ATKINS ALERT

THE DAILY RECORD ^ | Aug 13 2003 | Keith Mcleod

[carlo3b]

News
ATKINS ALERT

Aug 13 2003

Diet followers at risk, says expert

Keith Mcleod

SLIMMERS following the controversial Atkins diet are gambling with their health, a nutrition expert has warned.

Dr Susan Jebb said it would be "negligent" to recommend the diet, favoured by stars such as Geri Halliwell and Catherine Zeta-Jones, to anyone overweight.

Millions of people around the world have tried the low-carbohydrate, high-protein regime.

But Dr Jebb, of the Medical Research Council's Human Nutrition Research Centre in Cambridge, said its claimed benefits were based on "pseudo-science".

She argued that, despite a number of studies, no one knew what the long- term effects might be.

Dr Robert Atkins, who developed the diet, believed that carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables made the body produce too much insulin.

He claimed that led to hunger and weight gain.

His answer was to avoid such foods and eat unlimited amounts of fat and protein, leading the body to burn fat.

But Dr Jebb said such a dramatic change in eating habits was a leap in the dark.

For most people, protein accounts for a mere 15 per cent of their calorie intake. But much higher levels are eaten on the Atkins diet.

Dr Jebb said: "We simply do not know the long-term health implications.

"I certainly think we should be adopting a precautionary principle in terms of public health."

Her warning comes two months after two teams of American scientists declared the Atkins diet was effective and safe.

They found that over six months, 63 Atkins slimmers lost almost twice as much weight, an average of one and a half stone.

After a year, the gap had closed though, with the Atkins dieters down to an average weight loss of a stone compared with half a stone for others.

But Dr Jebb said the studies were too limited to provide meaningful evidence.

Dr Atkins died in April, aged 72, after slipping on ice outside his New York office and hitting his head.

Top

[jammer]

You make some good points, but they get lost when you get over the top with negative generalities. There are a lot of allopathic people who are: (1) on and recommend Atkins, and (2) aren't "in it" entirely for money. Proof? I am one. My hospital sponsors an Atkins program for employees.

[SamAdams76]

I find peanuts very filling. Be careful however, just one ounce contains nearly a quarter of the FDA allowance for fat. No wonder they are so filling!

I don't use peanuts so much for a snack as for a lunch substitute. When I am on the run, a quick 1oz bag of peanuts is the way to go for me.

At home, I eat peanuts in the shell. There are 18 peanuts in an ounce so by the time you get done shelling them, you aren't hungry anymore! When counting out peanuts to shell, realize that we are talking two peanuts per shell. So when you get those small peanuts that have only one nut in them, that's technically half a peanut. (Those with three nuts count as 1.5).

[BibChr]

Buy a no-carb ham and bake it. Wonderful smell, yum yum.

Hang in there! If you don't go through this part, you'll never get to the easier part, and the hard part will STILL BE THERE! (Sounds dumb, but think about it; helped me, anyway.)

Dan

[BibChr]

Yeah, I'm thinking of substitution for bars. I virtually always have a bar for bkfst. If a bag of goobers worked, it'd sure save a lot of money!

Dan

[maryz]

What's wine carb-wise? Are red, white and rose different?

[T Wayne]

During my weight loss, I have eaten tons of nuts. I buy raw almonds, dry roasted almonds, pecans, english walnuts, black walnuts, mixed nuts, macadamia nuts, cashews, peanuts, etc. in one to three lb. containers at Sam's Club. They have been a hugh help for snacking over the years.

[T Wayne]

Hang in there. You can do anything for one day!!

[BibChr]

I could eat a hugh amount of peanuts, though.

/c8
Dan

[jennyp]

Actually I don't even eat Atkins bars, I get a brand called Think Thin, which I think are much better.

Hmmm... their ingredients list says glycerin & maltitol. So they might not help your mom either. (But it never hurts to try.)

Good luck!

[jennyp]

Ooh, cool. Sadly and stupidly, there is no nearby TJ's, but I'll keep it in mind. Love TJ's -- don't know how lo-carb friendly they are, though.

