Low-carb diets, made popular by Dr. Robert Atkins, are effective ways of losing weight for many people. However, most of these diets allow an unlimited intake of fat and protein. Over time, a diet high in animal fat may result in cardiovascular disease. In some circumstances, the weight-loss benefits of a diet high in animal fat can outweigh the health risks. High-fat diets can also help prevent seizures in children with epilepsy who don't respond to conventional medicine.
Low-Carb Diets
Low-carb diets ordinarily allow an unlimited intake of fat and protein but only small amounts of carbohydrate. Foods to avoid or eat in very limited amounts on a low-carb diet include bagels, doughnuts, bread, sandwiches, potatoes, starchy vegetables, fruit, burgers, pizza, potato chips, cake, candy, ice cream, soda, milkshakes, smoothies and alcoholic beverages. The permissible foods include meat, poultry, fish, tofu, eggs, milk, butter, vegetable oil and carbohydrate substitutes such as soy flour bread.
Ketosis
Atkins succeeded in making low-carb diets popular, because they apparently are easier to follow and more effective than more traditional weight-loss diets. The principle behind low-carb diets is that when you restrict carbohydrates, you restrict glucose. Since glucose is the brain's ordinary energy source, the brain needs a different fuel when glucose is restricted. Ketone bodies are effective as an energy source for the brain. Ketone bodies are the result of fat metabolism in the liver. So, by restricting glucose, you can force your body into burning fat to produce ketone bodies for the brain, according to Atkins.
Appetite Loss
According to the American Medical Association, the one problem with this reasoning is that if glucose is available, the brain prefers glucose to ketone bodies. When you restrict carbohydrates, you make it more difficult for the body to produce glucose. But if you eat protein and fat in excess, the body can convert these food substances into glucose. The liver converts fat into glycerol and fatty acids. Fatty acids cannot produce glucose but glycerol can. So, even when you restrict carbohydrates, excess fat and protein can be turned into glucose and stored as fat. According to the American Medical Association, low-carb diets still work but they work by creating a sense of fullness and by making it harder for you to find interesting foods to eat.
The Risks of High-Fat Diets
Low-carb diets are normally high in animal fat. According to the American Medical Association, diets high in animal fat can contribute to an increase in bad cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein. High bad cholesterol has a number of health risks. It can lead to a hardening of arteries, making blood clots and strokes more likely to occur. It can also lead to heart disease by forming plaque formations in the heart. To avoid these bad consequences of following a low-carb diet, choose low-fat protein foods or foods containing good fats, such as lean chicken and turkey breast without the skin, salmon, tuna, sardines, tofu, olive oil, low-fat cheese and low-fat milk.
Weight-Loss Benefits
There are circumstances in which even high animal fat versions of low-carb diets are good weight-loss choices. The high animal fat versions of low-carb diets may be easier to stick to than modified versions, as they do not require avoiding any foods high in fat and low in carbohydrates. If you are severely overweight and cannot lose weight in any other way, then the benefits of losing weight may outweigh the risks of eating foods high in animal fat, according to Atkins.com. However, according to the American Medical Association, a diet low in animal fat should eventually replace high-animal fat diets.
Seizures
In some very special circumstances, low-carb diets high in animal fat that are not aimed at weight loss may be good choices. According to Epilepsy.com, it has been known since the 1920s that a diet high in fat, adequate in protein and low in carbohydrates can reduce the frequency and intensity of seizures in pediatric patients. No one knows exactly how high-fat diets achieve this result but advocates believe that when the brain switches from using glucose as an energy source to using mostly ketone bodies, the neurons somehow stabilize, thus preventing the kind of brain excitement that causes seizures.
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