MissGolightly

OK, this is a thread to for anyone to rant about silly things we do to lose weight and like Ruby2day said, we obsess to much about our weight--maybe it's because we are the fattest country in the world. LOL.
Anyway, this article sums it up why I can't stand low-carb FAD diets. :Eyepopper (I need to start up classes again to keep me busy so I stop doing these things. haha)

Life Without Carbohydrates?

Sharon Howard, R.D.
drkoop.com Health Columnist
“Carrots are bad for you.”
“Bananas have too much sugar.”
“Bacon and eggs are the best way to start the day.”
Thus goes the nutritional misinformation backlash from the popular low-carbohydrate dieting trends. What starts out being a low-calorie diet plan that appeals to the meat-and-fat lovers becomes a litany of false messages sent to the public about what a healthy diet is and what foods are good for us.
Why Are Low-Carbohydrate Diets Popular?
Because we Americans just don’t know moderation and portion control. Weight control is still clearly based on the fact that you need to exercise more and consume fewer calories to lose weight. Diet plans that let us eat all we want of certain foods are very appealing.
In the ’90s, calorie counting went out as we shifted our dieting focus to fats. After all, fats are more than double the calories of proteins and carbohydrates, so when you take the hidden fats out of the diet (as well as the obvious ones in fried foods, gooey desserts and ice cream) you reduce your calorie intake and lose weight. You even have glucose available to exercise.
That worked until the arrival of the “fat-free fun foods.” Lower-fat diets were helping many people clean up their eating and lose weight. But the lure of a box of fat-free cookies could not compete with a low-fat apple. “Fat-free” somehow mistakenly got translated into “Eat all you want -- it has no fat!” So, as Americans gorged on fat-free frozen yogurt, bagels, cookies, potato chips and pretzels, their weight went up again. What failed was the dieter’s understanding of what really matters in weight loss.
Then along comes the revival of the low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diets. (“Wow, all the steak I can eat! I love the taste of butter and oil, and I missed it so much!”) As a bonus, the dieter quickly drops some water weight in the beginning. Starchy foods hold onto water and when they are removed from the diet, a diuretic effect occurs. So, the falling numbers on the scale inspire the dieter.
As the body is depleted of glucose, it adapts to this abnormal diet by developing ketosis, which causes fat and protein depletion, kidney stress, anorexia, diuresis and bad breath. As glucose and glycogen stores are depleted, the muscles lose their main energy source. The dieter is more fatigued, cannot sustain aerobic exercise to maintain cardiac health and cannot perform enough strength training to protect the body from muscle loss.
But why do the low-carbohydrate dieters, who start out successful, get stuck at a certain weight and then start gaining it back? If muscle has been sacrificed during weight loss, the body’s metabolism (the amount of calories your body needs to stay alive) decreases. At some point, calorie intake meets the lower body-weight needs and weight loss stops. More often, people start coveting foods such as baked potatoes, watermelon or corn on the cob. When they add these foods back into their diets, the ketosis stops, they regain their normal appetites, but keep eating the high-fat, high-protein foods -- and their weight goes back up.
Why Are Carbohydrates Good for Us?
Contrary to popular opinion, carbohydrates are necessary to our health because these foods provide energy, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other phytochemicals. It’s the types of carbohydrates that are overused -- sweet drinks, desserts, candy, larger portions of bread, pasta and refined starches -- that get us into calorie trouble. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy products are high-carbohydrate foods that are essential to our good health. Whole grains such as breads and cereals are high in fiber. Fiber helps lower blood cholesterol. Fiber helps us feel full longer so we don’t crave junk foods between meals. Fruits and vegetables, also carbohydrate sources, contain fiber and phytochemicals, which may help fight off heart disease and cancer.
What is a high-carbohydrate diet?
Carbohydrates can easily make up 45 percent to 60 percent of a balanced, healthy, weight-reducing diet. For example, if carbohydrates make up 50 percent of a 1,500-calorie diet, that is equivalent to 187 grams. In healthy food terms, this amounts to two servings of milk or sugar-free yogurt, four servings of fruit, four servings of vegetables and five servings of whole-grain starches. A high-carbohydrate diet can also consist of soda, candy, cookies, 12-inch hoagie rolls, a pound of pasta at a restaurant, and a half bag of pretzels at your desk. These are the carbohydrates you want to reduce to lose weight -- not the brown rice with your chicken or the whole-wheat bread with your tuna salad
With low-carbohydrate diets you risk losing B vitamins, calcium and potassium. In addition, there is loss of possible protection from cancer and heart disease. The good news about the low-carbohydrate diet is that you consume fewer sugars and junk foods, which really contribute many empty calories to the diet. Limiting these foods, but eating moderate amounts of whole grains, fruits and dairy foods would be a healthy compromise.
Healthy weight loss must begin with a plan that can be continued and adapted to a weight-maintenance program for life. Gradual lifestyle changes lead to permanent weight loss and good health. Losing weight quickly and gaining it back puts you at greater risk of being overweight. Popping “diet pills” doesn’t change your behavior. Get off the roller coaster and take control of your eating for a leaner body and better health. Moderation, portion control and exercise are messages that don’t make headlines or sell diet books, but they really work.

