by Pam Brink

Created on: October 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 12, 2010

Low carb diets are the healthiest of all the weight loss diets.

Despite all the advertising that tells us that low fat diets are the healthiest, recent research findings are demonstrating over and over again the superiority of low carbohydrate over low fat diets in relation to controlling all the laboratory values used to indicate wellness. The list of physicians and nutritional scientists espousing the low carbohydrate diet is steadily growing.

There is no single weight loss diet that does not forbid or seriously control sugar intake. Many suggest sugar substitutes, but by and large, either no sugar is allowed or is severely curtailed. Sugar is a carbohydrate. The research on the dangers of eating foods with a high sugar content is growing. One cardiologist[i] describes the action of eating high sugar foods like rubbing the insides of the arteries with sandpaper. The higher the sugar content, the rougher the sandpaper.

In addition to sugars, low carbohydrate diets call for a limitation on grains (carbohydrates). As all farmers know, using grains instead of grass produces fatter beef. Grains and all their flours, which are a staple in most American diets in the form of breads and pastas, are fat producers for humans as well as animals.

Low carbohydrate diets advocate eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables (carbohydrates). Fruits and vegetables with the highest sugar content are more limited but are still allowed. Fruits and vegetables contain naturally occurring antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Grains, on the other hand, have to have nutrients added. Low carbohydrate diets suggest substituting fruits and vegetables for grains.

We are often told that the low carbohydrate diet is a high fat diet and that it is the high fat diet (particularly saturated fat) that causes hardening of the arteries and other heart diseases. Recent research has been debunking that myth. It isn't fat that causes hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, it's high blood sugar!

Not all carbohydrates are created equal. All carbohydrates are converted by the body into blood sugar (blood glucose). Simple sugars like honey or alcohol begin to be converted to blood glucose in the mouth. The more complex the carbohydrate (the higher the fiber content) the longer it takes for the digestive system to convert it to blood glucose. A high carbohydrate, low fat diet, creates a constant production of high blood sugar.

Cancer cells feed on blood sugar. More

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