What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

The New York Times Magazine ^ | 07/07/2002 | GARY TAUBES

[JZoback]

Bump for a later read when my eyes can take it.

Long article

[EggsAckley]

If I followed what all these "experts" said, there would be NOTHING for me to eat. Hmmmm, maybe THEN I'd lose weight!

[evolved_rage]

The high carbo diet and the food pyramid is the same diet as for fattening pigs. I've heard (unfounded accusation coming) that Archer Daniels Midlands pushes/funds the the "pig-feed" diet.

[aposiopetic]

Why am I pinging you three? Because this has to do with a certain search for the truth, wherever it may lead. Go for it.

[Pokey78]

It is long; all 7,747 words of it.

[Senator Pardek]

LOL - I gotta laugh at these hucksters like Atkins.

Sure, his diet works, if you can "stomach" shoving fat down your gullet all day, but how healthy is that? People lost weight on low-carb diets in concentration camps, too.

The only effective and healthful "weigh" to lose weight is to engage in moderate aerobic excercise, and moderate weight training (and to limit fat intake).

[Psycho_Bunny]

How about we just eat, be happy, and die when we die?

[PoisedWoman]

thanks. Interesting. In my experience, fat stays on with high carbs, also with ATkins, but moderately hi-pro low-carb Zone works perfectly.

One of the best things about this article is that it leaves those who are poised to sue the food industry for wrecking everyone's health and causing diabetes, cancer, etc., now faced with the FACT that the gubmint itself has set out the high-carb guidelines that are probably causing the obesity epidemic. The liberal idiots (probably overweight) cannot convince anyone that the government should regulate the food industry when their very own food pyramid guidelines are the cause of the worst problems in history. And federally funded beaurocracies like NIH have refused to fund research on efficacy of various diets.

PETA and other vegetarians must be grinding their molars over this article from the leftie NYT.

Right back. I have a sirloin thawing.

[xJones]

I won't die of obesity but this long article may do it...................

[swampfox98]

This article is absolutely true. I have felt that we were told to eat a low fat diet simply because the animal rights people don't wamt us to eat meat, and the medical profession wants to remain politically correct.

However, a low fat diet increased my cholestrol numbers, weight and blood pressure. I went on the Adkins diet, lowered all my numbers and my doctor said, "You are doing great on your low fat diet, keep it up." I said, "OK, and went home and ate bacon and eggs.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Thanks for posting this.

I eat primarily a high protein diet and I feel physically wonderful. I've been at it about a year and the mood swings are gone, the early afternoon exhaustion is gone, my food cravings are gone, my gastroensophogeal (sp?) reflex is gone. I eat fruit and vegetables at the one meal a day when I eat carbs.

The one thing that convinced me to try this type of diet is that I read that before 1920, heart disease was extremely rare because people didn't consume carbohydrates like they do now. It may not be for everyone but it's worked like a charm for me. I wish I had known about this a few years earlier.

[Raymond Hendrix]

I've already lost 3 pounds just reading this article!

By the way if anyone wants some good advice on how to lose weight then don't eat too late at night before you go to bed. Eat for energy. If you do not need the energy then just eat a little. It has always worked for me.

[Dana113]

This is not very politically correct and will not make the manufactured food industry very happy - nor the low fat quacks. BadSpeak TruthTalk!

[retrokitten]

According to Katherine Flegal, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of obese Americans stayed relatively constant through the 1960's and 1970's at 13 percent to 14 percent and then shot up by 8 percentage points in the 1980's.

I don't know if I would trust anyone in the Flegal family.

Just kidding, I think lo-carb ways of eating are how we are meant to eat.

[csmusaret]

Sorry but you are just flat assed wrong. If you eliminated all protein from your diet you would die. If you eliminated all fat from your diet you would die. If you eliminated all carbohydrates from your diet you would live a long, healthy life.

[Dana113]

I should add that I have been on Atkins for 3.5 years, lost 40 pounds and have attained exceptional cholesterol levels. I have also achieved a Body fat % of 19.6 [that of a female athlete] on my HIGH FAT Atkins diet.

It is a falsehood and a naive myth that "fat makes fat." What makes people fat - and SICK - is the typical American junk food diet that has sugar, bread, rice and starchy foods like potatoes. While exercise is certainly beneficial, after a certain age it contributes very little to weight loss and becomes almost impossible to lose weight without a good diet.

[Republican Wildcat]

Lowering calorie intake is the key, not merely the sources of the calories. Eating more carbs only replaces the calories you didn't eat with the fat, considering carb sources are normally less filling than fat/protein sources.

I don't know why people make something like this so complicated. Do not eat more calories than you burn off...and you won't become obese.

[Arioch7]

Okay, here is the thing.

Look at ANY culture that eats low fat, high carb diets with little fat and you know what? They are all thin.

Carbohydrates are an energy source. If you eat to many carbs, you will get fat. I dont know what the energy level of you all is so I can not tell you what to eat. Look at long distance runners that carbo-load... are THEY fat?

If you are a couch potato and stuff yourself with pasta all day, guess what? You will get fat!!! Gee, that thought process is really difficult, eh?

Fat itself is not bad for you. It is one of the three macro-nutrients. Americans eat to much fat. SO what did they do after they stopped eating to much fat? They ate to many carbs! Pathetic, how about not eating so damn much? :D

The scientific and empirical evidence is far to great to take this article seriously. Try this on for size. If you exercise hard and eat only 1000 calories a day, you WILL lose weight. It does not matter where those calories come from.

If you train HARD and restrict your carb intake, you will feel like crap. Trust me, I know. I have not gotten enough carbs and felt drained... literally. Fat, Carbs, and protein are the three macro-nutrients and they have been scientifically analyzed and the mystery is gone people.

When people disagree with me they usually put it something like this...

"I cut out ALL fat(Not a good idea.) from my diet and stuffed myself silly on thousands of calories of carbs and GAINED WEIGHT!!! See, its the Carbs!!!!"

Someone mentioned the "Pig Diet". I wonder if that person is aware of the physiological term "Ketosis". It is not good and that is the condition your body is in when you deplet yourself of carbs. When Zoologists find animals like this in the wild, they consider them SICK.

I am not telling people to avoid fat or protein, they are INTEGRAL, but so to are carbs. Whenever I post something like this, everyone says "Proteins great!", or "Fat is neccesary!" No kidding, read the post. Can you dig it?

[weegee]

Bump for later reading. I've long had issues with the food pyramid.