How can a low-carb diet cause the pounds to drop?  Here is what worked with the low-carb Atkins diet: lots of people lost loads of pounds. And here’s what didn’t work: it gave cardiologists the shiver.

But new research suggests you can peel off pounds and improve your heart health on an Atkins-esque diet, you just have to get your protein from plants instead of animals.  Overweight adults with high cholesterol who followed two different types of vegetarian diets for a month experienced quite different results.

Those on a low-carb, high protein diet emphasizing fruit, veggies, nuts, and soy foods and less starchy fare like bread or rice not only lost weight but also experienced significant drops in blood pressure and LDL cholesterol.

The other group followed a higher-carb diet that was low in fat, and although they lost weight, too, they didn’t experience such dramatic heart-health improvements. Researchers credit the veggie-based proteins for the low-carb dieters’ extra successes.  So remember to eat your plant proteins!

 

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