Low Carb fad

[lamont]

my 100psi on the low carb thing:

I am very definitely addicted to simple carbohydrates. One example of this is when I quit drinking a couple liters of coke a day about 18 months ago -- I started compensating by eating a pint of ice cream a night. When I realized what I was doing I consciously stopped myself and found that I went nutso for about a week craving sugars. I get irritable, my skin crawls and I think about (simple) carbs constantly when I'm coming off of them. I'm convinced that there has to be a biochemical basis to this addiction because it is considerably more than a simple desire which is driving me. I can sit down and eat 3 lbs of steak when I'm coming off of carbs and I still feel "hungry" because the carb craving isn't satisfied and my body knows that eating is a way to make the cravings go away.

Having said that I think that atkins is kinda nutty. Intuitively I think that fruit (at least apples and oranges and stuff) is good for you -- high fat diets on the other hand don't seem to be healthy. Plus I don't think that the atkins diet adequately explains the historical record of diet and the obesity crisis in this country. High carb diets have been staple foods around the world for centuries without causing obesity crises. What seems to me to be linked to the obesity crisis is piling on highly refined carbs to a diet already high in fats with a sedentary lifestyle. But the highly refined carbs seems to be the unique condition that is associated with the obesity epidemic.

The "fad" diet that has made the most sense to me so far is the south beach diet. The diet that I shoot to follow is what I call the "well duh" diet:

1. eliminate highly refined carbs and sugars
2. eliminate/reduce bad fats
3. eat a balance of fat, protein and carbohydrate
4. eat more fruits and veggies
5. eat less

For me it all needs to hang together pretty well, or else I don't lose weight. I can relax just about everything other than #1 and eat more bad fats and too may calories and I can at least maintain my weight. But if I start eating too many simple carbs my weight control goes to hell and I start gaining weight.

Metabolically I think the key thing for me (and to understand the obesity epidemic) is understanding insulin resistance and obesity. If you are insulin resistant your blood sugar is going to have more extreme swings, your insulin levels are going to be higher. When your blood sugar crashes you are going to crash harder and get hungrier. That will lead to overeating. I'm also fairly sure that there are biochemical mechanisms related to insulin resistance which cause carbohydrate addiction. Meanwhile, when insulin spikes that activates receptors on fat cells which are necessary for the storage of fat. Studies have been done in mice which show that mutating the insulin receptor on fat cells will block mice from becoming obese even when they overeat. You can use the knowledge of that mechanism to keep your insulin levels under control and to lose or maintain weight. Also, by eliminating insulin spikes and reversing insulin resistance you can reduce/elimiante the risk of becoming a type II diabetic (which we are also seeing a corresponding epidemic of at the same time as the obesity epidemic).

If there is one suggestion I can make to dieters (in america) it is to read the labels and avoid foods that add high fructose corn syrup. I don't think it is a coincidence that america is the country with the most HFCS added to all kinds of foods and it is also the country with the worst obesity epidemic. In other countries they don't add sugar to absolutely everything they eat, and they're not as heavy as the average american.

 

[ScubaMarc]

Fruits are discouraged because of sugars in them.

On south beach(a modified atkins) strawberries, blue berries, black berries and other berries are alowed.

 

[DivePartner1]

"Two new studies of the popular Atkins low-carbohydrate diet provide further evidence that it is more effective than a low-fat regimen at producing weight loss over a six-month period. But over a year, the differences between the two approaches even out.

The results also suggest that a low-carb, high-fat diet is associated with lasting improvements in levels of certain blood fats linked to heart diseases.

However, the strength of the conclusions is limited by high dropout rates among participants, as well as a host of other factors. The studies -- one of which was funded by Atkins -- leave unanswered numerous questions about the long-term safety of low-carb diets."

New Research Lends Weight to Effect Of Low-Carb Diet -- in the Short Term
By RON WINSLOW and KATY MCLAUGHLIN, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 18, 2004; Page D1

 

[mtiffee]

I'm going to respectfully disagree. The reason the Atkins diet works is because you eat fewer calories than you burn. One more thing, last one I promise, carbs are your bodies preferred source of energy, it will beg, borrow and steal carbs for use as energy before it uses anything else.

Now I'm going to respectfully disagree... Most low carb foods are loaded with calories. That's one of the big issues with the low carb diet is you have to be careful to limit your calorie intake.. most low carbers don't track their calories and end up eating too many.

