NFriday wrote:... I don't know why.
Because, like Atkins, they let you eat a lot of formerly forbidden things in most diets: dairy, non-lean meats, cheese, etc.
I've been running my own 'rules' which are closer to paleo than anything else, but really just boil down to not eating starches and sugars (except for special occasions, which seem to happen a little too often). I'm not counting on body chemistry changes, it's just taking something out to limit what I'm eating. And it's working reasonably well. Slowly I'm losing some weight. Waiting to see if it changes any of my other numbers when I'm next at the doc in a couple months, but not expecting anything major.
There's growing evidence that low carb lifestyles have lower heart disease (the exception is calorie-restricted lifestyles which seem to do OK on mostly carbs, paradoxically), overturning 50 years of low fat advice from doctors and govt. But anything this you can stick to will probably work for weight loss.
What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang