Is Low Carb High Fat Diet Good for Everybody?

As our human nature is inclined to gravitate towards absolutist stances, low carb high fat diet is considered by many people the new staple of healthy eating and an universal answer to their weight management objectives.

This dogmatic belief was probably fueled by the fact that, statistically, the obesity epidemic starting point (back in the '70s) coincides with a more pronounced positive trend of carbohydrate consumption – so getting fanatic followers occurred rather naturally.

But as always, the reality is not black and white, and the particular circumstances are very important when assessing a certain diet plan.

While many folks may benefit from limiting their carbohydrate intake, others suck it up for nothing, and eventually give up because this approach is not a sustainable lifestyle.

If you are a fat ass (you know who you are), getting rid of your stock of pasta and potato chips is definitely the way to go.

It's well established that the low carb high fat diet is superior for people with a pronounced degree of insulin resistance, and most short-term studies may indicate a greater fat loss for the same reason.

On a related note, if you have more than 30% body fat, using a drastic calorie deficit would help you to lose weight more rapidly, which may have a positive psychological impact for many people.

And assuming that you don't do silly things, reducing carbohydrate consumption is the only solution possible anyway.

But as you tighten your belt, insulin sensitivity improves gradually, and this will be furthermore enhanced by your exercise regimen. So what should you do when calorie deficit is reduced?

Obviously, there is no need anymore to show such a reluctance to carbohydrates, and the previously banished foods can be savored again (with moderation, of course).

Don't be filled with remorse because you had some bread pudding an hour before hitting the gym. On the contrary, that's exactly what your paleolithic body needs.

It should be mentioned that the enthusiasm related to this dietary approach is short-lived, and most low-carb zealots lose their faith after a few months – which should be expected when entire food groups are banished.

Moronic recommendations such as “reduce fruit and milk consumption but eat as much lard as you want”, besides the fact that will cause a gradual increase in calorie intake, may lead to some micro-nutrient (vitamin E, vitamin A, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium) and dietary fiber deficiencies.

And when this physiological reality is coupled with psychological facts, the mystery of why low carb high fat diet has a reduced long term adherence becomes obvious.

“Self-reported complete adherence score to diet was greater on low-carbohydrate diet until month-6, but dropped overall from 81% at month-1 to 57% at month-24. Holidays were a trigger to a significant decrease in adherence followed by a partial rebound.” (Greenberg et al. 2009)

More than likely, this gimmick (gorging guilt-free on greasy sausages) will eventually turn against the brave (or brainless) paleo-dieters because, as mentioned, they will progressively consume more calories.

And while low-carb advocates claim that no hunger is experienced during such a dietary approach, eating less carbohydrates also reduces postprandial satiety.

“Ingested lipids appear to suppress the orexigenic hormone ghrelin less effectively than do CHO or protein. The relatively weak ability of this macronutrient to suppress ghrelin can be attributed to the poor stimulation of insulin secretion.” (Koliaki et al. 2010)

This is further fueled by the fact that fat texture can make food taste delicious – see the difference between boiled broccoli and broccoli salad with lots of mayonnaise.

Consequently, the initial weight loss will be followed by a slow but steady increase in calories. Furthermore, as you get back some of your initial potbelly, the preference for dietary fat increases accordingly.

I'm sure you've noticed that overweight people have a preference for fattier cuts of meat instead of lean stake.

In fact, a growing wealth of evidence shows that the preference for lard is correlated with obesity, which is probably the result of an acquired insensitivity to oleic acid. This will cause a reduced ability to distinguish between high/low fat foods.

On a related note, dietary fat craving is also influenced by age. An intriguing study showed that sweetness is more appealing to children, whereas their mothers prefer creaminess when having a piece of pudding. (This makes absolute sense if we think about our own childhood.)

My point is that most folks should adopt a moderate diet when eating for long term maintenance. Carbohydrate intake should be gradually increased as body composition improves along with insulin sensitivity.

As genetic variance plays an important role here, it would be impossible to give you an exact percentage or absolute values, but you can always make adjustments according to your results.

As the adage goes, there are no good or bad foods, only good or bad circumstances.

For instance, if you are already very lean (around 10% body fat for men or mid-teens for women), but want to get to single digit body fat percentages, a low carb high fat diet may be necessary to mobilize your lower-abdominal fat (or hip fat for women).

A relevant example is the bodybuilding legend Frank Zane who, in spite of his ectomorphic tendency, was limiting carbohydrates to half a gram per pound of bodyweight when preparing for competition. And he arguably had the best set of abs ever.

(Which, of course, doesn't mean that he was on a low carb high fat diet because his fat intake was also reduced.)

But even in this case, you can get into problems if carb/calorie intake is not increased from time to time in order to keep leptin (and overall metabolism) from falling to very low levels. 

Closing Point

Any nutrition strategy should be set according to a particular context or individuals genetics, and low carb high fat diet is no exception.

While obese and very lean individuals can greatly benefit from minimizing their carbohydrate consumption, applying indiscriminately the same approach to general population doesn't make sense.

At this point, we can intuitively speculate that the obesity trend will continue its ascension with the difference that macronutrient composition will soon show a shift caused by this ludicrous carbophobia/fatophilia.

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