Low carb diets gain respect

[eytonxav]

In a recent study by Johns Hopkins, it was determined that loss of belly fat improved arterial blood flow and that low carb diets did better than low fat diet in achieving such weight loss:

Losing Belly Fat, Whether From a Low-Carb or a Low-Fat Diet, Helps Improve Blood Vessel Function - 03/13/2012

 

[TromboneAl]

Why the Campaign to Stop America's Obesity Crisis Keeps Failing - The Daily Beast

If The Weight of the Nation [upcoming HBO documentary] accomplishes anything, it’s communicating the desperation of obese Americans trying to understand their condition and, even more, of lean (or relatively lean) parents trying to cope with the obesity of their offspring. Lack of will isn’t their problem. It’s the absence of advice that might actually work. If our authorities on this subject could accept that maybe their fundamental understanding of the problem needs to be rethought, we and they might begin to make progress. Clearly the conventional wisdom has failed so far. We can hold onto it only so long.​

 

[donheff]

Why the Campaign to Stop America's Obesity Crisis Keeps Failing - The Daily Beast

If The Weight of the Nation [upcoming HBO documentary] accomplishes anything, it’s communicating the desperation of obese Americans trying to understand their condition and, even more, of lean (or relatively lean) parents trying to cope with the obesity of their offspring. Lack of will isn’t their problem. It’s the absence of advice that might actually work. If our authorities on this subject could accept that maybe their fundamental understanding of the problem needs to be rethought, we and they might begin to make progress. Clearly the conventional wisdom has failed so far. We can hold onto it only so long.​

+1 I still can't believe how easy it is to maintain a LCHF diet and lose weight in the process while paying no attention to calories and fats. Even with a gargantuan splurge Saturday night in NYC I broke the 170 pound barrier this morning (169.6) taking me back to my college days. In total I have dropped from a high of 195 to 170 with no real effort and no cravings. To me that seems unbelievable. I could never have done that with the low fat, carb rich approach we used to pursue.

 

[haha]

+1 I still can't believe how easy it is to maintain a LCHF diet and lose weight in the process while paying no attention to calories and fats. Even with a gargantuan splurge Saturday night in NYC I broke the 170 pound barrier this morning (169.6) taking me back to my college days. In total I have dropped from a high of 195 to 170 with no real effort and no cravings. To me that seems unbelievable. I could never have done that with the low fat, carb rich approach we used to pursue.

I think that is the usual experience. I have pretty much lost respect for the medical profession. Some doctors in the trenches must have this figured out, but most of them keep mum, thereby condemning their overweight patients to misery and possibly bad health.

Ha

 

[gindie]

In a recent study by Johns Hopkins, it was determined that loss of belly fat improved arterial blood flow and that low carb diets did better than low fat diet in achieving such weight loss:

Losing Belly Fat, Whether From a Low-Carb or a Low-Fat Diet, Helps Improve Blood Vessel Function - 03/13/2012

That study's definition of low carb was 30% of calories, which on a 2000 calorie/day diet would mean 150g of carbs. I would think that's above (or at least on the high side of) most low carb diets. So, maybe lower carb would yield even better results?

Anyway, as Jenny Ruhl the Blood Sugar 101 author states (and I can confirm), you get to experience one good, quick weight loss with low-carb before the body figures it all out and provides some resistance the next time!

 

[haha]

That study's definition of low carb was 30% of calories, which on a 2000 calorie/day diet would mean 150g of carbs. I would think that's above (or at least on the high side of) most low carb diets. So, maybe lower carb would yield even better results?

Anyway, as Jenny Ruhl the Blood Sugar 101 author states (and I can confirm), you get to experience one good, quick weight loss with low-carb before the body figures it all out and provides some resistance the next time!

Do you mean if you go off the diet and regain the weight?
One thing about Jenny, though she is a very smart and well informed person, she likes her muffins. Low-carb takes commitment and willpower, though likely less than any other successful diet.
Ha

 

[2B]

I've lost over 300 lbs in many years of yo-yo dieting. My typical cycle was to get up to 250 or 260 lbs and have those 42" pants starting to get snug. I'd then start some version of a low fat/low calorie diet where I'd starve for several months but get down to 200 to 210. I would then resume the weight gain because I couldn't maintain the weight constantly being hungry.

I switched to a low carb diet almost 8 years ago and lost weight quickly with no hunger. I've been able to rattle around between 205 and 215 without any serious issues. Sometimes I cheat, like on vacations, but I usually consume less than 50 gm of carbs daily. My blood chemistry is good but not spectacular despite the consumption of fats that conventional wisdom says cause high cholesteral.

