4 LowCarb Living

LowCarb Living--Smart Choices for Living Well, according to its website, was available on news stands on January 15, 2004. It also claims to be the #1 low carb lifestyle magazine--a bit pushy for a first issue claim--unless it is the only one in that category!

The President/Publisher, James Capparell writes

Our magazine's goal is to inform, support, and point the way. In every issue you'll read the latest news and research on topics of health, weight loss, aging, and longevity.

Capparell and his associate publisher, Susan Ford, started the magazine because they had success losing weight on a low carb plan. The Editor, Catherine LaCroix, mentions that 37 million Americans are on low-carb diets, and that is clear from the 20 full page ads, plus many smaller ads in 80 pages.

The premiere issue has a comparison of the South Beach and Atkins diets, both popular low carb diets with books, and spin-offs. Low carb isn’t new. When I lost 25 pounds in 6 months in 1960, I cut out all bread, desserts, second helpings, candy, ice cream and milk. That’s a lot of carbs, and all I had to do was “just say no.” I estimate now that I probably cut my daily calories in half, but I never gave up fruits and vegetables I liked.

The author, Michael Fitzgerald, provides a little history, a sketchy outline of the phases of each diet, and compares results. He touches on The Zone, Sugar Busters and Weight Watchers, but basically stays with South Beach and Atkins.

My own research turned up a recent conference on obesity (February 2004). The session "Special Diets in Weight Management: Do They Work?" examined key concepts of the Atkins diet, South Beach diet, and Mediterranean diet. According to Lisa Sanders, MD, Yale University, an estimated 40 million Americans have tried a low-carbohydrate diet, and 10-20 million are currently on a low-carb diet. Medscape Public Health and Prevention, Vol. 2 (1), 2004.

“Rigorous, long-term studies of low-carb diets have been published only recently, noted Dr. Sanders. . . [She] summarized the findings with respect to claims of the Atkins diet. In the 6-month studies, the low-carb dieters lost more weight than the low-fat dieters; however, at 1 year, weight lost was the same because the low-carb dieters had regained the weight they lost in the early part of the diet. In the 6-month studies, the low-carb dieters were able to limit their caloric intake to the same level as those on a low-calorie diet. The dropout rates were the same for participants in the low-carb and low-fat diet groups.”

My own experience (2 weeks) of trying a popular low-carb diet, is that I will kill for a cracker after just a few days and I‘m not safe to be around, so I don’t think it is for me.

LowCarb Living
January/February 2004, Premiere Issue, Vol.1, no.1
ISSN (na)
Subject: Healthy Eating
Publication schedule bi-monthly
Capp Media Inc.
Editorial offices:
1563 Solano Avenue, PMB 379
Berkeley, CA 94707
$3.99 single; $17.97 6 issues [also says $27.97
http://www.lclmag.com
James Capparell, President
Editor: Catherine LaCroix