Salon has an explanation of the appeal of the low-carb diet to Hackers
But while there's nothing particularly bleeding-edge about eating the hamburger but not the bun, now that low-carb dieting has gone mainstream, the diet does appear to hold a special attraction for hackers, programmers and other close-to-the-machine dwellers. For some geeks, the low-carb diet is itself a clever hack, a sneaky algorithm for getting the body to do what you want it to do, a way of reprogramming yourself. Programmers, who are used to making their computers serve their will, are now finding that low-carb diets enable the same kind of control over their bodies.
(Either a paid subscription or sitting through a commercial is required to access the whole article.)
I've been theoretically on low-carbs for a long time now, but I've only recently become serious about it. I think the paradoxical aspect is what appeals most to me about Atkins. Any diet where you're better off putting heavy cream in your coffee than skim milk has a huge contrarian appeal to it. Maybe that's why it resonates so well with hacker culture. Those hackers would probably be interested to learn that their diet may be increasing their lifespan.
And then there's this to consider:
There's also a subversive element. Go low-carb, and you're going against the dietary establishment, against the conventional diet wisdom from the USDA's food pyramid. You're doing something that you're maybe not supposed to do.
That's it, of course. No wonder I like this diet.
I'm a rebel.
Posted by Phil at October 31, 2003 10:05 AM | TrackBack