Despite their popularity high protein, low carb diets have several disadvantages. Here are nine reasons you should avoid them.

Diets that emphasize restricting your intake of carbohydrates also deplete the healthy glycogen, which is the glucose that is stored in your liver and muscles. When you deplete your body’s supply of glycogen your body will dehydrate. This immediate water loss it why dieters report seeing results so quickly.

Secondly, the drainage of your body’s glycogen causes dieters to have less energy. Glycogen is broken down to make glucose to supply your body with fuel, without it you will feel tired and sluggish and are less likely to exercise as a result.

The depletion of glycogen also contributes to loss of muscles or muscle atrophy. Without the fuel created by the break down of glycogen, the muscle fibers contract, making it difficult to maintain muscle tone. In addition, without carbohydrates to make fuel your body will begin to use fat and protein which are found in your bodies muscles.

The next reason to avoid low carb, high protein diets is because it may give you a saggy appearance. Because you muscles have a difficult time maintaining tone they begin to sag, causing your skin to sag as well.

Also, your loss of muscles may cause your metabolism to slow down. This means you will have to work much harder to burn the same amount of calories.

Another reason to avoid these low carb diets is that most people regain the weight they lost during the diet and then some once they’ve returned to their normal eating habits. It is difficult to maintain a low carbohydrate diet for very long because of how tired it makes you. Once you begin your normal eating habits again you will immediately gain back all of the water weight that you initially lost. In addition, because the diet has slowed down your metabolism, your body can burn fewer calories than it could previously.

The seventh reason to avoid low carb, high protein diets is because of their long term health effects. This diet requires that you eat a large amount of animal products and saturated fats. This will lead to health problems including heart disease, strokes, kidney stones, and certain types of cancer. You eating habits on this diet may also cause high cholesterol and hypertension. A low carb diet may also lead to gout, which is a painful swelling of the joints. A high-protein diet may also increase the risk for osteoporosis, or a weakening of the bones in women and men.

Also, low carb diets lack fiber. Animal products possess no fiber, unlike plant products, which are rich in fiber. The lack of fiber may cause heart problems, digestive disorders, constipation, and other bowel disorders.

The ninth reason to avoid this highly popular low carbohydrate, high protein diet is because it may cause bad breath. When your body is in a state of ketosis it increases its production of acetones causing your breath to smell badly.

In summary despite the mass popularity of low carb diets there are plenty of reasons to avoid them. Carbohydrates are a necessary part of a healthy diet, like any other food group moderation should be the key factor in determining the amount you consume.

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What exactly is a high protein diet?  Well, a high protein diet is exactly what it says it is; but the important distinction to make is that in order to be high protein it also has to limit the amount of carbs that you put into your body.  If you keep the amount of carbs the same as it currently is, but up the amount of protein, you will not lose any weight; however, if you take out some of the carb calories and replace them with calories from protein, you will, most likely lose weight.  How it works is a whole different question though, and the bottom line is that it is not very healthy.

First of all, the body does, indeed, need protein in order to be healthy.  The body uses protein to build and to maintain muscle mass, which is absolutely essential to the health of the body.  What most people don’t know is that there are a lot of foods that provide protein; meat is not the only source of protein.  Other common sources of protein in an average diet include all dairy products from milk to cheese and everything in between, all types of nuts, and several types of beans.  What this means is that even vegetarians, if they know how to design a proper diet, can get more than adequate daily protein intake from milk, yogurt and cheese even if they do not eat meat, fish or eggs.  The abundance of soy products today makes this possible even for vegans.

So the body does, indeed, need protein.  On the other hand, the body definitely needs carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are what the body runs on, the energy source of the body, if you will.  While protein builds and maintains muscles, carbohydrates give the body the energy to move those muscles so that they can be built and strengthened.  If you cut carbs out of your diet, it’s like asking your car to run on water instead of gas; you’ve taken away the body’s energy source. 

Protein can be converted into energy, but the process of doing so is inefficient and produces toxins while it’s converting protein to glucose.  The result is becoming overtired, cranky and constipated.  Of course, low and no carb diets make you lose weight, just like the high protein diet will make you lose weight (assuming that not all of the proteins you choose to consume are rib eye steaks and filet mignons wrapped in bacon) but there’s a reason why the food pyramid exists.  The ideal human diet is varied, including foods from all groups.  Each group has its purpose, except refined sugars.  If you’re looking to lose weight in a healthy, effective way, the answer is to choose the right carbs (complex), the right meats (leaner), the right fats, (unsaturated, not trans) and to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.

This may not be the quickest way to lose weight, but it’s the healthiest and it’s the most permanent type of weight loss.  High protein or no carb diets help you lose a lot of weight all at once, but it all comes piling back on as soon as you go back to your ‘regular’ diet.

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1. High Protein Low Carb Diet Plans Can Work
2. Creating A High Protein, Low Carb Diet Plan
3. Planning A High Protein, Low Carb Diet Menu