I am an experienced agricultural researcher, and wrote a number of points regarding your critique, and how to do proper research etc., but much has been covered by other posters, and I am losing interest in proving LC to the world. I have seen in my own field, times when farmers have achieved excellent results where professional agrologists or conventional wisdom would have discouraged a particular management practice.

Doctors prescribing LC to their patients have thousands of patients providing favourable anecdotal evidence. Dr. Schwarzbein originally prescribed a low fat high carb diet to her patients. The problem was that the people who followed it most closely got sicker while the biggest cheaters ate meat, eggs and fat, and got healthier. From their she developed the Schwarzbein Principle.

LC obviously works for me (I am less carb-restricted than Atkins). And I knew one week in that it was right. I have been very active physically for the past two decades, yet gained 65# during this time. I have trained for and completed and Ironman triathlon without losing weight. I have followed weight watchers to lose weight to 168#, yet unable to maintain that due to hunger. I have worked several months in a row, long hours outside climbing over logs and around trees yet not lost weight.

Now, thanks to reading a paperback by a much maligned author, and no thanks to the Canada Food Guide, Triathlete Magazine, Weight Watchers and RDs, I am full all day every day yet losing weight easily. Fitday.com tells me I get all the nutrition I need, lots of fiber and antioxidants.

Is LC hazardous? I doubt it but admit I don't know for sure, though I would rather weigh 175 not knowing than 241 (and rising) not knowing. Is HC hazardous? For me, 20 years experience tells me "You bet it is!"