People have been low carbing it for years to try to slim down. Following the Atkins diet and cutting out breads and pastas can help with weight loss, but a new study released in the Annuals of Internal Medicine shows that it is even more important to be careful with how you replace those calories.
The objective of the study was to examine the association of low carbohydrate diets with mortality during 26 years of follow-up in women and 20 years in men. The participants included more than 85,000 women under the age of 60 and 44,000 men from the ages of 40 to 75 years. The participants were free from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The study found that the death rate among people who adhered most closely to a low carb regimen was 12 percent higher over 20 years than with those who consumed diets higher in carbohydrates.
What was interesting was that the rate of death varied based upon the foods the dieter chose to replace the missing carbohydrates with.Those who ate more beans and nuts were 20 percent less likely to die than those who ate a high-carbohydrate diet. But, low carb dieters who ingested the majority of their protein and fat from animal sources, like red and processed meats, were 14 percent more likely to die of heart disease and 28 percent more likely to die of cancer.
If you want to lose weight and find that cutting out breads and pastas leads to weight loss, make sure that you fill in those missing spots with healthy choices like almonds, lentils, and beans and avoid the saturated fat-filled steak, bacon and ribs that many people would select. It could help you live a healthier, longer life.