http://living.health.com/2009/11/09...fat-low-carb/2/

Of course, they were isocaloric, which is not how most do low carb...

Yep, if my calories were restricted like that, I sure wouldn't have stayed on Atkins for the 5+ years I've been doing it!

sorry to be a nitpicker, chessnut. the term isocaloric means that both diets were of equal calories. diets low in energy are called hypocaloric...

So: restrict the calories on a diet which traditionally doesn't (why did they do that?) then start with one study group having twice the number of people on antidepressants (why?) then use 30% fat as a low fat diet (what?) ... So many WTF?... I was SO confused/intrigued by this "Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Association" (CSIRO) who did the study I wanted to know where the hell they get money for such bizarrely designed research -- turns out, marketing their own diet!



http://www.everydiet.org/diet/csiro-diet

Good grief, it's like Jenny Craig "studying" Weight Watchers by evaluating a diet that isn't even WW... and seeing CNN pick it up. I have to stop looking at this part of the forum or I'll go mad

No way, no how, not today, not ever. See here:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...the-mainstream/
Every single parameter that we can measure was better for low carb.


Well, I'm sure obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes won't disrupt their lives so much either. But what do I know.


What the hell does that mean, I wonder.


AHA! 4% of 1600 calories is 64 calories or 16 grams of carbs. 16 grams! That's VLC (<20g/day), not Atkins, not even close. Further, Atkins isn't merely cutting carbs, it's a comprehensive plan that goes from cutting to adding to maintaining, and more. Few can handle so little carbs. Those that can are happier for it. By "handle", I don't mean physiologically, that's the easy part. I mean every other way.

My mood is better than it's ever been. And it's getting better still because I'm not stuck in a rut as I used to be, I actually progress each and every day. I dunno, maybe my brain got unlocked once the carbs were eliminated so it's more flexible and it shows in my behavior. Who knows, the point is that I'm better mentally overall.

nice find, bexicon. and good point about the antidepressants.

a few other points that should be noted. first, both groups had increased mood for the first few months. then moods generally started to revert back to baseline in both groups. by the end of the study, the lc dieters were almost back to baseline, while the lf dieters held the mood improvements longer. although, if you look at the graphs below, you might argue that had the study gone longer, lc dieters may have evened that out.

also, as the authors of the study point out, the leveling off of moods seen in lc dieters might have been caused, at least in part, by being forced to stay on a diet they weren't accustomed to for a long duration. the lf diet was much closer to their natural-living diet.

lastly, lc and lf dieters lost statistically equivalent amounts of weight. this seems to me an indication that the lc group was not adhering well to the diet. i read the study and they never bothered to check if the lc participants were in ketosis, which they should have been if they were following the prescribed lc diet (maximum 40g/cho/day). although both groups lost ~14kg over the course of a year, i don't think either group was strictly following their diets (~1400kcal/day for women | ~1600kcal/day for men).

They always have higher drop out rates when they do studies comparing low fat and low carb.... must not be too happy!

I've just finished reading the entire full-text article, and the McClernon one as well. In McClernon's study, 76% of LC and 57% of LF dieters finished. The overall losses were –12.9 kg and –6.7 kg starting from an average 97.8 and 96.8 kg.

Boy oh boy, Brinkworth et al really went out of their way to discount the happiness LC dieters feel by successfully losing weight while not being hungry.

What a complete waste of funding.

Exactly!

When I first read the headline, "Study: Dieters Happier on Low-Fat," I started chuckling saying to myself, "ok, I've got to read this!"

30% fat? Who wouldn't be happy on that diet? That's basically a slice of pizza and a cheese burger with a diet coke. Let's put them on the Ornish plan where fat is limited to under 10%.

How happy would they be on low fat then?

Well they should see a group of low-carbers having a dinner party together... in my experience (over 13 years on low-carb), these were the best moments I remember having around a table. And who says you cannot have low-carb cranberry preserve (a very low-carb fruit by the way) with your turkey? And what about brussels sprout with bacon bits? And, to finish, a low-carb pumpkin pie?

Did anyone else notice Brinkworth et al. didn't bother to give the details on the one-year loss averages by group. "There was an overall mean weight loss at 12 months of 13.7 (1.8) kg." Considering all of the other data was sorted by LC group and LF group, I found this combined group averaging rather striking.

Heyyyy!!!! Who told you what I was having for TG?

I am anticipating a TG fight with my husband over the Turkey skin; we both like the skin the best. We fought over chicken skin last week; he ate it all, so I called him selfish for not sharing.

The cat attacks me whenever I cook bacon; I give her some, albeit begrudgingly.

My cat demands bacon!

My cat demands bacon!

I only posted this thread cause I thought it would be fun to watch everyone pick it apart!