Tips for Parenting a Child With Autism

The shock of finding out your child has autism is life-changing for most parents. But new findings show parents can fare well emotionally and still have a strong bond with their child.

Studies into the coping skills of mothers of children with autismconfirm that they are more likely to report "poor or fair" emotional andmental health than other moms, but they are also more likely to show remarkable strengths.

These findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, come from a nationally representative survey of almost 62,000 mothers of school-aged children, including 364 mothers of children with autism. Researchers concluded that moms of children with autism were just as likely as other moms to report having a close relationship with their child and five times as likely to do so as mothers of children who had other developmental problems (not including autism).

Autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (or PDD) typically begin before age 3. They are a complex group of developmental disabilities marked by great difficulty in social interaction and communication. Difficulties on the spectrum range from mild to severe.

If your child has autism, you know how this developmental disorder can disrupt every part of your life -- your relationships, physical and emotional health, and career aspirations. But there is hope and help. Consider the following strategies as you tackle the special challenges and receive the unique joys of parenting a child with autism.

1. Learn All You Can About Autism

You can't "catch" autism. You either have it or you don't. And today, about one in 68 children has been diagnosed with autism or an autism spectrum disorder (also called ASD), which encompasses several related disorders, such as Asperger's syndrome. They are all complex developmental disabilities that affect the development of a child's social skills, communication skills, and behavior.

Autism is usually detected during a child's formative years, so experts know that early diagnosis, intervention, and treatment are the keys to helping young children with autism develop to their full potential. The primary goal of autism treatment is to improve the overall ability of the child to function.Because autism symptoms and behaviors often change over time, treatment strategies are tailored to the child's needs and available family resources. In general, however, children with autism respond best to highly structured and specialized treatment. A program that addresses helping parents and improving communication, social, behavioral, adaptive, and learning aspects of a child's life will be most successful.

Talk to your doctor about the bestautism treatments and goals for educational services so that you and your child can take advantage of all available resources. Read all you can on autism so you understand the symptoms and behaviors and the differences in medications or alternative therapies. Communicate with other professionals and parents and learn from those who've crossed this bridge before you -- as they share insights into common autism concerns. In addition, become very familiar with public policies so you can be your child's advocate in gaining the best education and care possible. Make sure, for example, that plans (504 or IEP) are in place for your child to receive therapies at school.

2. Get a Strong Social Network

Parenting a child with any chronic illness is emotional; it affects every part of your being. But the day-to-day care of children with autism is especially stressful because of the lack of essential social interaction and communication between the child and adult. Making sure your child gets the help he needs can also pose a challenge, depending on whether quality support services are available in your area. At the same time, you are likely to have ongoing worries about your child's prognosis and long-term well-being. For all these reasons, you need to find strong social support for yourself, as well as for your child.Gathering your support network involves knowing ahead of time whom you can call for different types of support, even for emergencies, including:

• Emotional: A close friend or family member who is a confidant and whom you trust with your most personal feelings and concerns
• Social: A friend or colleague you enjoy being with and who helps you survive disappointments and shares your victories
• Informational: Your child's doctor, teachers, therapists, or other caregivers you can ask for advice on major decisions regarding his or her treatment
• Practical: A neighbor or close friend who will help you out in a pinch

  2. Get a Strong Social Network continued...

  In addition to these different types of support, you can seek out local groups and parent network organizations for families of children with autism. Ask your doctor or child developmental specialist for referrals. Join online chat groups for parents of children with autism.
  The more you know about autism and the stronger your support network, the more empowered you will be to live confidently, knowing that your child can get the help he or she deserves.

  3. Teach Your Family About Autism

  Many moms of kids with autism talk about feeling isolated. Once a child is diagnosed, moms often find that family members stop asking about the child or the child is left out of birthday parties or other family gatherings.Spouses and other children in the family may feel stressed, lonely, and even angry, as all attention is focused on the child with autism. While these feelings are natural, you can help your family members cope by educating them about autism and the child's specific needs.
  Training family members about autism and how to effectively manage the symptoms has been shown to reduce family stress and improve the functioning of the child with autism. Some families will need more outside assistance than others, depending on their internal functioning, established support systems, and financial situation.

