Weigh In: America and Weight

[lovelyivy84]

1. Atkins gets a really bad rap. There haven't been enough studies showing the long term effects in people who follow the diet PROPERLY (and don't just stop eating carbs). Folks who do it properly can eat healthy carbs like veggies (maybe not fruit), they just cut out high starch high cartb foods that if we're honest, NOBODY needs. People are generally scared off by induction, or take that to be representative of the entire diet and that's just not true.

2. Studies are showing, and people who lose a lot of weight seem to be responding to the idea that six meals a day makes it easier to lose weight. It's kind of a way of life, once you start it you will always eat smaller meals. You're never huingry so you "binge" less (emotional eaters exempt, because that's a case when it doesn't matter that you're not hungry)

3. Fructose is evil, and it's everywhere. It used to be recommended to diabetics because it didn't cause a spike in your blood sugar level, but more current studies show that your body does not process it as a regular carbohydrate and use it to replenish glycogen stores in general, instead it replenishes only glycogen stores in the liver. The rest goes straight to fat storage. Some health professionals who sell diet plans (Scott Connelly) link the increase in fructose use in food preparation to the increase in obesity in Americans. Try to go a day without eating eat, look for fructose in your foods. You will be surprised at how much is in food items- it's in bread for Pete's sake!

4. I tend to think that most diet plans will work to some extent for different people simply because it forces them to pay attention to every bit of food they put in their mouths. Of course I am still firmly committed to a high protein, high-fiber diet for KEEPING weight off, but if it's just about losing body WEIGHT and not FAT almost any program that calls attention to food intake will work. Calories in < calories expended.