Zero-Carb Diet

The Zero-Carb diet has recently gained popularity as a more extreme version of the famous low-carb diet. However, it is important to point out that while Low-Carb advocates moderation of intake of carbohydrates zero-carb demands the exclusion of all plant matter and grains from the diet, thus completely excluding most food groups currently accepted as part of a 'balanced' diet. Most zero-carb diets also exclude milk and cream, although butter and cheese might still be used. The original idea comes from the many nomadic hunter-gatherer cultures that have historically survived for thousands of years on an all-meat diet, with no nutritional deficiencies, and in most cases much higher health levels than those present in modern Western society. The cornerstone of the diet revolves of course in the consumption of as little carbohydrates as possible. This highly restricts normally consumed food groups, with meat, fish and eggs being the common, and often only, foods consumed. However, it must be noted that while this may seem unhealthy from the standpoint of a regular Paleolithic diet, there are numerous examples of human groups thriving on such diets. High fat diets have also been successful in drastically reducing the symptoms of numerous diseases, such as epilepsy. Another important benefit is that a diet consisting of only meat does not result in blood sugar spikes after meals, drastically reducing the symptoms of diabetes.

History
One of the earliest proponents was Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Icelandic explorer who lived with the Inuit for some time and who witnessed their diet as pretty much meat and fish, with very few carbohydrates during the summer in the form of berries. Stefansson later volunteered with a friend for a one year experiment at Bellevue Hospital in New York to prove that he could thrive on a diet of nothing but meat and meat fat. His progress was closely controlled and many experiments were done on his health throughout the year. When fed only lean muscle meat he and his partner in the experiment experienced what Native Americans have traditionally referred to as "rabbit sickness", (due to the wild rabbit having such a low amount of fat that the Indians that had to rely on them in lean times would often get extremely ill from insufficient fat intake.) After fat was added back into the diet, all symptoms of sickness disappeared and their health improved rapidly. At the end of the year, he did not show any symptoms of ill health, including scurvy, which was supposed by many scientists to manifest itself only a few months into the diet due to the lack of Vitamin C in muscle meat. However, Stefansson and his partner did not eat just muscle meat - they ate brain, liver, fish, chicken, and other varieties of "meat." Vilhjalmur Stefansson advocated a diet which was about 75-80% fat and 20-25% protein by calories, which is approximately what he observed the Inuit consuming in their diet. He cautioned against an excessive protein intake and cited that the Inuit often fed the lean muscle meat to their dogs instead of eating it if they had a sufficient amount of fat to eat.

Another well-known proponent of this diet is Owsley Stanley ("The Bear") who claims to have eaten this way since 1959 (48 years). He claims to eat mostly on meat, eggs, butter, and cheese. His health and high activity level has been discussed in low-carb diet circles. However, he received radiation treatment in 2004 for throat cancer which he attributed to passive cigarette smoke. Stanley has also cited the work of Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Richard Mackarness (Eat Fat and Grow Slim) as some of his inspiration for taking up the diet.