I don't get it...

I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?" And I
said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat bread,
potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water. I'm also
exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're gonna
die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your heart
explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

How did the terms "Atkins" and "low-carb" get such a bad rap? Why on earth
are even doctors giving it such a bad name? How, when the basis for
low-carbing is really a sensible thing? Do they think we sit around and eat
heaping plates of butter?

(calming down now)
S t a c i
5'11"
213/185/170
Atkins since 8/03, with 10 months off due to culture shock, started up again
6/04

In article , "S t a c i"
wrote:

I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?"
And I
said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat bread,
potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water. I'm also
exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're
gonna
die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your heart
explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

How did the terms "Atkins" and "low-carb" get such a bad rap? Why on
earth
are even doctors giving it such a bad name? How, when the basis for
low-carbing is really a sensible thing? Do they think we sit around and
eat
heaping plates of butter?



As a matter of fact, they do. I had a friend tell a mutual aquaintance
that I had lost a good deal of weight on Atkins. This mutual aquaintance
hasn't known me long. She pranced right up to me and asked me if I
wasn't concerned about the ramifications of the "high-saturated fat" in
the diet. I said, "no," and she then shrugged and said, "well, it's
only until you lose the weight, and then you'll go back to eating well."

At no point did she actually ask what it is I eat. If she had, she
would have found out that it's primarily chicken, tuna, green veggies,
egg beaters, a few eggs from time to time, olive oil, walnut oil. Shrug.

She's a nurse, very old-school.

Of course, she also first ever heard me speak when I had a raging
head-cold, and now bases everything on that one time, e.g., "but at
least you're not as breathless as you were when I first met you."

People just like to believe whatever it is that they've been "taught,"
particularly when it's been by "the researchers." They forget who pays
for a good deal of the research, and the fact that new research is done
every day.

--
Nancy Howells (don't forget to switch it, and replace the to send mail).

S t a c i wrote:
I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?"
And I said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat
bread, potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water.
I'm also exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're
gonna die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your
heart explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

How did the terms "Atkins" and "low-carb" get such a bad rap? Why on
earth are even doctors giving it such a bad name? How, when the
basis for low-carbing is really a sensible thing? Do they think we
sit around and eat heaping plates of butter?

There's a few reasons I can think of......
1. False information reported by the media.
2. False information perpetuated by official groups such as the USDA,
American Heart Association, and American Diabetes Association.
3. False information passed on by groups such as PETA.
4. False information passed on by people who claim they're following a low
carb diet or Atkins when they really haven't got a clue what they're doing.
5. Unwillingness of many doctors to accept the fact that they may well have
been wrong to recommend only low fat/low cal diets all these years.

I'm sure there are lots of others but those are the glaring ones in my
opinion.
--
Jeri

S t a c i wrote:

I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?" And I
said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat bread,
potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water. I'm also
exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're gonna
die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your heart
explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

How did the terms "Atkins" and "low-carb" get such a bad rap? Why on earth
are even doctors giving it such a bad name? How, when the basis for
low-carbing is really a sensible thing? Do they think we sit around and eat
heaping plates of butter?

(calming down now)
S t a c i
5'11"
213/185/170
Atkins since 8/03, with 10 months off due to culture shock, started up again
6/04




Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Or something similar.

The history of Low Fat, Low Calorie diets touted by the AMA and AHA
american Heart Association, began several years before the publication
of the Atkins diet in 1972.

Atkins was a cardiologist and he was taking the position that the
Cardiology profession was wrong in their advocation of Low Fat, Low Calorie.

Therefore, a massive medical based campaign against this "hateful
heritic who will surely kill millions of people with his bad advice" was
launched and carried to Congress including some of the liberal Senators
who were influenced by the grain and corn oil wealth/industry.

This hatred goes back a generation, therefore.

It is difficult for the Cardiologists of an older genration to admit
that they were so wrong. And they were so used to being able to work
against Atkins with empty claims of health risks.

They seem unable to stop their old ways, and maybe never will change
their basic positions.

These old generation MDs had far less scientific training than do the
new MDs.

Ignorance lasts a long time.

Diet is like politics or religion. There is no objective truth but
people will kill to defend their subjective beliefs as to the truth...
and really don't want to hear any data that could contradict them.

Some would sooner slit your throats than listen to you.

Eventually you will learn to expect as little openmindedness in the area
of diet as in the areas of religion and politics.

Jim

"S t a c i"

writes:

I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

Yes, and I think there will be many more posts of this nature.

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?" And I
said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat bread,
potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water. I'm also
exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're gonna
die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your heart
explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

Right. Because if you describe the way you're eating, it sounds extremely
healthy. If you say "Atkins" or "low-carb" (because we're not all on Atkins,
and because "low-carb" elicits the same response), they envision eight eggs, a
pound of bacon, and a steak -- for breakfast.

