It’s an interesting topic, I always was curious about it. I just know many of us loves low-carb even if it’s not keto.
I went low-carb about 9 years ago. I had my keto times, my super short carbier times but I spend almost the whole time below 80g net carbs and out of keto. It feels great.
100-150g is too carby, I get carb poisoning soon and that’s not nice (though always ends with keto, I run back to heal. if I was a masochist enough to get severe symptoms. i.e. stomachache, that’s pretty serious in my hedonist books).
I get satiated if I eat enough protein, little enough carbs and enough calories (I can get full on high-carb too but it’s not that nice and long-lasting satiation I like). The less carbs I eat, the easier to get satiated.
Cutting carbs has its usefulness especially if you reach that by cutting out sugar. You can have a way healthier and more satisfied, satiated diet! I don’t think many people reach 400g carbs from vegetables and nuts… I could do 200g on some days (without legumes and other carby ones) and even this isn’t typical.
I was a special case. Carbs made me hungry. The more carbs I ate, the more fat I had to eat to avoid feeling starved (and surely my protein intake had to go very high as well. it’s not that important if it’s already high but if I eat something, I typically eat protein as well, dunno how others avoid that). I think it changed at super high carb intake but I already ate for 2 at that point. Overeating is bad even if your genetics keep you from becoming extremely fat. And I eat at maintenance on keto, more on low-carb and much more on higher-carb. And I feel worse and worse. Keto is best, <80g is wonderful, almost as good, 100-150g is doable for 1-2-3 days but I get worse and worse and high-carb is something hellish from my ancient past (but I can do it for a day and I have some change I won’t feel sick. it depends on the level of my - garanteed - overeating and the food I use).
So the less carbs, the better, it’s not a problem if it’s not keto.
Whatever my body does, I always feel it’s true.
But I wonder about my SO. He still does HCHF as we don’t see any other option. He’s thriving on it. He eats his carbs with passion, I make keto/low-carb food… I don’t feel responsible as he always ate very fatty, I just make my best to lower his carbs in the only way I can at the moment (though it’s a side effect, I just like it). My instinct says it’s better to eat fattier than carbier but who knows what is good for him? But as he won’t avoid eating more fat than me anyway and I definitely won’t stop cooking food I can eat, it doesn’t matter much, I’m just curious how his body might work… I just know EVERYTHING satiates him about the same, of course we didn’t try everything, just very various macros, they don’t matter. It’s about calories, it may be 5% or 95% carbs, it can be simple quick carbs too, it still gives long-term satiation for him (9-10 hour, light physical work and some more strenuous activity). He’s not even choosy but loves his fatty things in big amounts and can’t eat (and doesn’t want to try again) fatty protein without a mountain of carbs. Unless it’s a dessert. So, it stays HCHF. But in order to avoid weight gain, it should be less carbs than 3-400g.
Maybe lowering carb intake is a bad idea for some people. Surely, there are so many different people.
But I would think it’s a good idea for most people. The ideal carb intake is individual though. Low-carb is way too wide… It should be fine for most people. 150g is so damn high, many people eat like that to begin with especially with a small energy need.
EDIT: Another thing. I couldn’t do keto after high-carb. I needed to do it in 2 jumps. Some people probably need to do it more gradually if at all. Low-carb might be temporal or it can be a destination. I think if low-carb feels good (or not but it’s surely not because our body NEEDS carbs for some reason even if it’s not essential for humans), it’s worth to try keto as well. But it might feel worse. Some people feels better on higher-carb, they get enervated on low-carb. Just like I get enervated on high-carb. Despite having similar bodies, we people feels best on different diets, even on different carb intake, it seems. My sweet spot is 35-80g net carbs so I almost always am there. There is a keto benefit I like but I still don’t think it’s ideal for me to force keto on myself. If it’s easy, I do it, if I want to eat some more carbs, I do that and enjoy myself, knowing I will feel about just as good except I won’t wake up that easily. Many keto benefits people talk about? I have them on low-carb as well or not even on keto, not even when I really go low with my carbs.
lol Good analogy.
