Experts Say Diets Bring Record Egg Prices

AP/yahoo.comnews ^ | December 10, 2003 | RYAN LENZ,AP

[tortoise]

If, however, you are going to promote a diet that limits bread and potatoes and rice -- foods that have fed most of humanity throughout recorded history, you will need some long term studies to back up your claims.

Lobbing random grenades your way:

Potatoes in particular have among the highest glycemic indexes of any common carbohydrate. The insulin response to potato starch is something like twice that of pure cane sugar. This causes cumulative cardiovascular damage over time independent of any weight gain/loss issues caused by highly variable insulin levels. Generally speaking, potatoes are dietary evil, and I say that as someone who absolutely loves potatoes.

Potatoes are recent additions to the European diet, and weren't really cultivated to any great extent until the 18th century. (ObTrivia: The Chinese were originally a barley based agrarian culture, and adopted rice from SE asian cultures at a much later date.) There are many pervasively common foods now that have only been in common consumption for humans for hundreds of years, something most people are not aware of or forget. Also, long-term health effects have been something that have really only been observable recently.

The carbs that have been widely consumed by humanity since the pre-history are actually relatively few, e.g. wheat and barley.

[July 4th]

Oh no! The last dozen eggs I bought at the grocery store cost 70 cents. What's next?! 72 cents?!

[Trust but Verify]

This was in the regular pre-wrapped section of our local grocery. We saw standing rib roasts at Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago for $8.99/lb. It's crazy I tell ya!

[BSunday]

Dang Atkins! To quote Earl Pitts: "I know he's dead, but it he weren't I'd make him wish he wuz."

[BSunday]

I bet I never ate 10 omelets in my entire 42 years before I started this diet, now it's what's for breakfast every day.

LOL You eat 10 omelets for breakfast every day? Hate to tell ya, but you're problem is not WHAT you're eating, it's how much!! ;) /kidding of course

[js1138]

I'm going to guess that the ill effects of potatoes, like the effects of milk and peanuts, are variable.

[luckodeirish]

When eggs are outlawed only outlaws will have eggs.

[Carolina]

Carlo gathers us low-carbers together occasionally (though, more frequently during this holiday season) and, as a bonus, he posts low-carb recipes that are divine.

Ask him to ping 'ya.

[tortoise]

I'm going to guess that the ill effects of potatoes, like the effects of milk and peanuts, are variable.

No, the effects are much more regular than either milk or peanuts. Milk and peanuts have affects that are very specific to the individual. Potatoes have a very basic metabolic effects that are consistent across most mammals. The comparison is inappropriate.

[Tree of Liberty]

Great. Thank yo, Carolina

Carlo, please add me to your ping list.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

It all has to do with math. (See, it is important kids!) The Atkins Diet and other diets that are successful have been able to determine a formula that will help lower weight and keep it off, but there are other ways to do it as well.

For example, if you were to just walk 15 minutes at a brisk pace three days a week, you would "lose" around 58lbs in 20 years without doing anything else.

A brisk 15 minute walk burns 65 calories.
65 x 3 = 195 calories per week.
195 x 52 = 10140 calories per year.
10,140 x 20 = 202,800 calories over 20 years.
202,800 / 3500 = 57.94 pounds.

It's that simple. Or, you could cut out one can of Coke (140 calories) a day and "lose" 292 lbs in the same 20 years. You aren't actually "losing" weight in this case, you are simply not adding the calories to your diet. But this just shows that most people take a short term look at weight loss (need to lose 20 lbs in 3 months!) rather than a long term approach. (My personal goal is 132 lbs in 4 years. I'm just at 22 months and have lost 59 lbs, so I'm on track.)

If people are just looking for a quick fix, no system or program in the world will help them. But if they are serious about weight control, Atkins and Weight Watchers seem to be the best at helping you change your view of food.

[Fangorn]

Yeah, that was poorly phrased, I agree. One omelet and it's three eggs. My appetite has dropped fairly precipitously since I started this.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Lets get the SKINNY on the Atkins Diet

[NorthGA]

Absolutely right; thanks for the informed comments.

[heleny]

egg prices have climbed to as much as $1.40 a dozen

Around here, eggs usually cost $2 a dozen for large eggs (~50 grams each, the smallest size in supermarkets), more for extra large or jumbo.

[jennyp]

I have no idea whether sheding unwanted fat is good in the long run. If you mean twenty pounds, there is lots of evidence that repeated attempts at dieting are more unhealthy than having the extra weight. One hundred pounds? probably need to lose some of it. But there is not a shred of evidence that it will make you live longer. At least not yet.

There's evidence that those caloric restriction diets that make rats & other animals live twice as long as normal are due to their lowered insulin levels.

See for instance here and here.

[carlo3b]

Carlo, please add me to your ping list.

Welcome aboard.. :)

[js1138]

I might be wrong, but I still don't think there's any evidence that humans live longer as a result of dieting. The animal studies require reducing the animal to 85% or less of its free-feeding weight. That would be pretty brutal in humans, and would involve being hungry all the time.

[jennyp]

That would be pretty brutal in humans, and would involve being hungry all the time.

Exactly! Which is why the low-carb diet is so great: You're never hungry or draggy. (Except when you just plain forget to eat lunch, which happens with me on this diet.) Low-carb diets reduce insulin levels; that's the whole idea behind it. So the point is, caloric restriction per se isn't what's extending the animals' lives, it's the insulin restriction.

Here's an interesting news item from just today, where researchers have discovered there are at least two proteins in the insulin pathway that work synergistically to increase longevity when they're disabled.