[Redwood71]

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

[Nov3]

The foods you mentioned that you gave up are called simple carbohydrates, or empty calories because they contain little, if any, nutrients.

Actually he cut down quite a bit on complex carbohydrates - potatoes, pasta, beans, rice, etc. Nutritionally these foods are basically zeros though brown rice and beans do have some nutrients. Some of these are worse than eating an equivalent weight of sugar (potato for instance when baked has a glycemic rating of 150 something as I remember). Now if you ate only the potato skin it would be an excellent choice;-)