__________________
"Support Bacteria. It's the only culture some people have."

"I can't sleep, the clowns will eat me."

"Things are more like today than they ever have been."

MissGolightly

A Note about Healthy Weight Control
Fad diets, unbalanced diets, diet pills, diet supplements, weight loss surgery and other short term weight loss methods are not recommended for permanent weight control. The best way to lose excess fat and maintain a healthy weight in the long term is to follow a balanced calorie-controlled diet (that improves your eating habits) and take regular aerobic exercise.

Consider this, for example:
"Besides the health risks associated with ketosis outlined earlier, there are other long-term concerns associated with this particular plan. Atkins' diet can lead to the kind of rapid weight fluctuations that adversely effect the heart. Moreover, the breakdown of fatty acids that occurs during ketosis may also increase the risk of heart disease. One of the basic tenets of Atkins' diet is that sugar causes cancer. Such misleading pronouncements are essentially scare tactics, meant to direct the dieter towards foods on the Atkins plan. Finally, nothing about this plan encourages the dieter to learn some very basic weight management strategies like portion control and serving sizes, let alone develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of balanced nutrition." Excerpt from the official American Heart Association web site.


AND...

I'll stop. One of the most important things in life is just be happy and treat yourself well!

__________________
"Support Bacteria. It's the only culture some people have."

"I can't sleep, the clowns will eat me."

"Things are more like today than they ever have been."

wyo_rose

Here's an excerpt from Protein Power which I think is the best low carb way of eating, at least for me. If anyone wants more information on this diet to control blood sugar or lose weight, read the book Protein Power by the Drs. Eades and check out the following site:

http://bbs.eatprotein.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Protein Power in a nutshell.
10. The best kind of exercise to do for weight loss and health is weight training, or "resistance training".
9. Our cave-man ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years ate mainly animal protein, with a few wild vegetables and nuts thrown in. Most of our bodies are still designed to eat this way most of the time and doing otherwise can cause us tremendous health problems.
8. The main culprit of many of our health problems today is the excess insulin produced by our body to handle the excess of carbs and sugar in our diet. The only way to fix this is by eating a diet low in refined carbohydrates.
7. Carbs are the same thing as sugar – your body breaks them down in no time. Eating a potato or a bowl of spighetti is basically the same thing to your body as eating a cup of sugar.
6. The hardest part of the plan happens in the first week or two. It's normal to experience a lot of carb cravings and fatigue during this period. But if you make it through this “carb withdrawal,” you will come out on the other side with newfound energy and vitality and almost no cravings whatsoever.
5. Critics of low-carb plans are mainly following the old, tired dogma of those of have not kept up with the accumulating research that supports such plans. Some of them are finally starting to cave under the accumulating weight of the many studies that are continuing to show how healthy and affective this way of eating is.
4. Protein Power is not a NO-carb plan, but a low-carb one, emphasizing the consumption of the healthiest types of carbs: vegetables (except starchy ones like potatoes, peas, carrots, and corn) and some fruits that are lower in sugar and higher in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (like berries, peaches, melon). Adding fat to your vegetables greatly increases how easily they are absorbed by the body
3. Fats are not what make you fat, despite their density of calories, but rather are essential for your body’s health, especially monounsaturated fats found in nuts, olive oil, and fish. The worst kind of fat is Trans Fat, an artificially engineered fat found in baked goods, shortening, margarines, some mayonnaise, some salad dressings, and even some peanut butter under the guise of “partially hydrogenated” oil or even just “soybean oil” as listed on the label.
2. Refined Carbs (especially grains, deserts, candy, and soda) are evil! Well, if not evil, they are at least very, very, very bad for you!
1. And the number one thing to remember about Protein Power: Getting an adequate amount of protein is essential to your health. It helps maintain or increase your muscle tissue which makes you stronger, enhances your endurance, and increases your metabolism so that you burn more calories just sitting still. Most non-animal sources of protein (with the main exception of soy) simply does not contain enough of it and even a great deal of what it does contain is unusable by your body. Don’t skimp on it in order to avoid the fat that is often packaged with it.

