low carb for overall health

Question
Thank you so much for your time.  I am a 35 year old three year breast cancer survivor.  Since being in remission I have strived to eat as healthy as I can.  I know researched nutrition a lot and found that cancerous tumors feed on sugars.  Because of that during my chemo, I stopped drinking soda, limited sweets to maybe once a week and now I am furthering this diet even further to limiting my carbs.  When I first started this low carb diet, I lost 15 pounds.  I wasn't overweight to begin with so this weight loss was not exactly wanted.  I am now on a more whole grains diet.  I eat bread but only the most whole grain I can find.  I don't eat pasta or potatoes.  The problem is that I do not want to lose weight. I actually would like to gain weight.  Is that possible while maintaining my low carb, sugar diet? Any books on this diet?  Thank you!

Answer
Hi Tanya

This is really a 2-part question.  First, I will say to start that I am not a big fan of "lo-carb" diets per se because I believe most people find them hard to stick with and they can easily be taken to unhealthful nutritional balance.

I am however strongly supportive of "low glycemic diets"  which  are quite different than "lo-carb" diets, although the two terms are often confused or even (incorrectly) used interchangeably.  For more on this, see my page on Why Choose a Low Glycemic Diet?.

Now as to the question of GAINING weight on such a diet, yes it is certainly feasible.  Remember, eating low glycemic foods only refers to the particular food choice's impact on blood sugar levels; eating low carb foods only refers to the foods biochemical composition (i.e., carbs, fats, or proteins).  NEITHER of these parameters says anything at all about caloric content - and that is a primary determinant of weight gain/loss.

If you eat enough low carb (or low glycemic) foods, you can certainly take in enough calories to gain weight - no problem.

Try snacking on a pound of nuts a day and I will bet you anything you start to put on weight. Cheese, butter, etc are all loaded with calories and they will turn into fat if you take in more than you burn.

But, I would suggest you gain the weight you wish to add by eating more frequent meals and snacks, in BALANCED proportions.  I would (if I were you and wanted to gain weight) eat 4 or five moderate meals each day with a balance of roughly 30% HEALTHY carbs, 30% HEALTHY fats, and 40% protein.  Add a few snacks of similar nutritional content if that alone does not do the trick.

Please be aware that I am NOT a medical professional and base this answer solely upon my expertise as a professional vertebrate biologist and my own personal experience with dieting and research into such matters.  Every person is different in how they respond to different diets, and you should always consult with your physician and get approval before embarking on a new dietary regime.

best of luck

Bill

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