  In addition, plan outings with other families who have a child with autism. There are many families who share your concerns and daily challenges. Talking openly with these families can give you new insight and better ways of coping. Local and national groups can help connect families and provide much-needed sources of information. Most health professionals can recommend some of these organizations.

  4. Review the Recommended Autism Treatment Options

  Child development experts agree that a child with autism should receive treatment as soon after diagnosis as possible. There is no cure for autism, but early intervention using skills training and behavior modification techniques can yield good results. This type of educational and behavioral treatment tackles autism symptoms -- impaired social interaction, communication problems, and repetitive behaviors -- and can boost an autistic child's chances of being able to go to school and participate in normal activities.

  4. Review the Recommended Autism Treatment Options continued...

  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends the following strategies for helping a child with autism improve overall function and reach his or her potential:

  • Behavioral training and management. Behavioral training and management uses positive reinforcement, self-help, and social skills training to improve behavior and communication. Many types of treatments have been developed, including Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH), and sensory integration.
  • Specialized therapies. Specialized therapies include speech, occupational, and physical therapy. These therapies are important components of managing autism and should all be included in various aspects of the child's treatment program.

  Speech therapy can help a child with autism improve language and social skills to communicate more effectively. Occupational and physical therapy can help improve any deficiencies in coordination, muscle tone, and motor skills. Occupational therapy may also help a child with autism to learn to process information from the senses (sight, sound, hearing, touch, and smell) in more manageable ways. It can also help in performing normal activities of daily living.

  Remember, when considering any type of treatment for your child, it is important to know the source of information and to ensure that studies are scientifically sound. Accounts of individual success are not sufficient evidence to support using a treatment. Look for large, controlled studies to validate claims.

  5. Learn More About Behavioral Training

  Behavioral training teaches people of all ages with autism how to communicate appropriately. This type of training can reduce behavior problems and improve adaptation skills.

  Both behavioral training and behavioral management use positive reinforcement to improve behavior. These therapies also use social skills training to improve communication. The specific program should be chosen according to the child's needs. As an example, a high-functioning child with autism may be enrolled in mainstream classrooms and child care facilities. The behaviors of other normally developing children can provide examples for the child with autism to follow. However, other children with autism are overly stimulated in a regular classroom and work best in smaller, highly structured environments.

  5. Learn More About Behavioral Training continued...

  Consistent use of these behavioral interventions produces the best results for the child with autism. The child's functional abilities, behavior, and daily environment should be thoroughly assessed before behavioral training and management begins. Parents, other family members, teachers, and caregivers of the autistic child should all be trained in these techniques.

  An intensive approach using behavior therapy, often called applied behavior analysis (ABA), is uniformly recommended by experts, including a recommendation by the U.S. surgeon general. The prototype program is called classic ABA and involves intensive, one-on-one work for 30 to 40 hours a week. More commonly now, therapists use a “modified" ABA that calls for ten to 12 hours per week of intensive work, allowing for time in school, other therapies, and social interactions with family members and peers.

  The goal of behavior therapy programs is to reinforce desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable ones. As an example, the child with autism is taught to perform tasks in a series of simple steps and is given a predictable schedule. The behavioral therapy is then continued at home.

  Often, both behavioral therapy and occupational therapy are given at the same time. The downside is that this type of therapy is expensive and often not covered by health insurance plans.

  6. Assess Your Child's Need for Medication

  While there is no medication for autism, there are drugs for specific symptoms that kids with autism might display. For example, short attention spans can sometimes be improved with stimulant drugs that are used to treat ADD or ADHD. Children with autism who have anxiety, depression, or 

  Drugs have a limited role in improving symptoms of autism. However, some may help prevent self-injury and other behaviors that are causing difficulty. Medicines may also take a child with autism to a functional level at which they can benefit from other treatments.

  6. Assess Your Child's Need for Medication continued...

  The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests targeting the main problem behaviors when considering medicines. Medicines that are sometimes used to treat behaviors related to autism include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (antidepressants) and antipsychotic medicines.

