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What are the long terms effects of a low carb diet? Any health risks?
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What role does insulin play?
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Are they more or less effective than other diets?
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There haven’t been any long-term studies done. So noone knows the answer to this.
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Insulin, of course, is the hormone that allows blood glucose to enter the body’s cells. If you don’t ingest many carbs, the body doesn’t have to secrete as much insulin. Most diabetics are type 2, where the secretion of insulin is not primarily the problem, but the lack of cell receptors.
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They are as effective as any other diet that restricts the amount of calories you ingest. I’m not going to get into a debate over the Atkins diet (and this is not the right forum), but even tho short-term studies have shown no drawbacks, there have been no long-term studies, and a diet which advocates primarily proteins and fats is prima facie suspect.
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The data’s not out there yet, but as long as you’re getting plenty of vegetables and some fruit, there probably isn’t too much to worry about.
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Insulin signals your cells to take in nutrients, and fat cells are the most sensitive to insulin. Carbohydrates produce the greatest insulin response, so not having them makes it tough to gain fat.
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There’s a study to support any point of view you might have. The best data suggests that low-carb is more effective than low-fat in the beginning, but that over the long run, they start to look the same. It’s also easier to stick to a low-carb diet, which is a definite plus.
Why not read the Atkins book? 
Although I have quite a bit of experience with the Atkins diet, it has been many years since I read up on the details such as insulin, etc. I would suggest that you buy one of Dr. Atkins’ books. They explain such questions in detail.
I have felt for many years that Dr. Atkins has gotten a raw deal on these “no long-term studies” and no “difinitive results” statements coming from nutritionalists and the medical community. Dr. Atkins was a cardiologist with a very busy clinic from which he and his staff have treated thousands of patients for more than thirty years. He put patients with a wide range of health problems (including heart, which is supposed to be one of the areas most damaged by a high-fat diet) and his experience in acheiving beneficial results is undeniable. His patients found their cholesterol and triglicerides greatly lowered; their angina (if any) lessened or eliminated; arthritis improved in some instances so much that the patient no longer experienced any difficulty or pain; etc. The reason I am so pro-Atkins is that I have found these exact same results in my own case. Once on the diet, my cholesterol and triglicerides were well within the range considered safe, and my other blood chemistry all came in very good as well.
It is also a great diet for losing weight without feeling hungry.
The diet works very well as long as you’re able to stay on it, and unfortunately this has always been my downfall. To remain on this diet one has to prepare virtually all their food themselves, which can become too time consuming for people like me who have always eaten lots of pre-packaged and to-go food. Another drawback is that the diet tends to become monotonous after a while if you don’t go to the trouble of shopping for and preparing a wide range of recipes to keep it from becoming so, and it’s somewhat unpleasant to have to eat differently from everyone else in your family, or when going out to eat with family or friends. Fortunately, restaurants are beginning to offer low-carb meals now, and if the trend continues it will help quite a lot in dining out. (Beware though, the so-called “low-carb” foods that are becoming prevalent now. While it’s true that they have lower carb content than they would otherwise, they for the most part still have way too many carbs for the low-carb diet. A bunless cheeseburger would be an example of a good low-carb restaurant item, a low-carb pizza or pasta dish, for example, would not.)
I was put on the Atkins diet in 1977 by my doctor. I have gone off of it and back on it several times and it always does a great job for me, but I’ve always been done in eventually by the difficulties mentioned above. I have just gone back on it in last few days, and hopefully I will be able to make it a permanent way of life now that I’m getting older and have found that there is no other way that works so well or has as many health benefits as the Atkins diet, other than for pharmacological remedies that have worked great for me but which the “sky-is-falling” media always manages to get banned from the shelves. Better for 500,000 people to die in year from the results of obesity than for fifty or so people to die as “a possible result” of taking Redux or Metabolite! The media and the government just don’t seem to like the idea that someone can take a pill, eat normally without overdoing it, and lose weight. No, dammit…you have to “eat sensibly and exercise.” Obviously if it were that simple, obesity wouldn’t be the huge health problem it is today. To adopt such a simple-minded philosophy is tantamount to telling a smoker that “It’s easy to quit…just stop smoking!” or to tell an alchoholic that he needs to just stop drinking, dammit, and that he wouldn’t have a problem.
Oh, well…I digress into a rant. Anyway, I hope the info on Atkins is helpful. It’s the non-pharmacological thing I’ve found that is easy to stay on and that works well and that provides other health benefits as well. And, being a believer that things tend to work out for the best, perhaps for some reason it’s better that I’m on Atkins anyway. Just remember that low-carb diets aren’t intended to get your weight down only. You have stay on them, only with a somewhat higher carb content in order to maintain your weight, once you’re where you want to be. Otherwise, I think you’ll find you gain weight back very quickly.
I hope this helps. Good luck!
This constitutes a double-blind, controlled study? And a testimonial from one who had not managed to stay on it?
