How to Balance a Low Carb Diet

How to Balance a Low Carb Diet

by Tanya Zilberter, PhD

There are three problems concerning balancing low-carb diets:

1. Ketosis alters body biochemistry and can increase the body's need for essential nutrients.

2. To work properly, ketosis may require specific nutrients.

3. Low-carb diets are not "balanced," so we don't receive all necessary nutrients in our food.

Thus, we need to be careful in supplying all needed nutrients, both to balance the diet and to compensate for the changes caused by the diet -- especially when it comes to the vitamins known to participate in brain metabolism and energy metabolism.

Nutrients to Correct Metabolic Changes Caused by a Ketogenic Diet

# Antioxidants

Ketosis can generate free radicals; take antioxidant supplements.

We all know that free radicals are bad for your body because they can cause blood vessel damage and promote cancer. Did you know that ketosis can cause accelerated cellular damage and vascular disease if you don't ensure adequatele vels of free-radical scavengers?

Elevated levels of the ketone body acetoacetate can generate dangerous free radicals and cause damage in blood vessels cells. Antioxidants, such as selenium, beta-carotene, green tea extract, grapes eed extract, Vitamins C, E, and Alpha-Lipoic Acid, can keep this in check .

# Vitamin D

Ketogenic diet can cause vitamin D deficiency; take 5000 IU vitamin D daily.

Vitamin D deficiency can result in decreased calcium concentrations and bone density. It can be easily reversed by vitamin D supplementation in daily doses of 5000 IU.

# Vitamin B

Ketosis can promote a vitamin B (thiamine) deficiency; take at least RDA doses of B group vitamins.

Vitamin B depletion caused by a ketogenic diet can lead to temporary disorder of nerve functions, which is usually easily corrected by regular doses of B-group vitamins.

Nutrients To Ensure Optimal Ketogenic Dieting

When some key nutrients are lacking, it can cause impairment of the very ketosis' quality.

# Carnitin

Carnitin deficiency was shown to prevent the body from using ketone bodies for energy.

# Chromium

To help the body to get the maximum benefits of your low-carb diet, you might want to ensure adequate insulin sensitivity. Chromium was shown to be a part of the so-called glucose tolerance factor and could work in improving insulin sensitivity.

Balancing a Ketogenic Diet With Proper Nutrients

There are two problems in balancing nutrients: First, the specific limitations of low-carb diets; and second, the limitations that are common for any reduction diets.

1. Any ketogenic diet limits your intake of grains and fruits, thus narrowing the sources of quite a few vitamins and minerals.

2. Although not so severely restricted as the ketogenic diet, any low-carb diet can lead to voluntarily reducing food intake because your appetite is curbed. This is one of biggest attractions of low-carb dieting but it's also bad news because it almost always leads to malnutrition

Low-carb reduced-calorie diets have been known to cause insufficient intake of B-group vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc. Therefore, if you are on such a diet, I recommend you supplement it with these very vitamins and minerals.

Sources

Journal of Nutrition, 126(11): 2867-72, 1996
Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 25(9):1083-8, 1998
Calcif. Tissue Int, 28(1):17-22 1979
Br J Ophthalmol, 63(3):191-4 1979
Biological Transelements Reseaarch, 32: 19-24, 1992
Am. J. Clin. Nutrition, 23: 948-52, 1970
Nutrit. Reviews, 54: 169-75, 1996

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