Low-Carb May Work Fast, May Not Last

Very-low-carb diets are all the rage. When you start dieting, everyone knows eating a slice of bread is worse than malaria, right?

More than a decade ago, Dr. Atkins was behind what we would call a third wave of ketogenic (low-carb/no-carb) dieting. He enjoyed initial popularity in the 1970s with borrowed research from the '50s.

Drop the carbs and fat just melts away -- body fat loss can be rapid. Initially.

We like things fast and that's why this diet keeps resurging, but in the past 50 years research and nutritional science has gone from the Pony Express to e-mail speed.

The facts are lining up with The Diet Docs' law of sustainability. There is metabolic science and there is practicality to consider when choosing how you'll lose weight -- and low-carb diets don't rank high in either.

Early body fat loss with a ketogenic diet is made possible by virtually eliminating the body's primary and preferred source of energy -- carbohydrates.

Carbs are readily converted to glucose, which our cells use as energy. Without the carbs, body fat can be broken down into glucose faster.. the fewer the carbs, the more fat is needed to create energy for the body Sign me up!

The problem is, when you go to the extreme of low-carb diets, you kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Carbs also have very positive roles in the body, one of which is to keep our metabolism high. Studies show that on a low-carb or very- low-calorie diet in general, metabolism can shift downward rapidly.