Don't Buy Into Low-Carb Myths

Diet advice abounds at this time of year, so I try to take the pulse of the state of weight-loss diets by sampling news stories in early January. I'm happy to say that the American Diabetes Association is again recommending low-carb diets as an option for weight loss. When they added this to their recommendations last year, I had hoped that it would spread to other organizations, but this has not yet happened. However, I have noticed that although there is some repetition of the standard myths of low-carb diets, there is mostly ignoring of carbohydrate restriction altogether (although cutting out sugary foods is sometimes mentioned). The impression I have is that authorities just don't quite know what to do with us at this point. They can't come out against carb restriction, because the science is mounting more and more in its favor. But they aren't comfortable endorsing it either, because it goes against the grain of 30 years of advice. So they are carefully remaining silent on the issue, except to occasionally state that people won't stick to it because they can't imagine people giving up starchy and sugary foods.

Image © Karen Struthers

Related Resources:

• Low-Carb Food Pyramid
  
  
• 20 Benefits of Low-Carb Diets
  
  
• Low-Carb Diets and Cholesterol
  
  
• Low-Carb Science