Posted on 05/17/2004 5:26:16 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Low-carbohydrate diets help people lose weight in the short term but work no better than other diets after a year, researchers reported on Monday.
Two studies of the popular diets that limit sugar and processed starches show they can work faster than some low-fat diets.
Both studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that after six months, the low-carb dieters lost more weight than the low-fat group. And one study showed that after 12 months, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight.
In one study, a team at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia followed 132 obese adults who were assigned randomly either to a low-carbohydrate diet with intake of less than 30 grams of carbs a day, or a low-calorie diet that kept fat intake at a moderate 30 percent of calories from fat.
Volunteers with diabetes had better control of blood sugar on the low-carb diet, the researchers reported.
The low-carb group lost weight faster, but the low-fat dieters caught up.
A year later, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight -- 11 to 19 pounds for the low-carb group and 7 to 19 pounds for the low-fat group.
Dr. Linda Stern, who led the study, said it confirmed that any diet that cuts calories will work.
"Americans are overweight because we're eating too much food and ingesting too many calories," she said in a statement.
But most people tend to overindulge in high-carbohydrate foods. "I think a low-carbohydrate diet is a good choice because much of our overeating has to do with consumption of too many carbohydrates," she added.
In the second study, a team from Duke University followed 120 overweight people and found those on the low-carb diet who also took a variety of vitamins and supplements lost an average of 26 pounds, compared to an average of 14 pounds on a low-fat diet after six months.
However, the low-fat dieters lowered their cholesterol levels more, reducing their risk of heart disease.
"We can no longer dismiss very-low-carbohydrate diets," Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health wrote in a commentary. But researchers said more study was needed to show whether low-carb diets are safe in the long term.
"Patients should focus on finding ways to eat that they can maintain indefinitely rather than seeking diets that promote rapid weight loss," Willet added.
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However, the low-fat dieters lowered their cholesterol levels more, reducing their risk of heart disease.
Many low carbers refer to low carbing as WOL, way of life. The successful low fat dieters I have met made the same decision. They have made lower calorie/lower fat eating their life, not something you start today and quit 6 months later, or when you have reached your goal weight.
Congrats though to all who have lost on low carb or low fat! At least they are doing something about it!
One of the reasons you might have a good cholesterol count is that you already include nuts in your diet.
USDA, for unknown reasons, includes nuts with meat in the food pyramid.
Another unaccountable element in all this is that the American Diabetes Association still recommends that diabetics include large amounts of complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, pasta, and processed wheat in their diets even if it's quite apparant such a diet will kill them.
I've given up on all the nonsense and faced the facts that for a number of reasons my ancestors handed down to me the gene set best adapted to the Paleolithic diet. It only has 3 food groups, and NO complex carbohydrates are in there.
Simply imagine yourself out on the Long Hunt. Sometimes you get meat, and other times you find unripe, hard, green fruit (with little sugar or starch). Nuts and seeds are available, but you may have to chase away the animals to get enough of them. Finally, when times get tough out on the trail you get reduced to fresh greens, and maybe stems and leaves that can be softened over a fire.
There's no bread, noodles, rice, cornmeal, refined sugar in the Paleolithic diet. Such things are quite unnatural for the us.
Thats great news. I hope you can keep up the good work.
I am not losing anymore, just staying the same.
It truely can be a 'way-of-life'.
Well, my trygliceride count was over 568 and I think under 150 is normal. The Doc said I was a heart attack waiting to happen. I can't claim the diet or exercise was my physical salvation. Nope longer life through LIPITOR! Took me from 568 to 168 in a matter of months with periodic liver testing. My liver is fine. I too have given up fries, and all alcohol and miss neither. I eat a lot of zero carb ice cream. More vegetables, too. I think I have just modified my eating habits in a healthier way. But South Beach worked for me, no doubt.
Sigh. Two successful years on locarb. What is it with the hysteria over cutting out sugars and starches, and replacing with protein and lots of green veggies? The fatso dieticians worry about their franchises, I guess.
I just started the South Beach diet about three (four?) weeks ago, after spending several futile months trying to lose weight by counting calories and exercising. I've lost ten pounds so far (fifteen to go!), and for once am not craving sweets all the time. Feel a lot more energetic and when I'm hungry, it's not a horrible shaky light-headed feeling anymore. To me, that's worth more than the weight loss.
I guess in a lot of ways it's not really low-carb in the same sense as Atkins, but it's completely changing how I look at food...and what tastes right, for that matter.
Yep...I'm discovering vegetables I never knew existed!
This also brought my blood-sugar levels down toward "normal" although I needed another month for that to happen.
The most important ingredient in my diet was simple fanaticism tinged with full blown OCD (obsessive/compulsive disorder) type devotion to achieving control.
The doctor also prescribed the "One Touch" meter of death and that kept my level of fear sufficiently high to keep me focused on the objective of living better through less!
This evening's news has it that if you have diabetes you have more than a 60% greater chance of developing Alzheimer's than other folks.
More OCD. More focus.
My wife looks askance, but my 5 y.o. daughter loves them, demands to share them, and we have a great sour, cruciferous feast.
Hm...dunno if I'd want that for breakfast, but I LOVE sauerkraut and brussel sprouts with regular vinegar and other sour stuff. I'll have to try that!
I love eggs, so usually I have some variation on that. Also on South Beach you're allowed whole grains, so I have oatmeal made with steel-cut oats some of the time. THAT'S real stick-to-your-ribs kinda oatmeal...a small bowl of that with an egg on the side, and I'm good to go until lunch. And it's sweet on its own, now that I've been without sugar for a bit!
It's the refined sugars and starches that cause the cravings. South Beach helps you break that craving and the diet makes life much easier. No more feeling hungry when you're full.
SPLENDA is a no calorie sweetner made from real sugar. I bought some in a 9.7oz bag at Walmart. I love it. I put it on my low carb ice cream. I like the little packs, but not as well as the large bag.
I can eat eggs cooked in butter and ham for breakfast on the Atkins.
It's soooo nice to finish a meal and feel completely satisfied!
And I like to cook...so using less processed foods has been a lot of fun. I haven't been doing this for long...but I sincerely believe I COULD stick with this way of life for good, and hopefully will.
Adding the carbs made it difficult for me. Will try to lose the last ten pounds on the Atkins.
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