Your homepage says you're in Sacramento? Yes, there's a TJ's there.

p.s. TJ's has a good selection of frozen fish, and the best prices on Atkins bars anywhere (except for the Internet) - $1.79 each, $26.85/box of 15. They also have some outrageously high-carb cookies & candies, and they always have a box of them open for sampling. Talk about temptations! Sometimes we go shopping at TJ's after dinner in lieu of dessert. :-)

[jennyp]

I've been eyeing the bread when i walk into the kitchen...and the popsicles in the freezer are screaming "Eat me! Eat me!

Hey, when I first started Atkins, I couldn't bring myself to just throw out the box of pretzels, our last bag of rice, the box of cereal, a couple Lipton rice packets, etc. So we used them up - slowly. Don't want to be too wasteful of $$$, you know.

[BibChr]

Very clever, Jenny -- but it just won't work!

You tell me, like I never leave my house, that there's a TJ in Sacramento... and then I say, "Oh yes, I know that, I've lived here ___ years, but I live in the ____ area of Sacramento, which is ___ (minutes/hours) from that Trader Joe's..."

...and then you perform your triangulations, and one of your Goon Squads turns up on my doorstep!

NOT TODAY, Missy!

Dan
(c;

[jennyp]

and then you perform your triangulations, and one of your Goon Squads turns up on my doorstep!

Curses, the Vast Materialistic Evolutionist Conspiracy is foiled again!

[BibChr]

Ha! I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, young lady!

It was a long, long, long time ago....

Dan

[At _War_With_Liberals]

All these "special" diets seem to another reason for people to sheeple. IMHO."

Exactly. Ever notice that there is a new 'supplement' fad every year for the last 30 years. As new marketing opps are created, the older supps disappear(the vast majority, and I don't mean Vitamins.

A few years ago, I was really sick and went to an alternative doctor for extra support. He gave me a total sales pitch that was patently a lie, easily exposed using basic deductive reasoning. When confronted, he distanced himself from me(cut me off rudely) because I wasn't going to fork over 1000's to him. Since then, it is easy for me to expose.

Any honest Doctor will tell you the same.

[RJayneJ]

...or stopping when you are full. Your body gives you a big clue of when you are full if you listen to it. When you are full you will sigh. When I discovered that, instead of 'cleaning my plate,' I stop. Pay attention the next time you chow down. Like you, I refuse to go hungry, and on Atkins you don't have to. Complete fasting can be harmful and the studies that showed that more weight was lost when following Atkins, than those fasting blew me away.

[BibChr]

Oh, right; and that whole thing about how if you undereat, and starve yourself (to lose weight faster), your body says, "Yikes! It's a famine!" — and starts considerately hoarding fat! So as a result you actually slow down weight loss by eating less than you want.

Right, I go through cycles. Some days I can happily have a bar for bkfst, and a bar for lunch, and then a moderate dinner. Other days I just am hungry, and go for it. Either way, I keep losing.

One trick in additino to yours is: eat slower. You can be full before you sense it, and keep eating past that point, and overfill.

Dan

[RJayneJ]

I'm really glad it's working for you. I have two low carb cookbooks so if you need a recipe let me know and I'll see if I have what you're looking for. I have a great ketchup recipe that I make shrimp cocktail sauce out of. It's better than the sugar free ketchup that you buy and you make it in the food processor. Keep in touch and let me know how you're doing.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Look for Smart Balance in your stores. It has plant esters in it which is supposed to help lower cholestrol. Smart Balance is a lot cheaper than the one that Regis Philbin pushed. Plus you can use it for all things, frying and baking. However you could use the real butter too, but if you are concerned with your cholesterol you might give the Smart Balance a try. I noticed my cholesterol went down while using it, but the Atkins diet tends to lower cholestrol anyway.

[XBob]

88 "I lost 35 lbs. on Weight Watchers (lots 'o carbs) very easily, and have kept it off successfully. Went from size 14 to size 2! Yeah! :o)

Everyone is different—which is why there are many, many successful diet plans. "

Wow, are you right. Based on your recommendation, I got one of the weight watchers frozen meals - 270 calories. I literally knocked me out, my sugar went through the roof, and I fell into an uncontrolled doze for about 4 hours.

Never again - weight watchers. It did taste allright though, but relatively high in salt too. Basil chicken and some sort of noodles that must have a glycemic index of about 12 million.