Low Carb Diet Seems Too Good To Be True

[Looney]

So basically, low carb diets = chronically depressed but skinny.

This is the absolutely most IDIOTIC statement i've ever heard. True, sugar is the source of neurotransmitters for the brain... but how much do you really think you need to survive? Even if you were to fast for a month, your neurotransmitters would function just fine.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: yobarman
Just because you're supposed to eat a lot of protien doesnt mean you should be chugging lard with that. You're much better off eating leaner meats.

No, you ARE suppose to eat a lot of fat... you obviously don't understand how the process works. When you're eating low carb, you need a lot of fat to kick you into ketosis... and once in ketosis, fat plays a much different role than it does when you consume higher amounts of carbs. Fat doesn't get stored, and doesn't enter your arteries. Fat becomes the source of energy instead.

So yes, when you eat low carb, don't throw away the yolks... that's why cheese is a highly recommended food... all that fat helps kick you into ketosis.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: kracmunkie
Low carb/high protein diets (like Atkins) do help you drop the weight quickly, but not without repercussions. Carbs are essential for keeping your serotonin levels normal. Serotonin is the chemical that your body needs to feel happy. So basically, low carb diets = chronically depressed but skinny. A healthy balanced diet with moderate exercise is always the best to go for your body and your brain (and exercise boosts your endorphins which also help in feeling happy).

People love to see the pounds drop so quickly but it's really not good for your system, losing about 2 lbs a week is about the max people should shoot for. But also, the heavier you are, the easier it is to drop weight at first, and the closer you are to your ideal weight, the harder it is to lose weight (for good reason, otherwise I could be a size 0 by the end of next week, which would not look that great)

HTH

That's not true.

I have a history of depression, and when I was on the Atkins diet I felt fine. If it would make anyone depressed, it would make me depressed. But it didn't.

 

[Gulzakar]

Proteins are very hard on the body to digest.

well, meat proteins anyways. Beans are pretty yummy.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Rudee

Originally posted by: boyRacer

Originally posted by: Wingznut
Even more "food for thought" for the doubters....

Yesterday's menu:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs w/ham
Lunch: Salad w/tuna
Dinner: Grilled chicken w/marinara sauce and mozerella cheese, and a salad.

Dammit now i'm hungry...

Not enough calories. Your body will quickly go into starvation mode and lower it's metabolism if you dont ingest more calories, or more smaller frequent meals.

Nah, not even close... The day listed above was ~1500 calories.

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: yobarman
Just because you're supposed to eat a lot of protien doesnt mean you should be chugging lard with that. You're much better off eating leaner meats.

No, you ARE suppose to eat a lot of fat... you obviously don't understand how the process works. When you're eating low carb, you need a lot of fat to kick you into ketosis... and once in ketosis, fat plays a much different role than it does when you consume higher amounts of carbs. Fat doesn't get stored, and doesn't enter your arteries. Fat becomes the source of energy instead.

So yes, when you eat low carb, don't throw away the yolks... that's why cheese is a highly recommended food... all that fat helps kick you into ketosis.

Ah... Finally, someone who understands how it works.

 

[Chaotic42]

I'd just like to remind everyone to see a doctor before you start eating 20 pounds of bacon a day.

2 doctors I've talked to seemed very disgusted by the diet.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: SammySon
Well, also the American diet in general is too high in protein.
🙂

WTF? High intake of protein has never hurt anyone. Protein is good for you!

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'd just like to remind everyone to see a doctor before you start eating 20 pounds of bacon a day.

2 doctors I've talked to seemed very disgusted by the diet.

I would expect that a doctor to be disgusted by a 20lbs of bacon per day intake.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

I would expect a doctor to be disgusted by a 20lbs of bacon a day intake.

😀

I asked the doctor about the Atkins diet when I went to lose weight. I was 230, and wanted to get to 205-210. She said that it was very bad for your kidneys. You trade out kidney time for weightloss, according to her. She told me to eat right and exercise. Stop drinking so much soda.

I've lost 21 pounds.

I can't really comment on the Atkins diet, because I'm not a doctor. I just recommend that everyone see a real doctor before doing something like that.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'd just like to remind everyone to see a doctor before you start eating 20 pounds of bacon a day.

2 doctors I've talked to seemed very disgusted by the diet.

Well, that much bacon isn't good for you anyways... it contains high amounts of sodium and nitrates. Unless you can get 'organic' bacon that doesn't contain that (bit more expensive, but they're available).

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic


Well, that much bacon isn't good for you anyways... it contains high amounts of sodium and nitrates. Unless you can get 'organic' bacon that doesn't contain that (bit more expensive, but they're available).

Or you could do the Alton Brown thing and make your own.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Moralpanic


Well, that much bacon isn't good for you anyways... it contains high amounts of sodium and nitrates. Unless you can get 'organic' bacon that doesn't contain that (bit more expensive, but they're available).

Or you could do the Alton Brown thing and make your own.

