Myth! Losing weight without carbohydrates

Text/Natsume Saiko (Japanese writer)

If you want to lose weight, carbohydrates, fats and salt must not be touched

"If you want to lose weight, you should try to reduce your intake of carbohydrates and fats, and avoid salt as much as possible!" Since when, everyone regards carbohydrates, fats and salt as the three original sins of obesity. If you can avoid them, you should avoid them. Those who want to lose weight all stay away from them.

However, this is a misconception that is exaggerated by today's weight loss rules. These three are actually important contributors to enhancing and adjusting the body's metabolism. The lack of any one of them will violate the survival function of the human body.

In the world of weight loss, foods are often categorized into two groups: "fat-making" and "non-fat-making," in a black-and-white way. Foods that make people fat are nothing more than sweets, carbohydrate foods, and high-fat foods, while foods that do not make people fat are generally lipid-free proteins, vegetables, mushrooms/seaweed/konjac and other low-calorie foods.

This rule of dividing foods into "enemies and friends" first appeared in the medical advice and dietary consultations of American physicians and nutritionists in the 1970s.

No matter how many low-calorie menus are designed, most patients are unable to abstain from certain foods and always like to consume foods that are not on the menu, making the planned calorie control plan difficult to implement. Therefore, some doctors have come up with this convenient method of controlling the content of the diet, and then came up with the rule that only carbohydrates and fats should be avoided as much as possible, while vegetables and protein foods can be consumed as much as possible.

Later, because strong-tasting food would increase appetite and excessive salt intake would cause edema in the body, more attention was paid to controlling the amount of salt when cooking food and light flavors were beneficial for weight loss.

After that, various variations appeared one after another, such as "A lot of calories are consumed when fat is digested, so fat should be consumed in moderation, but carbohydrates should be avoided as much as possible on a low-carbohydrate diet" and "Carbohydrates are excellent nutrients that can be converted into calories immediately, so they can be consumed, but fat intake should be avoided as much as possible on a fat-reducing diet."

Regardless of which version it is, it basically teaches us to avoid fattening foods as much as possible. However, it has caused us to be trapped in a situation where we can only consider the decision of "what to eat so as not to get fat" every day. We don't even know the answers to these simple questions, such as what are our favorite foods and what we want to eat now. We have become extremely unnatural humans.

Moreover, this type of diet control weight loss method can only help you lose weight smoothly and easily the first time you implement it. However, afterwards, due to changes in your physical condition, not only will your weight stop decreasing, but once you gain weight again, it's as if your body has become immune to the diet control weight loss method. No matter how hard you try to implement the same weight loss method, it will be difficult to lose weight.

This article is provided by Kate Culture Publishing House and excerpted from [Eat if you want! [Appetite slimming method that allows you to eat as much as you want without worrying about getting fat]