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Orchidflower · 03-01-2010, 03:05 PM

[QUOTE=Zarathu;909770]I was on Atkins for 17 years. Two things you have to be careful for:

1. Limited roughage can produce constipation for hell unless you supplement with a bit of prune juice and metamucil EVERYDAY.

You can eat nuts when you get to stages 2 and 3 of the last version of Atkins. AND you are smart to stick with nuts that are high in fat like macadamia and brazil nuts.
This is what I found: Eat enough brazil nuts--which are really low, low in carbs--and you won't have any problems with constipation IMHO. Roughage, roughage!

May I suggest that anyone interested in doing Atkins or a modified Atkins--high protein/low carb--purchase his latest book. It really has a gob of great information. And I paid a grand total with shipping/handling of $4.27 on Amazon a few weeks ago. I mean....cheap-o! You gotta look around for a cheaper version, but posting this just to give you the title:

Amazon.com: Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Revised Edition (9781590770023): Robert C. Atkins: Books

(Diabetes runs in both sides of my family, and how I've avoided it so far..I will never know....but I understand that many folks that never had it before it hits at age 70. So....I'm starting early with my anti-diabetes diet.)

tmm99 · 03-01-2010, 04:09 PM

Gees, I clicked on something and lost my post.

Anyway, T-Al, thank you very much for posting your experience! Your diet posts are always detailed and very descriptive and they makes me think every time.

I eat more low-carb inclined than my friends, and I have, in the past, done Atkins, Protein Power, Zone Diet. I would say I am more high protein, moderate fat though (I'd rather use butter than vegetable oil, but I don't eat fatty food liberally); because of the high protein, I get full before I get to the carbs. (I avoid meals that is low in protein.) My weight is ideal, but I eat more protein because it makes me full, and it helps with rebuilding the muscle mass. (I weighed about the same amount 10 years ago, but because of the loss of hormone or what; I am more flabby even with some strength training.)

I just started experimenting with green smoothies (kale, collard greens, chard, etc with some fruit, flax seeds, wheat germ, etc). I eat a lot of salads, celery sticks and carrot sticks, but I have been reading a lot about benefits of raw greens, so I thought I'd add some heavy duty raw greens to see. Are you interested? (not like I will bring you the green smoothies to your door every day, but since you are keen on maintaining your good health, I thought you might be interested!). One interesting thing I've found is, I don't do well with fruit - even berries - it makes me very very hungery when I eat them (so the only time I eat fruit is right after meals, and only a small amount like 1/4 orange), but with green smoothies (with some fuit in them), I don't get the same effect (I wonder if it's because of the fiber in the greens?)

haha · 03-01-2010, 04:51 PM

[QUOTE=Orchidflower;909804]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zarathu

This is what I found: Eat enough brazil nuts--which are really low, low in carbs--and you won't have any problems with constipation IMHO. Roughage, roughage!

When my kids were little one Christmas we were sitting around after dinner and discoveerd that if you light a match under a Brazil nut it will burn, even after you take the match away. It's a torch.

Only other food I know of that makes a torch is a marshmallow.

Ha

LOL! · 03-01-2010, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

...
Weight

Neither of us lost a significant amount of weight (DWs weight remained constant, I lost a pound or two. I currently weight 162 lbs at 5' 11"). It's noteworthy that despite eating a high-fat diet, neither of us gained weight.

At that height/weight you can't have anything to lose, so I am not surprised that the diet had no effect. I guess you were more worried about gaining weight?

I am same height and, when I was exercising, I had about the same weight. I would fluctuate between 160 and 168 just depending on whether I played basketball outdoors in the midday sun or not.

Rambler · 03-02-2010, 01:41 AM

When I did Atkins a few years back I lost 50+ pounds, 5 inches around the waist, had better cholesterol numbers (not that they were bad to begin with) and better blood pressure (also not really bad, but starting to creep up). I stayed very strict for 5 months, which is when the weight loss occured. As I moved into maintenance, I kept most of it off for several years, but then lost control a couple years later during a difficult period and bounced back up. The thought of total deprivation is keeping me from going back to that strict of a regimin, but I still do try to go "less-carb" than "carb-less". It is helping, but it is a slower road. If I had more time to exercise and be active as well as prepare nutritious and fulfilling meals (read that as "if I were FIREd") then I think it would come off a little quicker and easier. But then again, maybe I am just dreaming about ER.

R

donheff · 03-02-2010, 05:50 AM

Good descriptiont Al. Two years ago, I moved vaguely to a diet like your "low carb" diet and increased my bike riding significantly. I lost about 15 pounds and felt great. I think the biggest change was dropping the massive amounts of chocolate that I was addicted to. Last year, the candy crept back into my diet and has recently gotten out of control. Despite lots of riding miles my weight has crept back up 10 pounds. I am working my way into a zen like state so I can banish my candy addiction once and for all

Nords · 03-02-2010, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff

I think the biggest change was dropping the massive amounts of chocolate that I was addicted to.

