had to reduce my thyroxine, as my regular blood tests showed very low levels of TSH and high T4 – I did recently add coconut oil to my diet, but no other change I am still eating the acceptable foods for Atkins and enjoying life immensely. I bought the coconut oil as it was on sale at a reasonable price in a local shop, and thought I’d see if it tasted nice – it does.
  
  It is a mystery to me why someone would be ill if they were eating fresh vegetables and good quality meats and fish, eggs and cheese. I do take a multivitamin every day as some days I don’t feel like eating much, I don’t drink much coffee, only herb teas, mint and liquorice, and water.
  
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  1. Michelle
    
    March 19, 2015
    
    I was also perplexed Anne! The only thing I could figure is my carbs were to low. On the AIP, the only starchy carbs allowed were sweet potato, plantains. It just wasn’t enough! Personally, I think the Perfect Health Diet is better suited for many with thyroid issues. VLC is not good.
    
    Reply
    1. Anne Croucher
      
      March 19, 2015
      
      I don’t know the full list of foods acceptable on a paleo diet – but sweet potatoes and plantains are very carb dense, both sugar and starch and they might not have sufficient vitamins to keep you healthy – personally I don’t eat either, but I know that the ‘ordinary’ potato, which is lower in sugar, if eaten with the skin, can sustain life fairly well.
      
      There must be something lacking or out of balance – boils affected sailors back in the days of sail.
      
      Carbs are not an essential foodstuff at all – Humans can exist without them if they have meat or other sources of protein, plus fats. It is how people manage to survive in the far North.
      
      I eat just about any vegetable which is low carb and in the shops. I used to grow my own but our garden is so small it is impossible to have a vegetable patch. I don’t eat grains or lentils other than green beans and peas.
      
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Nicole

March 2, 2015

This is very interesting! I have been low carb for about 6 years, but its more of a lower carb paleo approach. I have lost 80 lbs, and it is easy to keep off. My problem is, I cannot for the life of me, lose anymore weight. Even through extensive nutrition information, being a personal trainer, visiting doctor after doctor, there is no reason why I cant lose weight anymore. So this leaves me in a weird position…I sit here and watch all my clients getting really fit…but no matter how I eat or how much I workout, nothing will budge. I have done low-low carb, moderate, high carb days or “refeed” days….you name it…nothin! lol. At least lower carbs helped me get off the 80 pounds though, I also reversed pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, vitamin deficiency and all my joint pain went away, so I can appreciate that 🙂 I should go do more extensive thyroid testing now.

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Pooja

February 24, 2015

Hi! This was a really interesting post. I am mostly vegetarian (eat sea food when I eat out but do cook it at home).
I started a no grain, high fat, moderate protein diet in June 2014. I went from being completely low energy, brain fogged, depressed to the exact opposite within the first month. I had super high energy levels, my adult acne cleared up,skin felt great, the cloud lifted I could think clearly and I felt great.
However by about December I started gaining a little weight and for the first time in 8 years my TSH was elevated, after a while my skin became so dry, I developed eczema , and last week I got my first zit since last June.
Nothing has changed except for my diet… Could I be too low carb? Is that what is causing my tsh count to rise? (My free t3 is normal).

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Anne Croucher

January 14, 2015

According to my calculations, by eating a low carb diet of a little over 60 gm a day, depending on exercise, I eat two meals a day with negative amounts of calories.

I can’t tell about the thyroid function as I have been taking Thyroxine for a long time, from before starting low carb, but I have tried all sorts of diets and not one caused significant weight loss – in fact some made me gain weight. My doctor had me eating 600 calories a day at one time, and I still did not lose weight. I might be down a little one month but then back up again the next, and I looked like a ghost.

I am 60 now, but don’t feel it, I’ found’ low carb and my aging seemed to reverse itself. In just a few days my hips and knees were pain free and I could walk and ride my bicycle again.

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Johnny

January 14, 2015

I’m not going low-carb; I’ve actually been ingesting no carbohydrates and no sugar.
I’ve been carb and sugar free for just shy of a week and I’m already down 16 lbs (with no change on physical activity).

