Posted on 04/29/2010 3:05:37 AM PDT by Future Useless Eater
Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily calories from saturated fat since 1970, the obesity rate during that time has more than doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer. Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease more than fat does—a finding that has serious implications for new dietary guidelines expected this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...
Give it up, people, and enjoy the day. No matter how hard we try, we’re still all gonna die of something.
great job! I guess some people lose weight on all different kinds of diets, but are they getting healthy is the question. I, for one, do NOT have the willpower to eat such small portions and bland food (no butter on rice, no cream sauce on pasta) to keep everything so low that I won’t gain weight on refined carbs. I am also a big meat lover and I love my lobster dipped in butter, my steak loaded with marbled fat, real butter, cream, and eggs and bacon. This lifestyle fits me to a tee, and you are right about eating any sugar. Its like eating poison after you have been off it for a while, so you don’t even crave it. I do indulge in ice cream on occasion, but usually something without sugar, as well as the sugar free chocolates available. They have one that tastes just like butterfingers and thin mints, so I am set LOL. On a couple of occasions, I have eaten my hubbys chocolate chip cookies as well (he makes THE BEST) but more and more, I feel like crap after only 2 or 3. I used to be able to eat 10 or 12. I have not had one in a really long time. They just don’t taste like I remember when I was eating sugar often......
You’re on the same page as me. Carbohydrates are the quickest bioavailable nutrient. We burn through them quick, but most of us take in so much that we can’t burn it all. It’s also the most likely to be stored, so if we don’t burn it, it goes into fat stores.
If we cut out carbs altogether, our body runs out of quick-burning fuel and starts on the fats (keitosis). It’s really amazing how quick fat sheds when it’s the primary energy source. Knowing that I can eat any meats or animal foods I want is a huge help, and my cholesterol has been lower than ever in my life with the lack of carbs. People look at me funny when I tell them that my total cholesterol is around 120 and then see me shovel a lobster tail dripping with butter into my craw. I love it!
There was an article recently about a test to determine how your body consumes calories. A majority of folks benefit from a diet low in carbohydrates, while others see losses from low fat diets. The ones who are really screwed are those that have to stay away from both. I can’t imagine eating proteins all day all of the time. It would just get boring, esp. without butter!
I’ve reintroduced natural sugars like fruits and honey, but I only eat them before I exercise so they burn off quick. They’re great for a quick burst if you use them to your advantage. Think of sugars like nitrous oxide in a race car: it’s great for a quick burst of speed, but if you use it too much, you wind up destroying the engine.
I also agree about the bad vs good carbs. Any carbs from fiber do not count against your total carbs on atkins, as they do not affect your blood sugar. I eat a large variety of nuts, seeds, berries, and citrus fruit in my diet, as well as salads, green veggies and occasionally corn and peas (not my 2 favorites, but I do love a buttery ear of corn next to my steak in the summer). Follow that up with a bowl of chocolate ice cream with a few fresh strawberries from the garden and thats what I call DINNER!
Thanks for all the info.
I went to the Doctors about a month ago, and found that my triglyceride level was 564 - much higher than it should be. I am now on Lovaza (and, at $160 a bottle, I’m desperately looking for alternatives.)
My biggest weaknesses are meats, pastas and breads. I am still struggling to stay away from them, but when you’ve eaten them almost daily for 30 years, it’s hard to just quit :(
I have had great success with Atkins. I have health issues which necessitated me taking large quantities of steroids for an extended period of time. This does nasty things to lipids, etc. and now have Type 2. Atkins is how I am able to control blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. I had triglycerides in the 900 range, I think they were around 155 last time I had them checked.
since excercise is not my friend, I hardly ever have the need for a quick burn, LOL. Yesterday would have been good to have some as I planted my mothers day flowers and tore up a couple gardens ( can’t hardly move today LOL) but on average, gardening is my only exercise. I do on occasion make use of raw honey, but medicinally, not for sweetening (when I am sick, which seems like never anymore) or if I burn myself I apply honey to the burn.
The body is a bit more complex than they realized, fats have an impact on the SIZE of cholesterol, you can actually have high cholesterol but if it's the right size you're ok. But generally speaking, yes, the carbs are going to get you and re-size your internal cholesterol.
my pleasure. The atkins diet does work, and the beginning, or corrective phase, is very carb depleted. But the rebalancing of your broken body requires it. Get the book, read it, and see what you think. It does make sense. It will be as big a struggle as quitting smoking for the first week or 2, while you kick your sugar addiction. There is solace in knowing it WILL get easier and better after that if you stick to it to the letter. You can, and are encouraged to eat as much as you want whenever you want during that first two weeks of what is allowed, while you are overcoming the addiction to sugar. What most folks don’t know, is that after 48 hours of no carbs besides the salad or veggies you are allowed to have during this phase, your system switches from burning carbs for energy to fat, and in so doing, it switches off your hunger so dramatically, that you actually have to remind yourself to eat! After the first 2 days, I was eating 1 egg and 2 pieces of sausage for breakfast, a turkey or red meat hamburger with cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo on a plate for lunch and a 6 oz or so piece of meat and a cup or 2 of salad for dinner, and maybe a handful of nuts or 10 or so pork rinds for a snack, and sometimes I couldn’t even eat that much. Try it for 8 weeks and see if your numbers don’t plumment. I have yet to meet anyones who haven’t, especially without the meds. Good luck!
PS. I also lost 25 lbs during the first 2 week period, and steadily lost a couple pounds a week thereafter.....
awe-some! I hope all your health issues are under control, and atkins is the safest way to do this. I wish I could get my MIL to follow it. She has to take insulin for her sugar cause she just won’t follow the diet. Every time she comes down to visit, she checks all of our blood sugars. Mine is always around 89. Hers, always around 120-160. I always tell her, kick the refined carbs and hers will be normal too. She says its too hard and she doesn’t want to, but she always laments how she wants my blood sugar levels. Sigh.
Only time I eat “bad” carbs is first thing in the morning or after a work out when your blood sugar level is low. To jumpstart or replenish. Carbs are necessary as they provide energy. Protein builds muscle. Muscle burns fat.
make that carb not card
I was on my own variant of a low carb diet for years. Lost not only weight but an arthritis-like condition of my joints.
The post-workout carb routine is alright, but you need to be careful. Your body only has a limited post-workout burn rate, and if you take in more than the total burn will consume, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
I make a post-workout protein shake with 1 C 2% milk, 1 banana, 2 scoops of protein powder, 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter, and 1 tbsp of psyllium husk. The milk has enough lactose (sugar) to replenish, the banana has sugar and potassium, the protein rebuilds muscle, the PB provides bioavailable protein and fat, and the psyllium husk helps to fill your belly with fiber, wiping out hunger pangs for a while.
Bingo.
Big Nanny:
“Well, we’ll let this study slide for now because we are concentrating on sugar, but when all is said and done we will tax and regulate fat too...we can’t help it - it’s how we operate”
“Have a nice day”
Here is a definitive book on the subject,
“Put Your Heart in Your Mouth” by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
I have a friend who is all corked up, who avoids butter and red meat, but loads up on pasta every day. I call the pasta he eats a heart attack on a plate. He doesn’t get it.
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