Posted on 08/03/2005 7:10:46 AM PDT by summer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- More dieters are ditching carb counts and biting into baguettes with gusto these days. ...
This week's bankruptcy filing by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins' old company provide fresh evidence of the low-carb diet's demise, a downward spiral that began early last year. But no single new diet has filled the void.
Observers say the only sure thing -- given the boom-and-bust nature of weight-loss trends -- is that something will pop up eventually.
''There isn't one single strong contender,'' said Anne M. Russell, editor-in-chief of Shape magazine. ''If you look at what the single largest trend is, it's weight gain.''
Chapter 11 filings by Atkins Nutritionals Inc. on Monday came about a year and a half after books like ''The Atkins Essentials'' rode the best seller charts, bread makers were back on their heels and Burger King introduced a Whopper without a bun.
But Atkins has been in decline since February 2004, said Harry Balzer, a food industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group. Balzer claims Atkins was one of those demanding diets that simply ran its course, going from fad to fade like so many others before it, including the Scarsdale and the cabbage soup diets.
How far and how fast did Atkins fall? By September 2004, surplus low-carb products were being shipped to food banks in Appalachia....
Ruth Kava, director of nutrition for the American Council on Science and Health, figures it might be something like a high-protein diet.
''Somebody will come up with something new,'' she said. ''There's a lot of creativity out there in Diet World."
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On the Net:
Government dietary guidelines: mypyramid.com
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
calories burned > calories consumed = weight loss.
Everything else is just fluff.
lo-carb **is** a calorie reduction diet/lifestyle. If you watch your calories lo-carbing, you eat less calries, because you stay "full" longer. Eating proteins and fats satisfies your hunger a lot longer than eating carbs.
You can't change the laws of thermodynamics. Lo-carb is not a "magic bullet", it incorporates many of the things that any diet needs to have success in losing weight: calorie reduction, portion control, and avoiding certain foods. It also helps those with abused insulin response systems to take control back from the sugar spikes.
And Atkins himself pushed for daily exercise, the other part of the equation. Just eating lo-carb won't do it, you have to move your butt, too.
It is only in the first two weeks of Atkins where one avoids all carbs. After that, they are reintroduced until you find your "critical carb level". It makes sense. You come to find how many carbs you can have w/out gaining weight.
Major health food shops, i.e. Wild Oats, Whole Foods, didn't carry them and my local grocery store with a large "health foods" section, carried a very limited supply.
Now with South Beach going "over-the-counter" with ready-to-eat products made mostly by Kraft, they are including such things as "High fructose corn syryp", which is a very major no-no, so I won't purchase any more - period!
Major health food shops, i.e. Wild Oats, Whole Foods, didn't carry them and my local grocery store with a large "health foods" section, carried a very limited supply.
Now with South Beach going "over-the-counter" with ready-to-eat products made mostly by Kraft, they are including such things as "High fructose corn syryp", which is a very major no-no, so I won't purchase any more - period!
Major health food shops, i.e. Wild Oats, Whole Foods, didn't carry them and my local grocery store with a large "health foods" section, carried a very limited supply.
Now with South Beach going "over-the-counter" with ready-to-eat products made mostly by Kraft, they are including such things as "High fructose corn syryp", which is a very major no-no, so I won't purchase any more - period!
MMmmmmmmm...sugary goodness in my veins!
Nyack. That stuff would have a narcotic effect on me. *shudder*
Yeah, I also think part of the problem is that there are alot of other companies out there peddling low carb stuff too. The low carb *craze* was a real boon to people like me who were tired of having to make everything from scratch!
I also read that the guy who sued Atkins for his heart attack is funded by an animal rights org. This surprises me not at all. I personally think the AR orgs hate this diet because we eat animals and the govt doesn't like it much because it's not a cheap way to feed lots and lots of people.
susie
I'm not dead. Interesting. Wait...maybe I am! No....I just need more coffee....
susie
Low car wine is not bad. Very dry. You can also mix it with diet sprite for a decent spritzer...
susie
May I suggest the South Beach Diet. My loss has been 30 lbs in less than 11 weeks. It is not really much different than the old Weight Watchers, except that you don't have to obsess over weighing, measuring, exchanges, and points. And it allows enough carbs to keep the elimination system functioning. After the first 2 weeks, it is easy to follow, and you can order off of most restaurant menues. I feel great.
Right! I've lost weight very effectively by watching carbs (basically, lots of salad, avoiding bread, cake, potatoes), but I've also gained it back by returning to my preferred, almond-torte-rich diet.
Because it was eliminating foods your body needs and causing chemical changes in your body. It was a terrible diet. I can't believe that guy was a doctor. Though I noticed he was reportedly quite heavy at the time of his recent death.
Nonsense and poppycock.
My body does not NEED sugar or refined white flour. Period. Any nutrients I lack I can easily replace with a trip to GNC or any vitamin shelf.
**EVERYTHING** makes chemical changes in your body. When your body STOPS making chemical changes, then you need to worry, because then you're dead.
Beyond that, you should do some research, and find out what "insulin resistance" is, and how an abused body reacts to carbs, and how it's a vicious cycle, and how lo-carb helps break that cycle. Diabetics know all about it, or should.
Atkins died from a fall, and hitting his head. His lifestyle did not kill him.
So is obesity.
You really can't eliminate carbs altogether for very long. I've tried and it's just not possible. But Atkins does not eliminate carbs altogether anyway, so it's a moot point.
susie
...you ready for this...?
It's called...
The EAT LESS, EXERCISE MORE Diet. It's SO revolutionary that even the cavemen might've used it once. I'm telling you, once people catch on, they're going to wonder what they were worrying about all these years.
Please, tell your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, kids, kid's friends, kid's friends parents, teachers, doctors, lawyers, cops and criminals... it's the new diet REVOLUTION... YEAAHAHHHHHHHHHHH
/Dean
And given the fact that people were dumb enough to go the Atkins route, I'll just start by saying that people need to put down the remotes and the keyboards and read more books. Nutrition and exercise books and magazines are prolific. I recommend Men's Health for the guys out there. I've been a subscriber since college, and I've lost a significant amount of weight thanks to their nutrition and exercise tips.
I'm not sure where you got the idea that it's horrible for the body. When I went to high protein, very low carb, cut out sugars and white flour, my cardiologist was and is absolutely delighted with my blood work, my weight loss, my over all general good health now.
That's true to a point. The body can only handle so many carbs in a short period of time. It has to convert the extra to fat. So in reality it's not so much how many calories in a day you consume, it's how dense those calories are in a short period of time. And many high processed, high density carb foods simply overwhelm the body's capacity to process sugars. Then even worse, if you don't eat for a period of time afterward, the metabolism slows down to the point where it will conserve the fat. The best way to lose weight is to basically "graze" during the day. Eat small meals every few hours. Keeps your metabolism constant and gives the body time to process the calories without overwhelming it.
My internist says it is her way of life. She has been living on Atkins for years. I tried but I was ready to "kill" for a piece of bread in less than a week. I was even dreaming about bread. Funny thing is I only eat one slice of toast for breakfast and seldom eat any more for the day. Without my breakfast toast I was a desperate woman.
Lemmie see if I can correct this...
(calories burned + calories expelled) > calories consumed = weight loss. Now that is more like it.
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