Low carb diets are really nothing new. The first known recorded low-carbohydrate diet to have enjoyed popular success was described by William Banting in the 1860s. Banting claimed that he lost 46 pounds in a year while never being hungry; thousands followed his diet regime. Today the low-carbohydrate crusader is Dr. Robert Atkins. Low carbohydrate diets are all the rage these days. Everyone from fast food restaurants to multi-national conglomerates seem to be jumping on the low carb bandwagon. There is a myriad of confusing and conflicting information out there regarding the merits and safety of these diets. Low carb advocates and antagonists alike cite studies and medical research to back up their opposing views.  How are we suppose to wade through all this conflicting information and decide if a low carb diet is a safe and sound plan to regain and maintain our health.

As with any popular diet or diet product, it's imperative to understand what's behind all the hype and take it all with a healthy dose of very rational skepticism. Just because a particular diet is wildly popular does not mean it's based on good science or sound nutritional principles. Some, including Atkins, have their own research facilities and cite heavily from their own research or short term studies. Of course these always validate their desired outcome. The diet industry is big business for diet book publishers, diet aid and supplement retailers, advertisement and marketing firms, and food products manufacturers who find clever ways to market their products to dieters. They prey upon the public's desire for a quick and easy way to lose weight. It has been estimated that Americans spent 48 billion dollars in 2004 on diet related products^[8] ––that's very big business.

That said, not all of these diets are all bad or completely bogus. In fact, most will help you shed some excess weight––at least initially. Popular low carb diets will certainly do that, but can you eat like that for the rest of your life? That's a major consideration and the question needs to be asked and answered with brutal self-honestly. One of the problems with diets is that even if people do initially lose some weight, they eventually go off the diet and regain the weight. They get tired of the menu. Their relationship to food and fundamental behavior hasn't changed. Their old eating patterns reemerge. This sets them up for the yo-yo dieting syndrome which is very unhealthy and has led many an overweight individual into the nightmare realm of clinically severe or morbid obesity.

Low Carb Basics

Too simply put, low carb diets are based on the idea that overweight people consume too many carbohydrates. Your body burns both carbohydrates and fat for energy. So by limiting the amount of carbohydrates you eat, you lose weight because your body burns the stored fat. Low carb diets are not based on principles that are accepted widely by the scientific community.

The Atkins diet suggest a four-phase eating plan in conjunction with vitamin and mineral supplementation and regular exercise. The first or "induction" phase as they call it,  is very strict in terms of consuming carbohydrates and is said to "kick-start" weight loss. The fourth or "lifetime maintenance" phase is somewhat more reasonably balanced restricting simple carbs like sweets, starchy foods, and most junk food products and limiting other carbs like fruits, pasta, and grains, to hold overall carb consumption to a "maintenance" level.

Common Sense?

It's very important to check with your doctor before starting a low-carb or any other diet. This warning is really more than just words, especially for a very obese person or a person with any kind of eating disorder. There's no need to try and do this alone.

Low-carb claims on food labels have no legal definitions in the U.S.A. and are essentially meaningless. The Food and Drug Administration is considering possible rules for them. Health Canada has announced that it will ban all “lowcarb” labeling. The agency concluded that there is no solid evidence to support carb related health claims.

Traditional concepts of good nutrition and common sense tell us that sweets, junk food, and nutritionally deficient starchy white ingredients, are not conducive to optimal health or weight loss. These substances are often referred to as "empty calories". They are composed primarily of simple carbohydrates (sugars or things that quickly turn to sugars in the digestive system). They tend to be mostly high in calories, but offer very little in the way of the necessary nutrients to sustain our bodies.

One of the end results of the Atkins diet is a serious reduction in the amount of sugar and junk food (empty calories) one eats. Most of these are simple carbohydrates. Isn't giving up things like donuts and candy just about the first thing one thinks of when considering ways to shed those extra pounds? Excluding all the "low-carb" highly processed gimmick products on the market, the Atkins diet also promotes the concept of eating more nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods and less highly processed packaged foods. This leads to an overall decrease in empty calories and subsequently calories in general. Wouldn't you think that a style of eating based on whole natural foods that restricts junk food a huge improvement for most of us?

Reality Check

Researchers have found that people who have lost weight with low carb dieting have also reduced the amount of calories they eat^[1]. This as a coincidental byproduct of a successful low carb diet. There really is no definitive study that ends all the controversy about low carb diets and won't be until several independent researchers do multi-year verifiable and repeatable studies. Yet, when we think things through logically and ignore the claims of the promoters or other's who may have a monetary interest, it's not hard to see many of the possible merits and possible pitfalls of low carb diets and make wise and healthy choices.

