Atkins diet beats low-fat fare

MSNBC ^ | 11-18-02 | AP

[Paradox]

Nov. 18 — Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

...

Westman studied 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the Atkins diet or the heart association’s Step 1 diet, a widely used low-fat approach. On the Atkins diet, people limited their carbs to less than 20 grams a day, and 60 percent of their calories came from fat. “It was high fat, off the scale,” he said.

After six months, the people on the Atkins diet had lost 31 pounds, compared with 20 pounds on the AHA diet, and more people stuck with the Atkins regimen.

[Mamzelle]

Don't know if you've gotten a lot of replies about beans, but you have to watch those legumes in the "losing" stage of locarb weight control. Don't drain the fat, put in a little more meat, maybe not quite so many beans. If you know you'll be eating some carbs, make sure there's also some fat and protein to keep from shooting your insulin up...and getting hungry! I also love chili. (No cornbread, I'm afraid).

[Mid-MI Student]

....and if that ain't fast enough for you, switch to sawdust, corn cobs, peanut shells, and pure distilled water!

I read today (The Times(UK)) that eating a kind of South African cactus was all the rage among dieters, it even suppresses the need for water.

[Mid-MI Student]

Guiness only has 5 carbs.

Where did you get that information from?
Guiness has about 120 calories (per pint), so maybe it has 5 different carbs totalling 30 grams.

[meyer]

Don't forget, a gram of alcohol provides 7 Calories.

[dfwgator]

I've got the perfect diet. It's called moderation. As in, eat fats in moderation, eat sugars and high-density carbs in moderation. Eat smaller portions. There, the shortest diet book in history.

[TEXASPROUD]

Be sure the exercise is before eating breakfast.

[Mid-MI Student]

A pint of guinness is 1.8 uk units, or 18 mills of alcohol, so 126 calories...

I guess it fits that it could only have five grams of carbs. surprising.

and it is also high in vitamin G.

[fogarty]

Perhaps your case is unusual, but I can tell you for a fact that EXERCISE is the best way to become fitter and healthier - and the best way to lose weight, bar none. This is established over DECADES of research, not just on one or two studies. Notice I did not say FASTEST way to lose weight, because the fastest weight loss is not necessarily the best way to lose weight.

Here's a challenge for you: Go OFF the Atkins diet for 1 month. See how much weight you gain back.

However, if you start a dedicated exercise routine (one that you can maintain) for a year or longer, you will see 50 pounds can be lost over a year and you WILL NOT put on those 50 pounds again so quickly. Your cardiovascular system will be healthier, your immune system stronger, and your skeletal-muscular system improved many times over.

[Mamzelle]

Much depends on age, I believe, in your assertion. My own routine, four times/wk, involves a treadmill or strider to the tune of a mile and a half which burns (the machines claim) about 150 calories. Then some weights and stretching, just to tone and stave off the aches and pains of the pushing-fifty crowd.

In my twenties and thirties, this was plenty to keep my weight under perfect control. Didn't think anything about it, and had my occasional slice of chocolate layer cake.

Suddenly in my forties the weight happened, a pound or two a year. It was almost twenty pounds I had to lose. Tried several things, found that facing a life being always a little hungry was most discouraging. Add to that--I loved to cook and bake.

When I was thirty, I didn't know what all the fuss was about because it wasn't a problem.

[SaveTheChief]

Be sure the exercise is before eating breakfast.

Just curious... Why must the diet be before breakfast? Has it something to do with getting the metabolism activated for the day?

[fogarty]

I agree, I guess forgot that some people may have conditions that preclude them for exercise (athritis, etc) But I still assert that exercise is the best way to lose weight and maintain a healthy body. Look at Jack Lalane, now over 80 years old.

We can't all be Jack Lalanes, but we can all exercise within our power. It all starts with getting off our butts and getting moving.

[meyer]

Just curious... Why must the (exercise) be before breakfast? Has it something to do with getting the metabolism activated for the day?

I think that the theory is that before your first meal, your blood glucose level is at its lowest so your body turns to glycogen stores in the muscles and liver, followed by the consumption of fat for energy. I am one of those people that "hits the wall" (hypoglycemic, I believe) rather quickly so I can't exercise very well without having eaten beforehand.

[meyer]

I have to add, on the metabolism issue, there is a known lingering effect of after-exercise rise in metabolic rate, which if I'm not mistaken lasts for a few to several hours. I'm not sure that it matters when you exercise - the effect will occur regardless. I guess I should say that this is a good reason for not exercising within a couple of hours of going to sleep.

[SaveTheChief]

ahh... Thank you very much for the explanation!

[Inkie]

You do get to subtract the fiber grams from the carbo grams to get a total carbo count, so if they have a lot of fiber and protein, they're not as bad as, say, bread or potatoes. I'm a vegetarian so it is very hard to follow this diet for me.

[bothsidesnow]

Good luck to you on Atkins-it does work--go online and order the advantage chocolate bars-GREAT-also, locate a local atkins place-get the cheesecake-2.9 carbs and better than the other stuff.

Lizzie

[chilepepper]

I did this once when I went on a cruise and gained back about half of what I had lost.

Am still recovering from that, haven't matched my lowest yet (e.g. - weight about 240 now, all from Atkins. The problem with Atkins are the "plateaus". I was stuck for months on a plateau and couldn't seem to break it, have recently done so and have lost 6kg in the past 6 weeks...

[chilepepper]

I rode my mt.bike 125km a week for about five years and never dropped below 255#. I LIVED for mt.bike riding, still have a KLEIN Mantra, a Raleigh Technium and a Panasonic (!!) mt.bike which i miss like crazy. Since my hip is so bad now, I ride motorcycles instead... can't use my Nordic Track anymore either (once a week during those five years I'd do the Nordic Track for an HOUR straight -- a real trip and a real high which I also miss)

[TEXASPROUD]

If you do aerobic exercise before eating in the morning it enhances the effect of the exercise and you burn even more fat in the process.

[DallasMike]

Gotta be some vegetarians on this site
Can you give us some info

One of my old college roommates is a doctor. His first patient to die on him while in residency was an Indian emigrant in his thirties who had never eaten an ounce of meat in his life and who pretty much abstained from milk and eggs, too. The Indian died of massively clogged arteries.

The point is that a lot of this stuff is genetics. If you've been dealt a lucky hand you'll live a long time. If not, you're toast no matter what you eat. Most of the cholesterol is manufactured by the body rather than derived from foods containing cholesterol.

BTW, my friend is a firm believer in the Atkins diet. It works great for his patients. They lose weight faster, find it easier to stick to the diet, and their lipid profiles look great.