A review published in The Lancet of 53 studies on what gives people the most effective fat loss, including nearly 70,000 people, recently looked at the long term difference (more than 1 year) between eating a low fat diet and reducing the amount of carbohydrates consumed. The review found that reducing carbohydrates resulted in significantly greater fat loss for overweight people in the studies. The average Australian consumes almost half their daily calories in the form of carbs, and in these studies carbs were reduced to 25 – 30% daily calories. This is what you would get if you ate according to the paleo system including plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish in your diet. What goes out is things like bread, potatoes, cakes, soft drink, lollies and other fillers we routinely rely on in the west.