  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) include Celexa,Prozac, and Zoloft, for example. The high rate of effectiveness fordepression, anxiety, and obsessive, stereotypical behaviors has made these medicines a popular choice for managing autism. They may also improve general behavior, language, learning, and socialization. In addition, although SSRIs have side effects such as weight gain or loss,insomnia or drowsiness, and increased agitation, they tend to be less serious than those of antipsychotic medicines.

  Antipsychotic medicines, such as Haldol, Risperdal, Zyprexa, and thioridazine work by changing the effects of brain chemicals. They may help decrease problem behaviors that can occur with autism. A well-designed study found that Risperdal was effective for the treatment of tantrums, aggression, and self-harming behavior in children with autism. Both Risperdal and Abilify have been formally approved by the FDA for treating irritability and aggression in children with autism.

  However, these medicines can have side effects, including sleepiness, tremors, and weight gain. Their use is usually considered only after behavior management has failed to address the problem behaviors.

  Other medicines that are sometimes used for behavioral problems in autism include:

  • Catapres and Tenex. These medicines are typically used to lowerblood pressure, but are also used to treat impulsive and aggressive behaviors in children with autism. Kapvay and Intuniv, respectively, are longer-acting forms of these older agents, that have been FDA approved for use in hyperactive and impulsive individuals.
  • Lithium and anticonvulsants, such as carbamazepine and valproic acid. Children who are occasionally aggressive may become more stable when using these medicines, although monitoring the level of the drug in the body through regularly scheduled blood tests is required.

  The effectiveness of these medicines varies. Side effects are possible and should be discussed with your health professional. Some health professionals may advise going off a medicine temporarily in order to identify whether it is having a positive or negative effect on the child with autism.

  7. Learn More About Diet Changes

  Diet changes are based on the idea that food allergies cause symptoms of autism, and an insufficiency of a specific vitamin or mineral may cause some autistic symptoms. If you decide to try a special diet for a given period of time, be sure you talk to your pediatrician and a registered dietitian. The child's nutritional status must be assessed and carefully measured.

  One diet that some parents have found helpful is a gluten-free,casein-free (GFCF) diet. Gluten is acasein-like substance found in wheat, oats, rye, and barley. Caseinis the principal protein in dairy products such as milk. There is no scientific evidence to support the use of this diet in individuals with autism, so it's important to ask for guidance from your child's doctor or nutritionist to ensure your child is getting adequate nutritional value from his or her diet.

  The theory of the GFCF diet is that in autistic children these proteins result in an overproduction of opiates in the brain, contributing to social awkwardness and thwarting brain maturation. Since gluten and milk are found in many of the foods we eat, following a gluten-free, casein-free diet is extremely difficult.

  Parents of a child with autism who also has food allergies or intolerance may be more likely to attempt the restrictive GFCF diet. However, food sensitivities are not proven to be more common in children with autism than in normally developing children. Still, some parents claim benefit from restrictive diets.One supplement some parents feel is helpful for a child with autism is vitamin B-6, which is taken with a magnesium supplement. The results of research studies are mixed on vitamin B-6 and magnesium supplementation. While some children respond positively, others respond negatively or not at all. You need to be careful with "megavitamins." It's possible to overdose on magnesium when takingsupplements, and that can cause other neurological problems.

  8. Use Caution With Unproven Therapies for Autism

  The safety and effectiveness of some therapies used to treat autism are not known. Many unproven treatments circulate through websites, word of mouth, or the media. Most have not been subjected to thorough, sound research and are considered nonstandard and controversial. Even if someone else has found tremendous success with an "unproven" therapy, it's important to be cautious about a treatment for autism if:

  • The autism treatment is based upon oversimplified scientific theories.
  • It benefits more than one condition.
  • It provides dramatic and "miraculous" results.
  • The only available evidence is based upon a few stories (anecdotal evidence), testimonials, and little or no scientific research.
  • Specific treatment goals or target behaviors are not identified.
  • Controlled, scientific research is said not to be needed because there are no risks or side effects.

