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I'll have to side with Nov3 on this issue. I too was a critic of the low-carb diets and parroted the government's food pyramids and such. During this time, I was over 100 pounds overweight and was convinced that it was my lack of willpower to go on the standard low-fat diet (like the one you posted about) that kept me fat. Even though I tried a low-fat diet multiple times and kept giving them up because the constant hunger pangs made my life miserable. Being that I never seemed to lose more than 20 pounds on a low-fat diet (which still left me plenty fat) I figured that life was too short to be miserable and so accepted the fact that I would always be fat.

On a whim, I decided to give this low-carb thing a try last April. It wasn't Atkins. But close to it. I simply tried cutting out all processed junk food from my diet (which contains most of the carbs anyhow) and ate only natural foods. I still had carbs, but they came from natural sources like berries, yogurt, nuts and vegetables instead of unnatural sources like cookies, cakes, pies, chips and crackers.

I started losing weight quickly. My energy level also increased dramatically so that I not only was able to start a vigorous exercise program, but I actually wanted to exercise. Now when I sit in a chair, I unconsciously start rocking myself or shaking my legs because I have so much energy built up inside of me (which was something I used to do as a kid). As the exercise increased, the weight loss intensified. I went from 300 pounds to 196 pounds within seven months. (Average weight for my 6'3" frame is 185-190 so I am pretty much where I need to be now.)

Now I'm not saying that this diet will work for everybody. But it did work for me and I know it worked for others. I cannot possibly imagine it being an unhealthy diet because it consists of all the foods that humans have been eating for thousands of years. Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, berries, nuts, yogurt, olive oil, even beer, wine and whole-grain bread from time to time. On the other hand, all the foods I gave up were only created over the past century. I'm talking all the hydrogenated vegetable oils and the high fructose corn syrups and all those other artificial flavors and additives that are thrown into our (processed) food these days.

One point I forgot to make in my previous post comparing low-carb to low-fat diets is that a low-carb diet done properly result in no hunger.

All my efforts to lose weight on the traditional low-fat diets resulted in disaster because I just could not deal with the constant hunger pangs. Okay, call me undisciplined or lacking in willpower, but the bottom line was, I couldn't stick on a low-fat diet. Sooner or later, I'd break down and pig out in a major way, immediately reversing any weight loss (and usually adding to it).

With this low-carb (I prefer to call it normal-carb) diet, the first thing I noticed was that I no longer had to snack between meals because I just didn't get hungry. For breakfast, I'll have a couple of eggs and a cup of blueberry yogurt and that tides me over to lunch with no problem. In the past, I could eat a stack of pancakes or two large bowls of cereal for breakfast and by mid-morning, I'd be starving again so I'd get a pastry or a donut or a couple of bagels. Then I'd be ravenous for lunch!

I'm amazed at how little I eat for breakfast and lunch (my usual lunch is a tin of sardines) and yet I make it to supper with no need to snack whatsoever. The few times that I do snack, I am content with a handful of nuts or a hunk of cheese.

So this is a way of eating I have no trouble sticking with because I don't have those constant hunger pangs anymore.

I have done a cursory search on his institute. They are big advocates of vigorous aerobic exercise and a low fat (~15%) diet. It is obviously something that will work if you WILL exercise strenuously and like that kind of food. I won't exercise strenuously and don't like low fat food. I am sure he is in great shape. On the other hand I just won't go to the gym (though I should) and just walk a couple of miles a day (at a military pace though). I should be doing 10,000 steps like you quoted earlier and indeed I even saw this quoted in the institute literature. I can respect his plan.

What I don't respect is his coming into this thread with a bunch of discredited research. Unfortunately I don't have the time and inclination to discredit his copy and paste post. I wish Dana113 or 1114 or whatever her name was was still posting. She had a veritable trove of information with links ready to post on the issue. I just read and eat this way. I stay about 100 grams and weight is never an issue.

Congratulation on the weight loss. It is one of the fastest and most impressive I have seen. My wife is at lowcarbfriends.com and there are a lot of other success stories similar to yours and mine. These are people who bought into the lowfat thing (I did 8 years ago!) and thought they didn't have willpower. I know you have never opened a huge bag of chips for a few and found yourself finishing it a few minutes later. I however have. I went on this diet, got into ketosis, and the cravings disappeared immediately. Suddenly I had "willpower". I have extreme "willpower" on other issues - just ask my wife! However give me a box of special K cereal and I will empty it and look for more! A baked potato! I eat one and I am hungry a half hour later. A big serving of rice, the same thing. I seem to be able to eat small servings of rice and not be bothered however.

The truth about the trash that is given out as food in our culture is coming out. I am sure Redwood doesn't eat trash but I still would not be able to handle the 250+ grams of carbs he is eating and not gain weight or constantly be hungry.

I cannot possibly imagine it being an unhealthy diet because it consists of all the foods that humans have been eating for thousands of years. Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, berries, nuts, yogurt, olive oil, even beer, wine and whole-grain bread from time to time. On the other hand, all the foods I gave up were only created over the past century. I'm talking all the hydrogenated vegetable oils and the high fructose corn syrups and all those other artificial flavors and additives that are thrown into our (processed) food these days.

Boy, I'm agreeing with this more and more each day. Every day I don't eat processed food, the better I feel. Even those chocolate peanut butter Atkins bars that taste good affected me. I'm done experimenting: I now know what works and what doesn't, and one of the things that also doesn't work for me is the processed low-carb foods. I even found the organic Stonyfield Farm yogurt at our Walmart here which just tickles me. No chemicals or additives.

And I wondered why I was so sickly for so long. Garbage in, garbage out. When I reduce the amount of carbs and processed foods I take in, my nerves hurt less, my eye sight clears up, my joints and muscles get stronger, no sugar spikes or crashes, better circulation (improvement with lymphedema) and warmer feet, better sleep, stronger bladder (avoiding surgery), and on and on. I'm positive that I'm dodging that Diabetes bullet.

I'm glad you found the way to get healthy. The foods you mentioned that you gave up are called simple carbohydrates, or empty calories because they contain little, if any, nutrients. They are linked to dental problems and elevating triglyceride levels. Even the fruit, the berries, that contain fructose (a simple sugar),is considered a complex carb. Eat and enjoy within reason if you are going to exercise. I like berries a lot and recommend their consumption. The average consumption of fiber that you get from complex carbs, is only about 15 grams per day in the U.S. It should be about twice that daily to assist the body as low fiber has been linked to cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

Carbs', hopefully complex, primary function is to provide energy for the various tissues of the body. The nervous system relies exclusively on carbs as an energy source. Cutting it to a "too low" level can be difficult.

My recommendations are backed by solid medical sources: The American Diebetic Assn, American Heart Assn, American Dietetic Assn, American Cancer Society, American College of Sports Medicine, Cooper Institute and Cooper Clinics, National Institute of Health, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Academy of Pediatricians, to name a few. I am not going to put myself out on a limb by saying that medical science has answered all the questions on low carb/high protein diets. But they have entertained enough at this point for me to not recommend them for a quality life change and overall health benefit. I hate the word diet anyway, it is misleading. I like the word healthy. There is no substitute for it.

Red