Most people trying to lose weight have heard the recommendation to reduce their intake of carbohydrate-rich foods, such as sugary foods, bread, cereal, pasta, etc., but many people do not know why this recommendation is so important to burn fat and lose weight. After all, even some doctors think that all calories are created equal and that the only thing necessary to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you consume through exercise and daily activities. However, due to certain hormones, the body does not handle all calories in the same way, and calories from carbohydrates are much more difficult to burn than calories from other types of food, and a high intake of carbohydrates certainly makes one is prone to fat storage. and not burn it.

At the heart of the matter is the hormone insulin. Insulin’s job is to stimulate cells to absorb sugar from the bloodstream (when blood sugar is high, such as shortly after eating) and store it as reserve energy.

This extra blood sugar is first stored as a compound called glycogen in the muscles and liver. Glycogen can be quickly converted back to blood sugar when needed for energy to fuel sudden bursts of activity. The storage space available for glycogen is quite limited, and when insulin has caused the glycogen store to fill up, the excess blood sugar remaining is stored as fat.

There is considerably more storage space in the body for fat than for glycogen. There are billions of fat cells in the body, each of which can be enlarged up to 100 times its original size to accommodate additional fat storage. As an aside, here’s why it’s possible to get fat again after liposuction: Even if you remove many of the body’s fat cells, the ones that remain can be greatly enlarged to store fat.

Insulin is extremely powerful in its fat storage effects. In fact, not only does it stimulate fat storage, high insulin levels block the effects of the body’s fat-burning mechanisms. This is where the importance of limiting carbohydrate intake comes into play.

High carbohydrate intake (and it really doesn’t need to be very high) stimulates the release of large amounts of insulin. This high insulin production effectively prevents the body from burning fat, for 24 to 48 hours! To put it another way, simply eating about 20 to 25 grams of carbs at a time, which is about the amount of carbs in a single slice of bread, is enough to completely shut down your body’s ability to burn fat for up to 48 hours no matter what your diet is and no matter what exercise you do during that time period.

Some people may have doubts about this last statement, since it is certainly possible to eat a lot of carbohydrates and lose weight, at least for a while. Note that I said that high carb intake causes high insulin production which blocks the burning of FAT. It’s still possible to get rid of retained water (which will lead to weight loss), and it’s still possible to burn calories, but the calories you burn won’t be from fat, they’ll be from glycogen and your lean body tissue, primarily your broad muscles. As you may know, lean body tissue (muscle) is metabolically very active, and if you burn that tissue, your metabolism will ultimately slow down, making it increasingly difficult to lose weight.

Due to the effects of insulin, it is strongly recommended to minimize carbohydrate intake in order to burn fat sustainably and achieve more efficient and long-lasting natural weight loss. This is not to say that everyone will benefit from following a high-protein diet like Atkins. Excessive protein consumption can create its own problems that can ultimately interfere with ongoing weight loss due to damaging effects on the liver. For most people, the most effective diet is one rich in fresh or frozen vegetables, nuts, seeds, moderate amounts of fresh fruit, and some protein from eggs, dairy, lean meat, fish, and poultry. The carbohydrates you eat are best obtained in fiber-rich forms of vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, rather than refined grains.

Some diet plans will recommend a low-carb intake, but suggest allowing yourself a “treat” of some high-carb food like a cookie or other sweet as often as once a week. I disagree with this recommendation as it can sabotage your natural weight loss program on two levels. First, as we’ve been discussing, carbohydrates will trigger a high insulin release that will shut down your ability to burn fat for up to two days. So, once a week, you could lose up to 8 days per month of potential fat burning, decreasing the effectiveness of your diet by up to 25%! The other problem is that eating carbs tends to lead to carb cravings. At the very least, such cravings will test your willpower and could cause you to cheat on your diet repeatedly. Ultimately, this could doom your diet to total failure. My advice is to reserve your carbohydrate intake for special occasions only, which should be limited to once a month or less.

We hope that you now have a better understanding of why high carbohydrate intake is so detrimental to a natural weight loss plan. If you commit to a healthy diet and avoid carbs for 2-3 weeks, you’ll likely find that you don’t miss them after that period of time, and thus avoiding them becomes much easier. With a little extra effort early on, you’ll find that eating a healthy diet comes naturally to you and you’ll be able to reach your long-term weight goals.