    8. Use Caution With Unproven Therapies for Autism continued...

    Examples of nonstandard, unproven therapies for autism that are receiving attention include:
  • Immune globulin therapy. An intravenous (IV) injection of immune globulin is based on the assumption that autism is caused by an autoimmune abnormality.
  • Secretin. This treatment uses an IV injection of secretin (a hormone that stimulates thepancreas and liver) to manage autistic behavior. Anecdotal reports have shown improvement in autism symptoms, including sleeppatterns, eye contact, language skills, and alertness. Severalclinical trials conducted in the last few years have found no significant improvements in symptoms between children with autism who received secretin and those who received a placebo.
  • Chelation therapy. Mercury exposure as a cause of autism is the basis for this therapy, which uses medications to help the body eliminate the toxins. Children with autism often have a craving for nonfood items or unusual diets that may result in mercury exposure; therefore, mercury exposure may be more of an effect of autism than a cause. Chelation therapy has caused several deaths in the U.S.
  • Auditory integration training (AIT). Based upon a theory that autism is caused by hearing problems that result in distorted sounds or oversensitivity to noises, this treatment delivers music through special devices.
  • Facilitated communication. This method uses a keyboard to assist communication. It has not been found to be helpful, and in some cases has been harmful.

    9. Plan Time for Breaks

    Many parents of children with autism feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and sometimes defeated. They talk about difficulties in their marriage and other relationships. While there is no quick fix for resolving detrimental emotions, you can take measures to protect yourself so your child's condition does not get in the way of your physical or emotional health.
    Review your calendar weekly. In the midst of the many appointments your child might have with speech or occupational therapists or otherhealth care professionals, write in "appointments" for yourself and your relationships. Schedule regular dates with your partner, other children in the family, and close friends.
    Exercise regularly. Keep up with the physical activities you enjoy. Eat abalanced diet and stay at a normal weight. Staying fit and healthy is essential to your physical and emotional wellness -- and to caring for a child with special needs.

    9. Plan Time for Breaks continued...

    Seek help if you or your partner is feeling persistently overwhelmed or depressed, or the stress of caring for child with autism is affecting your family relationship. Watch for signs of anger, resentment, or opposition from other children in the family. Your doctor can help you find a qualified individual, couples, or family therapist to help you figure out the best ways to cope.
    In addition, plan time for a break away from a child with autism. Trained personnel can help relieve you from these duties as needed. These breaks can help families communicate in a less stressful context and allow parents to focus on their relationships with their other children. Having regular breaks may also help a family continue to care for a child with autism at home rather than becoming so exhausted that they resort to institutional care. Government programs exist to help families who cannot afford this occasional care.
    Moms of kids with autism talk about having very close relationships with their children, as they organize the child's therapy, hire specialists, purchase supplies, and act as their child's advocate to receive the best treatment. The biggest payoff comes from a unique bond you can have with your child and the joy you receive in every developmental accomplishment.

    9. Plan Time for Breaks continued...

    Seek help if you or your partner is feeling persistently overwhelmed or depressed, or the stress of caring for child with autism is affecting your family relationship. Watch for signs of anger, resentment, or opposition from other children in the family. Your doctor can help you find a qualified individual, couples, or family therapist to help you figure out the best ways to cope.
    In addition, plan time for a break away from a child with autism. Trained personnel can help relieve you from these duties as needed. These breaks can help families communicate in a less stressful context and allow parents to focus on their relationships with their other children. Having regular breaks may also help a family continue to care for a child with autism at home rather than becoming so exhausted that they resort to institutional care. Government programs exist to help families who cannot afford this occasional care.
    Moms of kids with autism talk about having very close relationships with their children, as they organize the child's therapy, hire specialists, purchase supplies, and act as their child's advocate to receive the best treatment. The biggest payoff comes from a unique bond you can have with your child and the joy you receive in every developmental accomplishment.There's no doubt that raising a child with autism is the ultimate parenting challenge. But with the necessary support and ongoing training, you and your family can learn how to cope and work as a team.

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"Good relationships are vital to our mental health and wellbeing"

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Today I’m going to talk about this year’s theme, relationships.

Many of us take our relationships for granted. But they’re one of the most
important aspects of our lives. When I was growing up, it was the strong relationships I had with my mum, dad and siblings that helped me to flourish.

