I have ploughed through that link from BIWI. I think he failed to address the fact that it seems to be when processed food (invariably most carbohydrate rich/low fat food is processed including pasta) is introduced to populations that eat higher carb that weight gain ensues. Also those populations cited where mainly eating fresh vegetables albeit starchy ones but still within the non processed remit. Also those populations are generally active all day long unlike modern western society populations.
There was also no mention of wheat, which I personally think is the main culprit in obesity, except for one of the populations studied gained weight when white flour was introduced.
From anecdotal evidence of our own experiences I think it can be shown that this woe is more sustainable. I know that many of us have tried the low fat/cal counting way to lose weight and may havebeen successful in the weight loss but the maintenance is hard and most often unsustainable. With this woe it seems that maintenance is alot easier.
There is also alot more to low carb woe that was not discussed in that blog. Although he mentions satiety levels, we can anecdotally say that in our experiences the satiety level of this woe is much higher than high carb eating. Many people on this thread have said how thier hunger is reduced and need to snack reduced compared to when they were eating carbs.
Ketosis and it's effect on appetite was also not discussed in the post.
Most people who advocate low carb will also say that while low carb/high fat works if you then increase your carbs and still eat high fat, it is a recipe for rapid weight gain. This point was also not discussed in the point, as far as I could make out the post was focussed on high carb intake not the combination of high carb high fat. Where the graphs are concerned, there was some comment on how weight increased when fat intake increased when carb levels were kept the same (high at that) which is the same as what I mentioned earlier about high fat and high carb doesn't mix.
There will always be people who think this woe is a fad, either because they do not understand the science behind it or because they themselves have been successful on low cal/low fat plans and therefore do not like something that goes so far against their norm. I also beleive that some of it is jealousy/envy that we seem to be eating all this delicious forbidden foods and losing weight whereas on their woe, which they believe wholeheartedly, if they were to eat the same they would gain (but then they would be eating high carb, high fat)
I personally still love this woe, I have personal experience of how it makes me feel and also how adopting a similar woe for my DC has improved their mood and behaviour. I much prefer to eat tasty non processed food than processed tasteless crap and also to not find it hard work. I am not fighting hunger all the time. I also believe in the Paleo concept which is very similar if not the same as Briffa's approach. We evolved to be hunter gatherers and when man started farming grains and consuming more carbs he became shorter and had a smaller brain.
There is also other research that shows there are links between high insulin levels and many western diseases, something else that was not covered in the blog post.
I agree there are many things involved in obesity, leptin being one of them and sometimes by trying to find answers for everything it can actually just confuse us, but we just need to look at the success on these threads to show that this woe does work and also the success stories on mark's daily apple for instance.
I hope all that made sense 