Empirically, the advice “eat fewer calories” doesn’t do a good job of making people eat fewer calories. Empirically, advice like “eat more protein and vegetables” or “drink olive oil between meals” does do a good job of making people eat fewer calories. The fact that low-carb diets “only” work by reducing caloric intake does not mean that low-carb diets aren’t valuable.
I think it has a net negative effect on the global dieting discussion that it contains these superfluous steps to the actual causes of weight loss.
Having a rational discussion about satiation is one thing. It is a long way from the woo that has been involved in getting people to believe carbs are magically evil.
I remember first digging into the Atkins diet. I thought, “No. This is dumb. It’s just calorie restriction. Why are they pretending it’s more than that?” But I shut my mouth for a while because I didn’t understand the science and Atkins and other low carb variants seemed so popular.
“Eat less and exercise more” is the best dieting advice (Or perhaps even better, “Create a reasonable calorie deficit over time”.) It may be difficult to follow, but it’s clear. It allows people to rationally attack the problem of “how” to accomplish weight loss. Everything else is just muddying the waters.
I think it has a net negative effect on the global dieting discussion that it contains these superfluous steps to the actual causes of weight loss.
Having a rational discussion about satiation is one thing. It is a long way from the woo that has been involved in getting people to believe carbs are magically evil.
I remember first digging into the Atkins diet. I thought, “No. This is dumb. It’s just calorie restriction. Why are they pretending it’s more than that?” But I shut my mouth for a while because I didn’t understand the science and Atkins and other low carb variants seemed so popular.
“Eat less and exercise more” is the best dieting advice (Or perhaps even better, “Create a reasonable calorie deficit over time”.) It may be difficult to follow, but it’s clear. It allows people to rationally attack the problem of “how” to accomplish weight loss. Everything else is just muddying the waters.