I hate to admit it, but chocolate is probably a significant weight-loss factor in any diet...

audreyh1 · 03-02-2010, 08:05 AM

If you can limit yourself to a small amount, it shouldn't be a factor. If you can't...... well that's tough.

Audrey

Orchidflower · 03-02-2010, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff

Good descriptiont Al. Two years ago, I moved vaguely to a diet like your "low carb" diet and increased my bike riding significantly. I lost about 15 pounds and felt great. I think the biggest change was dropping the massive amounts of chocolate that I was addicted to. Last year, the candy crept back into my diet and has recently gotten out of control. Despite lots of riding miles my weight has crept back up 10 pounds. I am working my way into a zen like state so I can banish my candy addiction once and for all

If you quit eating sweets for a couple weeks or more, you really WILL lose that sweet tooth totally...honest! I was eating lots of chocolate as it is all over the house for my mother and so darned convenient while I'm watching tv. I quit eating it and now I don't even like it all that much when I have had a piece. Course, I've been off it since December so my sweet tooth is gone totally now....altho a really good oatmeal cookie on the other hand...

Bimmerbill · 03-02-2010, 10:00 AM

I lost a lot of weight on Atkins. My cholesteral didn't go down much, but it was in the low 120s anyways. But, the ratio changed for the better.

But, I was STRICT Atkins. I may do it again, as I think I actually feel better on the Atkins diet, more clear headed, less tired, etc.

Maybe I'll get myself tested for cylliac one of these days.

Pete · 03-02-2010, 10:50 AM

People concerned about diabetes might want to research glycemic index and load science.

It's hard for me to think of salami and bacon as meat.

Did the human animal evolve to eat animal fat, salt, and cow mother's milk? What about things like legumes that need to be treated before we can eat them?

Things are probably far more complex then deciding to limit fat, protein, or carbs.

audreyh1 · 03-02-2010, 11:18 AM

Salt and smoke-curing and high use of milk in diets (Indo-european) go back pretty far in human history - milk use at least 8500 years ago. And obviously plant cultivation has been around for even longer (12,000). Animal herding even longer (15,000).

I don't see how eating a strictly paleolithic diet is necessarily essential to good modern human health since human populations expanded considerably after adopting more modern habits. But there clearly appear to be health problems associated with contemporary eating and exercise habits - diabetes, obesity, etc. To me it's the comparison of today's developed societies with those of 100 years ago in terms of these "modern" diseases that is most alarming.

Audrey

P.S. Salting Fish to preserve it - 3500 BC in Mediterranean region.

haha · 03-02-2010, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Things are probably far more complex then deciding to limit fat, protein, or carbs.

This is certainly true, and it it made much harder to untangle by the habit of medical researchers to spin their findings according to whatever theory is currently popular, and thus currently easy to get grants for.

On example is low fat diets. Whatever success these have is pitched in terms of the lowered fat content. However, it might well be from increased vegetables, or even just increases in certain vegetables.

Similarly statin effectiveness in lowering death rates from CHD, or in the case of some statins lowering all cause death rates is pitched in terms of cholesterol reduction. As it turns out however, equally powerful or perhaps more powerful are statin effects on inflammation.

If you read medical literature from this field it is easy to form the opinion that the summaries and even conclusions are made by logic deficient individuals.

Ha

Westernskies · 03-02-2010, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SarahW

but sometimes I'd love about a half a loaf of fresh french bread.

I'll drive the getaway car for the other half...

Pete · 03-02-2010, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1

Salt and smoke-curing and high use of milk in diets (Indo-european) go back pretty far in human history - milk use at least 8500 years ago. And obviously plant cultivation has been around for even longer (12,000). Animal herding even longer (15,000).

I guess that only leaves a previous 190,000 years for modern man, and many more hundreds of thousands of years for our ancestors.

I'm sure that type of food will get us to reproductive age, which is all that's really necessary to carry on the human race. The question really is, is it healthy for us.

Tigger · 03-02-2010, 05:39 PM

According to a new study Mediterranean, low-fat and low-carb diets are all three equally effective in helping reverse blocked arteries.

That's good news for those like me who can't seem to make up their mind.

Sources:
BBC News - Low-fat, Mediterranean and low-carb diets 'help heart'
Dietary Intervention to Reverse Carotid Atherosclerosis -- Shai et al., 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.879254 -- Circulation

audreyh1 · 03-02-2010, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

I guess that only leaves a previous 190,000 years for modern man, and many more hundreds of thousands of years for our ancestors.

I'm sure that type of food will get us to reproductive age, which is all that's really necessary to carry on the human race. The question really is, is it healthy for us.

It seems that there are plenty of healthy examples of societies eating traditional diets (as in diets from decades or 100 years ago) along with plenty of physical activity. Their longevity and health statistics are good. We don't have to go all the way back to paleolithic eating patterns to figure out how to be healthy. It's pretty clear some of the major modern health issues are very recent.

Audrey