LOL I love watching him... was that the episode where he went to a scrap yard and smoked it in an old locker?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

LOL I love watching him... was that the episode where he went to a scrap yard and smoked it in an old locker?

Yeah 🙂

It was on yesterday morning. Very cool show.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Wingznut

I would expect a doctor to be disgusted by a 20lbs of bacon a day intake.

😀

I asked the doctor about the Atkins diet when I went to lose weight. I was 230, and wanted to get to 205-210. She said that it was very bad for your kidneys. You trade out kidney time for weightloss, according to her. She told me to eat right and exercise. Stop drinking so much soda.

I've lost 21 pounds.

I can't really comment on the Atkins diet, because I'm not a doctor. I just recommend that everyone see a real doctor before doing something like that.

Dr. Atkins was a doctor, maybe you'd listen to the comments he made?

But seriously, if you have weak kidneys then you can have kidney failure, just like if you have a weak heart and went to jog 5 miles you could have a heart attack.

There is so much FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) spread about the diet by the naysayers that you don't know what to believe. But I tried it myself and found that they were full of sh!t.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Marshallj


Dr. Atkins was a doctor, maybe you'd listen to the comments he made?

But seriously, if you have weak kidneys then you can have kidney failure, just like if you have a weak heart and went to jog 5 miles you could have a heart attack.

There is so much FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) spread about the diet by the naysayers that you don't know what to believe. But I tried it myself and found that they were full of sh!t.

Well, I've done some research on the diet, because I wondered if it was right for me. It obviously works, because people are losing weight.

I also don't accept "Atkins is bad, don't do it" as an answer. The doctor gave a fairly decent explanation of why she thought it wasn't a good diet.

My only problem with the Atkins diet, outside of my dislike for many of the staple foods of the program, is that it's untested in the long term. The "standard" diet of eating healthy and exercise is hundreds of thousands of years old. We've eaten like that, for the most part, for quite a while. How such a high saturated fat/cholesterol diet would affect people, especially in the faster paced, higher stress world of today isn't apparent.

Sure, there are those (such as the Coral Calcium guy, his name escapes me at the moment) who say that a diet high in antioxidants and calcium would nullify the free radicals that cause holes to form in the arteries (I don't know much about that subject), thereby nullifying the cholesterol count in the blood. That flies in the face of the conventional way of thinking, which isn't a bad thing, but I gravitate towards the "tried and true", especially when dealing with health issues.

Perhaps Atkins will revolutionize the human diet, but we seem to be doing all right with the balanced diet with exercise.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
The "standard" diet of eating healthy and exercise is hundreds of thousands of years old. We've eaten like that, for the most part, for quite a while.

Actually the Atkins diet is much closer to the diet that we evolved on for hundreds of thousands of years. Processed breads and sugars which are so common today are a relatively new thing. Before that, we used to eat whole grains, green leafy vegetables and meat, just like the Atkins diet recommends.

If you look at a "normal" diet today, you'll see that a very high percentage of the food you eat is bleached and processed breads, pasta, refined sugars, etc. That stuff isn't good for you, and it's not what we evolved on.

 

[Looney]

My only problem with the Atkins diet, outside of my dislike for many of the staple foods of the program, is that it's untested in the long term. The "standard" diet of eating healthy and exercise is hundreds of thousands of years old. We've eaten like that, for the most part, for quite a while. How such a high saturated fat/cholesterol diet would affect people, especially in the faster paced, higher stress world of today isn't apparent.

Well, it may be untested... but our bodies were developed to eat high protein and high fat, not carbs. We've been eating like such for hundreds of thousands of years... it's only been the last few thousand years that carbohydrates have been an important part of our diet. That's why we have such high obesity numbers and diabetics.

And cholesterol has been tested... and been found to be the opposite in a low carb diet... that cholesterol actually GOES DOWN! I had my blood cholesterol tested for a 6 month period last year when i was using Accutane, and my cholesterol levels dropped as well.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Marshallj

Actually the Atkins diet is much closer to the diet that we evolved on for hundreds of thousands of years. Processed breads and sugars which are so common today are a relatively new thing. Before that, we used to eat whole grains, green leafy vegetables and meat, just like the Atkins diet recommends.

If you look at a "normal" diet today, you'll see that a very high percentage of the food you eat is bleached and processed breads, pasta, refined sugars, etc. That stuff isn't good for you, and it's not what we evolved on.

Yes, but grains made up a larger portion of our diet. When I think of a healthy diet, I think of a Chinese type diet. Rich in soy, rice, and vegetables. Not a whole lot of meat, and certainly not much (if any) dairy.

Refined sugars and "enriched" flours are just evil. I'm guilty of consuming way too much of them though. 😱

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Beast1284
I'm not criticizing you or the foods you eat, but the diet. Every time I hear someone talking about it, it's always, wow I can eat a pound of bacon! Or, I can have a 24oz steak! Wow, healthy eating there.

