NationStates Jolt Archive

Well, in america, it seems that low-carb diets are the new hot diet, but is are low-carb diets really beneficial? what advantages does a low-carb diet confer over a balanced diet, with exercise? and how many people who are ON low carb diets even know why it causes weight loss (seeing as fats have more calories per gram than carbs)?

Dude, the carb diet thing pretty much died off.

First of all, it's not all that beneficial. You can lose a lot of weight, but it can also cause a lot of health risks (just look at what happened to Dr. Atkins).

I haven't seen any benefits with the low-carb diet, personally. Adaily exercise routine, fruits, and veggies have done a lot more for me.

Dude, the carb diet thing pretty much died off.

First of all, it's not all that beneficial. You can lose a lot of weight, but it can also cause a lot of health risks (just look at what happened to Dr. Atkins).

I thought he slipped on some ice and hit his head.

You lose weight, but not in the way Atkins thought. It turns out that the diet fucks up your liver or your kidneys. One of the two, can't remember.

I lost 125 pounds on the atkins diet so just depends on the person ...

I thought he slipped on some ice and hit his head.

I was under the impression that he died of a heart attack from clogged arteries, which were caused by eating too much meat.

But did you exercise, and follow the diet (and its nuances) specifically? Because a common misconception about the Atkins is you can eat whatever you want, so long as you don't intake carbs, and you'll lose weight.

What advantages are there to micromanaging your carbohydrate intake as opposed to eating a balanced diet, with exercise in losing weight?

low carb diets are just plain silly they ruin your physical fitness and altimetry aim to make you skinny (which guys do not like)

A better thing to do would be to actually work that weight off with exercise (in particular running)

You lose weight, but not in the way Atkins thought. It turns out that the diet fucks up your liver or your kidneys. One of the two, can't remember.

kidneys.

I had a friend who was on it, for the first 3 days or something she wasn't supposed to eat anything, only drink water with lemon (to "shock" her system)

she then had to test her pee for proteins in her urine so she knew the diet was going to work.

When I was pregnant I had a condition where I had to test my urine the same way, to look for proteins in my urine, only if there were it wasn't good, it meant I had to go to the hospital.

I was under the impression that he died of a heart attack from clogged arteries, which were caused by eating too much meat.

Dr. Robert Atkins, creator of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet, died Thursday after an accidental fall on April 8 left him comatose. (http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/17/obit.atkins/)

I was under the impression that he died of a heart attack from clogged arteries, which were caused by eating too much meat.
Oh, heck, no.

Check it out: Dr. Atkins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Atkins_(nutritionist))

Dr. Robert Atkins, creator of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet, died Thursday after an accidental fall on April 8 left him comatose. (http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/17/obit.atkins/)

Well, that clears things up. He was a walking blob, anyway.

Dr. Robert Atkins, creator of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet, died Thursday after an accidental fall on April 8 left him comatose. (http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/17/obit.atkins/)

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/25/atkins.diet/index.html

maybe that's what he was thinking of

According to my health book, carbs provide energy, but if you don't get much execise and eat too many carbs you gain, eat too few and you have no energy.

I'm guessing that low-carbs diets are for those who don't get any exercise, though it's not that hard to get any.

Low-carb diets can induce a ketogenic state which makes your body grossly less efficient at processing calories, thus causing significant weight-loss.

However, you probably shouldn't stay in that state for more than 3 months. Once you've lost the weight, return to a more balanced diet and colntrol your portions.

In all cases, weight gain is caused by consuming more calories than you burn. Don't do that, and you won't gain weight.

iirc, Aitkens was very overweight when he died and had clogged arteries.
Hardly what one would call a shinning example of Aitken diet effectiveness.

imo, main reason why low carb diets seem to work so well initially is due to water loss.
Carbs are broken down into glycogen for storage in your body (primarily your liver). When storing, it uses 3x as much water as glycogen.
So a carb-rich diet causes water retention.

