The dietary guidelines I recommend on the Shape Up programs do not really constitute a "low carb diet," although the American Dietary Association zealots might disagree. To them, anything less than a recommendation of 55-60 percent (sometimes even more) of your daily calories from carbohydrates is too low. Personally, I think they're nuts.

Why? Because, unless you're one of the lucky ones in the American populace whose metabolism operates flawlessly, who is not struggling with a weight problem, who is eating whole and unrefined foods, who is getting adequate intake of fiber, who has no discernible food intolerances or sensitivities, who is exercising daily and who seems to process a highly grain-based diet effortlessly, and unless you have no serious disturbances in insulin metabolism or blood sugar levels, you're gonna have a problem with the typical American high carb / low fat diet. Why? Because, in the rage to hang horns on the villain and banish fat from the American diet, we have replaced it with, in my opinion, far more carbs than our Paleolithic digestive systems were ever designed to process. Furthermore, those carbs are not the "good" kind that well-meaning nutritionists talk about when they urge us to eat more of them. They're processed, refined, full of hidden sugars and bleached flours, devoid of nutrients and loaded with calories. These foods may be low in fat, but they're making us sick and they're making us fat.