Katherine B. Chauncey - Low-Carb Diet For Dummies

Heart disease was increasing and was correlated with high cholesterol. Scientists discovered that saturated fat increased cholesterol levels in the blood. Scientists also sensed that people were slowly becoming a little fatter. A fat gram contained twice the number of calories of protein or carbohydrate grams, so a good way to reduce the number of calories people ate was to reduce the number of fat grams consumed.

Fat was also blamed for cancer and a host of other diseases.

The low-fat diet approach enjoyed almost universal acceptance and respect from the scientific community and the public. Fat in any form was demonized. And, the concept of low fat being healthy became deeply ingrained in society. Along with the lowering of fat in the diet was the recommendation to replace the fat with carbohydrate foods that were virtually devoid of fat.

Then the low-carbohydrate diet started making another comeback with not only its good results in blood glucose and weight loss, but also good results in blood cholesterol parameters. Media headlines questioned the honesty of the low-fat diet, and nutrition scientists were accused of waffling on their nutrition advice. Obesity was worse than ever, now at epidemic proportions; cancer was also just as bad as ever, accompanied by increases in diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pain, and heartburn. Heartburn became more sophisticated and was renamed gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). And a “new” disease phenomena appeared on the scene dastardly labeled at first as Syndrome X and later as metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is actually the manifestation of insulin resistance and is considered a strong risk factor for heart disease. (Check out Chapter 4for more information on metabolic syndrome.) Accusers pointed directly at carbohydrate as the villain. The low-fat diet, which recommended carbohydrate as a substitute for fat, was dealt a blow. Even the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Pyramid was included as an enabler and was eventually eliminated.

So, where is the truth? Is it the very-low-fat diet? No. Is it the very-low-carb diet? No. Do people need to eat less fat? Yes. Do people need to eat less carbohydrate? Yes. In fact, people need to eat less of just about everything. In the era of the very-low-fat-diet or very-low-carb diet, eating was relegated to math. You were allowed 20 grams of fat or 30 grams of carbohydrate depending on which plan you followed. So, the only important thing was how many grams of fat or carbohydrate were in the food. The quality of the food didn’t matter.

Two other factors played a role in this nutritional thinking:

Scientists discovered the glycemic index to evaluate carbohydrate quality. The glycemic index measures equal quantities of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels. Refer to Chapter 3and Appendix Afor more information.

Healthcare providers now use not only total cholesterol value to assess heart disease risk, but also a lipid profile to evaluate other cholesterol factors in the blood. A lipid profile includes the following:Total cholesterolLow density cholesterol (LDL)High density cholesterol (HDL)Triglycerides (TG)

Flip to Chapter 4for more about cholesterol and triglycerides. The following sections discuss the fallacies in the low-fat and low-carb dietary approaches. They encourage you to start looking at the quality of the food you eat and not just how many grams of fat or carb the food contains.

Americans are heavier than ever before, despite the fact that they’re reducing the percentage of calories consumed from fat. Popular diet books and the media immediately targeted carbohydrates as the bad guys and labeled them fattening. What was ignored is the fact that the average American consumes 40,000 calories more (over the course of a year) than they did previously. The real message should be that excess calories from any source will result in increased body weight. High-carbohydrate diets recommend that the carbohydrate comes from fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, and dairy, but high-carb diets also impose a tight restriction on fat, which leads to a higher consumption of fat-free and reduced-fat snack foods.

One thing the advocates of the low-fat diet didn’t plan on was the abundance of fat-free foods that would become available. The low-fat message became distorted into counting fat grams. Therefore, fat-free foods just became free foods in people’s minds. The fat in sweet rolls, cookies, cake, and crackers was replaced with sugar or other refined sweeteners. Intake of fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains, the preferred replacement for fat, increased some, but it still fell short of the recommended goals.

The low-carb diet isn’t new. In fact, a London coffin maker and undertaker named William Banting devised it to treat his own obesity. He had become so obese that he had to walk downstairs backwards to keep from falling. He lost 50 pounds on the diet and published a pamphlet, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, in 1864. Banting declared the diet a “cure for extreme corpulence.”

His cure became so popular that the word banting became a synonym for dieting in the English language. The diet also caught the interest of Americans in the late 1800s and became popular. However, in the next century, it was labeled the “Banting Scheme” because it was full of unproven medical lingo and followers of the plan often developed gout. Since those early days, the low-carb diet approach has resurfaced about every 25 years and is always controversial.

With carbohydrate at an all-time high and the health of the country as bad as ever, the low-carb diet rose in favor. People following the low-carb diet attest to its effectiveness and proudly proclaim the number of pounds lost. So if it’s effective in losing weight as so many contend, then what’s the problem?

Most low-carb diets count grams of carbohydrate regardless of the food source. So “good” carbs, such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy, are eliminated solely because they contain carbohydrate. If you follow these restrictions, you’re eliminating vital nutrients, phytochemicals, and fiber (see Chapter 3). Certainly, everyone needs to eat less carbohydrate, but the decrease needs to come mainly from refined flour and sugar products. You must take into consideration the quality of the carbohydrate you eat.

Another problem is that low-carb diets tend to be high in fat and protein. Many interpret the low-carb diet as a license to load up on bun-less burgers, steaks, sausages, eggs, and bacon. Unfortunately, this approach can have potentially negative health effects.

Whether you count grams of fat or count grams of carbohydrate, you’re still using a calculator to make your food choices. Give me a break! Who wants to eat a calculator? Counting all fats the same and counting all carbohydrates the same is misleading. You should definitely include some fats in your diet and you should definitely include some carbohydrates. For the full story on fats, take a peek at Chapter 8. For the lowdown on quality carbs, see Chapters 5and 6.

The modern western diet includes more calories, larger portion sizes, and increased frequency of eating. The modern western diet is characterized by all the following:

More soft drinks and sweeteners

More salty snacks

More cookies and snack foods

Eating out more often, especially in fast-food restaurants

Larger portion sizes, especially of soft drinks and french fries

Increased convenience, microwaveable, and processed foods