Be a Happier Dieter

When it comes to losing weight, should you go with a low-fat or a low-carb diet?

Starting any diet with positive results may boost your mood, but for longer-term happiness the low-carb diet may not be the best choice. According to a new study comparing dieters on a low-fat or a low-carb diet for one year, the low-fat diet helps dieters remain more content. The study was published in the November 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

“This outcome suggests that some aspects of the low-carbohydrate diet may have had detrimental effects on mood that, over the term of one year, negated any positive effects of weight loss,” wrote the study authors from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation–Food and Nutritional Sciences in Australia.

The study involved 106 overweight and obese participants with an average age of 50. For the study, 55 participants were assigned to follow a very–low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, and 51 were assigned to a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet for one year.

After one year of following both groups of participants, researchers found that there was no difference in the amount of weight lost. The average weight lost was 30 pounds. Both groups also had an initial positive boost in mood after eight weeks on the diet, but only the low-fat dieters were able to maintain their positive moods.

The researchers note that the less positive moods among low-carb dieters could possibly be blamed on the social difficulty of adhering to the diet or the very structured nature of the low-carb diet. Read more about the low-fat versus low-carb study online.

If you tried a low-carb diet, how did you feel?

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