I do feel lethargic from time to time. However for the most part I’ve honestly been gradually feeling better.
On top of the weight loss, it seems that by completely cutting out carbs and sugar that I’ve been able to get a handle on my insomnia as well.
I still drink coffee and tea, and my water intake is just shy of half a gallon a day.

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Annalisa

November 8, 2014

I am really happy to have found this article, since lately I’m quite puzzled…
I have been eating LCHF for a couple of months (like, 20g carbs a day), and apart from some improvement in the first weeks, I never really lost much weight, and now I’m losing none. In addition to that, my hair are definitely thinning and that scares me a lot.
I’m not fatigued at all, I feel very good when I eat LCHF, but I don’t see any other of the benefits I should have, not even weight loss. And now I read in your article that going low carb might cause thyroid problems to some, and that contributes to hair loss.
What should I do? Should I add more carbs, then? I do not want to go back to eating carbs like I did before, because I tried and it makes me feel bloated and gives me pain in my joint (most of all hips and knees), but I really don’t know what should I do now, first of all to stop the hair from thinning… (by the way, I already take a lot of supplements to help my hair, like biotin, zinc, selenium, ecc. ecc)
Thanks to whomever would like to help me!
Annalisa

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Carry

November 1, 2014

have enjoyed reading all of your comments, helps to know there are others out there experiencing a myriad of things on LCHF.
For me, I did it for 3 months (50-70g carbs per day avg), also tried CarbNite with horrible weight gain resulting, then hit with exhaustion, bronchitis, cold, adrenal fatigue (it does exist!), I had to stop. I took 2 weeks off work as I could hardly get out bed. Tests revealed high TSH, and hormones of a menopausal woman – I am 29.
Whether or not I had these issues 2, 6, 12 months ago, who knows. I would be keen to hear from women especially in my age group who have experienced similar stuff..
I am kind of unsure about LCHF at this point, not willing to make any conclusions, especially when hormones are involved, when there aren’t tangible things you can hold on or refer to, and how individualistic body responses can be, AND when your body is bigger than it used to be – and that feels really deflating – , well it’s tough not to know what to do.

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Gergana

October 21, 2014

Have Hashomoto’s,never had high TSH, till I went grain free the first time. Than I stopped , and went grain free for the second time, trying to incorporate more carbs. Felt really tired and made labs after few moths, TSH 15 (whatttttt, have never had it like this) and antibodies doubled. (even these were stable in years like number). One of the nodules I have had grown during the last year. So I am pretty unsure what to do. I feel good without grains (great digestion, no bloating), but I ‘am getting scared that no grains (or too low carb) drived me to hypothyroidism. I’ve incorporated some white rice back in my diet, waiting to see the results. Any thoughts?

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Kristina

October 11, 2014

I’m so glad I read this article!!! I didn’t realized how bad starches were for me until I quit them. Low carb is my new lifestyle. Its taught me how to say “goodbye” to my muffin top, given me more energy and made me happier.

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Catie

September 27, 2014

I’ve been eating low-ish carb for a couple months (I’ve had to adjust a few times – going from high to low). What you say really comforts me. I’ve been noticing a LOT of hair loss and all my blood work keeps coming out fine. So I know that my body is readjusting to low carb. I also had extreme hormonal imbalances before going low-carb (acne – all over my face), so I’m really glad you’re suggesting that it’s healthy that I just go through this carb flu. I might increase carbs a little bit, but it’s difficult with high FODMAP sensitivity.

Thanks! 🙂

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Hanna

July 24, 2014

I am interested in taking your 30 day challenge and I have read the tips on your website, but I am a bit concerned as it sounds like another type of Atkins diet. Most of my friends went on Atkins diet, lose loads of weight, but they all put it back on after a couple of months.

Please let me know how Atkins is different from yours as I want to lose weight and keep it off.

Thanks.

