Our Endorsement of Low-Carb Diets for Weight Loss and Recovery

• Both low-fat, high-carb (e.g., Dr. Oz's) and low-carb, high-fat (e.g., Atkins) diets lead to spontaneous weight loss. What accounts for this loss is probably the elimination of refined carbohydrates and highly processed foods, especially sugar and white flour.

• Low-carb, high-fat diets better mimic the diets we humans evolved to thrive on by eliminating or minimizing the following foods, especially sugar and white flour (1):
• All grains, including whole grains
• All legumes (beans and lentils)
• Industrial seed oils

• Low-fat, high-carb weight loss often advocate whole grains and legumes, but without proper preparation thereof through soaking, sprouting, or fermentation; and

• Due to the fact that such diets seldom satisfy the dieter's appetite, whereas low-carb high-fat diets do; and as Stephan Guyenet mentions,

The low-carbohydrate dieters generally reduced their calorie intake and body fat to a similar or greater degree than the low-fat dieters, despite the fact that they ate all the calories they wanted (2)

• Such dieters often suffer from disrupted metabolisms that impede their ability to digest starch properly; for these reasons, we conclude that

• Low-carb, high-fat diets are superior as a weight-loss strategy.

• However, many other causes of diabesity are likely, including impaired gut health, stress, environmental toxins, lack of sunlight, lack of exercise, and lack of sleep. 

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Each individual who has diabetes and/or obesity (diabesity) needs to find out which of the causative factors s/he is suffering from. Visit the websites of Drs. Stephan Guyenet and Chris Kresser for high-quality information and strategies: The autoimmune-inflammatory model of diabesity; Changing the Body Fat Setpoint; and How to eat your way to diabesity.

Figure 1. Perhaps the most basic "paleo" / low-carb food pyramid.