My brother had his bad cholesterol and triglycerides go down. He also had his borderline high Liver Enzymes go down. His doctor said to keep doing what he is doing.
You are correct, though, that it's difficult to stay on.
I tried it myself and lost about 20 pounds. I never felt better -I had abundant energy. The difficult thing is it is a lifestyle change -and I don't want to change my eating habbits. It's not the fault of the 'atkins' diet. It's my fault.
Jean
I've lost 120 lbs and kept it off for over a year. I'm a diabetic with perfectly normal blood sugar now and NO medication. I had high blood pressure that was barely controlled by medication and now have normal BP and cholestrol of 192. My triglycerides were astronomically high...well over 1600 and 6 months ago after my last lipid panel they came in at 212. Still high but MUCH better. I also work out every day. But telling a morbidly obese diabetic with extreme hyper tension to just 'eat better and exercise' is nonsense. If you need to lose 10-15 lbs that approach makes sense. If you need to drop 100 lbs it's virtually impossible to lose weight that way.
The Atkins diet works....refined sugar and flours do not belong in our diet.
That is precisely what the people on the diet are trying to do. The controversy is over the definition of "healthy diet".
Been there, done that. IT DID NOT WORK. At age 15, I looked at my fat parents and said, "No way in hell", and began running. Over the years I ran thousands of miles (according to my log books), pumped countless tons of iron, ate whole grains, lentils, fish, vegetables.... and I got fatter and fatter. Eventually I got so fat I couldn't run -- the excess weight gave me all kinds of overuse injuries.
Cutting way back on the carbs and going back to meat and butter was the only thing that worked. I followed DiPasquale's "Anabolic Diet" in the beginning, now I'm less strict.
Ironically, the carb-based diet is promoted as being good for running. In my case, it almost ended my running for life. Thank God, the injuries eventually cleared up and I am now able to run again.
You are perpetrating an urban legend.
My levels all went down to where they should be.
Every doctor I have talked to thinks the diet is great.
Most of the physicians in Seattle's Swedish Hospital emergency surgery unit are purportedly on the diet.
For many folks, it is the ONLY way they have ever been able to lose weight - and keep it off.
Before you knock it, read the book.
Further, you should know that the only cholesterol a high fat diet will increase is HDL, the good cholesterol. Study after study shows that high fat/ low carb diets REDUCE overall cholesterol, especially triglycerides.
Your friends are mistaken and frankly, I don't believe that thier cholesterol increased. If it did, it was in the first 8 weeks only. In the first 8 weeks, often overall cholesterol increases due to an increase in HDL and before the shortage of garbage carbs begins to burn off the body's stored body fat. Once the abundance of carbs are removed from the diet, the body starts burning it's own stored fat, resulting in REDUCED cholesterol
I should also add that it is LOW FAT/HIGH CARB diets that CAUSE high triglycerides and reduce HDL [both directly linked to coronary heart problems], NOT the other way around. There are alot of myths about Atkins and the so-called "dangers" of dietary fat, but I would expect better from this forum. C'mon people, let's stop with the urban myths.