I read the Atkins basis for the diet with the study after study that supports reduced carb consumption for weight loss and even to improve blood sugar issues for borderline diabetics. I've read some vegan inspired "research" saying how we shouldn't eat meat but their science is pretty thin. What I've seen reads more like religious literature. Success seems to be based more on some version of starvation than anything else. I will say that I had great blood chemistry when I was on my low fat diets but I just couldn't maintain a perputual state of semi-starvation.

 

[TromboneAl]

The argument that the current advice just isn't working is a strong one. No matter what you think, we've been told to eat a low-fat diet for over 15 years, and the obesity epidemic gets dramatically worse.

NBC nightly news had articles on this, and I noticed a slight change. On Monday they said "...It may be that a calorie is not a calorie, and that eating refined sugars and grains cause you to eat more." That's actually a big change, but the rest of the article was the same old stuff (we have to eat less and exercise more).

On Tuesday, an obesity expert (who herself was borderline obese) said that people are eating "too many carbohydrates," but she did add "and fat."

 

[TromboneAl]

Do you mean if you go off the diet and regain the weight?

A lot of people have concluded that if they go low carb, but then revert to the standard American diet, that when, even years later, they go low-carb again, it is not as effective. I think they say that your first time is your "golden opportunity."

 

[haha]

A lot of people have concluded that if they go low carb, but then revert to the standard American diet, that when, even years later, they go low-carb again, it is not as effective. I think they say that your first time is your "golden opportunity."

Do you know if this is true? It would seem really odd if it were.

Ha

 

[eytonxav]

A lot of people have concluded that if they go low carb, but then revert to the standard American diet, that when, even years later, they go low-carb again, it is not as effective. I think they say that your first time is your "golden opportunity."

If you chose an analogy, this sounds to me something like if you are prediabetic and move into the diabetic range, you will then always be diabetic and cannot go back, but if you move from being prediabetic to a normal non-diabetic range, you have taken advantage of your golden opportunity. Unfortunately, I failed to take action when I was prediabetic and moved past the point of no-return if there is such a thing. That said, I have yet to really give the low carb approach a real go of it, but I want to.

 

[jclarksnakes]

I think that is the usual experience. I have pretty much lost respect for the medical profession. Some doctors in the trenches must have this figured out, but most of them keep mum, thereby condemning their overweight patients to misery and possibly bad health.

Ha

Wow, that is pretty harsh. And I agree with you 100%.

 

[jclarksnakes]

A lot of people have concluded that if they go low carb, but then revert to the standard American diet, that when, even years later, they go low-carb again, it is not as effective. I think they say that your first time is your "golden opportunity."

Interesting! There is the conventional wisdom that most any diet will work to reduce weight for at least awhile. And the conventional wisdom also is that most of these diets eventually fail because the participant backslides and reverts to their old bad eating habits. Perhaps the body actually is adapting to the diet and doing something different to again store fat? For me this is my first experiance with low carb and it is resulting in a slow weight loss withpout too muc effort on my part. Most days I have far less than 50 grams of carbs. I do admit to cheating a bit when on the road.

 

[donheff]

Interesting! There is the conventional wisdom that most any diet will work to reduce weight for at least awhile. And the conventional wisdom also is that most of these diets eventually fail because the participant backslides and reverts to their old bad eating habits. Perhaps the body actually is adapting to the diet and doing something different to again store fat?

The "set point" theory would potentially explain this but it doesn't explain why more and more people are getting fatter. The idea that we are all eating way more seems ludicrous. The content of our diets is more likely the culprit.

 

[2B]

NBC nightly news had articles on this, and I noticed a slight change. On Monday they said "...It may be that a calorie is not a calorie, and that eating refined sugars and grains cause you to eat more." That's actually a big change, but the rest of the article was the same old stuff (we have to eat less and exercise more).

In the research presented by Atkins, a calorie is a calorie (except alcohol) but that low carb suppresses your hunger so you eat less.

The non-carb alcohol (vodka, gin, scotch, etc) reduces weight loss by tying your liver up processing alcohol and not converting fat.

 

[TromboneAl]

A lot of people have concluded that if they go low carb, but then revert to the standard American diet, that when, even years later, they go low-carb again, it is not as effective. I think they say that your first time is your "golden opportunity."

Do you know if this is true? It would seem really odd if it were.

Ha

No, I sure don't. I'd say that no one knows, since it would be very difficult to do, or even design, the proper experiment.

