Risks of too little carbs?

(Tialda) #1

Hi there! I haven’t been able to find answers, so I hope someone can help? I find myself using maybe only 10gr (2%) of carbs a day on some days at the benefit of protein. I wonder if there is such a thing as not enough carbs? I’m one week into keto diet, using 1700-2000 calories a day, 168cm/90kg 37yo healthy female. I feel fine, a little muscle weak though. No flu signs, showing high level ketones on the stix. So all is well, just curious.

(cheryl) #2

Some people follow the carnivore plan with really no carbs with great results .

(Tialda) #3

Ah thanks! That sounds interesting…

#4

There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Forgot who said that. I’ve been keto since last fall, mostly carnivore for the last few weeks. Yeah, carbs are not needed.

Also, throw away the pee sticks. They can be very misleading. Go by your progress, please don’t fall into the trap of chasing ketones. Good luck.

(Leslie) #5

I was going to offer a reply but @barefootbob covered it!

(Cathy) #6

Me too (answer the question) but @barefootbob nailed it.

Congratulations on your newly chosen lifestyle and hope you find it as rewarding as I do!!

(Tialda) #7

Thank you @barefootbob! Yeah I read up on the stix and know they‘re only giving information on one thing, so they’re not holy… I definitely can feel a difference, more clear, light and let get things done… so I’m seeing that as a better indication.

And thanks for confirmation on the carbs… everyone seems to worried about the max, so I couldn‘t find anything on the minimum.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #8

Educate them. We do have smart bodies. They can make most of what they need to keep living, including glucose, no carbs required.

#9

Yep, welcome to a whole new world. My mental clarity improved tremendously, my skin got better, my mood and attitude improved. It’s not a miracle cure for everything but once I got over the initial hurdles I realized I never wanted to go back to where I was before.

(Bunny) #10

Interesting what Dr. Berg has to say about carbohydrates?

Do We Really Need Carbohydrates? Dr. Berg talks about carbs and if we really need them. Certain carbs are good for vitamins and minerals more than for energy. You don’t need to only get your energy from carbs. You can get energy from protein and fat.

Understanding Net Carbs on the Ketogenic Diet: Hey guys, I wanted to do a quick video on understanding net carbs in relationship to the ketogenic diet. For those people who are kind of new to it, I’ll explain what net carbs means. Normally, we recommend 20 to 50g of carbohydrates per day but it is net carbs and not total carbs. Take the total carbs minus the fiber and it equals to the net carbs. Fiber typically has no response with insulin. In the US and Canada, the way they calculate the total carbs is they put in the fiber. In other countries in Europe and Australia, they separate them out so you don’t have to do this calculation. Whenever you see as the total is the net carb but if you live in the US and Canada, you need to deduct the fibers to get the net carb which makes the big difference. Let’s say for example you have one cup of any of these foods, celery for example. The total carb is 3g - fiber is 1.6g so the net carb = 1.4g. It is one and a half roughly which is so insignificant or that is never going to be an issue. Tomato has 7g total carb - 2.2g fiber = 4.8g.*+ Hummus, 35g total carbs - 15g fiber = 20g of net carb. Of course I doubt if you are going to consume a cup of hummus but if you might, you will still be at the normal range of the carb that you ate in the given day. Egg, 0.6g of total carbs - 0 fiber = 0.6g of net carb. Pineapple, 22g of total carbs - 23g of fiber = 19.7g net carb. Always calculate in the net carb and not the total carb. Thanks for watching.

The Type of Carbs to Avoid on a Ketogenic Diet: Dr. Berg talks about the type of carbs that you need to avoid on keto. The keto genic diet instructs people to reduce your carbs to 20-50grams. However, you have the net carbs (total minus fiber) and the glycemic index of carbs. Keep your sugars at zero, and consume low glycemic carbs.
NUTS
AVOCADOS
BERRIES

#11

For the short term, no worries about too little carbs - as humans can survive without any carbs.

However, there can be a pretty huge difference between surviving, and thriving!!!

After you’re 100% established in being fat-adapted around week 6 or longer than that, different degrees of low-carb tolerance and other nuances come into play while staying within the LCHF/keto/keto-cusp realm. (More on that in this post: Max carbs ≠ 20 for many (beyond first few weeks of keto))

There are dramatic differences in the female body and its astounding capacity for life-giving physiology and metabolism. For premenopausal and not-menopausal-yet gals who are not Insulin Resistant, there is an argument that the fat-adapted primordial female biology can have a cortisol stress response to extremely low carbs as well as to continuous IF, and get in a hibernating rut if unable to gather food and be assured of nourishment. This is a mammalian response that served reproductive resilience by causing females to seek out and prioritize nourishment and thus enhance fertility.

Fat-adapted females keto body recomposition has a different hormonal profile than male body recomposition - like another planet, in some ways. Adding to that, leaner females who get fat-adapted with LCHF/keto have a different carb tolerance than obese IR females. Modern medicine is still predominantly based in the absurd notion that the central reference point is the male body. Typically male-centered research is not considered to be anything strange in its silencing of the very different hormonal realities of the female of the species who can carry forth new life and put the first 20 pounds on a baby, etc.

These resources may be nourishing:

Have any women eating a strict Keto diet with carbs around 20 (hitting all macros) not lost weight
(Kern) #12

Go to
LCreview.org

This has the actual research showing carbs are NOT needed and how research papers are doubletalk.
Shows there are NO essential carbohydrates.

(Tialda) #13

I’m also curious if there is a minimum Protein requirement? The last couple of days I have ended up under 50gr… landing my macros around 5/10/85.

(Ron) #14
#15

VERY wide range of opinions on protein, how much you need is dependent on how much muscle you have more or less. Many people go by the 0.8-1.5g per kg of lean body mass, if you’re working out, or really physically active you may want to keep it higher than that. You will find many people like myself eat on the higher side, and many are just short of petrified of it. Some people wind up being protein sensitive, but that’s typically something you have to figure out. When I was in complete weight loss mode for a while it seemed I lost more when my protein was lower, and obviously slower when it was higher, some experimentation showed that I had a much harder time in the gym for both building muscle and recovery but much better with the protein cranked up, which as a side effect allowed me to work out harder… and therefor loose more than the lower protein with crappier gym performance. Lot of variables!

#16

Dr. Berg stated this on his YouTube channel.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #17

He’s not the only one. Since carbohydrate is not an essential nutrient. What is essential is glucose. Which our bodies can make from protein sources.

#18

100% correct. That is what I was taught also.