Friday, August 01, 2008

Low Carbohydrate Diet

Low carb diets, like the Atkin's diet have been around for a long time. As well as the Atkin's diet, low carbohydrate levels is the basis for a number of diet plans. The different types do have minor variations but all are basically low carb diets.

If foods high in digestible carbohydrates (e.g. breads, pasta) are consumed they are usually limited or replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of proteins and fats (e.g. meats, soy products) and often other foods low in carbohydrates (e.g. green leafy vegetables).

In the 1990s Dr. Atkins published Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and other doctors began to publish books based on the same principles. This has been said to be the beginning of the "low carb craze." During the late 1990s and early 2000s low-carbohydrate diets became some of the most popular diets in the U.S. (by some accounts as much as 18% of the population was using a low-carbohydrate diet at its peak) and spread to many countries. These were, in fact, noted by some food manufacturers and restaurant chains as substantially affecting their businesses (notably Krispy Kreme, and many fast food chains). This was in spite of the fact that the mainstream medical community continued to denounce low-carbohydrate diets as being a dangerous trend. It is, however, valuable to note that many of these same doctors and institutions at the same time quietly began altering their own advice to be closer to the low-carbohydrate recommendations (e.g. eating more protein, eating more fiber/less starch, reducing consumption of juices by children). The low carbohydrate advocates did some adjustments of their own increasingly advocating controlling fat and eliminating trans fat. Many of the diet guides and gurus that appeared at this time intentionally distanced themselves from Atkins and the term low carb (because of the controversies) even though their recommendations were based on largely the same principles (e.g. the Zone diet). As such it is often a matter of debate which diets are really low-carbohydrate and which are not. The 1990s and 2000 also saw the publication of an increased number of clinical studies regarding the effectiveness and safety (pro's and con's) of low-carbohydrate diets.

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