It is reported frequently, however. One confounding variable is that when you retry low-carb you are older.

Low Carb Luxury: One Golden Shot

 

[donheff]

In the research presented by Atkins, a calorie is a calorie (except alcohol) but that low carb suppresses your hunger so you eat less.

The non-carb alcohol (vodka, gin, scotch, etc) reduces weight loss by tying your liver up processing alcohol and not converting fat.

Hummm, I missed that chapter. I have been drinking my normal glass or two of wine with impunity. I guess I better take advantage of this "golden opportunity," "one shot," or whatever it is since I do like my wine.

 

[Texas Proud]

No, I sure don't. I'd say that no one knows, since it would be very difficult to do, or even design, the proper experiment.

It is reported frequently, however. One confounding variable is that when you retry low-carb you are older.

Low Carb Luxury: One Golden Shot

Sounds to me there is something else going on here... and I think age might be it... there are a lot of things that I could do easily when I was young that I fight 'tooth and nail' now...

Now, if there were a group of 60 yo and started this diet for the first time and had great results compared to another 60 yo group who had done it many times... seems like somebody is making something up....

 

[2B]

Hummm, I missed that chapter. I have been drinking my normal glass or two of wine with impunity. I guess I better take advantage of this "golden opportunity," "one shot," or whatever it is since I do like my wine.

White wine is about 2 or 3 gm of carbs for 6 oz. Red is around 6 gm. It makes a significant difference after a few glasses. If you're tying to lose weight, any wine pretty much shuts it down.

 

[Nords]

The "set point" theory would potentially explain this but it doesn't explain why more and more people are getting fatter. The idea that we are all eating way more seems ludicrous. The content of our diets is more likely the culprit.

I'm pretty sure that our metabolisms slow down dramatically after age 25, and maybe even again in our 40s. As America's Baby Boomers age, that could be one explanation for "everybody" getting fatter.

Compared to the 1960s when everyone was smoking & drinking more, I bet adults really were eating less food then.

Every time I see a WWII photo with military in it, they're pretty scrawny. This seems to hold across all the services, deployed or stateside. Of course that could be selection bias on the part of the photographer or the website.

 

[donheff]

White wine is about 2 or 3 gm of carbs for 6 oz. Red is around 6 gm. It makes a significant difference after a few glasses. If you're tying to lose weight, any wine pretty much shuts it down.

I count the carbs but the extra 6-12g is OK with me. Hasn't slowed down my weight loss - or maybe it has but it is still steady enough that I don't care. Give up chocolate - tough. White foods - tougher. Wine - no way.

 

[TromboneAl]

I count the carbs but the extra 6-12g is OK with me. Hasn't slowed down my weight loss - or maybe it has but it is still steady enough that I don't care. Give up chocolate - tough. White foods - tougher. Wine - no way.

You don't need to give up chocolate, I have it every day. You do need to make your own, and I have some good recipes. Google coconut bark for one example.

 

[donheff]

You don't need to give up chocolate, I have it every day. You do need to make your own, and I have some good recipes. Google coconut bark for one example.

I have tried a couple and they are OK. It just doesn't match eating an entire 8 oz bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs in one sitting - something I frequently did at my peak.

 

[Chuckanut]

The worst carb is added refined sugar, IMHO. I am limiting that and it seems to work. I have dropped several pounds in the last month without trying very hard (other than resisting sugary goodies.)

 

[harley]

The worst carb is added refined sugar, IMHO. I am limiting that and it seems to work. I have dropped several pounds in the last month without trying very hard (other than resisting sugary goodies.)

You can always drop a few pounds by quitting something bad. I used to carry 12 lbs of beer weight in my heavy drinking days. If I quit drinking I'd drop about 12 lbs in a couple weeks. Sugary foods much less so, since I never ate that much. But in my experience as a diabetic, white bread is by far the worst offender blood sugar-wise. I guess it comes down to what you eat the most of, but I can eat something sugary (ice cream, usually) and it doesn't freak my blood sugar level out anywhere near what a few slices of tasty sourdough will do. I believe that in the glycemic index list white bread is higher than refined sugar, or at least even.

Yep.

Nutritionists used to believe that all simple sugars digested quickly and caused a rapid rise in blood sugar, and that the opposite was true for "complex carbohydrates". But that's not always the case. While many sweet and sugary foods do have high GI's, some starchy foods like potatoes or white bread score even higher than honey or table sugar (sucrose)!

Glycemic Index – NutritionData.com