First off I highly recommend watching Gary Taubes lecture posted below under source. He wrote an article in 2002, "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" but it was dismissed as not being backed up with the appropriate scientific proof. So he wrote "Good Calories, Bad Calories" & spent 7 years going through all the studies over the last century & fully documented his assertions with every scientific study in this book. He divided up the real science from the faulty science & concluded that low carb was the bestway to control insulin levels which balances out other hormones & allows the body to function properly.
1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease or any other chronic disease.
2. The problem is refined carbs in diet, their effect on insulin secretion & the hormonal regulation of homeostasis.
3. Sugars - sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup specifically - are particularly harmful, the combination of fructose & glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels & overload liver with carbs.
4. Through their direct effects on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbs, starches, sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease & diabetes. They are likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer's & other diseases.
5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating.
6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter.
7. Fattening & obesity are caused by an imbalance in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue & fat metabolism.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from fat tissue.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbs make us fat.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbs also increase hunger & decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism & physical activity.
Lutz "Life without Bread" is another excellent book that dispels nutrition myths.
Dr.Atkins was a cardiologist, low carb was a health plan easier sold as a "diet" Read any of his books for easily understandable science. Normalizing blood pressure, blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, triglyercerides & hormone levels are all bonus features of doing a low carb way of eating.
U.S. government guidelines were changed 35 years ago to suggest we lower our fat intake & increase our carb intake. American society followed these recommendations & lowered their fat intake by 11% & increased their carb consumption. In this same time frame obesity, diabetes, heart disease are all at epidemic levels.
A low carbohydrate diet is a high fat diet. The protein should only be a little higher than adequate. Although it is completely possible to live on a fat/protein only diet for long term (as proven by research done in a hospital setting) it becomes boring fairly quickly. Luckily many vegetables & some fruits, nuts & seeds are low in carbs and greatly expand the diet. Most long term low carbers eat as many, if not more non starchy vegetables than vegetarians.
Glucose is the bodies preferred fuel (if you want to get technical, it actually burns alcohol most efficiently, but that doesn't make it any healthier for the body than carbs), the body can convert 100% of carbs, 58% of protein & 10% of dietary fat into glucose. The body can also be fueled by fat (dietary fat & fat cells) but only in the absence of carbs. Your brain actually prefers* to be fueled by ketones (part of the fat burning process), it does require glucose also, but glucose can be easily converted from excess protein if needed or dietary fat.
Plaque build up in the arteries is more attributable to carb consumption than dietary fats, which seems to be the conclusion of the following study. Carb consumption raises triglycerides & VLDL (bad cholesterol). Fats raise the HDL (good cholesterol). High triglyceride levels & low HDL levels are an indicator of plaque & glycation - the precursors to a heart attack & heart disease.
study from the Oxford group examining the postprandial (after-eating) effects of a low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diet. (Roberts R et al, 2008)
Postprandial lipoproteins, you'd think, would be plentiful after ingesting a large quantity of fat, since fat must be absorbed via chylomicrons into the bloodstream. But it's carbohydrates that figure most prominently in determining the pattern and magnitude of postprandial triglycerides and lipoproteins. Much of this effect develops by way of de novo lipogenesis, the generation of new lipoproteins like VLDL after carbohydrate ingestion.
Truth About Abs is a good one. http://www.bit.ly/impossible6packabs They also talk a lot about nutrition and what to watch out for and stuff. I like how they tie it all in together.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976805421?tag=thest01-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0976805421&adid=0J74KFSCSVKM08HYDVPG&
Maximum Strength by Eric Cressey - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1600940579?tag=thest01-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1600940579&adid=1NQ7647JYDGBYQB6ZNP1&