rinciples. The central principle is to eat less fat. Fat has twice as many calories gram for gram as carbs so by eating less fat in your diet you'll eat fewer calories. Makes sense, right?

This is followed by another key principle -- fil

Which is more effective for weight loss...a low carb or low calorie diet? That's a good question and one that prompts animated debate in the weight loss world!

Some people swear by the low carb approach, others prefer a low calorie weight loss plan. So which works best? If only it were that easy!

The debate rages in respected scientific journals, all over the internet on websites, in weight loss forums, in blogs, offline in magazines and books ...So what's the answer?

Put two dieticians in a room and you'll get two different opinions! The accepted wisdom for years has been that if you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. Just eat fewer calories, eat a healthy, balanced diet made up of all the main food groups and do some exercise.

The low calorie approach to dieting is simple...and then along came the low carbers and turned the accepted wisdom on its head! Or did they?

Low calorie diets are founded on a few basic principles. The central principle is to eat less fat. Fat has twice as many calories gram for gram as carbs so by eating less fat in your diet you'll eat fewer calories. Makes sense, right?

This is followed by another key principle -- fill

t loss plan. So which works best? If only it were that easy!

The debate rages in respected scientific journals, all over the internet on websites, in weight loss forums, in blogs, offline in magazines and books ...So what's the answer?

Put two dieticians in a room and you'll get two different opinions! The accepted wisdom for years has been that if you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. Just eat fewer calories, eat a healthy, balanced diet made up of all the main food groups and do some exercise.

The low calorie approach to dieting is simple...and then along came the low carbers and turned the accepted wisdom on its head! Or did they?

Low calorie diets are founded on a few basic principles. The central principle is to eat less fat. Fat has twice as many calories gram for gram as carbs so by eating less fat in your diet you'll eat fewer calories. Makes sense, right?

This is followed by another key principle -- fil

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Put two dieticians in a room and you'll get two different opinions! The accepted wisdom for years has been that if you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. Just eat fewer calories, eat a healthy, balanced diet made up of all the main food groups and do some exercise.

The low calorie approach to dieting is simple...and then along came the low carbers and turned the accepted wisdom on its head! Or did they?

Low calorie diets are founded on a few basic principles. The central principle is to eat less fat. Fat has twice as many calories gram for gram as carbs so by eating less fat in your diet you'll eat fewer calories. Makes sense, right?

This is followed by another key principle -- fil

l the main food groups and do some exercise.

The low calorie approach to dieting is simple...and then along came the low carbers and turned the accepted wisdom on its head! Or did they?

Low calorie diets are founded on a few basic principles. The central principle is to eat less fat. Fat has twice as many calories gram for gram as carbs so by eating less fat in your diet you'll eat fewer calories. Makes sense, right?

This is followed by another key principle -- fil

rinciples. The central principle is to eat less fat. Fat has twice as many calories gram for gram as carbs so by eating less fat in your diet you'll eat fewer calories. Makes sense, right?

This is followed by another key principle -- fill up on starchy carbs like bread, rice and pasta, preferably of the wholegrain variety. They've got fewer calories than fatty foods and all that fiber will fill you up so you'll eat less.

Then along came the good Dr Atkins. His theory was that your body digested carbs - sugars and starches - quickly and all that sugar was dumped in your bloodstream. Your body produced insulin to balance your blood sugar levels and ferried the excess sugar off to be converted to fat and stored in your fat tissue.

As a result, he banned carbs from your diet and replaced them with lots of protein and fat. This forced your body to dip into its fat stores as there were no carbs to burn.

The protein was difficult to digest so your body had to work harder and use more calories to metabolise it. The dietary protein also helped prevent your body from canibalising its muscle tissue for energy.

The result? Rapid and significant weight loss.

Ok, that's simplif