Home > Your Personal Side > Low Carb Diets — Just a Passing Phase???

We are in the middle of a new diet craze. No longer are we counting calories or worrying about fat grams. All we want to see on the label is “LOW-CARB”! If a product has these two little words, or anything close, we are sold… no questions asked. Maybe it’s time to rethink that strategy.

Someone has to start questioning the true benefit of these products and why shouldn’t it be you? You’re paying more for them, sometimes a lot more, so don’t you want to know what you’re really getting? How much better are these foods in the long run? How will they help us lose weight? With as many questions flooding the experts as new products hitting the shelves, for once, even the experts don’t have the answers.

Total Carb Confusion

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It’s not surprising that the geniuses in marketing are out of the boardroom and in the supermarkets way before the scientists are out of the labs. Food companies everywhere are jumping on the low-carb bandwagon, but essentially they are making up there own rules as to what exactly this means. Some manufactures are actually subtracting carbs from fiber and sugar alcohols, which they say don’t cause a rapid spike in blood sugar, from the total carb count. That number is then listed on the front of the package and is considerably lower than the total number listed on the nutritional label.

Does this whole process seem a little bit like a marketing free-for-all? Well, in a way, it is. That’s because the FDA has not legally defined the term “low-carbohydrate”. The FDA will only begin to approach the subject in February. It will likely take months to implement any kind of new stricter standards on the labeling of low-carbohydrate foods.

Honest Easy Weight Loss? Fat Chance.

It’s estimated that currently 10 to 24 million Americans are following some type of low-carb diet, be it Atkins, South Beach, The Zone or one of the many others. With all these people on low-carb diets it must mean they work, right? Not necessarily. Unfortunately a study large enough hasn’t been done to actually prove the long-term results of low-carb diets. But a handful of smaller studies released in 2003 report that low-carbohydrate diets may be more effective for short-term weight loss.

While it seems like half our nation is dieting, why are we still getting fatter? Well, many nutritionists are saying that they are seeing a diet trend that resembles that of 15 years ago when “low fat” was our label of choice. Here’s the problem, people are believing that because a label says “low-carbs” or “reduced-carbs” it must mean it’s fine to eat. It’s the same thinking that came into play when all people did was count fat grams and wondered why their waist-line wasn’t going down but rather up. Ultimately, people have to realize that it is just wrong to think that the calories in “low-carb” labeled foods don’t count.

Weight Loss at What Cost?

While the “official” jury is still out on the real benefits of low-carb diets, the overwhelming word on the street is you will see results. Many small studies done at various Universities have shown that following a low-carb, high-protein diet can produce significant weight-loss and it can do it without all the calorie counting. But some nutritionists say this weight-loss isn’t due to the low-carbohydrate intake but rather to the fewer calories consumed. High protein foods take more time to digest, therefore you feel fuller longer and consume less. So what’s so bad about that? Well many experts are saying it depends on the extremes you take the diet to.

According to the American Dietetic Association, low-carbohydrate diets trigger short-term weight loss through a process called ketosis. During this process your body goes into a different metabolic state, whereby it burns it’s own fat for fuel. Under normal circumstances, the body would burn carbohydrates for fuel — this is the main source of fuel for your brain, heart and many other organs. A person in ketosis is receiving their energy from ketones, little carbon fragments that are fuel created from the breakdown of fat stores. Ketones can cause organs to fail and result in gout, kidney stones, or kidney failure. Ketones can also dull a person’s appetite, cause nausea and bad breath. Ketosis can be prevented by eating at least 100 grams of carbohydrates a day.

Bottom-Line for Your Waistline.

So with all the information for and against low-carb diets, where does it leave you? Here are a few more facts you might want to consider:

• According to the National Weight Control Registry, which includes information on the diets of more than 2,500 people who maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for a year or more, less that 1% had followed a diet similar to the Atkins program. And approximately 50% of the participants lost weight on their own without any type of formal program or help.
• If you are looking for long-term results consider if the diet you are choosing is one you can live with. Do you really want to give up bread, pasta and rice? The key to losing weight is to learn how to eat in a balanced, flexible way that you can enjoy the rest of your life — not just tolerate for a few weeks or months.

In the end, whether you choose to eat low fat, low-carb or high-protein, remember what really matters is the total amount of calories you eat and burn off. A combination of a healthy diet, portion control and routine exercise is the safest and longest-lasting way to reach weight loss goals.