And more importantly, a lo-carb diet will cause you to use up your glycogen stores. Without that glycogen your body has no use for the water it's stored in and gets rid of it.

That's why in the first couple of weeks, you lose so much weight and look more toned. Very little of it fat - just water.

It's same reason Bodybuilders cut carbs out of their diet almost completely leading up to a competition. In order to lose as much water and look as cut as possible. But they don't stick with that dieting.

In all cases, weight gain is caused by consuming more calories than you burn. Don't do that, and you won't gain weight.


Exactly. Most of these fad diets DO work to a certain extent, but a lot of people don't follow them properly and are usually let down by the results. The best things to do are to eat smaller portions, have healthy snacks between meals like fruit or yogurt, and invest in a good pair of running shoes. Without excercise, diets DO NOT work.

Carbs are your best friend! :)

VIVA LA PASTA! :eek:

These Diets WILL work if you follow them strictly. But before you try it PLEASE PLEASE consult your Doctor/Physician/Dietician.

Yeah...

That's why us Americans live soooooo much longer than the Japanese.

Wait a minute...

Really though, it just makes you loose wait. There's no healthy benefit to that. Your arteries can still be clogged and you're cholesteral can still be through the roof but at least you've a got a fine lookin' body.

Yeah...

That's why us Americans live soooooo much longer than the Japanese.

Wait a minute...

Really though, it just makes you loose wait. There's no healthy benefit to that. Your arteries can still be clogged and you're cholesteral can still be through the roof but at least you've a got a fine lookin' body.:p

smart people. I love it.

My mom is big on trying every freaking diet fad around, she brought home these pills the other day "they are all natural so they are fine right?"

when I explained that dog shit and arsenic are also "all natural" she got this confused look on her face

:p

smart people. I love it.

My mom is big on trying every freaking diet fad around, she brought home these pills the other day "they are all natural so they are fine right?"

when I explained that dog shit and arsenic are also "all natural" she got this confused look on her face

Well played. :D

No carb diets, including Atkins and South Beach, are both very effective and have been used for quite a while by doctors for overweight patients.

The biggest issue with them is that you need to continue to stay on them...if you return to carbs, the weight will return. It has to be a full lifestyle shift.

Your body isn't supposed to break down protein for energy... that's not what protein is for.

According to my health book, carbs provide energy, but if you don't get much execise and eat too many carbs you gain, eat too few and you have no energy.

I'm guessing that low-carbs diets are for those who don't get any exercise, though it's not that hard to get any.

Exactly.

Carbs are sugars. Sugars give you energy. Energy makes you more likely to get off the couch.

So if you don't intake carbs you wont feel like exercising.

No carb diets, including Atkins and South Beach, are both very effective and have been used for quite a while by doctors for overweight patients.

The biggest issue with them is that you need to continue to stay on them...if you return to carbs, the weight will return. It has to be a full lifestyle shift.

I think the south beach is alittle different. It has all these rules about having a baked potatoe with butter will make you gain less weight than just a baked potatoe because the butter will let some of the calories pass right thru you or something. There is a whole book of these rules.

I think the south beach is alittle different. It has all these rules about having a baked potatoe with butter will make you gain less weight than just a baked potatoe because the butter will let some of the calories pass right thru you or something. There is a whole book of these rules.

South Beach is a modification on the Atkins model, allowing for the slow reintroduction of certain carb groups.

My take on the subject (http://www.friendsoffoamy.com/index.php?id=130)

Most diets "work" because most of the weight you lose is water weight, which is readily replaced. My tae kwon do instructor has told me to eat more carbs instead of cutting back, both to lose weight and enhance my performance. Carbs are mostly just complex sugars, which breaks down over time to give your body energy, which is important for athletes and other active people.

The main reason that people are becoming heavier is because our society is becoming steadily more sedentary. Why go out for a walk and risk getting raped, mugged and murdered in the dirt and dying from West Nile virus carried by an insect that was hiding in the smog? Our small, climate-controlled domiciles are much safer while we watch people eat entrails and create unnecessary drama for a small prize.