To suggest to a person with a compulsive eating or binge eating disorder to "eat liberally of combinations of fat and protein" as they do in the Atkins "Induction" phase, is an open invitation to failure. No human being can eat five pounds of cheese, bacon, and sausage a day and lose weight. Any eating plan designed to help a seriously overweight individual to shed excess weight will require moderation and common sense. Many researchers have surmised that calorie restriction under the popular low carb diets is a result of diet monotony and other side effects of eating an unbalanced diet.

The National Cancer Institute recommends a diet that is high in fiber. There's a huge body of evidence that suggests that the risk for many cancers is likely to increase when most fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans are eliminated from the diet. The American College of Preventive Medicine recommends a daily fiber intake of at least 24 grams per day^[2]. Further, they advise against all diets advocating restricted intake of grains, vegetables, or fruits. Low carb diets are by their nature likely to be fiber deficient and well below prevailing guidelines.

According to The University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health's, November 2004 Wellness Newsletter, the foods promoted on Atkins-type diets—notably red meat, butter, and cream—are high in saturated fat and thus may increase the risk of heart disease (regardless of the effect on cholesterol) and many types of cancer.

Research data pertaining to blood pressure control^[3] cardiovascular disease prevention^[4,5] and diabetes prevention^[6] supports a diet rich in grains and plant foods, along with either a restriction of fat intake, or a shift from saturated and trans-fats to monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Gail Frank, PhD, spokesperson for The American Dietetic Association and professor of nutrition at California State University says "The body needs a minimum of carbohydrates for efficient and healthy functioning––about 150 grams daily."  

It is easier to feel a sense of satiety when eating protein. For example, it's not that hard to imagine eating a dozen cookies and most binge eaters have probably eaten that many and more at a sitting, but try eating a dozen hard boiled eggs. Examples such as this abound in low carb literature, however nutrient dense high fiber vegetables and whole grains help bring and maintain a sense of satiety too. Additionally, they do help maintain a steady blood sugar level and keep insulin levels in balance––a fact most low carb literature ignores.

Low carb diets don't appear to be any easier to maintain over the long haul than any other style of diet. Two studies published in the May 2003, New England Journal of Medicine found that after a year, 4 in 10 people on the Atkins diet dropped out. They also found that 4 in 10 people doing a traditional calorie restricted diet dropped out. Both studies reported a small advantage at six months for low carb diets, however by 12 months this advantage had disappeared.^[9]

Low carb diets do appear to have better short term weight loss results than low fat diets and some trials have indicated that they do improve cholesterol levels on many people, sometimes to a better degree than traditional low fat diets. But short term results don't really relate in any meaningful way to improved long term health. Long-term studies still need to be done. In the mean time, countless studies have proven the benefits of a well rounded approach to nutrition that includes abundant complex carbohydrates and a reduction of saturated fats.

The American Heart Association advises against the popular low carb diets for several reasons:

• They produce short-term weight loss through dehydration.
• Weight loss may also occur through caloric restriction because the diets are relatively unpalatable over time.
• The high fat content may be harmful to the cardiovascular system in the long run.
• Improvement in cholesterol levels and insulin management are due to weight loss, not the specific type of diet.
• They are especially risky for individuals that have diabetes because the high levels of protein can speed the progression of diabetic kidney disease^[7].

Conclusions

Is It Possible to Follow the Atkins Diet Healthfully?  And if not, is there a way to tweak the low-carbohydrate plan to make it more nutritious for those people who want to try it to lose weight?  Researchers at Tufts University attempted to see if there was any way to reconcile Dr. Atkins’s weight-loss instructions with the principles of good nutrition accepted by the health-promoting community at large. Their findings regarding all four phases of the diet: No and no. Click here to see the article.

I believe it's smart to take what you need and leave the rest. Not only from this web site, but with any popular diet or nutritional philosophy including the now popular low carb diets. Eating nutritionally dense whole foods instead of highly processed TV dinners and frozen pizza is logical and wise. Cutting out the sweets and chips is too. Eating fried pork rinds for snacks like the Atkins folks suggest is nothing but a slow form of suicide. Limiting or giving up seriously healthy foods like oatmeal, brown rice, beans, yams, apples, and carrots, may lead to other health issues and long term deficiencies. Making foods like cheese, bacon, butter, and greasy saturated fats the larger portion of your daily diet might also be an unhealthy choice. Perhaps modifying the usual low carb diet by making protein choices from lean meats and fish would be a prudent alternative. Moreover, you could choose to use protein sources that are high in omega 3 oils and lower in saturated fats. That's a heart smart move in any case.

