Posted on 07/16/2002 2:03:31 PM PDT by Varmint Al
If the members of the American medical establishment were to have a collective find-yourself-standing-naked-in-Times-Square-type nightmare, this might be it. They spend 30 years ridiculing Robert Atkins, author of the phenomenally-best-selling ''Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution'' and ''Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution,'' accusing the Manhattan doctor of quackery and fraud, only to discover that the unrepentant Atkins was right all along. Or maybe it's this: they find that their very own dietary recommendations -- eat less fat and more carbohydrates -- are the cause of the rampaging epidemic of obesity in America. Or, just possibly this: they find out both of the above are true.
When Atkins first published his ''Diet Revolution'' in 1972, Americans were just coming to terms with the proposition that fat -- particularly the saturated fat of meat and dairy products -- was the primary nutritional evil in the American diet. Atkins managed to sell millions of copies of a book promising that we would lose weight eating steak, eggs and butter to our heart's desire, because it was the carbohydrates, the pasta, rice, bagels and sugar, that caused obesity and even heart disease. Fat, he said, was harmless.
Atkins allowed his readers to eat ''truly luxurious foods without limit,'' as he put it, ''lobster with butter sauce, steak with bearnaise sauce . . . bacon cheeseburgers,'' but allowed no starches or refined carbohydrates, which means no sugars or anything made from flour. Atkins banned even fruit juices, and permitted only a modicum of vegetables, although the latter were negotiable as the diet progressed.
Atkins was by no means the first to get rich pushing a high-fat diet that restricted carbohydrates, but he popularized it to an extent that the American Medical Association considered it a potential threat to our health. The A.M.A. attacked Atkins's diet as a ''bizarre regimen'' that advocated ''an unlimited intake of saturated fats and cholesterol-rich foods,'' and Atkins even had to defend his diet in Congressional hearings.
Thirty years later, America has become weirdly polarized on the subject of weight. On the one hand, we've been told with almost religious certainty by everyone from the surgeon general on down, and we have come to believe with almost religious certainty, that obesity is caused by the excessive consumption of fat, and that if we eat less fat we will lose weight and live longer. On the other, we have the ever-resilient message of Atkins and decades' worth of best-selling diet books, including ''The Zone,'' ''Sugar Busters'' and ''Protein Power'' to name a few. All push some variation of what scientists would call the alternative hypothesis: it's not the fat that makes us fat, but the carbohydrates, and if we eat less carbohydrates we will lose weight and live longer.
The perversity of this alternative hypothesis is that it identifies the cause of obesity as precisely those refined carbohydrates at the base of the famous Food Guide Pyramid -- the pasta, rice and bread -- that we are told should be the staple of our healthy low-fat diet, and then on the sugar or corn syrup in the soft drinks, fruit juices and sports drinks that we have taken to consuming in quantity if for no other reason than that they are fat free and so appear intrinsically healthy. While the low-fat-is-good-health dogma represents reality as we have come to know it, and the government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in research trying to prove its worth, the low-carbohydrate message has been relegated to the realm of unscientific fantasy.
Over the past five years, however, there has been a subtle shift in the scientific consensus. It used to be that even considering the possibility of the alternative hypothesis, let alone researching it, was tantamount to quackery by association. Now a small but growing minority of establishment researchers have come to take seriously what the low-carb-diet doctors have been saying all along. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, may be the most visible proponent of testing this heretic.... complete article at Frontpage magazine.com
Yep, and dragging women back you one's cave doesn't hurt either ;-)
My friend and I have a chuckle every morning in the cafateria. The most grossly obese are the ones that order the low fat muffins. It is sad actually.
Meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and low glycemic index vegetables are the composition of my diet. I have lost 30 pounds in 5 months and do not seem to have lost any muscle.
On the negative side, I think it was Cassius who was described as having a "lean and hungry look." The diet has filed a bit off my trigger. Not much pull is required.
Nice play on words. Hehehe!
Thanks for bringing this thread to my attention!
Actually we eat more corn syrup than sugar as a sweetener source...Sugar is too expensive nowadays for most food processors.Corn syrup doesn't seem as satisfying as sugar therefore we want to eat more. It is probably a reason why we have more allergies due to increased intake of corn products.
Corn syrup is sugar.
One gets Constipated if not adequately hydrated! (the Large Bowel removes water from stool to maintain proper systemic hydration).
When we are growing Children, we crave sugar & starch (starch is a complex sugar), because our bodies need LOTS of energy to manufacture protein!
When we are Fully Grown, we prefer "Filet Minon," because our bodies merely need protein & fat replacements; we no longer need excess energy to grow! Small amounts of protein & fats replace large amounts of sugar & starch!
Eliminating most sugar & starches from the diet of a fully grown human makes complete physiologic sense!
Atherosclerosis is an ENTIRELY SEPARATE SUBJECT (beware of homoginized milk products).
Doc
And eating anything else I wanted... steak, fish, meat. I think I've worn my grill out.
That's what I've done. And sugar. Mainly sugar. That Splenda stuff works great.
I still eat very limited amounts of bread and pasta. And almost never touch sugar.
Luckily I also love seafood - tuna, salmon, etc... and it's great for ya :)
I am not perfectly abstinent on all of these items. If a food has a small amount of them in it, I might still have some. But I generally keep away from them, and I HAVE lost weight (about 20 pounds since March) without really "dieting" at all and almost painlessly. I must have my blood fats checked to see where I am on those.
My only quarrel with Atkins is that I believe he restricts what I regard as "good" carbs. (most naturally ocurring fruit/vet. carbs.) too much. But I used to be totally skeptical of the general low-carb. approach, and I am now quite a supporter of it.
Ah, I was headed there! But a month into the diet (Protein Power - similar to Atkins) I noticed my nightly heartburn had gone away. For that reason alone I'll never go back to the low-fat Food Pyramid.
Then there are my lipid levels:
JennyP's blood cholesterol since going on a low-carb diet
Date Mos.
into dietWeight BMI Total HDL LDL Total/HDL Triglycerides 10/20/99 0 163 24.8 unknown - wish I had tested beforehand 4/21/00 6 147 22.3 244 76 158 3.2 48 3/20/01 17 156 23.7 241 74 149 3.3 90 5/15/02 31 154 23.4 219 78 128 2.8 66 After losing 1 lb per week, I plateaued at 16 lbs below starting weight. Then I drifted upwards over the next year to around 8 lbs below starting weight. In the last couple months I cut out ice cream for dessert (we couldn't resist giving ourselves bigger & bigger portions over the months!) & my weight is starting to creep downward again. I also switched to a canola-based margarine, and I suspect that's why my total cholesterol number is coming down.
Only in the induction phase, which lasts from a couple of weeks to a couple of months...depending on how long you wishg to remain there. The other two phases allow you to eat more carbs.
Sunday July 21.
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.