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Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet
The adoption of carbohydrate-restrictive diets to improve health is increasing in popularity, but there is a dearth of research on individuals who choose to severely restrict or entirely exclude carbohydrates. The present study investigated the beliefs and experiences of individuals following a diet...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8699012/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34940096 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs11120161 |
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author | Protogerou, Cleo Leroy, Frédéric Hagger, Martin S. |
author_facet | Protogerou, Cleo Leroy, Frédéric Hagger, Martin S. |
author_sort | Protogerou, Cleo |
collection | PubMed |
description | The adoption of carbohydrate-restrictive diets to improve health is increasing in popularity, but there is a dearth of research on individuals who choose to severely restrict or entirely exclude carbohydrates. The present study investigated the beliefs and experiences of individuals following a diet that severely limits, or entirely excludes, dietary carbohydrates, colloquially known as a ‘zero-carb’ diet, for at least 6 months. Zero-carb dieters (n = 170) recruited via a social networking site completed an online qualitative survey prompting them to discuss their motives, rationale, and experiences of following a low-carb diet. Transcripts of participants’ responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results revealed that participants’ decision to follow a zero-carb diet was driven by health concerns and benefits. Participants expressed a strong social identity and belongingness to online zero-carb communities. Participants reported strong intentions to follow the diet indefinitely. Shortcomings of the diet centered on experienced stigma; lack of support from healthcare providers and significant others; limited access to, and high cost of, foods; and limited scientific data on the diet. Further research into the benefits and shortcomings of zero-carb diets across settings and populations is warranted, and guidelines for healthcare professionals on how to support individuals following a zero-carb diet are needed. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8699012 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-86990122021-12-24 Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet Protogerou, Cleo Leroy, Frédéric Hagger, Martin S. Behav Sci (Basel) Article The adoption of carbohydrate-restrictive diets to improve health is increasing in popularity, but there is a dearth of research on individuals who choose to severely restrict or entirely exclude carbohydrates. The present study investigated the beliefs and experiences of individuals following a diet that severely limits, or entirely excludes, dietary carbohydrates, colloquially known as a ‘zero-carb’ diet, for at least 6 months. Zero-carb dieters (n = 170) recruited via a social networking site completed an online qualitative survey prompting them to discuss their motives, rationale, and experiences of following a low-carb diet. Transcripts of participants’ responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results revealed that participants’ decision to follow a zero-carb diet was driven by health concerns and benefits. Participants expressed a strong social identity and belongingness to online zero-carb communities. Participants reported strong intentions to follow the diet indefinitely. Shortcomings of the diet centered on experienced stigma; lack of support from healthcare providers and significant others; limited access to, and high cost of, foods; and limited scientific data on the diet. Further research into the benefits and shortcomings of zero-carb diets across settings and populations is warranted, and guidelines for healthcare professionals on how to support individuals following a zero-carb diet are needed. MDPI 2021-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8699012/ /pubmed/34940096 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs11120161 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Protogerou, Cleo Leroy, Frédéric Hagger, Martin S. Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet |
title | Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet |
title_full | Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet |
title_fullStr | Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet |
title_full_unstemmed | Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet |
title_short | Beliefs and Experiences of Individuals Following a Zero-Carb Diet |
title_sort | beliefs and experiences of individuals following a zero-carb diet |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8699012/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34940096 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs11120161 |
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