Diet Myth – Carbohydrates Should Be Avoided

Potato CarbsFor every hero, there must be a villain. For some reason, the media need to have supervillains, regardless of the presence of a hero.

In the context of diet and nutritional health, the latest supervillain is carbohydrates.

Some people have even gone as far as adopting the ludicrously coined “carb free diet”. A thing which is impossible to achieve and dangerous to try.

Fruit and many vegetables are carbohydrates. Do these people avoid these vitamin and micro-nutrient dense foods!!??

Carbohydrates: both simple and complex are not the enemy. As with most things diet related, it’s more likely that selection and overconsumption is the problem.

Empty Carbs

Coca Cola Empty CarbsHere’s a buzz phrase if ever there was one. What are little packets of nothing we are eating?

If we get right down to it, “empty carbs” are the crux of the problem. They can be classified by having all of the following traits:

  • Tasty
  • Moderate to High Calorie content
  • Very Little Nutritional Value
  • Very Little Satiety Value (feeling of fullness)

A good example of the extreme of empty carbs would be a can of soda / pop. Coke has virtually no nutritional value at all, yet a single can contains hundreds of calories.

They are otherwise called processed carbs, a blanket term which basically means carbohydrate-rich food that isn’t natural and comes in packets.

So, yes, “empty carbs” should be avoided because they add nothing but energy in the form of simple sugars, which if goes unused, must therefore be stored…as fat.

That brings us to Insulin, the sidekick of Carbohydrates, if the media hype is to be believed.

Insulin

Insulin and CarbsInsulin is probably the new cholesterol, in terms of poorly understood vital hormones.

Humans need both Insulin and Cholesterol. So important are they, in fact, that we would not have evolved in to the intelligent beings we are without them.

And yet, both of them have been labelled as the bad guys.

Like cholesterol, insulin is a transporter, messenger hormone that works incredibly hard for us. We talked about storing sugar in the section above.

Insulin is released when we eat. It is responsible for storing glucose in our bodies. Amongst other things, it can store it in muscle tissue to be used as energy for activity. It can also store it in fat cells, meaning, the more it stores, the more fat cells are required.

Now, insulin sensitivity or resistance is the important part. Insulin resistance means it has lost its way and can no longer do much aside from shovelling the glucose into fat cells. That, or the levels of insulin itself are not regulated normally.

This can occur in diabetic people, and people who have essentially abused the system and over-eaten carbohydrates – mostly of the “empty” variety (see above).

High insulin sensitivity, on the other hand, is a good thing. it basically means insulin is released when it should be, in optimal amounts, and quickly assigns glucose to relevant body tissue.

It has been shown that a healthy diet and exercise can increase insulin sensitivity and even restore it from dangerously low levels.

The Real Problem

Empty CarbsIt’s hinted at above, but the actual problem is the person eating the carbs, not the food itself.

We can complain and cry all we want that carbohydrates make us put on weight, but the truth is a lot simpler than that.

Over-eating is causing weight gain, and it’s getting worse and worse in western culture. Sure, food companies play a role in that; making delicious food with next to no nutritional value whatsoever…but it’s up to us not to succumb to our junk cravings.

That doesn’t mean all carbs should be cut by any means.

In fact, if weight loss is your primary concern, the most important thing to remember is that you need to consume less calories than you spend in energy each day.

Read our article about boosting your protein intake in order to help you lose more weight.

CLICK here to read how more protein can help you lose weight

Lose More Weight With More Protein

Protein ScoopDieters have to get used to the concept of less is more if they are going to succeed with their weight loss plans.

Sometimes, however, the opposite is true. In the case of protein consumption during dieting, it might be that more is less.

One of the major downsides of dieting is the loss of lean mass, particularly muscle mass, along with the targeted fat loss.

Up to one third of the weight you lose during a diet can be lean mass. Retention of muscle is extremely important, and its reduction is one of the reasons people can not maintain a diet, and become weak and possibly sick as a result.

Taking A Lesson from Athletes

Protein Athlete Professional and elite athletes are good examples to pay attention to because they often need to lose some overall body mass while keeping as much muscle mass as possible.

Perhaps the best cases are boxers, competition fighters and any other sport which involves strict bodyweight categories.

After bulking up over a period of intense off-season training, they often have to lose weight quickly and accurately in order to qualify, at the same time as retaining as much of their hard-earned gains as possible.

Protein plays a huge role in this process.

Protein and Resistance Training

Woman Strength WeightsTo lose weight, an overall calories deficit is necessary. This means, the energy (calories) you expend over the course of a day must be greater than the energy you consume in the form of food.

It is possible to lose weight simply by controlling how much is eaten. We do, after al, have Resting Metabolic Rates and energy expenditure no matter what.

However, to maximize benefits and stay healthy, it is recommended to retain muscle mass.

The combination of resistance training and extra protein consumption during a period of overall calorie deficit appears to greatly increase the retention of muscle mass.

How Much Protein?

IngredientsThere are no exact numbers known, and there may never be. Guidelines are all we can come up with, mostly because of the individualities between different people.

One very interesting study, however, found that 30 grams of protein following resistance training has better results than 15 grams in terms of muscle protein synthesis.

Other studies show that consuming twice the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of protein over the course of the day has good results. The RDA is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Therefore 1.6 grams per kilogram. In fact, one trial noticed even better results from 2 grams per kilogram bodyweight.

The most definitive study carried out by scientists involved 40 overweight males. They had a history in sports training, but only engaged in mild activity at the start of the study.

During the study, they underwent 6 days of intense exercise, including total body resistance training, interval training, cycling and plyometrics. They also walked at least 10,000 steps per day.

The group was split into two – one control group and one test group. Both had 40% less energy consumption per day. The important difference is that the control group consumed 1.2 grams per kg bodyweight within their overall intake, whereas the test group had twice that: 2.4 g/kg.

