I was reading the 40/30/30 Forumula book and it claims that low carb diets create both fat and muscle loss! I don't want to loose muscle but i do want to loose my last ten pounds! The book even said that low carb or low fat diets are bad for psychological brain "chemical" health. I was diagnosed with a anxiety disorder and I really need a diet that will help correct brain chemical imbalance. I wanted to do the Zone diet but if i do the diet then i'll miss my lovely reward meal where i can actually have such foods as rice! Rice is a staple food from where i live so wherever i go i see rice. I'm afraid that CAD will affect my brain chemicals and make my anxiety disorder worse. So my question is what is the truth? Is CAD bad for muscle and brain health or not?

Both CAD and Atkins provide for adequate protein levels to protect against muscle loss and have sufficient fat for brain health. It is low fat diets that are detrimental to both muscle and brain function.

Any diet that's hypocaloric will yield muscle loss, bone loss and fat loss, it's basic physiology.

Your body will keep you alive as long as possible, drawing from multiple sources to fill the void in energy needs. If you were able to diet the smart way by cutting calories marginally and exercising the fat off that's a different story.

This is basically why most everyone falls off these low carb diets. The body can survive in a low carb environment, but unless you're extremely well adapted to living in such a way it's pretty tough to pass up on the anabolic muscle building carbs.

Balanced is a much better option if you don't have blood sugar issues and have at least some general control over your appetite.

PS: CAD is not all that great for muscle health at all. Considering the fact that insulin is what feeds your muscles, one insulin release every 24 hours is a real good way to loose muscle. The zone shoots for small controled insulin release all throughout the day which is a favorable environment for muscle health. This is partly why body builders want to eat 6 or 7 times a day. Go to www.johnstonefitness.com if you really want to learn about all this stuff.

BD231
I'm glad the Zone works for you. It doesn't work for all. Eating 6 or 7 times a day doesn't work for carbohydrate addicts (CAs) because a CA releases too much insulin when eating and the amount released increases with every meal.

I believe you might be mistaken about insulin's role in building muscle. Insulin tells the body to store fat. That's why CAs and those with insulin resistance (which affects many overweight people to some extent) really need to conrol insulin.

I can't do the 6 meals a day due to insulin as well zu!

If anyone can it's the best thing to do though, complete nitrogen balance just feels so darn good (think carb loaded feeling in your muscles 24/7). The body cannot push nutrients/glucose/protein into muscle tissue without insulin, the 3 all important factors to muscle health/growth.

Yes insulin pushes "excess" glucose into fat stores once your muscle tissue is full, the bodies first priority is always to saturate muscle tissue with needed glycogen when carbs are eaten. Without insulin muscle gain is almost impossible without "LOADS" of protein.

Kitana89
Doesn't look like you have much, if any weight to lose. But, if you are wanting to add more muscle while staying lean...you might want to check out the warrior diet.
Watcher16 has posted a lot of info on it.
I am just starting to use the principles right now, so I'll keep you updated on the results.

The fat flush plan is supposed to balance brain chemicals while maintaining muscle. I was able to lose well on it but became too much of a perfectionist to follow it. It allows brown rice during maintainance. I love rice too! I like all kinds! I am going back to CAD while adopting some of what I learned about the FFPlan and incorperating that. (Good things for any diet such as eating whole foods, no chemicals, grass feed meats, organic when possible, cranwater for liver health and water retention...)

It will hopefully help me stay healthy yet provide some of the benifits of CAD!

In my opinion the only way you can actually prevent muscle loss is by Strenght Training during any diet. Muscles were meant to move, so if you just sit and don't exercise, even when esting the best diet possible you will end up losing muscle mass.