Atkins diet beats low-fat fare

MSNBC ^ | 11-18-02 | AP

[Paradox]

Nov. 18 — Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

...

Westman studied 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the Atkins diet or the heart association’s Step 1 diet, a widely used low-fat approach. On the Atkins diet, people limited their carbs to less than 20 grams a day, and 60 percent of their calories came from fat. “It was high fat, off the scale,” he said.

After six months, the people on the Atkins diet had lost 31 pounds, compared with 20 pounds on the AHA diet, and more people stuck with the Atkins regimen.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Interesting that this thread pops up on the day I bring my husband home from the hospital after he had a heart attack. I asked the heart doctor at Ohio State Univ. Hosp. about the Atkins diet. She looked at me and said, "Dr. Atkins died from a massive heart attack." She said the diet is a killer.

Wow! Someone better tell Dr. Atkins. Last I knew he was still alive! By the way, Dr. Atkins is a cardiologist. You should read his books/s. He pust most if not all his cardiac patients on the low carb diet.

[PGalt]

My wife is on the Atkins diet. She lost 30 lbs (175-145) in 6 months, is keeping it off and has bread, pizza & pasta etc. very infrequently. She looks great, feels great, has done a tremendous amount of research on it.

[Alberta's Child]

I once went through a light training program where I didn't change my diet very much at all but ended up losing a ton of weight and then gaining some of it back as muscle mass -- nothing special in terms of serious workouts, but just some constant activity during the summer months. Clearly this was simply a case of burning more calories than I consumed.

[Pharmboy]

When you cut down on carbs and eat protein and fat as per Atkins you get all the EFAs you need.

[PJ-Comix]

She eats all the fats she wants (like mayo) but cuts out sugars incl. fruit which is high in sugar.

So how does one drink orange juice? The body needs vitamin C in the form of fresh squeezed juice.

[uncbob]

Also notice that the closer a land-animal is to being 100% carnivore, that they are actually quite thin & sleek? Cats are about about the closest to a 100% meat eater, yet I've never seen a wild cat of any species that was anything but lean & mean...
br>Race horses look awful thin and lean to me . In fact most horses do

Deer are exceptionally lean and their meat is prized as being low in fact and healthy to eat
Over millions of years of evolution animals probably evolve to every different kind of dietary creatures so no hard fast rule applies

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Let me describe it: it tastes like a Coors Light diluted with soda water @ about a 1:4 beer:water ratio.

Accurate description.

[Mercat]

My law partners and I (and one partner's wife) are all on this diet. Combined, the four of us have lost 145 pounds since last April. (I've lost 23 but I was the smallest to begin with.)

[uncbob]

I have a friend who is a veggie
He runs marathons 51 years old and is world class in his times for his age group
Looks great and is healthy

[Mercat]

By the way, on Atkins, I drink one, sometimes two Guiness stout a day and the occasional glass of wine. Guiness only has 5 carbs. And after the first two weeks, you don't have to keep it down to 20 carbs, I think it's under 50. After almost seven months, the smell of donuts makes me gag and I tasted my husband's microbrew the other day and it tasted nasty. I luv ma Guinness.

[uncbob]

Lets see
Those on a low fat diet cut out pies cakes potato chips nachos corn curls sticky buns danish french fries because of the fat content and eat a lot of greens etc. They also cut out the booze and beer if trying to lose weight. They eat protein in the form of lean meats and fish

Those on a low carb diet cut out pies cakes potato chips nachos corn curls sticky buns danish french fries because of the carb content and eat a lot of greens etc. They also cut out the booze and beer. They eat fish and meats but leave the fat on

[Pablo64]

You can still have beer. You just need to be conscious of how many carbs are in a particular brand, and how many you are planning on consuming, and how that works into your daily allowance of carbs. For some reason, people seem to think that this diet means absolutely no carbs, but in fact, it is a reduced carbohydrate diet.

Lite Beer from Miller is fairly low carb, and I've seen ads lately for a low carb beer from Michelob (haven't tried it yet). Certainly these are not as tasty as, say, the beer that's the same as your screen name, but being on this diet doesn't mean that you can't have those beers, it's just not every day.

The other thing about this diet that people seem to misunderstand is that you don't have to go overboard on the fat. You can eat lean cuts of meat and poultry, and more fish, as well as other sources of protein. Just cut back on the carbs. It really works.

The book "Protein Power" has some very good information in it, especially on what happens to your cholesteral levels when you're on this type of a diet. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about cholesterol just from that one chapter.

[JoeGar]

The chili I make has lots of black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans. There's lots of fat in there from the meat, and lots of protein from both the meat and the beans, but beans have carbs too.

If you use 93 percent lean meat, your chili recipe will meet Weight Watchers guidelines.

[Tribune7]

No, Bryant Gumble still has to do the documentary.

If I had posted that on DU, I'd be real worried that someone would have belived me.

[chilepepper]

Moron. I road my mountain bike strenously 25km a day (STEEP HILLS) plus did between 30 and 60 MINUTES on my Nordic Track plus did 30 minutes of swimming laps EVERY DAY when I weighed 260 pounds. Lost maybe 1 or 2 pounds after a MONTH OF THAT!!!

Now I have osteoarthritis and can't exercise like that any more, went onto Atkins and lost 50 pounds in 5 months.

[chilepepper]

Not correct. I know many vegetarians and a number of them are fat. I suspect the WHOLE GRAIN vegetarians (again, less CARBS) stay thin.