Also you body isn't begging for carbs. Granted, you body needs carbs such as whole grains and fibers, but most of the carbs people consume today are loaded with empty carbs like sugars. These carbs are new to our bodys on the evolutionary calendar. We've been eating high fat, high protein foods since the dawn of man kind, that's what our bodies are designed to digest.. not cokes and cup cakes and pizza and white bread and candy. Many people will be surprised with how much energy you have and how good you feel by cutting out sugars, like cokes. That's what keeps me on the diet. going on almost a year now and lost 65 lbs.

I'm now in the lifetime phase of atkins. Once you reach this stage, it's really easy. I eat breads, muffins, sometimes pizza. There is low carb ice cream, syrups, candy, etc. I don't feel deprived and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. The last time I had a coke it seemed way too sweet for me, tasted like candy. Ok, gonna go find a granola bar.

Mike

 

[oversea]

Now I'm going to respectfully disagree... Most low carb foods are loaded with calories. That's one of the big issues with the low carb diet is you have to be careful to limit your calorie intake.. most low carbers don't track their calories and end up eating too many.

Also you body isn't begging for carbs. Granted, you body needs carbs such as whole grains and fibers, but most of the carbs people consume today are loaded with empty carbs like sugars. These carbs are new to our bodys on the evolutionary calendar. We've been eating high fat, high protein foods since the dawn of man kind, that's what our bodies are designed to digest.. not cokes and cup cakes and pizza and white bread and candy. Many people will be surprised with how much energy you have and how good you feel by cutting out sugars, like cokes. That's what keeps me on the diet. going on almost a year now and lost 65 lbs.

I'm now in the lifetime phase of atkins. Once you reach this stage, it's really easy. I eat breads, muffins, sometimes pizza. There is low carb ice cream, syrups, candy, etc. I don't feel deprived and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. The last time I had a coke it seemed way too sweet for me, tasted like candy. Ok, gonna go find a granola bar.

Mike

Mike, I have to agree with you. I did Atkins once before but only for a short time and it worked. I am now doing it again with my wife (#%$**>!!) and have been going for a while now. This time I don't feel as if I am missing anything and am down approx. 25 lbs. I used to drink tons of coke. Now, its just a mouthful of sugar. One thing about it that rests in the back of my mind. Are the physical effects that you hear about from time to time real? My mother is in stage IV cancer Gastric) and watches and reads everything she see's about it. One thing is a diet high in protein is bad for the stomach with respect to the causes of gastric cancer. Is this true. I have tried what seems to be every diet I can think of but this is the only one that really worked.

 

[gt2003]

Mike, I think you are restating a lot of what I said in my first post on page 2. 1st point we both make, you must eat fewer calories than you burn if you're going to lose weight no matter where the calories come from. Thats pretty much what I got from your sentence about "most low carbers don't track their calories and end up eating too many". 2nd, I agree about the whole grains. They are much better carbs than the simple sugars like pop, candy, donuts etc. I don't think there are any foods you should never eat (my post: you need to eat a variety of foods to obtain all the nutrients your body needs). For carbs overall, the high fiber, complex carbs are the best choices for just about anyone. I guess we'll still disagree about your body wanting carbs. Basically what I was saying is that your body will use up just about all of your carbohydrate stores from the liver, muscles and circulation before it starts burning fat for fuel. Once carbs are digested and turned into glucose your body could care less where they come from. They are seen as the preferred fuel source for your body and thats what it will use first before it uses anything else. Period. I don't mean to get testy on this but thats just the way it is. It can burn fat for fuel but it prefers, and is much more efficient at burning carbs for energy. It can break down protein too for energy but it still would prefer carbs if they're available. Overall I'm glad you found a program that works for you. Good luck. Keep up the weight loss efforts. Greg

 

[JimC]

While I am not a proponent of fad low carb diets, I do think they are a whole hell of a lot closer to what we should be eating that the bread and potatos heavy food pyramids.

With respect to gaining and looseing fat:
Stored energy (fat) was used to weather though famin. We don't have thoes anymore so where for hundreds of thousands of years the most successful humans were the ones that could store fat the best, this is no longer true. Anyone who was geneticaly inclined to not store fat, died. So now we have a population who can redily store and build up fat. Fat storge is a simple mechanic.

Carbs get digested and broken down, this releases glucose(sp?) into your blood stream. The simpler and purer the carb, the faster this happens. This spikes your blood sugar, which gives you a super charge of energy (sugar high). It also casues your body to produce insulen to reduce the huge spike of blood sure. The insulen then carries the sugars off and stores it (fat). So now you have a body that is full of insulen and a rapidly dropping off blood sugar level (the crash). Your brain then reacts to this with a hunger stimulation to bring the blood sugar level back up to normal.

