Posted on 08/03/2005 7:10:46 AM PDT by summer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- More dieters are ditching carb counts and biting into baguettes with gusto these days. ...
This week's bankruptcy filing by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins' old company provide fresh evidence of the low-carb diet's demise, a downward spiral that began early last year. But no single new diet has filled the void.
Observers say the only sure thing -- given the boom-and-bust nature of weight-loss trends -- is that something will pop up eventually.
''There isn't one single strong contender,'' said Anne M. Russell, editor-in-chief of Shape magazine. ''If you look at what the single largest trend is, it's weight gain.''
Chapter 11 filings by Atkins Nutritionals Inc. on Monday came about a year and a half after books like ''The Atkins Essentials'' rode the best seller charts, bread makers were back on their heels and Burger King introduced a Whopper without a bun.
But Atkins has been in decline since February 2004, said Harry Balzer, a food industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group. Balzer claims Atkins was one of those demanding diets that simply ran its course, going from fad to fade like so many others before it, including the Scarsdale and the cabbage soup diets.
How far and how fast did Atkins fall? By September 2004, surplus low-carb products were being shipped to food banks in Appalachia....
Ruth Kava, director of nutrition for the American Council on Science and Health, figures it might be something like a high-protein diet.
''Somebody will come up with something new,'' she said. ''There's a lot of creativity out there in Diet World."
----
On the Net:
Government dietary guidelines: mypyramid.com
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
All that walking around the wilderness burned off those manna carbs too.
Summer, from your posts on FR over the years I believe you are a passionate person who does a lot for the Conservative cause. Thank you.
But your ideas about low-carb diets may be based on erroneous information. If you are the reasonable and open-minded scholar I believe you are, I hope you will give what I say a fair consideration.
Quick background on the man:
I believe Atkins was not only a cardiologist, but a rigorous scientist who was persuaded by facts and proof alone. Despite this, his character was assassinated by an unprecedented Liberal media and academia assault. He was even maligned by a Democratic Congress, who accused him of being a quack.
In the original version of his book, he included a transcript summary of his curious inquisition by Congress. The story reads like the persecution of Jesus Christ.
Funny, all I remember in my foggy recollection as a youth at the time was that Atkins somehow advocated a 'bacon and eggs diet'. I dismissed him then. But as an adult now, taking the time to research my own facts and form my own opinion, this media spin was an outright distortion and lie.
I only wish I had pierced the veil of propaganda at the time, because I would have improved my life years and years ago.
In summary, the Atkins diet changes the way you need to think about calories. The traditional formula "Calories In = Calories Out" doesn't work. Does Atkins dispose of the laws of thermodynamics? Of course not. It looks at a macro picture of what is going on in the body, on the "Calories Out" side.
"Calories In" refers to caloric intake. "Calories Out", to most dieticians, exercise and the basal metabolic process.
But Atkins discovered that additional energy dynamics are significant when lower carbs are ingested, since the preferred energy source of the body, glucose, readily available via carbs, is now restricted.
The missing link to the formula is 'excreted', i.e. "Calories In = Traditional Calories Out PLUS Calories Excreted".
How are calories excreted? In the absence of available carb/sugar energy, the body will necessarily breakdown fat stores. The process is inefficient from an energy dynamics viewpoint, like a poorly-tuned automobile engine. This is good for weightloss! When your body is forced to use fat stores for energy, through bodily function and even sweat, your body is dumping energy from fat.
No matter how many high-priced Liberal profs refute it, the facts on the ground prove low-carb diets work to reduce weight on similar, or even higher, caloric intake diets when compared to the recommended Food Pyramid diet.
Why do dieticians reject Atkins? Simple. It doesn't follow the Food Pyramid that forms the paradigm and basis of their understanding of diet. Their education prevents acceptance of it.
Where did the Food Pyramid come from? A Democratic member of Congress, McGovern, sponsored originating legislation to help wheat-growing farmers. A 'Rat did it for votes! It has absolutely no basis in science. Only now, because Atkins exploded the myths, has the Food Pyramid been revised, albeit imperfectly.
Here's another interesting tidbit. Early in his career, Atkins was struck by a curious fact, which formed a part of his study on diet. People who were on hunger-strikes noted that after approximately 48 hours, they lost their hunger pangs.
Atkins later hypothesized that it was because they had depleted glucose/sugar/carb stores in their bloodstreams, and were now consuming body fat, an alternative pathway for energy. Anyone who has lived a low-carb diet knows that they start losing weight about 2 days (48 hours) after going back to a hardcore low-carb diet.
What Atkins discovered though, was the starvation effect, which is that by starving yourself, the basal metabolic rate lowered dramatically, self-defeating for weightloss.
But what Atkins significantly realized was that low-carb diets and frequent eating prevented this starvation effect.
Does Atkins recommend eating bacon and eggs? No! He recommends leafy salads, vegetables, etc., all the carbs you desire, as long as they don't exceed a threshold that is personal and individual, where body fat is stored.
So why are you supposed to go hardcore (Induction) with no carbs? Only to purge your body of blood glucose, and to provide a baseline to understand your own body mechanics. Once you are clearly burning fat (as much as 10 pounds in 14 days!!!), you reintroduce carbs (whichever ones you want) such that you continue to lose weight at the rate and level you desire. If you stop losing weight, you've found your personal carb threshold. Go forth, and do whatever you want - lose more weight, gain weight, whatever. Atkins simply provides you with the tools to understand your body and how it stores fat.
Summer, thank you for reading this.
Which link points to a single documented case of kidney damage resulting from avoiding sugar and starch? I missed it.
