Like everyone else, we were eating less fat, but we were actually taking in more calories from the carbohydrates in these foods than if we had eaten the full-fat versions. So guess what became the next “problem” food group for overweight people? In the late 1980s, carbohydrates became the new dietary demon, ushering in a new era of low-carb eating. Led by Dr. Robert Atkins, America’s low-carb guru, our nation embarked on a diet craze that bordered on compulsion. Protein became the new weight-loss “miracle” food, and eating carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, white rice, grains, and sugar was tantamount to dietary mortal sin.
Dr. Atkins encouraged his followers to eat protein—and lots of it—at every meal. People were having eggs, bacon, and sausage for breakfast, while skipping the fruit, juice, toast, and breakfast cereals. Lunch was a bun-less hamburger, a hunk of cheese, and a tall glass of milk. Dinners consisted of steaks, chops (or both), and maybe a small side of broccoli or a salad with blue cheese or ranch dressing. Restaurants obliged by offering heaps of meat and cutting back on the potatoes.
Even though the medical community soundly criticized the diet as being dangerous to cardiovascular health because of its high saturated fat content (as well as encouraging bone loss and overburdening the kidneys with excessive protein), lowcarb eating spread like wildfire from coast to coast. Given permission to eat all the rich, savory meat and cheese they wanted as a way to lose weight, millions of people jumped on the bandwagon. The food industry wasted no time hopping on board too, creating entire lines of low-carb foods, many of which were endorsed by the suddenly wealthy Atkins corporation. The main attraction, of course, was that people were free to eat the once-forbidden fatty foods they’ve always loved. As one medical critic put it: “People always love to hear good news about their bad habits.”
In reality, high-protein, low-carb diets like Atkins’s actually do work—at least in the beginning. When the body runs out of stored carbohydrates, it begins burning fat for energy. It wasn’t unusual for folks on Atkins-type diets to lose 5, 10, even 20 pounds during the first month or so. Word quickly spread, and the popularity of the low-carb diet grew.
Unfortunately, this impressive weight loss didn’t continue; it invariably ceased within a few months. Doctors later discovered why. The Atkins diet forces the body into an abnormal state called ketosis, where potentially toxic ketones are created in the tissues. When the body creates ketones, they need to be eliminated, causing people on these diets to urinate a lot. This initial weight loss was little more than water. The body’s fat reserves were barely being touched.
Actually, just the opposite was occurring: body fat was increasing. That’s because eating excessive amounts of protein raises the amount of insulin in the bloodstream. And one of insulin’s jobs is to convert excess calories, whether they come from protein or carbohydrates, into body fat. When people finally saw the long-term effect that the various low-carb diets were producing, they dropped them like hot potatoes.
A study conducted by Tufts University Medical School found that 22 percent of people on either low-carb or low-fat diets abandoned them after two months. After a year, the dropout rate was 50 percent.
