But most carbs in nature are of the cellulose forms, complex long-chain polysacharides that pretty much just go right through you.
Good point. I have been on low carb now for about 5 years. I stopped once I attained my desired weight for 8 months. My blood work results were very revealing. Before I was on low carb I had triglyceride levels of over 600. My HDLs were the pits. After the first round with low carb my triglycerides dropped to under 60 and HDL moved to 40. These were important measurements, since the ratio of triglycerides to HDL is the "only" real predictor of cardiac related health. The consensus forming is a ratio of under 2 is desirable. My ratio fell to 1.5.
I went off low carb and within 8 months of calorie counting and exercise proceeded to gain back 17lbs. Worse, my triglyceride levels rocketed back to over 600 with HDLs of 24. That put my ratio back into a certain future Cath. Lab visit. I immediately went back on the diet 9 months ago and pretty much have returned to my previous weight and lab ratio.
I knew it worked and felt a bit driven to find out why. I have done plenty of research and I found one very useful book by a husband and wife epidemiologist team. They were professional epidemiologists who found themselves with the same dietary issues as the majority of Americans do now. They began to research the problem and ultimately compiled enough papers to publish a very useful work. The book is
"The Modern Nutritional Diseases", by Alice Ottoboni, PH.D. and Fred Ottoboni, M.P.H., Ph.D.
They do a very good job of explaining dietary physiology and metabolism. The book was a valuable adjunct to Atkin's work and helped explain the dietary paradox of fat consumption. Primarily, you can eat as much fat as you want and not gain weight as long as you restrict carbohydrate intake to very low levels. Of course if you eat multiple sticks of deep fried butter you will not lose weight either.
Another area they cover well is the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acid and why the "heart healthy" diet is a prescription for disease and a very unhealthy heart. The only weakness I found was in their final chapter, where it looked like they rushed to get it to publication. It is a very valuable work and answers the red pill/blue pill challenge by going strait down the rabbit hole.