How did the terms "Atkins" and "low-carb" get such a bad rap?

From the media.

Why on earth
are even doctors giving it such a bad name?

Doctors receive little education in nutrition, and are often so overwhelmed
trying to keep up with new developments that they don't have time to sit down
and read diet books. So their weak nutritional education seldom becomes more
current.

How, when the basis for
low-carbing is really a sensible thing?

There's the reality of what low-carb is, and the image it has. We're living in
an era of sound-bites, so the image wins. Also, if you're not dieting, what
reason do you have for reading a diet book when there are so many other things
competing for your attention? I do blame nutritionists and journalists (and
trolls who visit news groups) when they critique low-carb without first finding
out something about it.

Do they think we sit around and eat
heaping plates of butter?

Yes, that's exactly what they think.

I've taken to describing the way I eat: very little or no sugar, very little
white flour, very few processed foods, lots of vegetables, and a fair amount of
fruit and whole grains. If the conversation goes any further, I'll mention
that "actually, it's a low-carb diet, but most people think of something
different when they hear 'low-carb.'" It's not that I'm conflict averse,
because I'm not. It's that I'm finding it easier to describe and then
education than to dispel myths right off the bat.

Daria
166/under 145/under 145
sugar-free since 2/1/04
low-carb since 2/17/04

S t a c i wrote:
I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?"
And I said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat
bread, potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water.
I'm also exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're
gonna die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your
heart explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

[snip]

It's true that there's a lot of misconceptions about low-carb diets, and
it's frustrating being judged on the basis of those misconceptions rather
than on what you are actually doing.

I'm wondering if you've ever tried the following experiment - use the
detailed explanation you provided above first, and then after you get the
"good for you" reaction, say, "yes, I'm following Atkins." I'm curious to
know how people would react to hearing the healthy-sounding details first
and only learning afterwards that what you are doing is Atkins or low carb.

I have to admit that when people ask me how I've lost weight, I usually just
mumble "eat less, exercise more" and hope the topic of conversation changes.
I just hate having protracted discussions about what I am eating.

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

S t a c i wrote:
I know folks have probably posted this frustration before...

If someone said, "Wow, Staci...you've lost weight! How'd you do it?"
And I said, "Well, I don't eat sugar or fast food, I really don't eat
bread, potatoes or rice, I eat more veggies and drink a lot of water.
I'm also exercising 5 days a week including some weight training."

They would say - "Good for you!"

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're
gonna die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your
heart explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)

[snip]

It's true that there's a lot of misconceptions about low-carb diets, and
it's frustrating being judged on the basis of those misconceptions rather
than on what you are actually doing.

I'm wondering if you've ever tried the following experiment - use the
detailed explanation you provided above first, and then after you get the
"good for you" reaction, say, "yes, I'm following Atkins." I'm curious to
know how people would react to hearing the healthy-sounding details first
and only learning afterwards that what you are doing is Atkins or low carb.

I have to admit that when people ask me how I've lost weight, I usually just
mumble "eat less, exercise more" and hope the topic of conversation changes.
I just hate having protracted discussions about what I am eating.

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

Therefore, a massive medical based campaign against this "hateful
heritic who will surely kill millions of people with his bad advice" was
launched and carried to Congress including some of the liberal Senators
who were influenced by the grain and corn oil wealth/industry.

This hatred goes back a generation, therefore.

Oh-oh. Here we go again! Everything is the fault of "the liberal Senators".
Give me a break! Stop using the word "liberal" as a favorite whipping boy.




Eventually you will learn to expect as little openmindedness in the area
of diet as in the areas of religion and politics.

Jim

Evidently so, since we all "know" it is the "liberals" who are behind
everything, eh?

Pat in TX

If I said I'm low-carbing by following Atkins, they say "OMG - You're gonna
die! You had better stop before your kidneys fall out and your heart
explodes!" (Or something along these lines.)


So true! I usually say "I stopped eating sugar, flour and starch". The usual
response is a wrinkled up nose and some type of "I could never do that"
response. But, if somebody asks for more info, I tell them to read DANDR.
LCing since 12/01/03-
Me- 5'7" 265/175/140
& hubby- 6' 310/190/180
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lcer09/my_photos

I just hate having protracted discussions about what I am eating.

LOL! Same here. Or even more so, discussions about my weight. Admitting I was
once 90 pounds heavier (even though people KNOW I was obese!) isn't my favorite
subject. "How much have you lost?" is becoming my least favorite question in a
way. I'm PROUD of the loss, just not so of having to have lost it in the first
place.
LCing since 12/01/03-
Me- 5'7" 265/174/140
& hubby- 6' 310/190/180
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lcer09/my_photos