Some of you may not know this, but my dad was a bus driver and my mum was a seamstress. I was brought up on a council estate with my brothers and sister. There was a real sense of community on the estate. Families stayed near each other when they left home. They supported each other and built long-term friendships with their neighbours.

My parents were very clear about one thing: they wanted their children to do better than them. My siblings and I went to university or into good apprenticeships. Our parents had high hopes for us. This helping hand gave us the strength to fulfil our ambitions. It also helped me go onto have a happy and successful marriage of my own. I am lucky to have these support networks, but I am very aware that some people are not so lucky. 

Today, too many of us lack the vital support family and friends can bring. Positive relationships help us live longer, happier, healthier lives. They also help protect us from physical and mental health problems. In these days of social media, many of us have hundreds of 'friends'. What’s important to remember, is that it’s not the number of friends you have, but the quality of your close relationships that matters. 

I know that a significant minority of our fellow citizens feel isolated. A poll of a thousand Londoners found that over a quarter of them were lonely often or all of the time. The same number said there was little or no sense of community in their part of London. This figure rose to one in three for Londoners aged 65 and over. 

Many of us know that relationships are important. Yet, in our busy lives, we often let work and commitments get in the way. But our relationships need nurturing to survive. We need to invest time and effort to maintain good relationships.

I’m asking you to think about the quality of your relationships and what you can do to improve them. I’ve made my relationships resolution for Mental Health Awareness Week. What will yours be?

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10 False Things People Say About Low-Carb Diets

When arguing about nutrition, it can be hard to get your point across.

People often seem biased against ideas that don’t fit with their philosophy.

When the topic of low-carb turns up, many people dismiss it, call it a “fad” diet and say that it is either harmful or impossible to stick to.

Here are 10 things people say about low-carb diets that just don’t make sense.

1. Low Carb Diets Are Hard to Stick to

I often see the claim that excluding entire food groups can be hard and that it is impossible to sustain such an “extreme” change in the way you eat.

This point kind of makes sense. Not allowing yourself certain types of foods could lead to feelings of deprivation.

But the thing is, all diets restrict something. They either restrict food groups or restrict calories. For some people, the calorie restriction approach may be more feasible. But it is NOT the only way.

Many people don’t seem to understand how low-carb diets work and what their main advantage is when it comes to weight loss.

This is the fact that eating low-carb leads to automatic reduction in appetite andeffortless calorie restriction (1). Compare that to the low-fat, “balanced” diet – which requires you to count calories and be hungry!

This is a graph from one of the studies that compared low-carb and low-fat diets. The low-carb dieters are eating until fullness, while the low-fat dieters are calorie restricted (2).

I don’t know about you, but I hate being hungry. It is a very uncomfortable feeling.

If I get hungry, I eat!

If there is a diet plan out there that allows me to eat until fullness and still lose weight, then that sure is hell is the one I will choose.

2. Low Carb Diets Exclude Food Groups That Are Essential

It is true that if you want to reap the full benefits of low-carb, then you must remove certain food items from your diet.

These are primarily sugars and starches and include grains, legumes, candies, sugary soft drinks and other high carb foods.

If you want to go very low on the carbs and get into ketosis, you must also cut back on fruits.

Despite the hype about these foods, there is no actual need for them in the diet.

Humans didn’t have access to most of these foods throughout evolutionary history. We didn’t start eating grains until about 10.000 years ago and we certainly didn’t start eating processed junk foods until very recently.

There simply is NO nutrient in starchy or sugary foods that we can’t get in greater amounts from animal foods or vegetables.

And remember that low-carb diets are NOT no-carb. There’s room for plenty of vegetables, more than enough to satisfy your need for all the nutrients.

Bottom Line: There is no actual need for foods like grains in the diet. We can get all the nutrients from other foods in greater amounts.

3. Low Carb Diets Lead to a State Known as Ketosis, Which Causes Harm

Nutrition professionals often say that low-carb diets cause ketoacidosis, a medical emergency that can kill you.

Anyone with basic knowledge of biochemistry knows that this is completely false.

They’re confusing the words “ketosis” and “ketoacidosis” – which are vastly different.

Ketosis does happen on low-carb diets, especially when you eat under 50 grams of carbs per day.

