The most significant benefit of a low carb lifestyle is sustained weight loss, when numerous previous diets may have failed. There is good evidence to support this. If you have ever wondered why calorie restricted diets often don’t work, read more here.
There is also mounting evidence to indicate that a low carb lifestyle can be highly effective in helping people control their diabetes, in some cases, remission of type 2 diabetes and reducing medication (including insulin).
The American Diabetic Association has recently endorsed the low carb lifestyle as an effective strategy to help manage type 2 diabetes.
It is well known that losing weight can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. It can also improve your blood pressure control and cholesterol levels. You may be able to reduce the amount of medication you take.
Whilst there may be a lack of large trial data, people living a low carb lifestyle commonly report experiencing increased mental alertness, no longer feeling tired all the time and having much more energy and improved mood. People have also reported improved depression and anxiety symptoms.
Many people are also reported as experiencing improved long term (chronic) pain (e.g. arthritis, fibromyalgia). Again, the large trial data is currently lacking, but there have been a large number of anecdotal cases.
Improved symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome have been reported. It is well established that Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease can also be reversed with weight loss.
There have been many reports of improved migraine symptoms with a low carb diet.
It is well known that obesity is linked with cancer, catching up with smoking as a major risk factor.
Many people adopting a low carb lifestyle have noted significant improvement with symptoms of inflammatory diseases such as asthma and eczema. Again, large trial data is lacking.
