Your information on low carbohydrate eating is questionable. You do not cite a single study, nor do you rely on information from the research of any type.
What I know to be true is that since I have begun restricting my carbohydrates during the day to virtually 0 grams and enjoying as much carbohydrate as I want during dinner, my cravings for cookies and junk has virtually disappeared. It used to be that one cookie meant 40 cookies. Now the cookie is not even an issue. My blood sugar is so level that I haven’t suffered an anxiety attack for a few weeks. I used to have them DAILY. I eat vegetables, salads, tofu, and a variety of meats during the day.
At night I might enjoy pasta or burritos with plenty of fresh vegetables. I enjoy full-fat varieties of all of the things that I obsessively only used if they were fat-free before. Low-fat eating caused me to be constantly hungry and obsessive about food. It caused me to binge on fat-free goodies ad nauseum. Since I have been eating low carbohydrate I have not had a single carbohydrate binge. Not one. The simple sugars that used to haunt me are a thing of the past. So are the violent mood swings and crying jags.
Someone would be hard-pressed to convince me that this is not healthy and that I should go back to restricting calories and eating low-fat. Not in this lifetime.
The nutritional information provided here on carbohydrate-controlled diets is based on research, education, and clinical experience. I don’t quote specific research studies as this website is for the public not for nutrition scientists to debate various studies.
What you describe is a testimonial based on your experience. If restricting carbohydrates for you have improved your cravings for carbohydrates, congratulations. However, there is no research to substantiate what you have experienced in limiting carbohydrates at a particular time of the day. If you are eating as many carbs as you want for your evening meal then you are not eating low carbohydrate. There are carbohydrates in all foods, even trace amounts in meat and vegetables you eat; therefore would be impossible to eat 0 carbohydrates at a meal unless you only ate fats like butter or margarine.
Secondly, yes your blood sugar could go up as well as lipids in response to a panic attack. Or are you saying your blood sugar goes up which causes you to panic? The cravings and obsessing you describe are more indicative of binge eating.
Some studies are beginning to suggest that the broad-based use of fat-free or fat reduced foods may not decrease calorie intake. People will eat the same amount of calories of fat reduced foods as well as full-fat foods. Why not enjoy the taste of full-fat foods, just in smaller servings to lose weight?
Calories do count, not just fat grams. I have never encouraged the use of low-fat or fat-free foods other than for fluid milk. Just doesn’t taste as satisfying and people are going to return to regular fat foods when they reach their goal weight anyway. Adjust portion sizes of full-fat foods when losing weight instead of buying fat-free products that are not as satisfying.
Low-fat nutrition therapy means avoiding fried foods and more than 1 added fat spread or oil-based dressing at a meal. Some fat restricted nutrition therapies may limit all added fats. Perhaps that is not what you understood low-fat to mean?
