Other Problems With the High-Carbohydrate Diet

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The High-Carbohydrate Diet is Associated with All Kinds of Bad Effects

The high-carbohydrate diet that’s in vogue today doesn’t represent a balanced diet.

Dr. Jan Karlsson, one of the original developers of the carbohydrate-loading regimen so popular among current-day athletes, has argued vehemently against a high-carbohydrate diet as a regular, everyday regimen.

He claims that such a diet is only acceptable for two or, at most, four days within the framework of the carbohydrate and muscle glycogen loading program.

Of course, if the body was fat-adapted, there would be no need to ever do glycogen loading, but this point has been thoroughly missed by everyone.

The carbohydrate-enriched diet leading to muscle glycogen loading has been widely accepted since the late 1960’s as an important way to prepare for endurance sports and training.

The dietary program, however, was to be applied only occasionally. Unfortunately, it was developed into a long-term treatment program and was used, not only by elite cross-country skiers and long-distance runners, but also by professional athletes in many different sports.

Even International Organizations such as the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission Recommended the Use of the High-Carbohydrate Diet for Athletes

Dr. Karlsson has stated that such long-term dietary regimens are synonymous with malnutrition. It has been shown that the intake of lipophilic (fat-loving) nutrients such as vitamin E is linearly related to fat intake.

Other risks are associated with such an extreme high-carbohydrate diet if followed for a long time. In fact, this dietary regimen means that individuals may actually sacrifice their own structural lipids (fats) for energy needs.

Vitamin Q and vitamin E are significant factors for the health of white blood cells; they’re the cells that are richest in antioxidants and, consequently, enhance the immune system. Significant immune system suppression is a possible result of low dietary intake of fats and the consequent use of one’s own fat stores as an energy source.

Athletes, with an extremely high intake of carbohydrates and, hence, subsequent impaired intake of lipid-based or lipophilic nutrients, have been in a situation referred to as the Carbohydrate Syndrome or the Carbohydrate Trap.

It seems reasonable to assume that this condition might:

•  reduce free radical elimination and lead to damage in muscles
•  increase cell injury
• inhibit the body’s inflammation and healing process in response to injury and infection
• hard-training athletes, who follow a high-carbohydrate diet, will suffer from overuse injuries due to a decreased ability to repair and rebuild damaged tissues
• vegetarians and others who consume a low-fat diet are also at serious risk for the same type of damage

People Who Have Extreme Energy Needs, such as Athletes and Those Involved in Manual Labor, Must be Very Careful About the Sources of  Their Daily Food Intake

If foods rich in carbohydrates come to serve as their primary source of energy, their risk of suffering from an insufficient supply of nutrients will increase.

Fats contain many of the essential nutrients we need each day to maintain our health. As I have proposed for many years, the low-fat diet is dangerous.

Sports medicine authorities have just recently recognized the existence of the Carbohydrate Trap or fat-phobia. The Carbohydrate Trap represents a stage of malnutrition imposed by unprofessional advisors and followed by unwitting, unknowledgeable clients.

This is one of the major difficulties in nutrition today: the emphasis on the low-fat diet in contrast to a diet that maintains an adequate fat intake.

How long will it take until our medical and scientific “experts” recognize the folly of their recommendation of low-fat eating?