When it comes to controlling cholesterol, a low carb diet plan has an edge over low fat diets according to new research. While conventional wisdom has had concerns about low carb approaches being bad for the heart, this is not the first research to suggest that low carb plans are safe, and maybe a bit better, than low fat plans when it comes to reducing risks for heart disease.
A total of 307 obese subjects took part in the study. Dieters followed either a low fat or low carb plan for two years, along with making some lifestyle modifications each group lost the same amount of weight - 15 pounds, or about 7% of their total body weight. Beyond the weight loss, the low carb dieters had much better HDL (the good kind) cholesterol when compared to the low fat dieters.
In the first six months of the study, subjects on the low fat diets had bigger drops in LDL (the bad kind) cholesterol, but this difference didn't hold over time.
Understand that despite what you've heard in the media, cholesterol itself isn't bad. It's just one of the many natural substances created and used by our bodies. About 75% of what we have is produced by the body (genetics make some people produce too much) and about 25% comes from the food we eat.
You can help your body produce more of the good kind of cholesterol by some regular physical activity, as well as cutting trans fats and eating a balanced, nutrient rich diet. Even with diet and lifestyle changes, for some people medications are needed to lower out of whack LDL levels.
Encouraging to dieters in both camps is that almost 58% of the low carb dieters and 68% of the low fat dieters stuck to their respective diets for a total of two years. And they saw results... weight loss.
The low carb plan used in the study involved restricting carbs to no more than 20 grams a day for three months, and then increasing intake by about 5 grams a week as long as weight loss continued.
They ate mostly protein from meat during the induction phase, and about three cups of green, leafy veggies. The low fat dieters restricted their total calories to between 1,200 to 1,800 a day, with no more than 30% (360 to 540) of those calories from fat.
All study participants, no matter their diet plan, were encouraged to attend group sessions to help motivate them to stay on the plan, meeting weekly at first and then monthly by the end of the study. Support like this has been shown to be helpful in keeping dieters motivated and feeling supported.
Getting subjects to keep track of what they ate, and how active they were every day was the biggest challenge. Other issues that were covered in the group support sessions included limiting eating to certain times and places, getting back on track after a relapse and handling challenging events like the holidays, a wedding or a vacation.
The good news is that even though the HDL numbers were better for the low carb group, the loss of weight that came from both diets is key to keeping heart disease risk at bay.
The take home message from this study is for people to spend less time worrying about choosing a plan (low carb, low fat, whatever) and more time and effort on finding strategies to stick to whatever diet you choose.
Experts agree - extreme diets are less likely to be ones you can stick to over the long term. They just don't work. What you want is a diet plan you can live with that brings gradual, safe, lasting weight loss. Half a pound of weight loss per week might not seem like much, but over time, it adds up and can be pretty substantial. A year from now you could be 24 pounds lighter... a big difference when controlling cholesterol.
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