Harvard Goes Low Carb

by Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Government and private-sector recommendations on diet have generally focused on lowering dietary fats and increasing carbohydrates to replace them. The assumption behind this advice is simple: if you reduce dietary fat, the risk for heart disease, obesity, and other health problems will diminish. But research suggests that this view is far too simple

Harvard on Glycemic Index, Hunger, and Overeating.

"Government and private-sector recommendations on diet have generally focused on lowering dietary fats and increasing carbohydrates to replace them. The assumption behind this advice is simple: if you reduce dietary fat, the risk for heart disease, obesity, and other health problems will diminish. But research suggests that this view is far too simple," claims the Harvard Women's Health Watch editorial

Harvard Medical Center doctors highlighted the points that have been (for too long) a field of "alternative" low carb dieting.

1. Not all fats are bad. There tons of evidence that there are fats essential for your health, especially heart and vessel health.

2. Not all carbohydrates are good. Those entering your blood too fast (with high glycemic index, GI) are bad:

"High-GI diets may contribute significantly to our risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. For example, in the June American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nurses' Health Study researchers reported a relationship between heart-disease risk and diets with a high glycemic load. "

3. The current official Food Guide Pyramid encourages us to eat too many high-GI refined carbohydrates.

"Eat lots of non-starchy vegetables and plenty of fruits. Both tend to have lower GIs. It's hard to remember just which fruit or vegetable provides the most of a particular vitamin or mineral, and we don't know very much about how these foods interact with each other to good effect. So eat a wide variety."

Now compare these three pyramids: what we are advised to eat, what we actually eat, and what we should eat to be healthy.  

Harvard Goes Low Carb?
Harvard's Pyramid
USDA Pyramid
Actual Intake Pyramid

Source: Harvard Health Publications

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