So this headline caught my attention the other day on the internet:
Study: Low-carb diet best for weight, cholesterol
“The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques.“
Any of you who read my stuff or follow my Metabolism Makeover Course know that I advocate cutting out processed carbs and getting the majority of your carb intake from fruits and veggies, with limited servings of whole grains. That doesn’t mean I’m an Atkins follower though. And unlike what the lead paragraph in the article implies, this study didn’t prove Atkins is the way to go at all.
This study followed 322 moderately obese people for two years, and broke them into 3 groups. One followed a low-fat diet plan (Metabolism Makeover participants know what I think of that), one group followed a low-carb plan, and one group followed a Mediterranean style diet.
The low-fat diet — no more than 30 percent of calories from fat — restricted calories and cholesterol and focused on low-fat grains, vegetables and fruits as options. The Mediterranean diet had similar calorie, fat and cholesterol restrictions, emphasizing poultry, fish, olive oil and nuts.
The low-carb diet set limits for carbohydrates, but none for calories or fat. It urged dieters to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.
So what happened?
The dieters lost between 6.5 on the low-fat plan and 10 lbs on the low-carb and Mediterranean plans.
IN TWO YEARS!
That doesn’t mean one diet is better than the other. In fact, it means that none of them are better than the others.
If you’ve got 322 moderately obese people dieting for two freakin years and the best they can do is lose 10 lbs, then your plan sucks. Plain and simple.
Research like this pisses me off because it sends the wrong message. Since it was funded by an Atkins advocacy group, you certainly won’t see any of the researchers telling you the results sucked, but that’s the reality of it.
Just by simply eating right and exercising properly, an otherwise healthy, moderately obese person can easily lose 10 lbs in a month or less.
And don’t worry all you low-fat advocates, they’ll be research next week that says low-fat is the way to go. Just wait.
Researchers need to get out of the lab and into the real world. I don’t need idiots like this telling me what works and what doesn’t, I see it every day. I can also see that what they did didn’t work at all.
If you want to know what really works, go to www.HealthyWeightInnerCircle.com and read “The Ridiculously Simple Rules to Good Nutrition”, or better yet, start following the Metabolism Makeover Course.
~Dave
About the Author
Dave Soucy is a coach, trainer, motivator, husband, dad, and former fat guy. His goal is to teach as many people as possible how to achieve a life of health, fitness, and wellness through simply eating right and exercising. Click here to learn more about Dave.
Related posts:
