I disagree Sam, debates are normally framed exactly like that: carbs or fat as if one must be eating predominantly one or the other with no thought about quality.
We get daft miss mashed history (cobbled from internet myths) in this article . We are told that Ancel Keys promoted the Med diet and it was low fat. He did favour a Med diet but it isn't particularly low fat. ( and the seven countries study didn't involve one visit during lent, it took many years.)
' Cretan residents (in the seven countries study) had the lowest rates of CVD of all populations observed in the Seven Countries Study, followed closely by rural Japanese.1 This statistic is interesting because Cretans had one of the highest-fat diets (37% of calories from fats)'
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/tdaug2007pg34.shtml
Fasting days did mean more fish, veg and legumes. She points to France and the French paradox well even today I don't see much use of butter and cream but I do see lots of veg , fruits fish and bread with some meats and cheese Actually, I wonder how much religious fasting (ie lent, pre Christmas, Fridays and Assumption) went on in predominantly RC SW France in those years, even in Anglican England most people still ate fish on Fridays and gave up foods for Lent !
Sugar is devoid of anything but calories but some fats have very few nutrients and are also virtually empty calories ie
coconut oil.
Personally. think that we should be thinking of healthful diets, the foods we eat should be nutrient, not energy dense . As people with diabetes, we are as susceptible (probably more susceptible) to other health problems as others.
David Katzs recent paper looks at lots of diet patterns including various versions of low carb diets . He reiterates Michael Pollan that those that seem to be most healthful tend to be
'not too much, mostly plants '
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182351
