Smarter carbs: don't sacrifice your health to cut carbs. The right choices will help you lose weight—and keep it off—as you stay heart-sound

Natural Health, March, 2005 by Daryn Eller

WHEN LOW-CARB MANIA reached its fevered pitch last year, lots of health-conscious eaters--vegetarians and "meat minimalists" among them--sat on the sidelines as dieters piled their plates high with burgers, ribs, and other high-protein foods loaded with saturated fat. To those dedicated to a plant-based diet, low-carb eating seemed not only nutritionally imprudent, but practically impossible.

But as the hickory smoke begins to clear, it's possible to see that the trend hasn't been entirely without merit. Coupled with common sense, the low-carb legacy can actually help you become a healthier eater and lose weight in the process.

What's more, you don't have to be a raging carnivore--in fact, you're likely to do better on a low-carb diet in the long run if you're not.

the power of protein

NUTRITIONISTS inevitably remind us that there are no "bad" foods, but the truth is, Americans went overboard with starchy carbs in the low-fat '80s and '90s, and soon developed the expanding waistlines to prove it. Fast-forward to the present, and you get another extreme: fats and proteins, good; carbohydrates, bad. Sausages are back on the menu; bagels are off. But are we likely to look back on our low-carb days with the same what-were-we-thinking regret?

Not necessarily. For starters, we were overdue for a correction. "Protein does help some people feel satisfied with less food," says Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D., a nutrition advisor to the Vegetarian Resource Group. "So they end up eating fewer calories and losing weight."

Celia Brooks Brown, author of Low-Carb Vegetarian (source of the recipes here), learned this firsthand. "While I was testing recipes for my cookbook, I lost my usual just for food because I wasn't as hungry as I typically am," she says. "I lost three pounds in two weeks without even trying."

Besides putting protein back into the national consciousness, low-carb programs made everyone conscious of eating higher-quality carbs. Most of these plans ask you to cut out virtually all starchy carbs during a jump-start phase. The Atkins plan, for example, allows only about 20 grams of carbs per day during its two-week "induction" period. But as you are permitted to add foods gradually back into your diet, it's recommended that you choose carbs that are rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals over those that are highly refined and stripped of their nutritional value. In other words, white rice and white bread are out, and brown rice and whole-grain breads are in--a change that nutritionists have been advocating for decades.

the meatless approach

FOLLOWING A LOW-CARB diet without a daily helping of bacon-wrapped pot roast is not only possible, it's preferable. A vegetarian, or almost vegetarian, version of low-carb eating will help you sidestep the biggest problem with the usual approach: an overload of animal protein and artery-clogging saturated fat.

"Some research indicates that vegetarian protein sources are less associated with an increased risk of cancer and heart disease than animal protein sources," says Suzanne Havala-Hobbs, Dr.PH., a clinical assistant professor in the department of health policy and administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the author of Being Vegetarian for Dummies.

If you're trying to go very low carb while staying low fat, your concentrated sources of protein are pretty much limited to tofu, tempeh, egg whites, and reduced-fat cheeses. But what about well-regarded sources of protein like nuts, beans, and yogurt?

"Many of those and other typical vegetarian protein sources are also high in carbohydrates," says Havala-Hobbs (see "Where the Carbs Are" on page 44). A carton of plain nonfat yogurt, for example, has more carbs (17 grams) than protein (13 grams). There's no reason you can't incorporate it into your diet once you up your carb intake, but if you're trying to shed pounds via the very-low-carb route, you'll need to go easy on the tzatziki.

carbs and calories

THERE ARE NOW hundreds of low-carb products on the market vying for your attention, but that doesn't mean all of them will help you in your quest to slim down. "When you compare some of the low-carb foods to the regular versions, you can see that the calories are the same," says Mangels. Since it's ultimately the number of calories you consume that counts--not the ratio of carbohydrate to protein--check the label before you buy any pre-packaged low-carb convenience product. (That's also why you should not overdo nuts, which are low in carbs yet high

in calories.)

There are plenty of vegetarian low-carb dishes you can make on your own. Even if your protein choices are limited, the number of ways you can prepare them is not. Brooks Brown found that eggs and tofu have endless incarnations (tofu jerky, anyone?), and she was actually able to include pancakes, muffins, desserts, and--yes--even gnocchi by using low-carb, high-protein soy flour. Still, some sacrifices were made. "Sadly, there's not a single bean in the book," she notes.