Mrs. Edge
Bono's Belly Dancing Friend
High-carb diet works: Study
Participants had loads of carbohydrates and reduced fat intake
Flies in the face of Atkins' low-carb craze; some expert
LINDSEY TANNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO?In the midst of the low-carb craze, a new study suggests that by eating lots of carbohydrates and little fat, it is possible to lose weight without actually cutting calories ? and without exercising, either.
The study was small, consisting of just 34 overweight adults who either ate the recommended diet for three months; ate the recommended diet and exercised regularly; or ate pretty much what they usually eat.
All meals were prepared for participants, who were instructed to eat as much as they wanted. They were also told to return any uneaten food, which the researchers said enabled them to calculate calorie intake.
Many doctors dispute whether people can lose weight without reducing their food intake, and at least one questioned the study's accuracy.
But the diet is more compatible with conventional notions of healthful eating than the fatty, low-carbohydrate Atkins and South Beach diets.
Participants on the recommended diet lost about seven pounds without cutting calories and without exercise, and almost 11 pounds with 45 minutes of stationary bike-riding four times weekly. The control group lost no weight.
The findings appeared in the Archives Of Internal Medicine.
Gary Foster, clinical director of the University of Pennsylvania's Weight and Eating Disorders Program, said he suspects participants who lost weight ate less than what was reported. He said that while he recommends a low-fat, high carb diet to patients, without calorie reduction it would be "a public health disaster."
"The whole idea that you could lose weight without reducing energy intake flies in the face of 100 years of data," Foster said.
Lead author William Evans of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences stood by his findings.
"Calories in, minus calories out does not always determine the amount of weight loss," Evans said. "This is because we metabolize fats and carbohydrates very differently."
American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Cindy Moore agreed and said with low-carb diets hogging the spotlight, "it may be a reminder that we can lose weight in a variety of different ways."
Foods on the successful diets included high-fibre cereal, vegetarian chili, whole-wheat spaghetti, many fruits and vegetables, and skim milk. Daily calories totalled about 2,400, similar to participants' usual consumption.
The control group also received prepared meals with similar calories, but the foods included sausage, scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, french fries, whole milk and fewer fruits and vegetables.
The successful diet was not tested against Atkins and other low-carb regimens, which contain more fat and fewer carbs than the control group diet.
It's likely that there will be more studies challenging the current, popular conviction that the way to lose weight is to cut way back on carbs. The pendulum may even swing to where it was in the mid-1990s when dietary fat was the great enemy, blamed for obesity, heart disease and high cholesterol counts. Health conscious people busily counted fat grams. By the mid-1990s, the number of new foods and beverages whose labels proclaimed "no fat'' or "low fat" hit an all-time high.
But in the last five to 10 years, the carbohydrate became the bad guy du jour. A new generation of dieters, following weight-loss plans such as the Atkins and South Beach diets, began gobbling up animal proteins and high-fat dairy products and sullying their plates with only the most minute portions of starches and sugars.
Just as food manufacturers once responded to fat-bashing by banishing fat from dairy products, frozen dinners and snacks, companies became focused on the low-carbohydrate ? make that "net carbs" ? bandwagon.
Walk the aisles of the supermarket now, and you'll find breads, frozen dinners, ice cream, cereal and power bars with reduced carbohydrate content.
Foods designed for low-carbohydrate diets are making the transition from a specialty item in the health-food section to shelves throughout the store.
But it's entirely possible that, at some point that may not be too far off, carbs will once more be regarded as benign while fat once again becomes the enemy.
In the meantime, nutritionists generally advocate a balanced diet that includes proper amounts of protein, fats and carbohydrates, particularly complex carbs that are generally unprocessed foods such as vegetables and whole grains.
Participants had loads of carbohydrates and reduced fat intake
Flies in the face of Atkins' low-carb craze; some expert
LINDSEY TANNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO?In the midst of the low-carb craze, a new study suggests that by eating lots of carbohydrates and little fat, it is possible to lose weight without actually cutting calories ? and without exercising, either.
