The low carb diet. You’ll find it everywhere – it’s in the headlines, it’s at the bookstore, it’s even on Oprah. Everywhere you look, people are talking about it. This is a diet where you turn Canada’s Food Guide for Healthy Eating upside down and avoid pasta, rice and bread, but eat lots of meat, cheese and fats. These are the foods that most people really want to eat anyway, yet avoid because science considers them to be unhealthy. How could this be the magic key to losing weight? This diet is like those bad infomercials you see on TV. They’ll convince almost anyone to buy anything. I’ll be willing to bet that most of you have a food dehydrator or an ab-roller lying around somewhere. I hear about all kinds of people who claim to have lost weight with this diet. Even my husband asked me if he should try it. The unfortunate reality is that things that appear to be too good to be true usually are.
My father is an accountant/financial planner. Every year I watch my father try different diets to try and lose weight after income tax season, and every year I watch him put the weight back on. This year he is on the no sugar diet. He informed me of this last weekend when we went out for lunch. He ordered a tuna salad, with no bread. I am betting the weight will be back on by June. My best friend, also a dietitian, has a father who is an engineer. Every fall he has to go maintain an industrial size dryer where he has to crawl through a hole to get inside. All summer long he diets to be able to fit through this hole and not get stuck like Winnie the Pooh. One of his most successful diets was the ice cream and hot dog diet. He lost a lot of weight very quickly on a low carb, high protein diet by only eating ice cream and hot dogs. Shortly after crawling through the hole, he resumed his regular diet and gained back all the weight. These diets are attractive to both fathers and most people, because they offer instant gratification with very little effort.
There are concrete reasons why health care professionals are concerned about low carbohydrate, high protein diets. The most obvious problem is the saturated fat. Eating less carbohydrates and consuming more protein ultimately leads to higher saturated fat in the diet. Some, like Dr. Atkins, claim that eating high fat foods will help in the weight loss process. All this really does, is help increase your risk for heart disease. Another concern, is the lack of variety found in these diets. Cutting down on carbohydrates decreases the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, thus reducing your fiber intake. Dehydration is another factor associated with these diets. Drinking lots of water is always a good idea, if you are on a diet or not.
Ultimately, the popularity of these diets is due in large part to successful marketing. Let’s face it, the typical mixed diet that most dietitians and doctors recommend is pretty boring, but if you really want lose some weight and keep it off, there’s no substitute for eating right and exercising. Remember you are what you eat, so eat healthy to stay healthy.
© 2002 Caryn J. Roll. This information is published and may not be reprinted.