Nutrition 101: What are the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet?

Most people view low carbohydrate diets as weight loss diets. Actually low carb diets promote health. Does this mean eating no carbohydrates including fruits and vegetables? No, of course not. But following the government's dietary guidelines of eating primarily carbohydrates (60 to 80 percent of your diet) is not healthy, nor is it based on science.

Dr. Mary Dan Eades says it's nearly impossible to reach the recommended 300 to 375 grams of carbohydrates a day by eating fruits and vegetables. You'd have to eat too many refined carbohydrates like breads or dense starches like potatoes, rice, or pasta.
Read more and watch the videos.

In The News - Low Carb

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2009) — People on low-carbohydrate diets are more dependent on the oxidation of fat in the liver for energy than those on a low-calorie diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a small clinical study.

The findings, published in the journal Hepatology, could have implications for treating obesity and related diseases such as diabetes, insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, said Dr. Jeffrey Browning, assistant professor in the UT Southwestern Advanced Imaging Research Center and of internal medicine at the medical center.

"Instead of looking at drugs to combat obesity and the diseases that stem from it, maybe optimizing diet can not only manage and treat these diseases, but also prevent them," said Dr. Browning, the study's lead author. Read more.

How To Make Your Low Carb Diet Easy (Substitutions)



More videos from Muscle Hack.

Metabolism Society Petition - Make Your Voice Heard

I received this email a few days ago asking to have my readers sign a petition to urge the NIH to acknowledge the existing science and fund more research by the experts who have experience with carbohydrate restriction as a means of treatment for diabetes. If you're inclined to sign the petition just click the link below.

(I bet this will be on EVERY low carb blog on the internet. They likely mailed everybody).

Metabolism Society
You Are Making A Difference!

We appreciate your dedication to educating people on the benefits of low carb living, we acknowledge your accomplishments and we thank you.
The Metabolism Society requests your assistance.
Biomedical science needs your help. The public needs your help.

Please ask your readers to sign this petition.

The NIH must acknowledge the existing science and fund more research by the experts who have experience with carbohydrate restriction as a means of treatment for diabetes.

June 12, 2008

New England Journal of Medicine published the ACCORD study results. "We investigated whether intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels would reduce cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes" (intensive therapy meant intensive drug therapy).

Conclusion:
"As compared with standard therapy, the use of intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels for 3.5 years increased mortality and did not significantly reduce major cardiovascular events. These findings identify a previously unrecognized harm of intensive glucose lowering in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes."

An elementary understanding of science lets one recognize that it is likely the treatment (intensive drug therapy) that has the (unrecognized?) harm. A substantial background of studies shows that not reducing glycated hemoglobin is a health risk.
It is the absence of any consideration of dietary carbohydrate restriction, the most safe and effective method of improving glycemic control that is so objectionable.

Scientists are stymied. Fighting with the NIH is not simple, generally not a career builder, and the number of people involved in this trial is in the hundreds. Only the public can help. We need your help in reaching them.

Please ask your readers to contribute by signing this petition.


Thank you.

Richard Feinman
Professor of Biochemistry
Founder, Metabolism Society
www.nmsociety.org
Nutrition & Metabolism Society
424 E. 73rd Street, #1RW
New York, New York 10021