Do your own research. I gave you a great start there in my post #48.
That's called "shifting the burden of proof". But I understand why you had to do it: since there have never been cases of kidney damage from carb-restricted diets, you certainly couldn't just pony up the proof.
Problem with those articles is that the writers (and frequently the subjects of the articles) never got past the induction phase. Atkins isn't giving up carbs entirely, only for 2 weeks, after that the dieter is supposed to re-introduce a small controlled level of carbs into their diet. There is a danger in completely eliminating food groups for a prolonged period of time, but properly followed Atkins doesn't do that, some people (the quick fix junkies) do that but that's not the diet's fault that's their fault for not actually reading past chapter 1.
I agree - and Dreamfields is available at my local grocery store.
Sweet cheeks,
I've worked in nutrition for over 25 years...
I've seen fads come and go. NO fad has had the viscious following like Atkins...I've heard the most rabid called Atkinazis (so true!). It doesn't matter what data or research you site, doesn't matter what questions you ask ...it will either be labeled "Junk Science", agenda driven or the sky is really purple and you're just callin' it blue.
My attitude is that Atkins is in hell roasting and toasting nicely. I'm seeing gobs of folks saying "but I lost 50 pounds and gained back 60 because I didn't stay with the cult, er diet!!" They're not getting the hormonal triggering effects of 'diet'. Or that the best long term weight loss results are in low fat/reduced calorie diets with the low CHO diets showing the worst long term resluts (but that's because they didn't get the it right!!...erm, that says a lot in itself doesn't it).
Plus, even those who SWEAR they are only getting 40 gms of CHO a day kinda fall apart under the scrutiny of a diet/ meal history or calorie count (nope chucky, there are 15 gms of CHO in those pita pockets not 5 and so forth).... so even the most militant lowcarbers are shocked to find the are eating the dreaded recommendations of 45-55%! (OH MY!)
I'm still seeing good results with folks following a 45- 55% complex carb diet--- especially diabetics, who use 'controlled' or 'counted' carbs, not low. Those on pumps do even better. Which, gee, is what we've been telling folks all along ;) Ya know, a varied diet, all things in moderation etc.
Time is on your side sweetie...so don't waste your energy. ;)
You're welcome!
A personal anecdote:
I tried for 15 years to understand how to lose my ever-expanding waistline, despite exercising intensely (weights/raquet sports, etc.) far more than the average person.
My diet was 'perfect', straight from the Food Pyramid.
Natural fruit juices for beverage, mostly vegetarian, lots of grains, pasta, vegetables, fruit and some dairy. I had the 'healthiest' diet of anyone I knew. No coffee. No smoking. 'Perfect'.
But I gained. And gained. And got frustrated. For 15 years.
One day, I read about that quack Atkins dying, and scanned the Liberal media reports which absolutely skewered him.
The same Liberal media that at the time was also skewering President Bush.
Because I learned to distrust the Liberal media, I did my own research, and what I discovered was a completely different set of conclusions than the one imprinted on my mind over the years by the MSM.
What a lesson! (Aside - now think about Nixon, Vietnam, Watergate, McCarthy, etc.)
I had nothing to lose but weight - and wow! The results were instantaneous, repeatable, logical and controllable. The mystery, from a practical perspective, is done.
Now many, many years later, I am at my college weight and waistline (30"), and can benchpress just under 300 lbs.
At least a dozen friends report spectacular results from Atkins. I encourage you to reconsider.
About the migraines: the only comment I have is that a friend who suffered them lifelong and constantly, actually stopped having them when she tried Atkins and stopped consuming carbs. But the migraines recur everytime she falls off the wagon and goes back to a heavy carb diet. She falls off a lot, unfortunately. For her wedding though, she dropped 15 pounds in less than a month on Atkins. She is trying to get the balance right.
Good luck, whatever your choices!
"Warren Piece" + Hunk = 27,200 hits!
The nice thing about a low carb diet is that it's not at all convoluted. It's quite simple and straightforward.
susie
Health professionals have ALOT of time and *education* invested in the regular old food pyramid way of eating, low fat, etc. So, it is no surprise that some of them fight it tooth and nail.
susie
I actually read a pretty compelling article in Discover magazine once that postulated that corn was bad for you. If I recall correctly, the researcher had access to skeletons of native americans from one settlement that spanned from before to after corn was introduced into their diets. Before corn he didn't see the prevelence of diseases that he saw after (Im sorry, I can't remember exactly what diseases, but had to have been things like arthritis that shows up in bones). It was interesting. I like corn too....especially those candy ones! ;)
susie
If the science is valid, it's not a short-term solution. :) I can go anywhere in the world, into any restaurant, and still stay low-carb from the regular menu.
What things do you lose that carbs give you ? Atkins includes carbs, just not a lot of them. What do more carbs give you ? A short burst of energy (insulin spike) followed by hunger, empty stomach feelings, and the temptation to eat more than you would have otherwise because of the excess insulin.
I agree - many people think Atkins is not "work", but anything done that's contrary to your eating habits of years is work until you change your mindset. It's like recovering from tobacco addiction. Yes, we now have to work to get the exercise that our ancestors got just by living every day, but then, our ancestors were not especially thin either. Think the Victorians.
I think Atkins Anti-Aging diet book is my favorite. It's more a long-term, complete plan than the regular diet book.
But you know, if he ate more carbs, his head would have been softer and more able to absorb the blow from the cement....and he would be alive today.....
susie
Same - you have to be able to eat out at people's houses and at restaurants in order to be successful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.