Thoughts on Low-Carb Diets

“I’m on the South Beach Diet, isn’t everybody?” It’s hard to miss the new low-carb diet craze. If it’s not Atkins or Sugar Busters, it’s South Beach. Just the other day I was standing in line at a sandwich shop, and saw an option for a hoagie without bread. That’s right, just the meat and lettuce wrapped up in paper. And people were actually ordering it! Even if you’re not looking for a new diet, I’m sure you have heard about new South Beach Diet developed by Dr. Arthur Agatston. Once again, a new diet has become all the rage.

These diets such as South Beach and Atkins pick out foods with low glycemic-index numbers and allows dieters to eat large portions. The glycemic index rates foods that contain carbohydrates on how quickly they are digested and how they affect the level of sugar in the blood. Unlike previous generations of diets such as Weight Watchers, the focus of these low-carb plans is not to count calories, because calories alone are not responsible for weight gain.

According to Dr. Agaston, eating foods rich in carbohydrates is what leads people to hunger, and then begins the cyclical nature of eating carbs to curb hunger pains caused by carbs etc.

“In a CNN article, Rachel Brandeis, a registered dietitian from the American Dietetic Association, remains dissuaded by Dr. Agaston.

"If a diet tells you some foods are good or some foods are bad, that is always an automatic red flag for an extreme diet or a fad diet," Brandeis said. "The cause of obesity is multifactorial."

According to the American Dietetic Association, The evidence on long-term weight loss on glycemic-index diets remains insufficient.

"We are not against carbohydrates at all," said dietitian Marie Almon, who worked with Agatston on the diet. "Our emphasis is on the right carbohydrates -- brown rice, whole grains."

"If you look at the nuts and bolts of these diets and really get into the calorie level, they're all about the same," Brandeis said. "They're all pretty much really between 1,300 and 1,500 calories a day.”

Brandeis said a good diet "is something that you can stick to for a long term."

"If this works for you, then good," she said.

But she added, "You can't expect to lose weight and keep the weight off without moving your body." “

written by Kate Hostvedt, 2004