Low-Fat Lies

I did an analysis of one of their 1500 calorie meal days (which they recommend for all women except for those who are "extremely hungry" AND are losing weight rapidly). It's 20% fat, high carb, and 45 gm protein. (The protein RDA for any woman over 125 lbs is higher than this.) It's a basic low-fat/high carb diet with a little less protein than it should have.

Ironically, the authors spend a good portion of the book trashing almost all the diets on the market, from very low fat to very low carb, when the diet they propose is basically Ornish sprinkled with olive oil.

I give it two stars because it does have some good information in it, but there are other books which talk about the Mediterranean diet which give much more sound advice and present the information more plainly and with less rhetoric. A good example is "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy" by Walter Willett.

In short, your dollars would be much better spent elsewhere.

These authors have their own book and weight loss courses to sell and they apparently don't care who they trash to sell them. There is considerable irony in their criticism of the fact that others make money from different eating plans. Their use of limited selected studies to back up their attacks seems inconsistent and shoddy. They choose selectively and ignore evidence that contradicts them.

I find it absurd when writers like these speak of a loss of energy from eating low-carb when virtually everyone who tries it speaks of an almost immediate increase in vigour and general sense of well-being and health. If you doubt this, try cutting carbohydrates for a week and see if you actually do feel better or worse. I know I feel fifteen years younger.

These authors say the association between meat consumption and colon cancer is very strong. Sure, but the main problem is usually revealed to be lack of fibre. At three cups of salad vegetables a day there IS no lack of fibre in even the early stages of Atkins or most high protein diets.

They are on rather firmer ground by stating that recent evidence has linked well-cooked meat to breast cancer. It has also linked dairy products to cancer, yet few are telling us not to drink milk. However these studies have not been done in the presence of the low carbohydrate/low sugar way of eating, which affects the absorption of saturated fats.

If you want more information on why this is so, I recommend Diana Schwarzbein's excellent "The Schwarzbein Principle". THis book has brought major health benefits to many in my family, including one Type II diabetes sufferer.

These authors say that saturated fat has been shown to raise levels of LDL cholesterol which is strongly associated with heart disease. That's partially true, although not invariably, as the blood tests of many low carb eaters show only too clearly. The proportion of HDL (healthy) to LDL (lethal) cholesterol is the more significant factor in heart disease. Many low-fat diets that reduce LDL also reduce HDL, which is a recipe for heart disease. Followers of Atkins and other low carb plans usually achieve better proportions and blood-lipid chemistries than before they went on the diet.

Several studies unconnected with Atkins have shown that this can happen in other high protein/low carbohydrate ways of eating. The Eades' "Protein Power" (also a valuable read) has many examples. But even if one IS wary of red meat, it is possible to eat low carb on white meat, and seafood.

They mention a recent study that suggests ketosis (the cornerstone of the Atkins way of eating) can promote oxidation, which they describe as a key step in many diseases including cancer and heart disease. However, a degree of ketosis and oxidation occur whenever a body burns fat. That is what our bodies are designed to do. The idea that burning fat increases your chances of cancer and heart disease is a dubious one. There is no other way to lose it other than usrgery. For most of us, keeping the fat is a lot more unhealthy than burning it. Incidentally ketosis and ketoacidosis, with which it's often confused, are two different things.

They warn that protein leaches calcium out of your system. Cheese, broccoli and kale, all of which contain high levels of calcium are a major part of the Atkins diet. Other studies have suggested that high protein diets do NOT affect the absorption of calcium.

If you want a more balanced book on the current state of scientific knowledge regarding what we should eat I recommend Walter Willett's Harvard Medical School Guide "Eat Drink and Be Healthy", where he has assessed the results of many different - and more wide-ranging - studies. Willett doubts the whole idea of a calcium shortage in most people. Ironically, like these authors he too supports the Mediterranean diet. He has however said in interviews that the Atkins approach seems to work and deserves further study. Read Willett if you want a more comprehensive understanding.

These authors are welcome to promote their own diet enterprises but they'd be better served if they did not use dodgy extrapolations from - often - small scale studies to trash others whose work has helped even the pathologically obese. These people can only have gained from the weight loss. These authors appear sadly limited in their knowledge of low-carb dieting. If you read only this book you essentially read a caricature. They are particularly limited on Atkins, even though they are entirely right about the healthiness of the Mediterranean diet and the dubiousness of the low-fat one.

In response to a previous review on the subject of ketones in epileptic children, the author was making the point that it didn't matter how many ketones the children were making. The children lost or gained weight based on the number of calories in their diet. Calories count, not the state of ketosis.