The Atkins Diet.
The South Beach Diet.
Keto.
When you come right down to it, they are all the same thing: a regime focused on lowering carbohydrates and upping your proteins.
“In 1863, William Banting published his Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, in which he promoted the benefits of a low carb diet for weight loss and optimal health. Banting is now considered to be ‘the father of the low carb diet’.”
https://www.livescience.com/52769-low-carb-diet-facts.html#:~:text=A%20history%20of%20the%20low%20carb%20diet&text=In%201863%2C%20William%20Banting%20published,of%20the%20low%20carb%20diet’.
In the 1960s, Robert Atkins promoted his own “version” of this, and for a year or three, it was all the rage. Atkins blamed carbs, not fat, for poor weight-loss outcomes. This was coupled with the idea that you could “change your metabolism” by consuming lots of fat, some protein, and fewer carbohydrates.
Many books were sold.
It was heavy on processed meats (Bacon! Baloney! Hot dogs!) which seem to carry not only fat and flavour, but risks of some types of cancers and heart problems, which is kind of weird when you consider that Atkins was a cardiologist.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-the-atkins-diet-and-is-it-healthy/#:~:text=Cardiologist%20Robert%20Atkins%20created%20the,is%20to%20change%20your%20metabolism.
In 2003, we got the South Beach Diet, which (once again) promoted a low carb/high fat plan (although this time, it was “healthy fats”).
Many, many books were sold.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/south-beach-diet/art-20048491
And then came Keto.
Well, not exactly – a keto diet (largely vegetarian) was promoted in the 1920s as a cure for epilepsy.
Around 2017, though, “Keto” was the new buzzword in dieting. This time, it wasn’t just “low carb” – it was super-super-super low: less than 50 grams a day of carbs, with no fruit allowed, and a restricted list of vegetables.
https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a25775330/keto-diet-history/
Not only were many more books sold, there were a variety of YouTube gurus making money from this, as well.
The thing is, all these diets are exactly the same, and for the vast majority of adherents, the experience is roughly the same, too.
Yes – these diets work, for a while. Of course they do.
ALL diets work, short term, in that any restriction of food helps you lose weight. If there are fewer calories to burn and you are still expending your pre-diet number of calories, there will almost inevitably be some weight loss.
Let’s repeat this, because apparently, our own lifelong experience hasn’t taught us this truth yet:
ALL diets work, short term, in that any restriction of food helps you lose weight. If there are fewer calories to burn and you are still expending your pre-diet number of calories, there will almost inevitably be some weight loss.
The problem is that very few people can stay on a restricted diet forever.
It just takes one Christmas get-together centred on mashed potatoes and stuffing drenched in gravy, or a summer barbecue with really enticing bowls of chips and dip, and the next morning, our brains point out what utter failures we are and what’sthepointanyway? and we just go make a sandwich.
Some people do stay on longer – even “forever”, despite the probable health risks. I knew someone who was doing the “isolated in the boonies/prepper thing” one winter back in the 80s. He trapped rabbits. Tons of rabbits. He never went hungry, because of all the meat. He almost died, though, because despite this protein-rich diet, he was found, come April, to be suffering from fairly extreme malnutrition (and scurvy!), and wound up in hospital for three weeks.
But I digress.
My point is, this thing is going to make a comeback in a few years, with a catchy new name and some new, unscientific wrinkle added, and it won’t work then. either. Not for most of us, anyway.
We’ll get a few pounds off, plateau out well below our stated goals, feel bad about that, and then go out with friends and that second glass of beer to wash down the nachos will sink our resolve.
That’s probably a good thing, too.
Eat a balanced diet with sensible portion sizes, get up and move around, take care of your teeth and gums, buy a pair of good-quality shoes, and worry about health, not the number on the bathroom scale.
Traveling Light 