These are misconceptions about Atkins. Nowhere does this plan recommend eating that much red meat. As a matter of fact, I just got a newsletter and the main topic is about exactly that.:

Whenever magazines run stories about the Atkins Nutritional Approach, they almost always illustrate them with a big picture of a juicy grilled steak, often topped with a pat of butter. Sometimes the editors use a pile of bacon strips instead?or they may show the bacon along with the steak. Because of all those articles, many people associate doing Atkins with eating a lot of red meat, and nothing else. It?s time to set the record straight.

One of Dr. Atkins? favorite foods was a medium-rare rib-eye steak. But he didn?t eat just the steak. He enjoyed it along with a serving of fresh vegetables and a tossed salad with blue cheese dressing. You may also enjoy eating beef; however, it is not advisable to eat steak every day. Variety is what makes food interesting. There are plenty of other delicious ways to get the protein and dietary fat you need. In fact, plenty of people do Atkins without eating red meat or pork.

But before you decide to avoid red meat?or meat of any kind?ask yourself why. Abstaining for ethical or religious reasons is an understandable choice. It?s equally acceptable to eliminate meat from your diet because you simply don?t like the way it tastes. However, if you?re not eating meat because you?re worried about saturated fat and cholesterol, your concern may well be misplaced. As Dr. Atkins often explained, the cholesterol in your blood has very little to do with the fat and cholesterol you eat. You will lower your high-risk LDL cholesterol and total triglycerides far more effectively?and far more quickly?if you control carbohydrate consumption in general and avoid refined carbs in particular than if you avoid animal foods that contain cholesterol. In fact, lowering your dietary cholesterol intake has been shown time and again to have virtually no effect on the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: Chaotic42 I'd just like to remind everyone to see a doctor before you start eating 20 pounds of bacon a day. 2 doctors I've talked to seemed very disgusted by the diet.

Well, that much bacon isn't good for you anyways... it contains high amounts of sodium and nitrates. Unless you can get 'organic' bacon that doesn't contain that (bit more expensive, but they're available).

Dr. Atkins recommended nitrate-free bacon.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: Chaotic42 I'd just like to remind everyone to see a doctor before you start eating 20 pounds of bacon a day. 2 doctors I've talked to seemed very disgusted by the diet.

Well, that much bacon isn't good for you anyways... it contains high amounts of sodium and nitrates. Unless you can get 'organic' bacon that doesn't contain that (bit more expensive, but they're available).

Dr. Atkins recommended nitrate-free bacon.

Nitrites are bad... Mmm-kay?

EDIT: Same with Partionally Hydrogenated Oils. But they are in so many foods that it's disgusting.

 

[sciencetoy]

One misconception about Atkins is that it's NO carbohydrate. Not true. It's LOW carb, with the carbs coming from vegetables. In the very beginning carbs are quite low, but as the plan progresses carbs (from veggies and later whole grains and fruits) are added.

From my experience, the difference between long-term success or failure with Atkins is how well you deal with the healthy-carb part.

 

[Jeraden]

Originally posted by: Magnum375
According to my outline I can eat all the meat cheese and eggs (though I dislike them), I had bacon twice this morning (heh I know I know). Does anyone know how well these diets work ? So far my meals have consisted of yurkey and beef, diet pop and a lot of water.

Ignoring all the health-related debates that always come up in these threads, Atkins is very effective in losing weight. I lost 50lbs on it myself and was on it in one form or another for 3 years. I never experienced any health or emotional related problems. The real problem with it is that over time you get kind of bored with it and it creates awkward social situations. After a while you will end up eating the same meals over and over again with only a little variation which really does seem to take some pleasure out of life. It may not seem bad for the first year or so, but trust me, after 3 years you are sick to death of the same stuff, but I think that would be true of any diet. The other problem, which I think is unique to Atkins, is its sometimes difficult to eat out. At work a group of people go out to lunch each week, and I'd always have to find out ahead of time where they were going, as there are a lot of restaurants that simply have absolutely nothing that can be consumed on a low-carb diet - for example, sub shops, pizza shops, chinese or mexican restaurants. Whether lunch or dinner, usually when I go out I ended up getting some sort of salad, which you quickly get tired of as well. There are usually a lot of entrees you can eat, but the side dishes and stuff are off-limits unless you get veggies, and can't eat the rolls, so you realize you just spent $10 on a chicken breast and veggies which you could have made at home for $2, so it takes a lot of fun out of eating out as well.

So its good for weight loss, but personally I think once you reach your goal weight there are better maintenance plans than staying on low-carb as its just too restrictive for a permanent lifestyle.

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: Beast1284

Originally posted by: SammySon
Atkins provides way too much protein.

I'd love to see the cholesterol levels of a person who's been on the "eat all the steak you want" diet for 6 months or more.

Don't know about other people...but a guy I work with has been on the Atkins diet for over a year and his cholesterol actually dropped by 30 points.

 

[StageLeft]

It seems easy now. Wait until you go to a movie and realize you can't eat anything. Wait until you see a commercial on tv for pizza and just, by God, you have to have a slice!