Low Carb Anyone?

sigmagrrl · #1 04-21-2003, 03:41 PM

Is anyone else here on a low carb food plan? I know they aren't the easiest to follow, but I've found some REALLY great products that taste just as good and are just as (and sometimes more) filling as the regular foods. Anyone else an Atkins/Zone follower?

shopgirl · #2 04-21-2003, 04:00 PM

How many carbs are you allowed to have on a low carb diet?

SATX*APhi · #3 04-21-2003, 04:04 PM

I started the Atkins diet a week ago. During that first week, not even 10 minutes after I ate lunch/dinner, my body was hungry, but I had just eaten and knew I wasn't hungry. (if you can understand that) I'm guess it was my body wanting sugars I had eliminated from my diet. It was a weird feeling.

But anyway, yep, I'm on the Atkins. I've never dieted before, but working 70 hrs a week has left me no time to watch what I eat. I needed to do something.

AlphaGamDiva · #4 04-21-2003, 04:14 PM

i think you can have, like, 20-22 grams of carbs per day. i did atkins for a minute, and i lost 8 lbs the first week. it was the BEST thing ever!!!! it wasn't that hard for me to stick with, but every now and then you just want a sandwich. i ate all the meat and cheese stuff that i wanted, drank LOTS of water...for my carbs i ate small portions of green veggies. but if you're hungry....eat. that's the beauty of this diet....you can have as much protein as you want. two of my guys friends were on this and i'm not kidding lost 17lbs in two wks....each!!!! it was ridiculous. i lost about 12 in two wks....but my 2nd week i wasn't as good with the water thing, so i think that had something to do with it. take a multi-vitamin with it, too...but read the label on it.

it's a good program for quick weight-loss, but not for the long term....you gradually have to put carbs back into your system....just not in the form of a billion grams of carbs. i liked this diet (as i sit here and munch on jelly beans.....

) b/c it seems like everything else you do takes forever to see results.

good luck!---sigmagrrl, what foods are you talking about? thinking about starting it up again......

Shine · #5 04-21-2003, 04:19 PM

Those diets are so bad for you.

The best diet for EVERYONE is a diet that matches equal parts carbs and protein.

But to each their own, I guess.

KSigkid · #6 04-22-2003, 08:12 AM

I'm not a huge fan of those diets. I don't eat a TON of carbs anyways, but most of the carbs i get are from stuff like fruit, wheat bread, stuff like that - not exactly bad carbs.

I just watch what I eat, excercise as much as I can, and I've been able to keep my weight at a good level.

Collin

sigmagrrl · #7 04-22-2003, 09:03 AM

So far, I've found the best bread to be the Atkins Country white.

*warning: this is a biit graphic*

Because of my surgery, I don't absorb protein and fat, so I can eat all I want and still lose weight, but carbs have always been my downfall. When I eat them, w/in 1-2 hours, I'm in the bathroom. All night long, I'm gassy and bloated, and within hours of waking up, I'm back in the bathroom. It was getting to be dire and too frequent. I was eating too many carbs.

So, I tried the bread last night! It was very tasty! I had it toasted with cream cheese (1g of carbs), with bacon and eggs (basically1-3 carbs). Total for dinner was 11 carbs! I'm allowed 30 per day.

We also found these brownies that are DELICIOUS! Now, for me to say this, they have to be damm good b/c I am a dessert afficianado and expert: I know my baked goods. They come in 5 flavors: Dark Chocolate, Classic Chocolate, Coconut, Raspberry, and Cherry Cordial (my fave)!

I'm going to stick with this, purely out of the need for comfort and also to see what sort of weight loss I yield. I've plateau'd again, despite the 3 hrs per day of exercise I was up to!!!!

valkyrie · #8 04-22-2003, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Shine
Those diets are so bad for you.

I agree. Sure, you may lose weight now, but I bet in a few years many people on these "high protein" diets are going to be having heart attacks left and right.

James · #9 04-22-2003, 11:46 AM

They just did a head to head study with two groups. One was on the Atkins diet and the other was on a standard diet.

The atkins group lost more body fat and their health indicators improved. The group on the conventional diet actually had their health indicators get worse.

Quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie
I agree. Sure, you may lose weight now, but I bet in a few years many people on these "high protein" diets are going to be having heart attacks left and right.

James · #10 04-22-2003, 11:50 AM

I am not sure this is a belief system argument. ITs been pretty well established that a lot of procesed carbs are bad for you.

