"Lictor" wrote in message ...
"Sarandipidy" wrote in message
...
if you cut out carbs from almost your entire diet, you
have a high chance of gaining the weight back if you reintroduce them at
some
point-- at least i've seen it happen to people. it would have to be a
lifetime
commitment and carefully administered.

Actually, that's what Atkins, South Beach and probably all the low carb
diets say. When you start, you're on them *for life*. Any diet that uses
restriction and/or bans food groups has to be for life. That's why I'm not
convinved by powered proteidic diets, it's hard to keep on them for life...
It all depends on your view on obesity. If you consider it's like AIDS, and
impossible to cure and that's it ok to be on treatment for whatever is left
of your life and at whatever cost (side-effects, troublesome social life,
loss of cultural and familial identification), I guess low carb is no worse
than the other diets. Actually, if you consider the health-conscious
varations (health conscious fat balance, greens, tolerance for some
fruits...), they're ok diets. But if you consider that you can actually cure
obesity, low carb (and low fat for that matter) are not the way to go, they
don't cure obesity any more than AZT cure AIDS.

None of the low carb diets recommend that you eliminate carbs for the
rest of your life. The first phase is the most extreme and it's
primarily to break your addiction/cravings for starches and sweets.
You reintroduce carbs into your diet selectively and as long as you
continue to lose the weight you want to lose and keep your cravings at
bay, you can continue to move through the phases of the diet. When it
comes right down to it, Atkins and South Beach are pretty much
diabetic diets. Personally, I'd rather control my carbs BEFORE I get
diabetes than after and the fewer carbs I eat, the less I crave them.
The first few weeks are a bitch, but beyond that, I don't find low
carb diets all that tough to stay on. Eliminating whites - as in
white flour and white sugar - never hurt anyone. Stay away from
prepared foods and shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That's
where all your fresh produce, dairy (if you can handle dairy) and
fresh meats are.