Thats the roller coaster. There are lots of ways to fight it, one is to drasticaly reduce your carb intake, and it does work.

Other ways are just eliminating the junk, replaceing it with high fiber, nutrient rich food. Berries, whole grains and most important leafy greens.


As for how you can eat 4000 callories of bacon a day (exageration) and not get fat? Thats easy, no carbs - no fat. Its that simple. Exess protine is removed from your body by urin in the form of ketons. Exess fats are removed via stool. Both have other consiquences - heart disease, kidney stones, goiter, liver issues to name a few.

 

[gt2003]

Thanks Jim. Another good reason that whole grain, high fiber carbs are very important in the diet. Fiber not only slows the absorption of glucose from the gut, it also can bind cholesterol in the gut (stomach) which will be excreted instead of absorbed by the body. Also, eating a balanced meal that contains protein, fat and carbohydrate will lessen the glucose spike and decrease the rapid hunger response. Balance and variety are the key. Keep it up. I think once we get all of our points in we'll have the puzzle solved. Greg

 

[headhunter]

When I started looking for an eating regimen at the end of last year, I was looking for a way that would allow me to quickly lose the weight that I slowly gained over the years. I looked at the Atkins concept in the process. I read the book by Dr. Atkins called New Diet Revolution. It made sense to me, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was also recommended by my doctor with the caveat that it should be done right according to the book for it to be "healthy". At the time, I had no idea that I would be jumping on a band wagon for the year 2004.

I believe that many people who speak out adamantly against this way of eating have not read this book. They seem to be arguing against a "caricature" of this way of eating. The book explains that it is not advocating eating 26 ounce steaks and a pound of bacon with your eggs every day and vegetables are not "bad". In fact, they don't advocate "no carbs" only "low carbs". And after the first phase, they have you "add" more carbs to your eating regimen.

Most people I've talked to that claim to follow the Atkins way of eating have not read this book. So they are not doing things according to the way the book says that they are supposed to be done. Yet people that observe this behavior are basing their opinion of the Atkins methods on what these people are doing or not doing correcty.

I decided that it would be my New Year's resolution to lose about 40 pounds and drop from 240 pounds to 200 pounds.

At 240 pounds, I was very active. My activity included martial arts training 2 - 3 times a week, mountain biking 2 times per week (with lots of hill climbing in the mountains above Los Angeles), hiking and backpacking (I would occasionally go out on a 20 mile hike with a buddy of mine). I would alternate between the biking and the hiking. This would usually mean 5 - 8 hours of hiking or biking a couple of times per week. The point is that I didn't gain the weight because I was sitting around getting no excercise. However, it did have everything to do with how I ate. I did have quite a pot belly, but very little fat in my arms and legs.

At the beginning of the year, I also made the decision that I would temporarily stop excercising because I needed the time to adhere to an aggressive schedule of taking classes and studying for a series of IT certification tests. So, since January, I have been living a very sedentary life, by design. I realized that I absolutely had to do something about my eating habits at that time or I would blow up like a balloon.

So, I started a strict adherance to the Atkins way of eating. In 5 months, I lost over 35 pounds. I have felt great the entire time and have not felt deprived of anything. I've now started to excercise again, but at a much lower level. That level will increase to where I was before over the next couple of months. By the way, Atkins recommends increasing your level of excercise, so please understand that my stopping the excercise is not recommended by Atkins. It was just a temporary lack of time on my part.

I've still got a few pounds to go, but I'm almost there.

I recommend that people make an informed decision about a low carb diet, whether it be Atkins, South Beach or something else by getting the facts. Don't make your decisions based upon what you read in the paper or hear on the 11 O'clock news. It seems that they never want to let facts get in the way of a good story.

Anyway, I just thought I'd add my perspective to the list of opinions here.

Good luck to all that want to lose weight!

Christian

 

[CBulla]

Sooo.. did anyone else besides me catch the bit on the news this morning about the low fat diet vs. atkins study? I found it amusing that only in the first 6 months were the weight loss differences dramatic in favor of atkins. At 12 months, they were virtually equal, the low fat being slower over time but equal in the end. Personally, I'm staying away from faddish diets, I've seen the detrimental health effects they have on folks in the long run... I've got enough to worry about through the geneology in my family without throwing in an unpredicable long term variable.


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