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Traci

July 9, 2014

Hi Katie.
I am wondering if, in your Hashimoto’s journey, you have found any link between lo carb with rapid fat loss and the triggering of Hashimoto’s. I lost a good bit of fat quickly doing Carb Nite Solution and HIIT. Felt great! Better than I had in a LONG time, but grew nodules in my thyroid (visible enlargement was the only reason I went to endo for check). ‘High’ positive TPO (think it was 99) and 3.9 TSH. Working with a nutritionist which seems to be helping alot, including detoxing a great deal of aluminum (released from all the fat I lost???). Completely off gluten, refined sugar, caffeine. Also currently off high intensity exercise, sadly, due to sapped energy resources. Have you found, as a rule that those of us with Hashi’s need to be taking in at least some starchy carbs every day, even if we feel much better on a lo carb diet? As in, you really NEED to get at least 50-100 grams a day? I get the interplay from Dr. Cate’s article between the carbs and metabolism, but I can’t figure out how that plays into the auto-immune factor. Yes most commentary I see from Hashi’s people seems to imply it. I just want to help my body heal and not get back to that point. Haven’t tried an AIP diet yet, but probably need to. Sorry if this is too long/TMI.
Thank you for all you do!

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1. Katie – Wellness Mama
  
  July 11, 2014
  
  Right now, I do best on an AIP diet that is low carb in the morning and incorporates 75-100g or so of carbs in the evening. My doctor, Dr Christianson, has a book coming out at the end of the year with a lot more specifics but I’ve tried it with good results.
  
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Jacqueline Chay

May 8, 2014

Thank you so much for this article and all your great information. This is me exactly. I have Hashimoto’s and started Low Carb Paleo not strictly about a year ago (eat some high fat raw dairy), But didn’t lose much weight and started to get very fatigued, with brain fog, bone numbing cold legs and feet and felt I had to stay in bed half the day. I thought it was my thyroid playing up as these are the symptoms, but my tests came back all normal. I was starting to worry as I could not think straight anymore. I googled low carb and found your article. Adding some rice to my diet and some more fruit has done wonders. THANK YOU. Just need to find out how much starchy carbs I need to maintain my brain function without putting on weight. Also I found adding some coconut oil helps too.

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Michelle

April 28, 2014

I am very late to this but was intrigued when I saw a comment about developing thyroid issues right after going gluten free. I did this but wasn’t sure if I already had thyroid problems, so I never made the connection. It also severely changed my endurance for my “running” (it was so slow, it needs quotes) and I eventually stopped running. It was so bad after quitting gluten.

I have gained about 20 pounds in a year since going gluten free and actually improving my diet. This is just so dang frustrating to be making healthy improvements but seeing negative (and frankly, with the weight gain, embarassing) results.

I do eat sweet potatoes, meats and eggs, coconut oil, some butter (but I limit since finding out lactose seems to now be a problem too), veggies and fruits (mainly apples and some berries). I feel like I’m running out of things to cut out. Any suggestions? Will this get better?? I never knew making healthy choices could leave me even more confused.

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Kosjenka

April 21, 2014

I think oversimplifying and exaggerating – going into extremes – is never healthy, in any part of life. People who live close to nature understand that nature is constantly re-creating balance. If you stay out of balance for a longer time, there will be consequences. People seem to like exaggerating, perhaps as an illusion of control or a breakthrough, and especially if it gives them an excuse to indulge.

I think low-carb works initially for the same reason most other diets work for a short time: because it eliminates highly processed food, especially refined starch and sugar, and reduces calories. But if people put all grains, fruit and even vegetables into the same category as processed carbs, they will have long-term consequences.

My theory is that whatever we as a species really like and crave, we were evolved to crave because it was scarce. There was no need for nature to make us crave something that was abundant, like vegetables. We needed extra motivation to invest effort into obtaining scarce nutrients. But once they are so readily available and people start emphasizing them, the balance is disturbed again, whether the emphasize is on starch, fat or protein. .

The main problem with Western food, IMO, is that, even when we try to eliminate processed food, we still eat too much high-density food (low water content, high in calories). That is most of what is available in shops. I do my best to eat lower amounts of concentrated food and higher amounts of low-density food (high in water, low in calories). I try to keep macronutrients balanced. And I absolutely avoid processed food. Once a week I cook some more indulgent food to avoid feeling deprived, but still try to make it light and without highly processed ingredients. So far, very good.

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