The study was small, consisting of just 34 overweight adults who either ate the recommended diet for three months; ate the recommended diet and exercised regularly; or ate pretty much what they usually eat.
All meals were prepared for participants, who were instructed to eat as much as they wanted. They were also told to return any uneaten food, which the researchers said enabled them to calculate calorie intake.
Many doctors dispute whether people can lose weight without reducing their food intake, and at least one questioned the study's accuracy.
But the diet is more compatible with conventional notions of healthful eating than the fatty, low-carbohydrate Atkins and South Beach diets.
Participants on the recommended diet lost about seven pounds without cutting calories and without exercise, and almost 11 pounds with 45 minutes of stationary bike-riding four times weekly. The control group lost no weight.
The findings appeared in the Archives Of Internal Medicine.
Gary Foster, clinical director of the University of Pennsylvania's Weight and Eating Disorders Program, said he suspects participants who lost weight ate less than what was reported. He said that while he recommends a low-fat, high carb diet to patients, without calorie reduction it would be "a public health disaster."
"The whole idea that you could lose weight without reducing energy intake flies in the face of 100 years of data," Foster said.
Lead author William Evans of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences stood by his findings.
"Calories in, minus calories out does not always determine the amount of weight loss," Evans said. "This is because we metabolize fats and carbohydrates very differently."
American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Cindy Moore agreed and said with low-carb diets hogging the spotlight, "it may be a reminder that we can lose weight in a variety of different ways."
Foods on the successful diets included high-fibre cereal, vegetarian chili, whole-wheat spaghetti, many fruits and vegetables, and skim milk. Daily calories totalled about 2,400, similar to participants' usual consumption.
The control group also received prepared meals with similar calories, but the foods included sausage, scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, french fries, whole milk and fewer fruits and vegetables.
The successful diet was not tested against Atkins and other low-carb regimens, which contain more fat and fewer carbs than the control group diet.
It's likely that there will be more studies challenging the current, popular conviction that the way to lose weight is to cut way back on carbs. The pendulum may even swing to where it was in the mid-1990s when dietary fat was the great enemy, blamed for obesity, heart disease and high cholesterol counts. Health conscious people busily counted fat grams. By the mid-1990s, the number of new foods and beverages whose labels proclaimed "no fat'' or "low fat" hit an all-time high.
But in the last five to 10 years, the carbohydrate became the bad guy du jour. A new generation of dieters, following weight-loss plans such as the Atkins and South Beach diets, began gobbling up animal proteins and high-fat dairy products and sullying their plates with only the most minute portions of starches and sugars.
Just as food manufacturers once responded to fat-bashing by banishing fat from dairy products, frozen dinners and snacks, companies became focused on the low-carbohydrate ? make that "net carbs" ? bandwagon.
Walk the aisles of the supermarket now, and you'll find breads, frozen dinners, ice cream, cereal and power bars with reduced carbohydrate content.
Foods designed for low-carbohydrate diets are making the transition from a specialty item in the health-food section to shelves throughout the store.
But it's entirely possible that, at some point that may not be too far off, carbs will once more be regarded as benign while fat once again becomes the enemy.
In the meantime, nutritionists generally advocate a balanced diet that includes proper amounts of protein, fats and carbohydrates, particularly complex carbs that are generally unprocessed foods such as vegetables and whole grains.
Then those stupid commercials 'oh honey I thought we were on this diet together! People are such sheep sometimes and everybody will jump on the bandwagon trying to make a quick buck off the fad.
Plus it seems like with this new 'diet', you'd be at a big risk for Type 2/insulin resistant diabetes, with all of those glucose spikes that high carbs will give you...
It's supposed to force it to do all the work of burning or something. My friend is a long distance bicyclist and he and his buddies say it's not healthy for the organs and won't go on it.
My husband calls me his "Rice Powered Bed Warmer".
