Does Low Carb Work and Is It Healthy?

The High Protein Low Carbohydrate Atkins diet has been popular since the first book "The Atkins Diet Revolution" was published in 1970s. New versions have been published since then and another version is about to be published.

Atkins isn't the only high protein, low carb diets around. "Neanderthin", "The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet", "Protein Power", "The New Low Carb Way of Life" and several more.

Many people swear by low carb and say that they have lost weight easily and quickly and that it is much easier to stick to than low fat and low calorie diets

Others, usually dietitians and the medical profession, have warned against it, saying it is not only dangerous but that you don't lose fat so much as muscle and water.

If you have ever met anyone who has lost pounds and pounds of weight on a low carb high protein diet you will be a little skeptical of this. How could you lose half your body weight and keep it off as many do, if all you lost was water?  .

Low carb eating either works or doesn't work. It surely can't be too hard to check the results, including long term results. It is hardly a matter for speculation once adequate studies have been done and results published.

Two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 vindicated the Atkins type diet. One study found that people on the high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet lose twice as much weight over six months as those on the standard low-fat diet recommended by most major health organizations.

The 132 men and women in one study started out weighing an average of 286 pounds (129 kilograms). After six months, those on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 12.8 pounds (5.8 kilograms), those on the low-fat diet 4.2 pounds (1.9 kilograms).

Not only was the low carb diet about 60% more effective than the low fat diet but it was not found to be unhealthy. Eating all that cheese, bacon, eggs, butter and other foods containing saturated fats had no ill effects.

"Their blood pressure didn't go up. Their cholesterol didn't go up. Their triglycerides went down and their insulin level also went down,"

Maratos-Flier (one of the researchers) said.

Is Low Carb High Protein The Natural Diet For People?

There is a convincing theory, based on the fact that our bodies developed thousands of years before any grains and artificial sugars were available, that we are better adapted to eating low carb than high carb foods.   Large amounts of grain foods didn't enter our bodies until the around 10,000 years ago. Our bodies are much, much older than that.

What did our distant ancestors eat? They ate meat, the whole animal, every bit of fat, flesh and marrow on them, and fish. They gathered greens, fruits, and nuts. Sometimes they found honey and sometimes they found fermented fruits and had a party! But mainly it would have been meat, especially in the winter. Eskimos, who had a perpetual winter, ate only meat, fish and fat and they did very well on it.

So it seems that this should be our normal way of eating. What do you think?

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