According to this review, a simple dietary change towards lower carbohydrate intake and higher fats intake, may be efficiently protective against AD. >> read the article
Carbohydrate Addict Diet – an intermittent ketosis plan?
Intermittent fasting is popular today. One of the aspects of this calorie restriction techniques is periodic ketosis, which is proved to be neuroprotective. Another aspect is periodic interruption of glycolysis, which is also good for the brain. However, the Hellers were first to empirically formulate the idea and make it very dieter-friendly: Rachael F. Heller, Richard F. Heller. The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet: The Lifelong Solution to Yo-Yo Dieting. Signet (1993)
<– Carbohydrate Addict Diet Food Pyramid
This diet is for you if you have:
• forceful hunger
• craving for carbohydrate-rich foods
• need for starches
• desire for snack foods, junk food, or sweets?
Do you have problems:
• staying away from food between meals
• staying away from snacks at night
• stopping a meal containing starches and sweets
• eating tasty food while not being hungry
• staying alert after a large meal
• staying alert early afternoon
• keeping your weight off after losing weight due to dieting
Do you tend to overeat these foods:
• Breads
• Bagels
• Cakes
• Cereal
• Chocolate
• Cookies
• Crackers
• fruit
• juice
• ice cream
• potatoes
• pasta
• rice
• popcorn
• sodas?
Do you indulge in:
• sugar substitutes
• alcohol
• monosodium glutamate?
If you answered “yes” to at least one of the questions in each category, the CAD might be right for you.
The diet prescribes two meals, called Complementary Meals, which limit carbohydrate generally same way most low carb diets do. Most people choose breakfast and lunch for their complementary meals. The diet allows one Reward Meal not limiting carbohydrate content but limiting this meal’s duration to strictly one hour. It is believed that with this meal planning you body is tricked into releasing less insulin. Thus, it better controls blood sugar levels and therefore stores less fat.
The diet starts with the Entry Plan. You eat two complementary meals and a reward meal, no snacks, for a week, then you weigh. Your plan for the next week will depend on your weight loss and your weight loss goal. For instance, if you loss was around 2 pounds, you go to the Plan A, which is essentially same plan, but you are allowed to have a low carb snack.
If after following the Entry Plan for a week you lost 0.5 lb. To 2 lb., you go to the Plan B, which is in fact staying on the Entry Plan for one more week.
If you didn’t lose any weight on Entry Plan, you go to the Plan C and this is an interesting part. All you do differently comparing with the Entry Plan, is eating two big salads made of leafy green vegetables before both of your two daily complementary meals.
There’s also the Plan D, for the most stubborn body weight, where you add one more salad, before your Reward Meal. This planning goes on every new week.
From the book:
The Banta Diet: A diet mobilizing the fat burning biochemical pathway. 92 % success rate since 2002
Reprinted with permission
Mood Effects of Low-carb Diets
Among those shared with me their weight loss results while on Atkins diet, 347 dieters reported effects beyond weight loss (or its absence):
- Hunger disappearance or appetite decrease – 178
- Diabetes improvement – 169
- Mood improvement, energy level increase – 158
- Absence of cravings – 149
- Physicians approval for the diet – 129
- Joint and muscle improvement – 125
- Headache disappearance – 121
- Exercise improvement – 115
- Muscle gain decrease – 112
- Fungal/yeast infection disappearance – 111
- Heartburn, bloating disappearance – 110
- Thyroid condition improvement – 119
Reported negative results:
- Cravings for high-carb foods increase – 16
- Inability to exercise – 15
- Low-carb foods dissatisfaction – 14
Mood/energy
This particular effect is perhaps the most controversial because it is against the observations, including those conducted in controlled clinical settings, that carbohydrate-rich meals improve mood and energy levels. Apparently, the positive influence reported by the dieters, were due to Atkins diet long-term effects, because during first several days on the diet there were effects consistent with clinical observations on short-term effects of direct intra-gastric infusions of nutrients:
“Hedonic tone was greater and tension lower after the saline and sucrose infusions than after the lipid infusion. From 3 to 3.5 h after ingestion, subjects felt significantly more sleepy after the lipid infusion than they did at these times after the saline infusion, and significantly more dreamy after the lipid infusion than they did after the sucrose infusion. (Physiology & Behavior. 63(4):621-8, 1998)
Another article reporting the influence of nutrients on mood, stress that there were acute and not long term effects:
“Mood improved (a decline in fatigue/dysphoria) following the low-fat/high carb breakfast compared to medium-fat/ medium-carbohydrate or high-fat/low-carbohydrate meals.” (”Acute effects on mood and cognitive performance of breakfasts differing in fat and carbohydrate content. “Appetite. 27(2):151-64, 1996)
The short-term positive effects of high-carb meals can be used, for example, for alleviating the PMS syndrome:
“The experimental carbohydrate intervention significantly decreased self-reported depression, anger, confusion, and carbohydrate craving 90-180 minutes after intake. Memory word recognition was also improved significantly.” (Obstetrics & Gynecology. 86(4 Pt 1):520-8, 1995)
It is interesting that not all of the clinical studies came to the above conclusion. Study conducted by University of Sheffield, demonstrated that meals, particularly when rich in fat, significantly reduced pain perception in healthy human subjects.( Physiology & Behavior. 65(4-5):643-8, 1999)
Carbohydrate craving obese patients do not improve their mood states through ingestion of a carbohydrate-rich snack. (International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders. 21(10):860-4, 1997)
There were no differences in mood between the groups receiving high-carb drink or water during performance of the military tasks. (Aviation Space & Environmental Medicine. 68(5):384-91, 1997)
The ingestion of sucrose failed to have any substantial effect on mood (Physiology & Behavior. 58(3):421-7, 1995)
“The carbohydrate-supplemented group had a greater total energy intake and carbohydrate intake. No significant differences between carbohydrate were observed in remaining psychological, physiological, or performance-related variables.” (International Journal of Sport Nutrition. 5(2):125-35, 1995)
These are rather typical messages:
- I feel great and my energy level has increased. I don’t feel sluggish anymore.