If you want to lose weight, get up and move and eat sensibly. If you sit your ass all day and eat three triple cheeseburgers in one sitting, your ass is going to expand. If you get out and move around while paying attention to portion sizes, you will lose weight.

Well, in america, it seems that low-carb diets are the new hot diet, but is are low-carb diets really beneficial? Well, there are people who swear by it...

what advantages does a low-carb diet confer over a balanced diet, with exercise?it's trendy... a fad... and most people don't have the discipline for "Eating Right and Exercising".
and how many people who are ON low carb diets even know why it causes weight loss (seeing as fats have more calories per gram than carbs)?same as most people on the Grapefruit diet, the South Beach Diet, the coffee Diet, etc...

it's trendy... a fad... and most people don't have the discipline for "Eating Right and Exercising".

Which shocks me. They spend all that time counting up carbs and worrying over it, when those fifteen-twenty minutes a day could be spent jogging, swimming, or playing basketball with the homeless guy that lurks around the park, who is, by the way, very fit.

Awhile back I read an article about the increasing obesity problem, and the writer's explanation was an increase in available foods and a growing tendency for people to sit behind a desk all day on the phone or computer, never working their asses at all, aside from the walk from the car to the elevator. The main point of his article was that mankind still hasn't become accustomed to food and delicious things being so plentiful.

It's instinct to stuff ourselves with whatever is handy, because our body knows, even if we don't, that the best place to store food against famine is in your fat ass. For hundreds of thousands of years, man's next meal was a doubtful occurance, and it was easier to get through the hungry times if you had been fed well through the times of plenty and were properly plumped, once winter rolled around. So, you gorged when you could, and cooked your moccasins when grub got scarce.

Today, people just gorge all the time. and with such bounty available that is no longer a good thing.

/derail

Atkins is BS. Eat more greens and play more ball.

Awhile back I read an article about the increasing obesity problem, and the writer's explanation was an increase in available foods and a growing tendency for people to sit behind a desk all day on the phone or computer, never working their asses at all, aside from the walk from the car to the elevator. The main point of his article was that mankind still hasn't become accustomed to food and delicious things being so plentiful.

As one of my favorite comedians said: "I know why we're getting fatter. I'll sit in a drive-thru that's 15 cars deep instead of walking to the totally empty counter." I love to laugh at people that spend 20 minutes looking for a parking space five feet from the door and then spend 20 more complaining about the parking when they only "wanted to stop in real quick" for Cheetos.

One of my old boyfriends and a former boss both adopted the "diet soda" diet. They thought that they could eat all the junk they put in their bodies and still lose weight if they just drank a diet soda. The boss also thought that pork rinds where healthy because they only had two grams of fat. A former co-worker also thought that her "chicken salads", complete with cut-up and deep-fried chicken nuggets, were her ticket to weight loss.

And they loved to poo-poo my sanely-portioned spaghetti marinara, lettuce-and-tomato sammiches, baked potatoes with fat-free margerine, sea salt and chives, and Subway crammed with every veggie known to man because "it has carbs." And they loved to tell me that my martial arts training was not the key to weight loss because I wasn't on some kind of fad diet.

Yeah, but my ass isn't falling out of my jeans and people always get my weight wrong (heavier than I look because of muscle mass), so I must be doing something right.

As one of my favorite comedians said: "I know why we're getting fatter. I'll sit in a drive-thru that's 15 cars deep instead of walking to the totally empty counter." I love to laugh at people that spend 20 minutes looking for a parking space five feet from the door and then spend 20 more complaining about the parking when they only "wanted to stop in real quick" for Cheetos.

One of my old boyfriends and a former boss both adopted the "diet soda" diet. They thought that they could eat all the junk they put in their bodies and still lose weight if they just drank a diet soda. The boss also thought that pork rinds where healthy because they only had two grams of fat. A former co-worker also thought that her "chicken salads", complete with cut-up and deep-fried chicken nuggets, were her ticket to weight loss.

