Atkins Diet

What's the general consensus here on the Atkins Diet, or any low-carb diet?
Good or bad? Better than a low-fat diet? Anyone here on a low-carb diet?
Thanks in advance.

Barry

Barry Walker wrote:

What's the general consensus here on the Atkins Diet, or any low-carb diet?
Good or bad? Better than a low-fat diet? Anyone here on a low-carb diet?
Thanks in advance.

Barry


This may not be the general consensus but it’s mine.

Published diets are a way to upset ones over eating habits by limiting
ingredients or food groups enough to limit portion sizes and caloric
intake. They have different methods which may or may not control
hunger, but the bottom line is getting to a point where calories in are
less than calories burned for weight loss or equal to calories burned
for weight maintenance.

In answer to your question about which is better; which ever one’s
complex method controls your appetite better so that you can achieve the
simple goal of calorie reduction.

As far as I can tell, the consensus is that you need exercise and proper
eating habits to be healthy. My personal take is that any way of eating
that admits it causes physical problems for some people or doesn't provide
adequate nutrition is not healthy.

"Barry Walker" wrote in message
...
What's the general consensus here on the Atkins Diet, or any low-carb
diet?
Good or bad? Better than a low-fat diet? Anyone here on a low-carb diet?
Thanks in advance.

Barry

Patricia Heil wrote:

As far as I can tell, the consensus is that you need exercise and proper
eating habits to be healthy. My personal take is that any way of eating
that admits it causes physical problems for some people or doesn't provide
adequate nutrition is not healthy.

And which ways of eating admit such things? While standing on
your head? While running? With both hands tied behind your back?
Does it matter what kind of diet you eat with these unhealthy
ways of eating?

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

i personally think one should balance everything in a diet-- cutting out carbs
as a whole is a bad idea, and even limiting them to a very low level is
probably not the best idea for the body. it is a good idea, however, to cut out
certain carbs completely that are made with enriched flour, and basically any
empty, starchy carb. look for *multigrain* pastas, breads, etc. and eat fruit
and drink lowfat milk. 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.

sara

hello teacher tell me what's my lesson,
look right through me, look right through me.

"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.

Sarandipidy, while I agree with much of what you wrote, most so called
"multigrain" breads on the market are not much better than
wonderbread. They have a few unmilled grains added and colored with
molasses.


i eat ezekiel bread. seems real to me.

sara

hello teacher tell me what's my lesson,
look right through me, look right through me.

"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.

"Paula" wrote in message
om...
None of the low carb diets recommend that you eliminate carbs for the
rest of your life.

They still "put a restriction and/or ban food groups". I doubt Aktins lets
you eat an unlimited amount of carbs a day. I also doubt Atkins let you add
four sugar cubes in your morning coffee. So, it's restrictive. And it does
recommend that you continue that restriction for the rest of your life.

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.

You *reintroduce* them *selectively*. This is still a restriction. Control
of your carb intake is going to be monitored by a formula or some kind of
external signal, not by your own feelings. If you *stop* being on Atkins and
resume your old habits, you *will* regain your lost weight. So, you do have
to stay on Atkins for life. The fact that you won't eat the same Atkins on
induction and on the day of your death doesn't change the fact that you're
on it for life.

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.

Some diabetics do not control carbs as tightly as Atkins claims
non-diabetics have to. IMHO, loss of weight and exercising does a lot more
against diabete than reducing carbs themselves (especially if we consider
low glycemic carbs). Also, carbs do not trigger diabete, some people will
never get diabete, whatever they do, since they don't have the genetics for
it.
As for the craving relationship, that might be true for you. But there are
other ways to control craving. I still don't know if the control over
craving that some people on Atkins get is a direct effect of the diet, or a
psychological consequence of the tight control its framework provides. And
some people do *not* get good craving control under Atkins, they just stay
the hell away from them, because they would binge if they ate any. I would
not call that good control. I guess you don't really care about how things
work, as long as they work for you anyway.

Eliminating whites - as in
white flour and white sugar - never hurt anyone.

It depends on what you mean by "hurt". Sure, it doesn't hurt anyone's
health.
But if your whole culture uses flour, that means being cut from your
culture, and that can cut like hell (especially if your culture is all that
is holding you together in a foreign land). It also means losing familly
customs, losing things that have been handed down from one generation to the
next. Same with familly culture - if the diet means you can never eat with
your familly again, it does hurt. If you ask an Indian or Japanese never to
eat rice again, you're making his familly life difficult. If the diet means
you will never ever be able to eat food that made you feel good (kid's
memories and all), it does hurt. Sure, you might think it's not a
significant hurt, and that all that matters is health. But how many diets
have been dropped because of that kind of hurt?
To human beings, eating is much more than fueling the body with the right
stuff. It's also a social ritual. And it's also a way of identifying oneself
to one's culture and familly.

Lictor wrote:
"Paula" wrote in message
. com...
None of the low carb diets recommend that you eliminate carbs for the
rest of your life.

They still "put a restriction and/or ban food groups". I doubt Aktins lets
you eat an unlimited amount of carbs a day. I also doubt Atkins let you add
four sugar cubes in your morning coffee. So, it's restrictive. And it does
recommend that you continue that restriction for the rest of your life.

Have you ever read about the maintenance phase of the Atkins process?
http://atkins.com

Click on "How to do Atkins".

Be prepared to have some assumptions reversed :-)

There's a heck of a lot of carbs allowed in the maintenance phase.
For what it's worth, there's a lot of "freedom" in any type of diet.

Atkins isn't God and he's not going to strike you dead if you put 4
cubes of sugar in your coffee. The choice is the users. They are
responsible for both the decision to, and the consequences of, putting
anything they want in their mouth.

If one considers the "rules" of a diet burdensome, then yes, it can seem
like there is no "freedom". But if someone actually follows the
rules for a time and begins to see the point of the rules, then it's
like "Hey, sugar is not that big a deal for me!" (Once someone sees an
easily-recognizable benefit of cutting down on their sugar).

When I was a child I had a "rule" of "don't drink gasoline", but now
that I'm a grown-up, I can see a lot of freedom resulting in not
drinking gasoline grin. Sure, it's restrictive, but I think I can
handle the deprivation ;-)