When the body isn’t getting any carbs, it releases a lot of fats from the fat tissues, which go to the liver and are turned into so-called ketone bodies.

Ketone bodies are molecules that can cross the blood-brain barrier and provide energy for the brain when it isn’t receiving enough glucose.

This is the body’s natural response to a very low carb intake and also happens during starvation.

This is NOT to be confused with ketoacidosis, which is something that only happens in uncontrolled diabetes (mainly type I) and involves the bloodstream being flooded with glucose and ketone bodies in extremely large amounts.

Ketoacidosis is dangerous, that’s true. But that simply has NOTHING to do with low-carb diets.

The metabolic state of ketosis has been proven to be therapeutic in many ways. It can help with epilepsy, brain cancer and type II diabetes, to name a few (3, 4, 5).

Ketosis is a good thing, NOT something to be feared!

4. Low Carb Diets Are High in Saturated Fat and Therefore Dangerous

On a low-carb diet, you’re encouraged to eat foods like meat and eggs, which happen to be rich in saturated fat and cholesterol.

This is claimed to cause all sorts of problems, raise your LDL cholesterol and risk of heart disease and whatnot.

But the thing is, saturated fats and cholesterol aren’t bad for you. This is a myth that has never been proven.

A massive study that came out in 2010 looked at 21 prospective studies that included a total of 347.747 subjects. Their results: there is absolutely no association between saturated fat and heart disease (6).

Despite being high in saturated fat, low-carb diets lead to a reduction in blood levels of saturated fat, because they become the body’s preferred fuel source (7).

Saturated fats in the diet raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and change LDL from small, dense (very, very bad) to Large LDL – which is harmless (8, 9).

We can say the same for foods that are high in cholesterol.

For example, eggs have been demonized by nutrition professionals and the media. Despite the fear mongering, consuming eggs does NOT raise your bad LDL or your risk of heart disease (10, 11).

If anything, eggs are among the healthiest foods on the planet and eating them can provide various health benefits.

Bottom Line: Eating saturated fats or cholesterol is not harmful in any way. This is a myth that has been proven to be completely false.

5. Low Carb Diets Are Not Proven to be Safe in The Long Term

I often hear claims that low-carb diets are not proven to be safe in the long term.

This is not true. We do have randomized studies that went on for as long as 2 years, with no adverse effects and nothing but positive effects on health (12).

There is absolutely no reason to believe that these diets should cause problems down the line.

There are several populations around the world that have eaten almost no carbohydrates for very long periods of times (their whole lives).

These include the Inuit, which ate almost no plant foods, and the Masai in Africa which ate mostly meat and drank raw milk and blood.

Both of these populations ate lots of meat and fat, were in excellent health, with no evidence of many of the chronic diseases that are killing Western populations by the millions.

But what we DO have are long-term studies on low-fat diets. In the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest randomized controlled trial ever on diet, low-fat diets were proven to be completely ineffective.

After 7.5 years, the low-fat dieters weighed only 0.4 kg (1 pound) less than women eating the standard western junk food diet. There was also no reduction in heart disease (13, 14).

Bottom Line: Studies showing health benefits of low-carb have gone for as long as 2 years. Populations that have eaten low-carb, high-fat diets for long periods of time are in excellent health.

6. Most of The Weight Loss on Low Carb Diets is Water Weight

It is true that in the first week or so, people on low-carb diets lose a lot of water weight.

The glycogen stores in the muscles and liver go down and along with them the water they tend to hold on to.

Additionally, low-carb diets reduce insulin levels, which cause the kidneys to release some of the sodium and water they are holding on to (15, 16).

But after you’ve lost that initial amount of water weight then you will continue to lose weight, but this time it’s coming from your body fat stores.

A study that used DEXA scanners, which can measure body composition with supreme accuracy, revealed that low-carb caused 3.4 kg (7.5 pounds) of fat loss and 1.1 kg (2.4 pounds) of muscle gain in only 6 weeks (17).

Another study that compared low-carb and low-fat diets showed that the low-carb group lost significantly more body fat, especially from the abdominal area where the “unhealthiest” fat in the body is (18).