Similar decreases in weight were observed and similar performance gains were also observed. However, the + protein test group (2.4 g/kg) retained more muscle, meaning of course that they lost more fat compared to the control group.

The difference over this 4 week study was a loss of 4.8 kg of fat for the test group, compared with 3.5 kg fat loss in the control group.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Woman Working OutThe ultimate body improvement strategy is possible. You CAN lose weight while building muscle. The study summarized above, shows that clearly.

That’s the good news.

Real world application of the kind of intense training and calorie deficit would be more difficult. It requires the kind of absolute single-mindedness that elite professional athletes can manage for short terms.

To cut a long story short, without someone watching your every move, you could easily give in to the enormous food cravings and desire to rest more.

That’s the bad news.

The medium news is that a sort of compromise is possible. More exercise and more protein, within an overall calorie deficit diet will no doubt improve your body composition.

A 40% daily calorie, which was in that study, is massive. You can cut that in half and then some, and still lose weight and maintain muscle mass.

Further Reading

  1. Is a Slow Metabolism Preventing Me from Losing Weight?
  2. Is Breakfast Really The Most Important Meal of The Day?
  3. Cold Exposure – The FREE Way to Lose Weight
  4. Coffee and Caffeine – How to Really Get The Benefits Back

ReStyle – from SciTec Nutrition – Is It Worth Using?

ReStyle Fat BurnerProduct: ReStyle
Manufacturer: Sci-Tec Nutrition
Advertised Benefits: Appetite Suppression, Fat Burning
Positives: Good Ingredients
Negatives: Weak ingredient doses
Shipping: Worldwide depending on retailer
Retailers: SciTec site has lists of retailers

CLICK here to see the current most recommended Diet Pills

Woman Drinking WaterRe-Style is a capsule supplement designed to “manage hunger and bodyweight” according to its manufacturer SciTec Nutrition.

They explain that when you want to get in better shape, you have to eat better and increase your level of physical activity.

They suggest their ReStyle formula is the perfect supplement companion for this life reform.

It contains ingredients for both direct fat burning and reduction of hunger.

SciTec have a number of weight management / fat loss supplements and they don’t differ all that much from one another. They tinker with the dosages and some of the individual ingredients.

ReStyle Review

ReStyle promises to deliver the following benefits:

  • Fat Burning
  • Hunger Management / Appetite Suppression
  • Boost Energy
  • Maintain Normal Glucose Levels

Woman Weighing HerselfSciTec tell us that ReStyle is ideal for the person who is trying to reform their physique; to be taken alongside a diet and training lifestyle.

Why are they being this specific?

We’d usually say it comes down the ingredient choice. If you are working out, you need something that helps – or at least, doesn’t inhibit – your energy levels.

And if you are dieting at the same time, then hunger management – aka appetite suppression – is of utmost importance.

Yes, we’d usually say that…but SciTec put many of the same ingredients in their other products which is weird because some are better at “hunger management” but aren’t sold so hard on that premise.

Anyway, we’ll get back to that later. Let’s talk about the ingredients, which is what makes a diet supplement do what it does.

Key Active Ingredients of Sci-Tec ReStyle

The ingredients below and their associated inclusion rates (mg/mcg) are in 2 capsules of ReStyle:

  • L-Tyrosine – 300mg
  • Citrus aurantium extract – 250mg
    (4% Synephrine)
  • Garcinia cambogia extract – 214mg
    (60% Hydroxycitric Acid (HCA))
  • L-Carnitine L-Tartrate – 110mg
    providing Carnitine – 75mg
  • Green tea extract – 100mg
    (min. 50% Polyphenols)
  • CLA – 81mg
  • Guarana extract – 100mg
    providing Caffeine – 24mg
  • Caffeine Anhydrous – 79mg
  • Alpha Lipoic Acid – 66mg
  • Cayenne Pepper extract – 6.6mg
  • Chromium Picolinate – 60mcg
    providing Chromium – 6.9 mcg

Total Caffeine – 113mg

Woman StretchingFirstly, the formula is not very heavy on caffeine and has a moderate amount of synephrine (from the parent Citrus aurantium).

This is good news for people who don’t want a large presence of stimulants.

However, the blend is pretty weak on most other fronts. Garcinia Cambogia, L-Carnitine, Green Tea, CLA, Alpha Lipoic Acid and perhaps Chromium are at fairly ineffective inclusion rates.

Even the Cayenne Pepper cannot do much at 6.6mg except boost the absorption / bio-availability of some of the other ingredients.

When compared with another SciTec product like PFX, the difference is quite stark. [https://www.youbutskinny.com/pfx-scitec-review-australia-world]

ReStyle Side Effects and Precautions

DoctorThere should be no side effects for the average person. The formula overall is fairly mild.

One thing to be aware of is that people who are particularly sensitive to stimulants like caffeine and synephrine might experience mild side effects.

If you think you might be sensitive to the ingredients then start with a half serving.

The total suggested serving is 2 capsules per day so you can take 1 capsule per day to get used to it.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with medical conditions, and those taking prescription medication should not use ReStyle or any other weight loss supplement.

Is Sci-Tec ReStyle Recommended?

PhenQ

PhenQ is one of the most recommended diet pills ever! Follow the link below

If you are looking for something with the right ingredients but at mild dosages then ReStyle might be something you choose.

In our opinion, it wouldn’t be worth it though, because ingredients – no matter what they are – are only as good as the dose at which they are taken.

SciTec definitely have better options, like PFX as an example. Not perfect but much better on doses.

We have handpicked a few fat burners and appetite suppressors that we feel are a cut above the rest. Follow the link below to read a summary of them…

CLICK here to find out which product takes the TOP spot