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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...

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Autores principales: Protogerou, Cleo, Leroy, Frédéric, Hagger, Martin S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
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.
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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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