REBUTTAL: There are at least three ways to eat low carb without eating a lot of saturated fat.
1) On Loren Cordain's version of the Paleo diet by avoiding fatty cuts of grain fed meat you will get a level of saturated fat similar to what was eaten by the average hunter gahterer. This produces a better lipid profile in the short run. (There are no long term studies on the Paleo diet yet .)
2) On the Eco-Atkins diet you can eat a moderate amount of regular meat. This produces a better lipid profile in the short run and is associated with less heart disease in the long run.
3) Vegetarian Atkins
People are different. People who are insulin resistant have a greater problem with carbs. People with fewer LDL receptors have a greater problem with saturated fat. People with the APOE4 allele are more likely to have problems with both. The Paleo diet, the Ornish diet and the Mediterranean diet all have less high GI carbs and less saturated fat than most Americans eat and they are all good for heart disease. The high saturated fat version of Atkins only reduces high GI carbs. It accelerates atherosclerosis in the short run (in spite of favorable HDL and triglycerides) and is associated with more heart disease mortality in the long run. It makes sense that the more risk factors you reduce the better results you will get.
