Posted on 08/18/2003 6:07:05 PM PDT by PhilipFreneau
The nutritionist who condemned the protein-based Atkins Diet is working on a report looking at the benefits of a high-carbohydrate diet funded by the Flour Advisory Bureau (Fab).
It emerged yesterday that Susan Jebb, the head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council (MRC), has been commissioned by Fab, the organisation which is recognised as the lobbying arm of the National Association of British and Irish Millers.
The council will be paid £10,000 by Fab for the study, which involves Dr Jebb reviewing scientific literature investigating diets that are high in carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and rice.
Last week she caused consternation among devotees of the Atkins Diet when she said that there was not a "shred of evidence" to suggest that it worked. Followers of the diet are allowed to eat as much protein and fat as they like provided that they cut out carbohydrates altogether.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.telegraph.co.uk ...
So9
"She could be commissioned by anybody to produce independent research. If the Atkins Diet people asked her to do some research she would do it independently.
"The idea that anybody would think that she would compromise her standing as a scientist and her independence for £10,000 is just ridiculous."
Yeah, right. But OK, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she is sincere. Maybe the flour companies just went out and found a doctor who sincerely believes in exactly what they want to hear and hired her to do the study.
In any case she offered not one bit of evidence to back up her opinion.
Three letters: ADM.
Three letters: ADM.
Hmmmm... "Not a shred of evidence..." Right... I've lost 51 pounds and 9" around the waist so far, and am fast approaching the half-way point of my diet... 62 1/2 is exactly the half way poing. More importantly, within a week, I was feeling better. My joints felt better and I was sleeping much better. It seems that my body "likes" the fact that I'm eating far fewer carbs and processed, synthetic foods. No, I can't give any specific evidence, although when I tried going on a high carb "healthy" diet, mostly brown rice and veggies (rice... BLECHHH!!!!), I actually gained weight. So based on my own annecdotal experience, I think that Atkins works, and this so called researcher is just showing that Dr Jebb knows who butters the bread.
Mark
Have you even looked at the diet and the menues allowed? I personally have never eaten as well both for nutrition and for taste as I have while following a low carb plan. What is wrong with a steak broiled in butter, portabella mushrooms and onions, mixed green salad with your favorite real dressing, steamed asparagus and sugar free cheesecake with fresh strawberries?
Carbs are allowed just not too many of them. They also need to come from real foods like veggies, low glycemic fruit, whole grains with high fiber, the occasional starchy veggie.
The first two weeks only are supposed to be really restrictive in order to jump start the fat burning process. You gradually add in carbs *until* you stop losing weight and reduce them back until you start losing again.
It pays to get a book and read it to fully understand. There are several low carb plans and all have good information in them, some people even pick and choose what works for them from the various plans to make this way of life work for them. It's a your mileage may vary thing.
Here's the basic plan in a nutshell... definitely *not* everything allowed, but to help those understand that it is more balanced than they realize.
Real meats/eggs/cheeses/fish/poultry
Real fats/butter *not margarine*/olive oil/mayonaise/sugar free/full fat salad dressings/heavy cream/sour cream/bacon
nonstarchy veggies/salad greens/green beans/spinach/etc... minimum 3 cups/ day
nut & seeds/ Macadamias/walnuts/almonds/pecans/hulled sunflower seeds/roasted shelled peanuts/cashews
berries & fruits/ blueberries/raspberries/ strawberries/ blackberries
Cut out refined junk like white flour, cookies, white bread, high fructose corn syrup, most white foods, partially hydrogenated fats...
That is just for starters on induction and on going weight loss. It really isn't that bad especially since you usually feel pretty good on it. It isn't a diet, it is a lifelong commitment if you want the weight to stay off. You also have to work in exercise at some point in this plan too for maximum benefits.
"Huge problem", eh?
Please describe how the natural diet of the hunter-gatherer homo sapiens (circa 100,000 BC) was "balanced" before the introduction of organized agriculture (circa 9,000 BC).
And what are those human canines and incisors for? Chewing tomatos and grass? What's that big brain for? Chasing down a wild thistle?
Dr. Atkins admits freely in his book that the diet is not balanced. "If a little of something is not good for you, then why should a lot of it be better?"
The Atkins diet is not balanced because it is CORRECTIVE. Horseshoers use unbalanced shoes on horses to correct poor stride. Same way with diet: you correct an imbalance with another imbalance.
If you are eating a "balanced" diet and you are healthy, you don't need a corrective diet. Do what you are doing. But for people who have been eating an UNBALANCED diet for the last several years, and who are paying the price for that bad diet in obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders, then an unbalanced diet may be the only corrective step that can be taken short of medical intervention. And, what's "unbalanced" about meat, vegetables, and fruit, anyway? The only thing that is not found in large quantities in the Atkins or any other low-carbohydrate diet are foods high in simple carbohydrates like baked goods, pastries, candies, and processed, refined pseudo-foods.
Never be afraid of meats and their attached fats. The human body needs saturated fats for nerve and brain development, proper hormone formation and secretion, and skin, hair, and eye health. Bones cannot take up calcium and other minerals unless saturated fatty acids are present. (Isn't it interesting that the increase in osteoporosis is almost exactly parallel to the removal of natural saturated fats from the diet?)
Scientific evidence abounds on the good effects of a low-carbohydrate diet. Just because the government or the press says high-carb is best, doesn't mean it is. Nine times out of ten, you will find that the "scientists" who tout these perverted diets are (or have been) in the pay of the food giants. The food-grain and -oil producers and the food megagiants find pet researchers who twiddle with figures and manipulate research to make the numbers say what they want, but the medical FACTS are out there if anyone cares to research the subject. Read Uffe Ravnskov's book, THE CHOLESTEROL MYTHS by Uffe Ravnskov. He researched the RESEARCH, and found some very interesting hanky-panky.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.