Its also been pretty wel establishe that the glycemic index of foods have a lot to do with the way your body puts out insulin. Which in turn has alot to do with your general health ad weight.

The "Atkins" diet, which was around many years before him, is initially a very low carb diet that can either stay that way, or can gradually evolve into a low glycemc diet. For example, a red potato is better for you than a white one. A white potato has the same glycemc number as table sugar.

valkyrie · #11 04-22-2003, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by James
They just did a head to head study with two groups. One was on the Atkins diet and the other was on a standard diet.

The atkins group lost more body fat and their health indicators improved. The group on the conventional diet actually had their health indicators get worse.

Over how much time was the study conducted? Months? Years?

I'm saying that 20 or 30 years down the road is when we're going to see problems.

valkyrie · #12 04-22-2003, 11:55 AM

I agree that processed carbs are bad. However, I think it's not wise to elimintate ALL carbs -- like complex carbs.

Granted, I've never really learned about these high protein diets because it's not something that interests me. However, I've heard people talking about how they won't eat FRUIT because of carbs. IMHO, that's just sheer stupidity. These same people say they can eat as much meat and fat as they want...and I think that's stupid, and not just because I'm a vegetarian.

Where will these people be in 30 years?

tcsparky · #13 04-22-2003, 12:04 PM

I agree, no-carbs is not healthy. Atkins, Carb-Addicts, and others ARE NOT NO-CARB PLANS. They are low-carb plans.

I have been on the Carbohydrate Addict's Lifespan Plan for a year now, have lost 25 pounds, and have kept it off. My blood work comes back MEGA improved. I have lost the cravings for sugary foods, no longer eat out of control, can make it from one meal to the next without feeling that I am starving, no longer need a nap or a snack halfway through the afternoon.......And I continue my normal exercise plan, without having to exercise like a fiend.

My problem is that I make too much insulin, so any time I ate a high glycemic food (dessert, fruit, white bread, pasta, potato) my insulin would skyrocket and remove all blood sugar from my blood, leaving me feel as if I had not eaten in days. I would then be cranky, tired, and shaky. One doctor said these were the symptoms of being hypoglycemic. Following the eating plan as if I were hypoglycemic made things worse. My current doctor said, "Let's find out what is causing this to happen instead of treating only the symptoms." He found the last clue in my mother. She became a Type II diabetic after years of feeling jsut like me. She made too much insulin for years, became resistant to it, and now has diabetes. He suggested a low-glycemic diet similar to what diabetics use. If I keep the insulin from going out of control, I can hopefully avoid becoming diabetic. After looking at all of the available eating plans out there, I started the CALP.

I eat a lot of carbs (but only during one meal a day) and NEVER EVER COUNT CARBS. It's easy for me, works great, and I can stay on it forever. And there are no health risks involved with lowering the levels of processed sugars, flours, and other high-glycemic foods. These can easily be substituted with low-glycemic, healthy foods.

CALP is NOT A HIGH-PROTEIN DIET. It is low-carb (NOT NO-CARB).
I did not raise the amount of proteins I ate, I simply substituted low-glycemic foods for high-glycemic foods that I normally ate.

Sorry so long.

James · #14 04-22-2003, 12:32 PM

Well . . . let me ask for a suspension of disbelief and leave you with two thoughts and a correction.

One of the reasons that lower carb diets were initially investigaged was because certain cultures that ate low carb diets didn't have a lot of the common health problems that we find to be common.

So in that case we have low carb diets being followed for generations without apparent harm.

The second thing I would like you to consider is the use of a low carb or "ketogenic" diet to treat epileptic children.

These children aren't put on just a low carb diet. They are put on an extremely restricted low carb diet. Even their water intake is kept lower because they need to keep circulating ketones high.

Ketones are fractured fat bodies that your body makes for energy as it adapts to less carbs.

These children are kept in deep ketosis for years to control their seizures. Much deeper than you or I would be in ketosis.

No harmful side-effects reported and children are even more suscpetible than adults to damage.

Oh, there isa misconception that the atkins diet is a high protein diet. It really isn't. The fundamental point of the atkins program is to substitute fat calories for carbohydrate calories.

SATX*APhi · #15 04-22-2003, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by James
They just did a head to head study with two groups. One was on the Atkins diet and the other was on a standard diet.

The atkins group lost more body fat and their health indicators improved. The group on the conventional diet actually had their health indicators get worse.

Yeah, I was about to say that. I read an article about it, but I can't seem to find it.