What is the Purpose of a Low-Carb Diet?

Okay. You're decided to give the Atkins Diet a try. You've heard good things about dietary ketosis and you want to give it a whirl. Or, maybe you think that a lower fat, more protein-controlled Protein Power low-carb diet might be more suitable to your taste. Perhaps you are thinking about trying some other low-carb diet plan. No matter which low-carb diet program you're considering, it's a good idea to take a moment and ask yourself:

• What is the purpose of going on a low-carb diet?
• Why am I doing this?
• And what do I hope to gain?

What is the Purpose of a Low-Carb Diet?

Don't Confuse Purpose with Goal

A lot of people confuse purpose with a goal. A goal is the ultimate outcome you hope to achieve once you have completed a diet program. That goal could be to achieve a certain clothing size, reach a particular number on the scale, or enjoy improved overall health. A goal could be to get rid of the uncontrollable cravings that unstable blood sugar or a high basal insulin level can cause, to get rid of heartburn or digestive issues, to be able to fit into your favorite pair of jeans again, or maybe be able to participate in physical activities you couldn't do before, such as hiking or biking.

But those things are not purpose.

Purpose is the driving force, belief, or motivation that powers your actions. It's not the ultimate result. It's more like the beginning of a long journey of discovery. It's the frame of reference your subconscious mind turns to when evaluating what's currently going on, and the foundational belief your mind uses to assign a value to things. What we value or find important is what we react to. It's what we act on. So, the importance of what's happening at any given moment comes from purpose. It doesn't come from a goal.

What is the Purpose of a Low-Carb Diet?

A low-carb diet has many advantages over a standard low-fat, low-calorie diet, but it isn't magical. It works because of certain biological principles that can help improve your body's ability to access stored body fat. For that reason, it doesn't work well for everyone. If you don't have insulinemia or unstable blood sugars or metabolic syndrome -- and not all overweight or obese individuals do -- then a low-carb diet won't work any better than any other diet because the purpose of a low-carb diet isn't weight loss. It isn't even about getting into the state of Ketosis.

The purpose of a low-carb diet is to lower your basal insulin levels.

A low-carb diet can reduce your hunger and cravings. It can increase your energy, and make it easy to stick to a diet, but all of those things are a by-product of what happens when you restrict carbohydrates -- and, as such, it can be a dramatic help when it comes to shedding excess body fat -- but those "extras" are not the diet's purpose. The purpose of a low-carb diet is to correct any metabolic issues you might have. Period. When you fix what's biologically wrong with the body, the body can then begin to function appropriately.

Why Choose a Low-Carb Diet Then?

Why Choose a Low-Carb Diet?

Many people come to the low-carb table because they've heard about the dramatic results that many dieters receive from restricting their carbohydrates. They want to get a little bit of that ketosis magic for themselves and believe it will always be that way. What could be better? Low-carb success stories tell you that you can eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, cheeseburgers (without the bun) and salad for lunch, and pork chops, ribs, steak, or roast beef for dinner. You can have heavy cream in your coffee, nuts and cheese for snacks, and you can even use full-fat dressings on your salad.

That can appear heavenly to those who have been trying to shed the pounds by limiting fat and calories. However, you always have to keep the purpose of a low-carb diet in mind. In fact, it's essential.

The reason why carbohydrate restriction works so well isn't because you are in a state of ketosis. Ketosis is a by-product of cutting way down on carbs. Ketones are a by-product of fat metabolism. It's about the body moving to an alternative fuel source for the brain, heart, red blood cells, and some kidney cells. Low carb works because restricting carbohydrates lowers your body's basal insulin levels. That helps the body access its fat stores for energy, something it might not have been able to do very well before. If you are in a state of ketosis and your insulin levels are still high, the diet won't work very well.

Insulin levels HAVE to come down first.

To shed those unwanted pounds and lumps, you have to eat less food than your body needs to function. That is true for any diet. But on a low-carb diet, initially, that can be quite a lot of food -- a lot of fatty foods and a lot of calories that you don't have to count. At 256-1/2 pounds, I was able to eat quite a bit of food and fat on a daily basis and still lose weight consistently each and every single week.

But as time went on and my body reduced in size, I wasn't able to eat like that any more. As my low-carb journey continued, my dietary choices had to move toward a lower-fat, lower-calorie diet because that is what it took for me to continue shedding the fat. In fact, many people who have yo-yo dieted for years -- any diet, not just low-carb diets -- have a metabolic rate that is so low and/or functioning so poorly, that they can't eat high fat and high calorie even from the very beginning.

But that doesn't mean that a low-carb diet is a bad choice. Low carb has benefits that other weight-loss diets doesn't have.

What Do You Hope to Gain By Switching to a Low Carb Lifestyle?

Change always requires us to give up some parts of ourselves that we might find painful to let go of. In the world of diets, that usually means certain foods or lifestyles that have been near and dear to us. So once you have a low-carb diet's purpose rooted firmly in your mind -- it's about lowering insulin levels not Ketosis or weight loss -- it's time to take a look at what you hope to GAIN by switching to a low-carb lifestyle.

Eating lots of carbohydrates can be a mindless activity for some, but more often than not, it's driven by biology or suggestion. We eat high-carb foods because of the comfort they provide, because we've been brainwashed to believe that whole grains are good for everyone, or simply out of habit -- from the suggestion that bread and pasta and rice are necessary for a healthy diet.

What Do You Hope to Gain From Switching to a Low-Carb Lifestyle?

The truth is: society is saturated with carbohydrate foods at breakfast, lunch, and dinner because that's what makes manufacturers the most money. Not because they are essential for a healthy diet.

So for a lot of people, a low-carb diet offers a way to relearn the truth about biology, weight loss, health, and balanced diets. It offers biological helps, such as reduced hunger and cravings for sugars and starches, stable blood sugars, increased stamina, an increased feeling of well-being, food choices that are easier to live with, and a host of other benefits. And yes, a low-carb diet offers a way to lose those undesirable pounds.

However, losing body fat is only a very small part of a low-carb diet. It is only one small factor or by-product of moving to a healthy low-carb lifestyle.

If you can wrap your brain around the idea that the purpose of a low-carb diet is about lowering insulin, not getting into ketosis and not about weight loss, you'll have a much easier time making the switch. Because low-carb is a way of life. A new way of life. It is NOT a diet!