MissGolightly

That URL sent us to his Nurse's site. LOL

10. The most important exercise is aerobic and weight training--um...in order to lose that fat to see the muscle you have to do some type of aerobic activity.
9. Hhmmm...didn't learn much about "caveman diets" about here's a good link:
http://fatloss.com/Caveman-Diet.htm
8. The main culprit in our diet is processed foods such as candy, chips, soda and so on, yes, the refined foods, BUT...the true culprit is we do not know portion controls, what foods are truly healthy and MODERATION!!
7. Please read in the first post, Why Are Carbohydrates Good for Us?
6. If only that was it--watch out for vitamin and mineral deficiencies--more to come on that.
5. Yeah, those critics are doctors, medical associations, dieticians--you know, the ones that have been dealing with nutrition a lot longer and know fad diets. :-P There have been two studies which are unreliable somewhat because of the size and type of study group.
4. Oh, such evil veggies and fruits--and whole grains
3. No way, hhmmm...do you think it's consuming too many calories that make us fat????
2. Yes, refined carbs are bad for us--that's why I eat whole grain pasta, brown rice, whole wheat bread and so on...
1. Actually, try a well balanced diet that gives us lots of vitamins and minerals, the proper energy and so on...How about, moderation in meat, carbs fruits & veggies, dairy and fats

__________________
"Support Bacteria. It's the only culture some people have."

"I can't sleep, the clowns will eat me."

"Things are more like today than they ever have been."

MissGolightly

Ok, this covers the issue for both sides--b/c this can go on and on.
Just to let you know Wyo-Rose. My neighbor did the Atkins diet for a year and a half, he started adding on carbs here and there and has re-gained 30 lbs. I gave him a healthy eating plan that included carbs (healthy carbs) and he's been losing the weight properly and he told me he actually feels better b/c he has more energy. BUT...people are different. So, I'm just trying to give information. :-)
OK, red head (I heard you were a redhead--haha, hence the hyper-ness LOL--plus I don't know if that's true about you Wyo-Rose) but what other fun sites do you have?

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/livin...es_030521.html

__________________
"Support Bacteria. It's the only culture some people have."

"I can't sleep, the clowns will eat me."

"Things are more like today than they ever have been."

wyo_rose

OMG!! Red head!! Nope, just a brunnette. And I WISH I was hyper with all I have to get done.

'Nyway, it's good your neighbor is doing well now. And that's the bottom line. If you're fat, you gotta find something that works for you, cuz the health consequences catch up with you sooner or later.

I LOVE that site I listed with it's success stories, helpful hints and online support.

I was looking for something that shows WHY I HATE CARBS. ;) Just typing "are carbohydrates necessary" in Google came up with this 'independent' doctor's info.

Carbohydrates in Nutrition
by Ron Kennedy, M.D., Santa Rosa, California


Carbohydrates come in two basic forms: complex and simple. Simple carbs are one, two, or at most three units of sugar linked together in single molecules. Complex carbs are hundreds or thousands of sugar units linked together in single molecules. Simple sugars are easily identified by their taste: sweet. Complex carbs, such as potatoes, are pleasant to the taste buds, but not sweet.

There are two groups of complex carbs: high fiber and low fiber. High-fiber, complex carbs are not digestible, at least not by human beings, because we do not have the enzyme to do the job. Cows have that enzyme; that is why they can get calories out of grass, and we cannot. The main stuff in high-fiber, complex carbs which is indigestible by humans is called "cellulose."

High-fiber (high-cellulose) vegetable foods are the healthiest choices for human nutrition, and intake of these foods is associated with lowered incidences of hypertension, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, etc. Examples are lettuce and broccoli. Examples of low-fiber, complex carbs are banana, tomato, squash and all cereals and grains (therefore bread and pasta), potatoes and rice.

It matters not if a carb is simple or complex. After digestion, it appears in the circulatory system in the simple form, as glucose, on its way to the cells where it is used for energy. To be transformed into simple sugars, complex carbs must be digested by the enzyme amylase. Amylase is secreted by the salivary glands, which empty into the mouth, and by the pancreas, which empties into the head of the duodenum.

Simple sugars and low-fiber, complex carbs represent a threat to health when they are consumed in inappropriate amounts such as may occur in low-soy, vegetarian diets where they are being eaten to replace the calories which would ordinarily come from protein.

Processing of plant food strips away its fiber and/or vitamin content. A simple example of processing is cutting an orange in two pieces, pressing the juice into a glass and discarding the fiber.