Bottom Line: In the first week of low-carb eating, a lot of excess water is shed from the body. After that, the weight is coming from body fat stores.

7. Low Carb Diets Lead to Deficiencies in Vital Nutrients

Certain foods in the western diet actually lead to areduction in nutrient absorption.

Grains, for example, are very high in a substance calledphytic acid, which hinders absorption of iron, zinc and calcium from the diet (19).

Additionally, avoiding wheat (including whole wheat) should lead to improvements in Vitamin D levels, because wheat fiber has been shown to reduce blood levels of this very important vitamin (20).

Low-carb diets don’t contain wheat, are low in phytic acid and therefore don’t contain substances that “steal” nutrients from the body.

Most natural, unprocessed foods that are high in fat like eggs, meat, fish and nuts areincredibly nutritious and especially rich in fat soluble vitamins, which low-fat diets lack.

Low-carb diets tend to be high in vegetables. Personally I had never eaten as many vegetables as I did when I started eating low-carb. Now I eat vegetables with every meal.

Not a single one of the studies on low-carb diets in adults has demonstrated any signs of a nutrient deficiency!

Bottom Line: Low-carb diets allow for plenty of nutritious animal foods and vegetables, which provide all the nutrients necessary for humans.

8. Low Carb Diets Don’t Supply Carbs That The Brain Needs to Function

According to certain health authorities, the recommended daily minimum for carbohydrate is 130 grams.

The reason is that the brain is assumed to be dependent on glucose for fuel.

This is half true. There are certain neurons in the brain that can’t burn anything but glucose, but other parts of the brain can do just fine with ketone bodies.

When we eat very little carbs, our requirement for glucose goes down. Some parts of the brain start burning ketone bodies instead of glucose.

Even when we eat zero carbohydrates (which I don’t recommend btw), the body can produce ALL the glucose it needs out of proteins and fats via a process known asgluconeogenesis 

Low-carb diets don’t starve the brain, they don’t make you feel slow (unless perhaps in the first few days while you’re adapting) and they give the brain a stable source of energy throughout the day.

When your brain is burning ketones for fuel, you won’t experience the same blood sugar crashes and afternoon dips in energy. Personally my energy never feels as stable as when I’ve been eating little carbs for many days in a row.

Bottom Line: The body can produce all the glucose it needs from proteins and fats if it isn’t getting any from the diet.

9. Low Carb Diets Raise Your Risk of Heart Disease

It used to be “common knowledge” that a low-carb, high-fat diet would raise your risk of all sorts of diseases, most notably heart disease.

This hypothesis has been tested and proven to be false.

Since the year 2002, over 20 randomized controlled trials have been performed that compare low-carb and low-fat diets. They all lead to a similar conclusion.

Low-carb diets:

1. Reduce body fat much more than low-fat diets, even though the low-carb groups are allowed to eat until fullness (2, 22).
2. Cause a greater reduction in blood pressure (23, 24).
3. Lower blood sugar and improve symptoms ofdiabetes (25, 26).
4. Lower blood triglycerides much more (27, 28).
5. Change the pattern of LDL (the “bad”) cholesterol from small, dense LDL (very bad) to Large LDL (29, 30).
6. Increase HDL (the good) cholesterol much more than low-fat diets (31).

They improve ALL biomarkers of health MORE than the low-fat diet still recommended by the authorities.

Still, many nutrition professionals have the audacity to claim that low-carb diets aredangerous and continue to peddle their failed low-fat dogma that is literally hurting more people than it helps.

Bottom Line: Low-carb diets actually improve all biomarkers of health much more than the low-fat diet still peddled by the mainstream.

10. Low Carb Diets Are Not Proven to Work

Fortunately, despite the low-carb diet nowhere to be found in mainstream guidelines, health professionals are taking notice.

Many doctors and quite a few dietitians have seen these studies and acknowledged low-carb, real-food based diets and started using them in their practice.

At the end of the day, there are few things as well proven in nutrition as the superiority of low-carb diets compared to the standard of care, a calorie restricted, low-fat diet (32, 33, 34).

Low-carb diets are the easiest, healthiest AND most effective way to lose weight and reverse metabolic disease like diabetes.

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