- No more mood swings, brain fog, confusion, or depression.
- I feel healthier, more energy (can keep up with the kids, yeah!) and smarter.
- I have a much higher energy level as well as a much more pleasant disposition.
- I have lots of energy and a lot more self esteem.
- I am sleeping like a teenager, and I had sleep apnea before starting the diet.
- I sleep better and I have more energy than my 16 year old daughter
- I’m so infused with energy that I climb the stairs at work without huffing and puffing.
- My energy had increased! Muscle tone had improved even though I wasn’t going to the gym.
- When I am eating according to program I feel so much better, sleep better and have more energy
- After the first 3 days the increase in energy was unbelievable, the mental fog and Monday morning blues were gone.
- I have more energy, not so tired anymore, and feel like I’m in control of my appetite.
- I have had a sense of inner peace that I simply can’t explain.
- My mood swings have lifted and I’m a much happier person overall.
- I felt better, had more energy, no more brain-fog and I did not feel tired and worn out at the end of the day.
Nutrition and Mood Support
Any restrictive diet can cause depression sometime called diet blues. For people on a low fat diet a quick fix can be a carbohydrate-containing snack – a fruit or a hard candy. For people on the initial stages of low carbohydrate diets a quick fix is completely different. Turkey and chicken contain a good source of mood-enhancer tryptophan, an amino acid which is a raw material for serotonin – which can be low in people suffering from depression. Poorly eating and sleep habits can negatively influence otherwise normal serotonin levels.
A low-fat diet may be good for your body, but not necessarily for your mind. In a study at Wake Forest University, researchers found that monkeys on a low-fat diet were more hostile than monkeys that were fed foods high in fat. It is though that lower cholesterol decreases levels of serotonin and weakens emotional control.
Low fat diets can make you depressed. Research has linked diets that drastically cut down on all types of fat with an increase in symptoms of depression.
There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that after about one week on a low carbohydrate diet, mood and energy levels go through the roof. Researchers speculate that this can be explained by interplay of brain chemicals after the brain stops running on glucose and switches on ketons for fuel.
The brain is the organ most sensitive to a change in blood glucose level – too little produces fatigue, confusion, irritability and aggression. Decreased glucose sensitivity often develops due to excessive consumption of refined sugar and simple carbohydrates, like in white flour. When the brain adapts to the use of ketones instead glucose, these symptoms disappears.
Study conducted by University of Sheffield, demonstrated that meals rich in fat, significantly reduced pain perception in healthy human subjects.( Physiology & Behavior. 65(4-5):643-8, 1999)
Why is fat so tasty? Why are carbs so fattening?
Why is fat so tasty?
Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?
Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids attaching to their specific transporter in the tongue. These long-chain fatty acids are recognized on the tongue, and then neuropeptides and neurotransmitters such as the famous “reward chemical” beta-endorphin is released in the brain.
Source: J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.
Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?
Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids can attache to their specific spots on the tongue and be recognized by specific transporters; the brain receives the signal and releases (along with many neuropeptides and neurotransmitters) the famous “reward chemical” beta-endorphin (1)
Another story is, what metabolic consequences these process have comparing with well known effects of the sweet taste of carbohydrates. Turns out that without carbs, fat fails to be fattening. This is exactly what happens on the ketogenic diet having well known neuro-protective and metabo-protective effects (2).
Sources
- J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.
- Frontiers in Neuroenergetics, 2011, 3:8.