And they loved to poo-poo my sanely-portioned spaghetti marinara, lettuce-and-tomato sammiches, baked potatoes with fat-free margerine, sea salt and chives, and Subway crammed with every veggie known to man because "it has carbs." And they loved to tell me that my martial arts training was not the key to weight loss because I wasn't on some kind of fad diet.

I'm 6'4 and a little more and maybe 250lbs, so I'm pretty big, but I carry it very well. Except for being a smoker with a bum hip, I'm in terrific health, and, aside from my height, most people have no idea I'm as big as I realy am.

But, about a year ago, I started visibly getting fat. My belly began to jiggle obscenely and I had to poke another hole in my belt. :( I believe I got up to 275 or so, maybe a little more. As big as I am, I had plenty of room to pack on weight, but for some strange reason, the skin on my belly got the most disgusting stretch marks all at once and I recoiled in utter horror.

Me, superfly muthafucka with the big dick and the magick fingers? With stretch marks? No. That was the end of me as a moderately fat guy.

I stopped drinking cokes and switched to lightly-sweetened iced tea when I sat around on the computer, in the car, or watched the tube. In about a week, I began to feel better, and in two, I had begun losing weight. Alot of it. With very little activity on my part aside from stretching and the occasional round of sit-ups, as this was dead of winter, and with my hip locked up from the cold, I sat on the computer. Yet, with the sugar and nasty shit in the cokes I was constantly drinking gone, I continued to shed pounds and feel much better.

With spring my wife and I began walking in preperation for the birth of our sun, and the weight continued to fall off of me until I am once again a sexy devil. Since, we had the baby and the walking stopped, but with my normal activity and the fact that I very rarely drink cokes {Or 'soda' of any kind, for the uneducated} anymore, I've kept a more or less steady weight. And that with a very generous weekly grog-ration of Budweiser and Guinness.

Summary: Soda is bad. Throw that shit out the window and drink some nice ice water.

Sorry to ramble on with little to no point, but I'm bored as shit. Enjoy.

All fad diets are bs.

You want to lose weight? Burn more calories than you take in. Simple.

:p

smart people. I love it.

My mom is big on trying every freaking diet fad around, she brought home these pills the other day "they are all natural so they are fine right?"

when I explained that dog shit and arsenic are also "all natural" she got this confused look on her face
Show her the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

"I can say Rat Shit, but you won't see me eating that either."

Which shocks me. They spend all that time counting up carbs and worrying over it, when those fifteen-twenty minutes a day could be spent jogging, swimming, or playing basketball with the homeless guy that lurks around the park, who is, by the way, very fit.

Awhile back I read an article about the increasing obesity problem, and the writer's explanation was an increase in available foods and a growing tendency for people to sit behind a desk all day on the phone or computer, never working their asses at all, aside from the walk from the car to the elevator. The main point of his article was that mankind still hasn't become accustomed to food and delicious things being so plentiful.

It's instinct to stuff ourselves with whatever is handy, because our body knows, even if we don't, that the best place to store food against famine is in your fat ass. For hundreds of thousands of years, man's next meal was a doubtful occurance, and it was easier to get through the hungry times if you had been fed well through the times of plenty and were properly plumped, once winter rolled around. So, you gorged when you could, and cooked your moccasins when grub got scarce.

Today, people just gorge all the time. and with such bounty available that is no longer a good thing.

/derail

Atkins is BS. Eat more greens and play more ball.

What our hospital Dietican said was that most people learned their dietary habits using the old food pyramid. made at a time where people were more active. thus their diet is actuallly correct, but the amount of time we spend doing active... activities, went down. Thus the Food Pyramid was redone.

My only in America joke series...

... do we order a bacon double cheese burger, Large fries and an extra large DIET soda.

... do we take the elevator down from our garage, to hop in our car. Drive 6 blocks and park it in a nice sheltered garage, then take another elevator up to the gym to work out on a "stairmaster".