Restricting man made simple carbohydrates for both weight loss and long term health benefits does make sense. Risking ones health by following a fad or popular diet that restricts entire food groups to improve ones health does not. Beans, oats, carrots, apples, squash, corn, and peas, are part of the abundance of the earth and should be part of a healthy diet. Eating a variety of foods from all of the natural food groups insures we get the broadest selection of nutrients to reduce our risk factors for diabetes, heart disease,  various cancers, and to restore and maintain health. In the final analysis, there is simply no way to get around the fact that calories do count. The focus should be on improving overall health including emotional health and changing to a healthier lifestyle, and weight loss will be a byproduct of that.

I've never heard any health or nutrition professional claim that fried pork rinds, heavy cream, sausage, cheese, and bacon, have any anti-cancer, anti-aging and anti-heart disease properties. However I've consistently heard experts attribute those same qualities to grains, beans, fresh fruit, and vegetables—nearly all of them high carbohydrate foods. By giving up plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, you effectively cut yourself off from most of the phytonutrients and fiber that protect against the very diseases that the saturated fat and high cholesterol choices on a strict low carb diet can cause. Leading nutrition and medical groups caution against the use of low-carb diets because of the increased risk for such serious health problems as kidney and liver disorders, gout, coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and several types of cancer.

The maintenance phase of the Atkins diet might be a reasonable food plan to follow if you seriously limit the saturated and trans-fats and substitute fish, raw nuts, avocado, and cold pressed vegetable oils. You would also want to add plenty of whole grains and vegetables with complex carbohydrates. There's no way I could support the concepts in the first three phases for an extremely obese person or a person with a compulsive eating disorder (or anyone else for that matter). They may be dangerous and at the very least, nutritionally deficient. There simply is no reason to suffer the dehydration, foul stools, headaches, and bad breath of the induction phase. That water weight loss and symptoms of ketosis have nothing to do with getting healthy, dealing with Binge Eating Disorder in a healthy and constructive way, or long term weight management success.

Remember that the process of weight gain is usually slow and gradual. Regaining one's health and getting to a stable and healthy weight is also a gradual and long term process. We don't become obese overnight and we won't get thinner overnight. Successful weight loss involves learning new behaviors. It is a  lifestyle changing process that develops gradually as we acclimate to these changes over time.

I believe that Dr. Atkins was well ahead of the pack on some nutritional concepts. Primarily that all fat isn't bad and that most man made simple carbohydrates are responsible for a lot of disease and obesity. That thinking is now becoming mainstream and scientifically verified, however it has been known by dieticians and nutritional researchers prior to Atkins publishing efforts. As early as 1957, the American Heart Association was suggesting we eat less saturated fat and more unsaturated, but before long they decided that was to complex an idea for the general public and began promoting an overall low fat diet. There are now low-carb diets, such as The South Beach Diet that offer to some degree, a more modern and somewhat healthier alternative to Atkins, stressing high fiber foods, fresh vegetables, lean meats, and healthy unsaturated fats. Honestly, eating a lot of fatty sausage, bacon, cheese, and eggs while
slashing whole grains, fruit and vegetable consumption defies all nutrition logic.

Much of the press seems to continue to enjoy speaking of low-carb diets as being all about bacon cheeseburgers without the bun and big juicy steaks smothered in butter That simply is not accurate, at least not any more. Frankly, when I read the first Atkins book, there wasn't really much there about oxidized fats, trans-fats and their dangers, and the benefits of complex carbohydrates and fiber, but the low-carb industry has seemed to evolved. Not only in it's marketing, which in business terms has been nothing short of amazing, but to a point, in it's science. Atkins and other low-carb diets certainly merit more scientific study. The real truth of the low fat verses low carb debate probably lies somewhere in the middle.

For more information on low-carb diets see The Partnership for Essential Nutrition's web site.

An interesting science based and admittedly biased web site about the problems with the Atkins diet, http://www.atkinsfacts.org

This web site is for informational purposes only and is not meant to serve as medical advice or to replace consultation with a professional dietician, nutritionist, physician, or mental health professional. None of the information presented within this web site is meant to diagnose, prescribe, or to administer to any physical or emotional ailments or conditions.