Low Fat vs Low Carb Diets
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This debate has been going on for centuries and the answer continues to plague those that are dieting as well as those offering dieting advice.
- People who have a carb addiction prefer the low fat diet but should they not be trying to break themselves of the habit?
- Meat lovers will love the low fat diet but could this not increase cholesterol?
We all know that our hunger and eating patterns affect our moods and this could also affect which diet you choose. A study which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, shows a short-term improvement in the moods of people who went on both low-fat and low-carb diets but the difference was that the mood gains didn't last in the long run for people on low-carb diets. The reasons for this are not entirely clear but researchers suggest that the low-carbohydrate diet may have been too much of a shift in the people’s lifestyles and changed their eating habits too dramatically.
The simplest way to break it down is to put them side by side and debate out the pros and cons.
(click column header to sort results)
LOW CARB
| LOW FAT
| |
|---|---|---|
PROS
| Quick Results but risk putting the weight back on
| Best for long term weight loss as you are more likely to keep the weight off
|
Carbohydrates cause obesity
| Able to eat more Fruit
| |
Carbohydrates powerfully stimulate hunger
| Stop eating takeaways and junk food and reduce calorie intake
| |
Carbohydrates stimulate the secretion of insulin and once insulin levels drop we get hunngry - By avoiding carbs, we avoid insulin spikes
| Dietary fats increase the blood levels of bad lipids
| |
Can actually improve cholesterol and triglycedride levels
| Evidence shows that following an extremely strict low-fat diet can offer
| |
CONS
| Over-reliance on dairy products
| Lack of essential fatty acids and inadequate protein
|
May lead to shortages in micronutrients
| High cholesterol
| |
Too high a carb intake leads to high levels of insulin in the blood, which causes diseases
| Eating foods advertised as low fat usually means a diet high in sugar
|
