Low Carbohydrate High Fat Diet

In the quest to combat pre-diabetes, a lifestyle disease that he was diagnosed with, Professor Tim Noakes embarked on and advocated for a Low Carbohydrate High Fat diet. The aim of the LCHF diet is to achieve a nutritional balance of 5% carbohydrates, 60-70% fats and 20-30% protein, and claims to control insulin levels resulting in weight loss, body weight control and prevent insulin resistance. The control of insulin levels and the hindrance of insulin resistance are of great importance since if left unchecked they could progress in to Type 2 diabetes. This diet has been surrounded by a lot of controversy and arguments that are both for and against have been put forward. This essay will assess some of the claims made by the LCHF diet and point to some of the problems with these views.
Insulin resistance whilst not a disease is a condition in which a person's cells cannot effectively use insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas which assists in regulating the glucose levels in the body. This causes a buildup of glucose in the circulatory system resulting in a production of higher amounts of insulin to maintain standard levels of glucose. Insulin encourages the transfer of glucose into body tissues and dwindles
the creation of glucose by the liver by diminishing glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. Furthermore, insulin inhibits the of emergence of unsaturated fats from adipose tissue by inhibiting lipolysis; the breakdown of fat put away in fat cells which results in free unsaturated fats being excreted by the body.
To lose weight or maintain one’s current weight, the amount of calories consumed should be less the amount of those used the body.
The type of macro-nutrients one consumes and the portion in which they are consumed has no bearing on weight loss, if one is eating more one is burning, there will be little to no fat loss. Therefore there should be a realization that it is the consumption of carbohydrates alongside excess calories that causes weight gain and not the consumption of calories themselves. However, the consumption of carbohydrates does lead to increased insulin levels in the blood and poses a threat to those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic and gives a reason as to why some fats are an adequate or even superior energy source for the human
body. While such fats are an adequate energy source for a large percentage of the tissues in the body, several cell types, such as brain cells, have distinct needs. They could effortlessly run on glucose from the diet but will fail to run on fatty acids without an intermediary. So under low-carbohydrate conditions, these finicky cells require the generation of fat-like molecules called ketone bodies. This is the reason why the word “ketogenic” is frequently used to describe a diet that contains a very low percentage of carbohydrates. Ketone bodies are correlated to a precarious diabetic complication known as keto-acidosis, which can occur in very low insulin levels. However, whilst ketone bodies could sufficiently provide energy for the tissues which are incapable of metabolizing fatty acids, some tissues still require a certain level of glucose, which is not normally made from fat and cannot be maintained by a LCHF diet. These tissues might be able to utilize the glucose generated in the kidneys and the liver from protein found in the body, however, if the percentage of protein consumed is inadequate then it will be extracted from muscle tissue resulting in the loss of muscle mass.