Well, that’s a matter for GD. But suffice it to say that if you wish to exercise, you cannot on a low carb diet. And there have been many studies that establish that exercise can prolong your life. More importantly, you can maintain better health, feel better, and do many things when you keep your body in good shape with aerobic exercise combined with some weight training.
Notably, if you don’t exercise and lose weight, some of that weight loss will be muscle loss, even on a high protein diet.
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“This constitutes a double-blind, controlled study? And a testimonial from one who had not managed to stay on it?”
There’s always has to be a sarcastic bozo who knows better. The point is: with over thirty years’ history of treating patients seriously ill with heart problems, diabetes, etc., plus other, more healthy patients, and doing so successfully, would tend to put the lie to the idea that the Atkins diet is patently unhealthy. If clogged arteries and other health problems so strongly touted as being the result of this type of diet were indeed caused by it, it would be more than apparent by now.
It’s clearly true that exercise is good for a person’s health, however that was not the subject of the OP. Additionally, some people can’t exercise due to physical limitations, and others just aren’t able to pound themselves into doing it consistently no matter what the consequence. It’s great that you are so successful with your exercise, but to denigrate the efforts of others to lose weight and be as healthy as they can in ways other than exercise is, once again, the equivalent of telling a smoker to just “not smoke!”
Check out this site for reliable information (ie based on evidence).
You should consider more than just the quantity of carbohydrates in the diet, think also about the glycemic index (GI) of the meals. According to research on diet, high GI foods should be avoided.
Huh. I must be dead then. I exercise (biking when the weather is nice, gym when it is nasty out), and I have no problem with a low carb diet and exercise. Do you have a cite for this claim?
PS - I just want to point out that Dr. Atkins said in his book that if you are not getting some form of exercise daily, you are not doing Atkins. Exercise is a vital part of the Atkins plan. People are so misinformed about his particular low-carb eating plan. I really wish more folks would read the book before telling others who have read the book how to do Atkins.
Well I’ll be damned. I’d better cancel my gym membership. Or I’ll just let it lapse, since my YEAR of going almost EVERY DAY is almost up.
Obviously you can exercise on a low carb diet. I do however recall an article in Runner’s World last winter that showed degraded performance of cyclers on a low carb diet compared to a diet rich in carbs.
This makes rational sense to me as carbs tend to convert readily into energy compared to proteins and fats.
what antechinus said. Please note that the term “low carb” is being used in pop culture to describe both an actual low-carbohydrate diet (e.g., Atkins) and a diet low in refined carbohydrates. The latter might be full of vegetables but light on pasta, sugar, bread, and other highly processed foods. Having eaten a diet of about 60% unrefined carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 20% fat for over a year, I can tell you that the only health effects for me have been weight loss, better blood sugar regulation, decreased allergies and asthma, and excellent triglycerides.
But suffice it to say that if you wish to exercise, you cannot on a low carb diet.
Hmm. I wonder where I’ve been nearly every morning this month if I haven’t been walking 3 miles on the treadmill and lifting weights …
Probably the poster was talking about glycogen depletion. Some info
on it can be found at the bottom of this page
CYCLING PERFORMANCE TIPS - post ride recovery
This is not something you need to worry about if you are only walking
3 miles. If you start doing more cardio at a higher intesity it is
something to consider. Calories burnt during weight lifting
are not significant.
Sorry.
Oh, really? As someone who is following the Atkins Nutritional Approach — of which regular exercise is a part — I’d like to differ. I work out at the gym 3-5 times a week. Do you have a citation for your claim?
Like the other posters, I must be dead, too. I’m doing Atkins, and I exercise. :rolleyes:
We’re not talking about training-for-the-Olympics type exercise, just some basic stuff; walking, a stationary bike (two or three times a day for 20 minutes at a time), and swimming in the summer (again, not Michael Phelps-style swimming, just some basic laps).
Since starting Atkins, and dropping 60 pounds, I have tons more energy and look forward to it. I don’t get winded and give up easily.
Yes, I know carbs are what give us energy, but since cutting way back on carbs and refined sugar, and eating lots more protein and veggies, I have a lot more energy than I ever had before.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it - but not while exercising 
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Well… if you’re dead, than the Atkins diet is really the only choice for you. Today’s Zombies fuel their active lifestyles with the Carb-free Atkins approved diet consisting of one hundred percent brains!
That’s great. If it’s working for you and you feel good, and you’re under reasonable medical supervision and approval, you don’t need to worry about anything else. All I’ve said, which is backed up by the study, is that if you are currently say for example, a Gold medal olympic byciclist, and you are on the Atkins diet, you are probably only going to get gold.
I know that’s going to be hard for you to take what with all the endorsements you were counting on, but try to keep a stiff upper lip.
But seriously, in your case, I would imagine that the degradation in potential performance is more than compensated by the fact that you are no longer carrying around all these extra pounds.
More power to you.
Just take my advice and be sure and carbo load before the olympic trials, ok?
Yes, I know carbs are what give us energy, but since cutting way back on carbs and refined sugar, and eating lots more protein and veggies, I have a lot more energy than I ever had before.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it - but not while exercising .
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