In the 1980's, the public was advised to eat a low fat, high carbohydrate diet improve health and increase fat loss. In the 2000's, there has been a complete reversal and now the public has become carbohydrate phobic, replacing carbohydrates with fat and protein. It never ceases to amaze me during courses we run at my gym just how many trainers eat an extremely high meat diet and are completely devoid of carbohydrates. Dietary advice, of course, is an individual affair. One diet may be optimal for obese individuals with metabolic disorders, whereas, almost the opposite diet might be recommended for an endurance athlete. It can be a very confusing subject with multiple viewpoints on both sides. For example, yesterday in Sydney was such a glorious day that I read two books in their entirety at the beach. The first was the latest edition of the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain, who advocates eating just over half of your daily calories coming from red meat, white meat and seafood, with the rest of your calories coming from vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. The second book I read was Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn, who advocates a no fat, little protein and high carbohydrate vegan diet for the reversal or heart diesease. He and Dean Ornish have demonstrated reversal of coronary heart disease with high plant based, no animal product diets.

The majority of reseach conducted to date supports the idea of high plant based diets. Whether the rest of the calories are derived from whole grains and legumes (see research by FB Hu & W Willet) or red and white meat and seafood (see research by JS Volek), or both (See J Brand-Miller), is a personal decision that can be made with your goal in mind.

As for the 'carb phobia' sweeping our society, this paper makes for interesting reading.

Am J Clin Nutr.
2009 Jul;90(1):23-32. Epub  2009 May 13.
Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo.
Brinkworth GD, Noakes M, Buckley JD, Keogh JB, Clifton PM.

Source Preventative Health National Research Flagship, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization-Human Nutrition, Adelaide, SA, Australia. grant.brinkworth@csiro.au

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Long-term weight loss and cardiometabolic effects of a very-low-carbohydrate, high-saturated-fat diet (LC) and a
high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet (LF) have not been evaluated under isocaloric conditions.

OBJECTIVE:
The objective was to compare an energy-controlled LC diet with an LF diet at 1 y.

DESIGN:
Men and women (n = 118) with abdominal obesity and at least one additional metabolic syndrome risk factor were randomly assigned to either an energy-restricted (approximately 6-7 MJ) LC diet (4%, 35%, and 61% of energy as carbohydrate, protein, and fat, respectively) or an isocaloric LF diet (46%, 24%, and 30% of energy as carbohydrate, protein, and fat, respectively) for 1 y. Weight, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk markers were assessed.

RESULTS:
Sixty-nine participants (59%) completed the trial: 33 in the LC group and 36 in the LF group. Both groups lost similar amounts of weight (LC: -14.5 +/- 1.7 kg; LF: -11.5 +/- 1.2 kg; P = 0.14, time x diet) and body fat (LC: -11.3 +/- 1.5 kg; LF: -9.4 +/- 1.2 kg; P = 0.30). Blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, and C-reactive protein decreased independently of diet composition. Compared with the LF group, the LC group had greater decreases in triglycerides (-0.36 +/- 0.15 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.67, -0.05 mmol/L; P = 0.011), increases in
HDL cholesterol (0.23 +/- 0.09 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.40 mmol/L; P = 0.018) and LDL cholesterol (0.6 +/- 0.2 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.2, 1.0 mmol/L; P = 0.001), and a greater but nonsignificant increase in apolipoprotein B (0.08 +/- 0.04 g/L; 95% CI: -0.004, 0.171 g/L; P = 0.17).

CONCLUSIONS:
Under planned isoenergetic conditions, as expected, both dietary patterns resulted in similar weight loss and changes in body composition. The LC diet may offer clinical benefits to obese persons with insulin resistance. However, the increase in LDL cholesterol with the LC diet suggests that this measure should be monitored. This trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry at (http://www.anzctr.org.au) as ACTR 12606000203550.