[meyer]

"How about true vegetarians They shun eggs and any animal product like lard butter and meats They are almost all grain and vegetable plus nuts but DEFINITELY a low fat diet . So they eat breads, bananas fruits, fruit juice , veggies . To my understanding they are not fat overweight people "

Anybody going to comment on this ?

Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I'll speak what little I know about veggies. My niece is a vegetarian, pure. No milk/egg/cheese as some vegetarians allow themselves. I don't know if she does it for political purposes or not. I will say that she is quite healthy.

Now here's a couple of points about eating vegetables (which we all need to include in our diets). First, does anybody realize just how much broccoli one would need to consume to get just 1000 calories? So, suffice to say that vegetables aren't energy-dense. Now, granted, veggetarians do not consume just broccoli. They eat whole grains, fruits, and a variety of vegetables. I'm just using broccoli to illustrate a point.

Here's another consideration; a vegetarian diet makes it difficult to obtain adequate protein and calcium. It isn't impossible, but its more difficult and takes a more conscious effort. So, vegetarians, as a rule, are much more cognizant of what they eat when compared to the rest of us. Aside from athletes, nutritionists, and those who are dieting, who in the general population really pays that much attention to what they eat? Not too many of us. So, with this in mind, it stands to reason that a vegetarian will have a better grasp, in general, than most of us carniverous folks. They have to.

The third point I want to make is that many vegetarians are also athletically inclined. While few are bodybuilders, there are many that are runners, cyclists, and just general fitness-minded people. Like all fitness-minded folks, they tend to be in good physical shape. Just something to keep in mind.

My final point is that just because someone is thin does not mean they are healthy nor does it mean that their bodyfat percentage is low. I know a few people that are thin, but are also quite weak and frail. I'm not trying to stick this condition onto vegetarians; I'm simply pointing out that thin does not equal healthy. Now, a thin person is more likely to have low bodyfat and good cholestoral (sp?) numbers, but it certainly isn't a given. Many people are thin by nature.

These are just my comments from reading about vegans and from observing the few that I've known. In short, its a workable diet scheme, but you do have to work at maintaining certain nutrient levels, and it is more difficult to get adequate calorie intake without meat and animal-based foods. Plus, you don't get to enjoy prime rib and the like. :)

[Mamzelle]

re:Consider life under the Atkins plan...you'll be ordering cheeseburgers without the buns and you'll have to practically cut out of your diet forever such staples as rice, pasta and breads.

There's locarb beer and I'm told it tastes pretty good. You'd have to try it...I detest beer anyway. Tastes like soap. As for bread, that's a hassle with a locarb life. What really helped was discovering "Irene's Gluten Bread" sold frozen in some health stores. Very good homemade-tasting bread, only 4 grams carbs per slice. If you crave a tater, take one and make it into a soup for everyone, and take a portion. Take a couple of fries off your kid's plates now and then. Desserts are, I'm afraid, out, except for truffles and creme brulee and chocolate tortes. You can have lots of delicious nuts--all the pistachios and macademias you like. First quality chocolate often has little sugar. I make cookies with almond flour and Valrhona chocolate that are very good.

It's worked. I'm staying in my size nine Guesses. I could go smaller, but I'm too old and then I'd look scrawny. Don't like scrawny old women. Women of a "certain age" need a bit of flesh to avoid that Nancy Pelosi look. I fought the battle of the Fifteen for years, and I don't DO "hungry." Locarb and regular exercise is not perfectly easy, but you don't go hungry.

[meyer]

...Based on Udo's advice and his Oil Blend, I noticed a definite change for the better in my health after about 3 days. Over a few months, I lost about 50 lbs. It was simple, easy and almost effortless.

Well, I'm certainly not in the market to lose 50 pounds myself.

This is basically what I did:

Cut out as much as possible any processed oils.
Cut out all fried foods.
Consumed 3-5 Tbsp of Udo’s oil per day.
Cut out as much as possible any refined sugars.
Cut out sodas.
Reduced carbohydrates as much as possible.

Most of this is sound advice. Cutting out most refined-sugar products is essential. As well, processed oils are to be avoided. Pure oils are preferrable. Look also for polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils. Avoid saturated oils. Avoid at all costs synthetic oils.

But the part I am a bit skeptical about is the consumption of 3-5 tablespoons of Udo's oil daily. What kind of oil is it? Flax seed? Olive oil? A blend? And how much "good" oil is already in your diet? He may be right, but two things come to mind: first, you should get a second opinion on how much EFA you need from somebody that doesn't sell it, and second, you can probably get the same stuff for less without his name on it. Just some observations.

Of course I ate less than I did before, but hunger wasn't an issue since I didn't want to eat as much. Unprocessed oils (like Udo's Oil Blend) are natural appetite suppressors. I was full sooner and remained satisfied longer. I never felt hungry while I was losing the weight.

Its good to see success, but again, you made a lot of diet changes so its hard to attribute your improvements to just the UDO oil. Perhaps all of the other changes were what helped you the most.

Do your health a favor and look into this. At least read the lecture. In addition to the weight management aspect, check out the other MAJOR health benefits the EFAs bring. Feel free to ask me about anything you might have a question about or if you want to know more about anything that I mentioned.

I will read up on it. I'm always a skeptic until things can be shown, so please don't take offense to my above comments. That comes from dealing with liberals my whole life and from having a handful of courses in the sciences. My take, and reading up further on this will help, is that while EFA's are necessary, the consumption of 2 or 3 servings of fish a week is sufficient to provide for good health. Of course a bit of supplemental oils won't hurt, but I don't know that a few tablespoons a day is necessary or productive.