No Carb Diets

There is a lot of controversy surronding the low and no carb diets. This is because these diet programs go against official guidelines from such authorities such as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Because of these issues, many consider no carb programs dangerous, even when followed for a short period of time.

Actually, because of the body's requirement for carbohydrates, when speaking of no carb programs, most refer to low carb programs, such as the Atkins Diet.

The low carb programs may have periods of minimal carb consumption (as the Atkins Diet does), and these periods may give the program a no carb reputation. There are funny anecdotes surrounding these no carb periods, such as the booting of a couple on the Atkins diet from a buffett after the gentleman of the two went for the 12th slice of roast beef. You can read the story at

cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/26/national/main613621.shtml

No Carb Diets - Resources

Before you decide to go on a no or low carb diet program, it's advisable to read as much as you can about the dangers of very low carb diet programs and the recommendations for daily intake of carbohydrates from nutritional authorities, such as NAS.

Places to read about these recommendations include:

nas.edu

fda.gov

usda.gov

These are some of the official sources for carb intake recommendations, but you can also find a lot of scienfitic discussion on the actual need for carb intake within books for such diet programs as the Zone Diet and Atkins Diet.

Most of the resources link the need for minimum level of carb intake to the level of physical activity and adjust the recommended level according to that and other factors (such as persons age).