Low Carbohydrate diets are weight reduction plans that restrict or eliminate carbohydrates such as fruit, starchy vegetables, white flours and sugar from the diet while increasing the intake of such foods as poultry, beef, pork, shellfish, dairy and green vegetables. Although the Atkins diet was mainly responsible for the popularity of low carbohydrate diets in the late 1990s, the written history of low carbohydrate diets began in the 1860s. While there is still much controversy over the long term safeness of low carbohydrate diets, supporters of this dietary lifestyle claim that they are the modern day equivalents of the properly balanced and highly nutritious caveman diet.
The "Father" of Low Carbohydrate Diets
William Banting was a severely overweight British undertaker who attempted the first documented low carbohydrate diet under the supervision of Dr. William Harvey. Banting lost 50 pounds. In 1863, Banting wrote an open letter, the Letter of Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, which outlined the plan that he followed in the low carbohydrate diet that included four meals a day of fruit, dry wine, proteins and greens. He also documented all of his past failed attempts of losing weight and urged the general population to eradicate their uses of dairy, beer and starchy foods.
The Most Famous Low Carbohydrate Diet
Dr. Robert C. Atkins developed the most popular low carbohydrate diet in the the 1960s and published his theory in his book, The Diet Revolution, in 1972. There was immediate controversy over Atkins' diet as it went against the commonly accepted Standard American Diet, which included carbohydrates being served along side proteins at almost every meal. The popularity of the teachings of The Diet Revolution achieved limited success and Dr. Atkins did not receive international notoriety until he published Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution in the 1990s.
More Low Carbohydrate Diets Emerge
In 1978, the Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet emerged as a two week rapid weight loss diet. The Scarsdale diet was a huge success at first but did not remain popular for long. Low carbohydrate diets remained in the background and did not regain their popularity until the late 1990s when other low carbohydrate diets began to emerge. The two most popular are the South Beach Diet, which is much like the Atkins' diet but proposes only eating lean proteins, and The Zone, which proposes that carbohydrates should make up 40 percent of the diet while proteins and fats make up the other 60 percent.
Considerations
While a great many people have claimed to have enjoyed rapid weight loss during the introductory phases of low carbohydrate diets over the years, there is no definite evidence that low carbohydrate diets keep off excess weight for extended periods of time. Also, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Program all endorse low protein, not low carbohydrate, diets as the most beneficial diets for long term health.
Pregnancy and Low Carbohydrate Diets
Dr. Steven Johnson, an OB-GYN practicing in Cincinnati, Ohio warns expecting mothers that low carbohydrate diets, which cause the body to break down fat incompletely, could lead to fetal brain damage.
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