Posted on 01/01/2012 7:21:08 PM PST by Altariel
Ten years ago, science writer Gary Taubes exercised an hour a day. He avoided fat in his diet, never even using milk in his oatmeal. But he kept gaining weight. As an experiment, the self-described carnivore tried the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet - eating bacon and eggs for breakfast, pepperoni with melted mozzarella for lunch, and a steak for dinner - and lost 20 pounds in six weeks.
Since then, Taubes, an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, has stuck with the diet and spent countless hours collecting evidence to prove that it's not how much we eat but what we eat that makes us gain weight. In his fourth book, "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It" (Knopf; 257 pages; $24.95), Taubes argues that an apple a day will not keep the doctor away. In fact, if your biological fate is to be overweight, that apple will tip the scales against you.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.sfgate.com ...
I understand how frustrating the above comment can be to someone trying to control their weight.
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Been there (just count the calories). Done that, AND DONE THAT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Until I learned to avoid the "hunger".
Understanding the chemistry of hunger makes it easier to lose the weight and keep it off.
My short version of what I find, and understand, to be true: Too many carbs, or only carbs, "spike" the insulin and more insulin is released than is needed. The huge amount of insulin depletes glucose in the entire body, including the brain. Brain needs glucose to survive and directs body to open cupboards and frantically ingest huge amounts of anything in sight. Lessons I've learned, in order of application: 1) Avoid carbs and precede and mix the carbs you do eat with protein. This will make it easier to cut the calories. 2) Cut the calories.
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For some, it’s not that simple. Read Gary Taubes’ book. It cites quite a few studies that contradict that theory. It’s interesting.
There are many reasons why we compulsively eat.
Everyone has a uniquely different metabolism and nutritional requirements.
Start with a plan of eating that meets your needs, not the government’s.
I maintain a 60lb. weight loss thanks to OA.org and a power greater than myself.
You are not alone.
You’ll be a gas burner in more than one way. :)
brrrp.
Just read how many carbs on the label. Shouldn’t go over 20 a day...
I knew Atkins peripherally in the 70s..
His insight that it was the carbs, not the fat, and that insulin was somehow related, was brilliant.
He decided to be rich and famous instead of doing research (no knock, just fact), and his argument by assertion slowed progress in this field for many years, IMO.
Since his accident, researchers have just started to get into this.
If I eat the USDA’s recommendation of carbohydrate a day (and the calories that go with those grams of carbohydrate), my liver WILL convert the vast majority of those carbohydrates to fat instead of to energy, leaving me with a weight gain that is not offset with any fuel with which to function. So, deprived of energy, I’ll get hit with an overpowering urge to eat more, not to mention I’ll be sick and exhausted, because physiologically my body is being deprived of energy and nutrition.
However, if I keep to a diet of protein, healthy fat and green vegetables, I’m not hungry, have plenty of energy and I lose weight.
People are different. There is no black & white, universal “just cut calories” magic wand. Many people cannot lose weight as long as their carbohydrate consumption is too high. And it’s incorrect to label an obese person as lazy, or as a glutton. Obesity has physiological roots. To add insult to injury, people are told they must have multiple servings of starchy food (”healthy” whole grain is still starch) by the USDA and by nutrition experts.
20 a day of what? Calories?
>20 a day of what? Calories?<
20 net grams of carbohydrate. You can subtract the grams of fiber from the carbohydrate count to get net grams. Some nuts, for example, might have 3 grams of fiber per serving.
Therefore, if a serving has 7 grams of carbohydrate, the net grams would be 7 - 3 = 4 net grams.
So, two cups of vegetable juice would just about cover it. Ouch. This is going to hurt. 1/3 cup oatmeat has 27 grams- 4 grams of fiber. It’s way easy to reach the limit.
20 grams of carbohydrates. There are 4 calories/gram, so that is about 80 carbohydrate calories/day. This doesn’t seem sustainable to me as a lifestyle, however, I do think getting rid of the junky carbs in our diet would be a great place to start, and may offer a considerable health benefit.
Again...this is a great book, and I highly recommend it if you have long been confused about nutrition advice/recommendations, and weight loss is a goal.
carbs=carbohydrates
Any food label has the amount of carbohydrates in grams per serving listed. There for you to count...
Our bodies create insulin when we ingest carbohydrates. Insulin tells our cells to store the excess carbs as fat. Not to over-simplify but that is pretty much the story according to Taubes. We as a society eat way too many carbs...That is why you see people in complete poverty very obese. The cheapest food out there is loaded with carbohydrates. Once you start to pay attention to carb intake you will realize the insane amount of carbs we consume.
Thank you for the responses! At least they confirm it wasn’t all in my head.
It's so frustrating when people don't believe this, but when I'm doing the low-carb diet, one apple will make my weight go up a pound the next morning. ONE APPLE. If I add ONE APPLE to my diet, bang. One pound. I've tried it three times and all three times it happened. My mother doesn't believe me, but the week she came to visit me and we ate the same things and walked all over town together, she lost 2 lbs and I gained 2 lbs.
I believe what you’re saying—a lot of women will say the same thing. But when you eat that apple and gain a pound, you’re gaining one pound of water, not fat. The apple is full of sugar (which is part of the reason it’s delicious). It makes you retain water.
When people go on a low carb diet they lose weight rapidly at first, and most of that initial weight loss is in water. You can lose five pounds within a few days if you’re scrupulous about not letting carbohydrates in any form touch your lips. This isn’t safe to do for very long, but if you have a weight-loss emergency and have to lose five pounds ASAP, this is how. You’ll gain the water-weight loss right back if you start eating carbs again.
Confession time: I have been a very bad girl over the holidays. Have been sitting on my derriere studying and not exercising enough, have been drinking alcohol, and ate all kinds of holiday treats. Gained ten pounds. However, starting tomorrow I’m back on the wagon. No more toast and banana for breakfast, no cookies, no mince pie, no Hoppin’ John. And fortunately I can’t afford any more of the wonderful champagne I had on Saturday night! We’ll see how it goes, but I’ll bet most of this weight will be gone in a couple of weeks.
BUMP
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