Why Carb Types Matter

Low carbohydrate diets have been shown to be beneficial in a number of ways; predominantly, many people use them for weight loss and all the subsequent health benefits that follow. The reason low carbohydrate diets work as well as they do, however, has been a subject for debate for some time. 

Some speculate that these diets merely restrict the number of calories someone eats, although some studies have confirmed that low carb diets work for weight loss even when accounting for fewer calories in the diet. In other words, a person on a low carb diet eating the same amount of calories as someone not on a low carb diet would still lose weight, even if the other dieter was not losing weight. So it is not merely calorie reduction responsible for these effects. 

Some speculate it is the low-carb diet’s effect on insulin and the body’s fat storing mechanisms that are responsible for its weight loss effects. With fewer carbohydrates comes a much gentler rush of insulin following each meal, the downstream effects being less fat stored and more fat being burned for energy. 

Likely, low carbohydrate diets both reduce the number of calories one eats, and improve the mechanism of insulin in the body. But even efficacious low carb diets (even The Kaufmann Diet) include some carbohydrates. And to this end, we know that the type of carbohydrates matter. 

Complex carbohydrates rich in fiber––such as those found in vegetables and some fruits––take more time to digest, which means a rush of sugar does not immediately flood our blood stream and cause a spike in insulin levels. Simple carbohydrates, however, like sugar (and most sweeteners, like corn syrup, agave, and even honey), processed white flour, and starchy white potatoes are the kinds of foods that both contain lots of calories in a small amount of food and break down most quickly to glucose, the simple form of sugar that prompts the abrupt rise in insulin.

Here we see that we might be missing part of the bigger picture, because this rush of sugar to the blood stream would ostensibly provide a parasite like yeast and fungi an opportunity to feed on the abundance of glucose, which is a simple form of sugar. Fungi and yeast are rarely implicated in weight gain, but often times, when people follow an anti-fungal diet that eliminates sugar and simple carbohydrates, they effortlessly lose weight––a task that had been difficult before. 

Anti-fungal diets are essentially low in carbohydrates, eliminating foods like sugar, simple carbohydrates and many of the processed foods these ingredients are found in. The result is starving and eliminating yeasts and fungi. Subsequently, many people lose significant weight as well. 

Ideally though, anti-fungal diets place even more emphasis on the source of carbohydrates in the diet––being a complex carbohydrate food does not necessarily automatically make it OK to be included on an anti-fungal diet. This is because many foods high in complex carbohydrates tend to be contaminated with fungal poisons. These are foods like wheat and corn. 

The Kaufmann Diet is a low carb, anti-fungal diet, but the source off carbohydrates in the diet comes primarily from vegetables, some fruits, and some pseudo grains like quinoa. Likely, you are benefiting from the insulin-reduction mechanism of low carb dieting, whilst starving pathogenic yeast and fungi at the same time. 

Related Articles

Why Giving Up Carbs is So Hard

The Ketogenic Diet vs The Kaufmann Diet

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