While it is true that fiber is an important part of your diet, even necessary to protect you from some diseases, carbohydrates themselves are not necessary. There are "essential" fatty acids and "essential" amino acids (from protein), however there are no known essential carbohydrates.

Most of our carbohydrates come from cereals and grains, both products of the agricultural revolution. Our bodies are not genetically designed to thrive on large amounts of these fiberless complex carbs. With the popularity of cereal- and grain-based "health diets," carbohydrate metabolism has been upset in approximately 3/4 of the population which simply cannot handle this large load of carbs. Increased insulin output from the pancreas, over the years, results in hyperinsulinism, insulin resistance and the resulting diseases mentioned above: hypertension, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Complex carbs with lots of fiber should be consumed in proper proportion for maximum health and vitality. Complex carbs with lots of fiber are rich sources of necessary vitamins and minerals as well as enzymes when in the raw state. The problem happens when carbohydrates are altered by processes which provide empty calories stripped of much of their original food value.

I should also mention the relationship between simple sugars and mucus formation. The biochemical name for mucus is mucopolysaccharide. This literally means "mucus of many sugars," and it tells us how mucus is formed through the linking together of sugar molecules. If you have a condition, such as asthma or emphysema, in which mucus is part of the problem, you can do yourself a lot of good by stopping your intake of simple sugars and lowering your intake of complex carbohydrates (which convert to simple sugars upon digestion). Unfortunately, this means such wonderful sweet fruits as plums, peaches, apples, etc., must go along with breads, pastas and pastries.

The most healthy form of sugar is the complex carbohydrates present in high-fiber vegetables; however, it is certainly acceptable to spice up your diet in moderation with simple sugars in the form of whole fruits — unless, of course, you are trying to avoid mucus formation. Eat your fruits, do not juice them and drink them, unless you are on a juice fast as described earlier in this book. Eating the whole fruit results in the inclusion of natural fiber, which allows proper absorption of sugars. If you must have juice, dilute it with twice the recommended amount of water, so as to get the taste without overdosing on simple sugars.

The Result of Excess Carbohydrate Intake

Excess carbohydrates also causes generalized vascular disease. The high-carbohydrate diet which is now so popular causes the pancreas to produce large amounts of insulin, and if this happens for many years in a genetically predisposed person, the insulin receptors throughout the body become resistant to insulin. Because insulin's action is to drive glucose into the cells, this results in chronic hyperglycemia, also called "high blood sugar." A large portion of this sugar is stored as fat resulting in obesity. Excess insulin also causes hypertension and helps initiate the sequence of events in the arterial wall which leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Adult onset diabetes is known to be greatly benefited by the adoption of a low carbohydrate diet, moderate in fat, which stresses the importance of a regular intake of sufficient protein. You will not hear this advice from the American Diabetes Association, (or from most doctors) since they are still operating on the research as it was twenty years ago.

Many cancers, such as breast, colon and lung cancer, apparently have a hereditary tendency. However, it may be that nutritional habits are passed on from one generation to the next, thus accounting for the familial tendency toward cancer.

Excess fats damage the immune system through irradiation by free radicals during peroxidation of fats. Excess carbohydrates upset the hormonal system mentioned above (known as the "eicosanoids") and results in an imbalance favoring the type of eicosanoid (known as "prostaglandins E-2" or "PGE-2") which also suppresses the immune system. Thus obesity is associated with a higher incidence of infection.

http://www.medical-library.net/sites...nutrition.html

wyo_rose

So that's why I hate carbs. Not ALL carbs, I still eat veggies and fruit.

But you're right, this could go on and on, back and forth. I just hope that if there are people that aren't having any luck on other methods of losing weight and keeping it off that they try low carb eating. And not only try it, but still with it for life. ESPECIALLY if you're diabetic.

I know our nutritionist at the local clinic is FINALLY counceling people to cut the carbs. There's no way to control your blood sugar if you're EATING sugar.

wyo_rose

Proof I'm not a redhead!
http://www.powwows.com/galleries/sho...php/photo/5760

Also note that I only have a double chin now, not a triple/quadriple chin like I used to have. (ie. proof that I have 40 pounds to go, but that frybread is too good to pass up!):p

wyo_rose

What a GOOD article! How did I miss it? I really liked the last heading, "There's more to losing weight than diet". It really does involve changing your lifestyle.

What works best for me is the "divorce diet". Only done it twice, but it worked great both times!! :p

wyo_rose

Here's a fun one! Avril Lavigne blames carbs
for her angry lyrics!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4980919/

Geez, I must be hyper. 5 posts in a row!