Mainstream groups such as the American Heart Association and the
American Dietetic Association endorse a unified set of dietary
guidelines for people who wish to lose weight—eat a low-fat diet
and cut calories. However, many popular diet books take a very
different approach. The Atkins diet, the Zone diet, , and
numerous other dietary approaches turn thumbs down on low-fat.
Instead, these methods recommend cutting down on carbohydrates.
According to proponents of these theories, when you reduce the
carbohydrates in your diet (and, correspondingly, increase
protein and/or fat), you will find it much easier to reduce your
calorie intake, and you may even lose weight without cutting
calories. The controversy over these contradictions has been
heated. Proponents of the low-fat diet claim that low-
carbohydrate diets are ineffective and even dangerous, while
low-carb proponents say much the same about the low-fat
approach. However, an article published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association suggests tha