my camera hasn’t been out of the bag in weeks. i’m not sure what’s going on, but i just can’t seem to get excited about making pictures. everything lately has been crap and i haven’t gone anywhere new to inspire me. i’m trying desperately to not un-convince myself that buying a new camera (this or this, i haven’t decided yet) is the answer to my creative block. i realize throwing money at it isn’t going evaporate my funk, but i really would love to have a shiny new camera to play with.
last night, instead of doing my homework, i exercised. that’s a good trade, right? considering i was close to spending the entire evening sacked out on the futon, rotting my brain. it’s nights like that which convince me i really need to cancel my cable.
so, low-carb/atkins/south beach/zone diets are all over the place. you can’t throw a bagel in any direction without hitting something that says “net carbs” or “atkins friendly”. i used to get so upset at people who would preach about the evil of carbs or disgusted at those who would gorge on greasy protein foods without regard for their arteries. then those big red “A”s started showing up in my grocery fliers and in restaurant menus. i wanted to scream “carbs aren’t bad for you, dammit!” each time i saw one.
then i realized, this is just like the low-fat fad in the 90’s. susan powter and the other fat-is-bad advocates got people all riled up and suddenly everything and anything was proclaimed to be low-fat and therefore good for you to eat. snackwell’s, baked lays, low-fat ice cream, low-fat milk, low-fat butter, low-fat oil. you get the idea, but how many of you are willing to give up your aspertame-sweetened products now? i know i’m not!
times haven’t really changed either. people are still getting swept up in the “fad” and not really learning anything about proper nutrition. in the low-fat days, people stopped eating full-fat versions of foods and substituted the lower-fat, but higher in sugar and other crap, versions. usually eating MORE of them because, hey! they’re low-fat! they must be good for me! they disregarded the fact that the food manufacturers just substituted the fat for more chemicals to mimic the mouth-feel of fat. yeah, it had fewer calories per servings, but i don’t think anyone can say it was any better for you.
today, people are eating anything and everything that says low-carb or atkins friendly without any concern for their total caloric intake. no matter how you slice it, any of those carb-conscious plans are calorie restrictive and that’s how you lose weight. if you eat too many eggs fried in butter with your liver tartare you’re not going to lose. have you seen those atkins advantage bars? they’re equivalent to 5 weight watchers points and have absolutely no dietary fibre! no wonder people on atkins are constipated and cranky.
don’t even get me started about all the atkins-recommended supplements, either.
my complaint is, and always has been, that people just take everything at face value. they don’t seem to understand that there’s a HUGE difference between the carbs in brown rice and the carbs in a donut or the carbs in broccoli and the carbs in candied yams. just like there’s no point in eating twice as many low-fat cookies because they may have less fat, but they have just as many calories.
hey, i’m not saying i wasn’t a victim of the same mentality, or that i still don’t justify a binge because the crap i’m stuffing into my face is “healthier” than the alternative; but, at the very least, i KNOW i’m fooling myself and have very few misconceptions about what my body actually needs to reach a healthy weight and repair the damage i’ve done to it over its lifetime.
too much of anything (carbs, fat or protein) is what makes you fat. eliminating an entire building block of nutrition can’t be good for you. moderation and variety (thanks mercy), although boring and slow, is the only real way to eat healthfully.
I think there is a big misconception about the Atkins diet as well. It by no means wants you to completely cut out your carb intake. Many people misconstrue this diet because of the two week induction phase. During this phase, you ARE urged to cut your carb count to 20 grams a day. When you cut down on your intake of carbohydrates, your body converts from burning carbohydrate to burning fat as the primary energy source. After this induction, carbs are reintroduced and even necessary. You make a good point, that many people don’t know about the “HUGE difference between the carbs in brown rice and the carbs in a donut or the carbs in broccoli and the carbs in candied yams.” Knowing the difference and practicing healthy eating make this diet work. I have tried Weight Watchers and it is a great program, but not superior by any means. If I remember correctly, I was encouraged to take dietary supplements while on the Weight Watchers ‘way of life’ too.
Don’t knock this diet too much. It does work (and even in a health conscious way) if you learn the best way to use this tool. I have been really successful on the Atkins diet so far (20 lbs) and all without being constipated or cranky.
I have been following your weight loss journey as well and would like to congratulate you on your success. You have a great attitude about it all and I know you will reach your goal. Your hard work is paying off.
Moderation and VARIETY. Different things in each food group, lots of colors, etc.
I personally feel that people are lazy when it comes to educating themselves about what they put in their bodies. I’ll say that again: ABOUT WHAT THEY PUT IN THEIR BODIES. I don’t understand that. You are providing your own sustanance; LEARN ABOUT IT, DAMNIT!
Instead, I see a disturbing trend similar to the news here in Bush-land, whereby the most popular sources get the best coverage/press, and people believe exactly what they are told. Nevermind finding alternate sources of information or questioning the source. Any diet fad is going to tell you what you want to hear: a nicely-packaged group of small, easy-to-remember rules about how to lose weight. Something ANYone can follow, right? Don’t do this, this, or that, period; results to follow. Sign me up. (barf)
No one reads “The Joy of Cooking” anymore, which I find to be not only a good source of recipes, but an excellent reference to what each vegatable, fruit, meat, and grain looks like, where it’s grown, how it grows, what it’s used for, and nutritional contents. It’s too much work apparantly.
It’s also apparantly too much work to listen the unique sound of your body. Find out what your body needs, craves, responds to. Tell others to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut; your own priority should be you, not society’s ideal of you. Not all programs work for everyone; how many people fall into depression and develop image-related issues because of this?
Heather, you got ME started! :-) Anyway, it’s at once a complicated and yet simple thing. I feel pretty passionate about it.
amen!
double amen!
Make it a triple. I think it’s all about moderation. Look how long it took you to put on the weight. Why should it take less time to take it off? It’s got to be a lifestyle change.
I’m apologize for this one, it’s long. It IS interesting and very apropos.
Going Beyond Atkins
There’s No Question That Carbs Can Make You Fat. But Are Bunless Burgers the Best Alternative?
By Walter C. Willett, M.D., and Patrick J. Skerrett
Newsweek
Tuesday, January 13, 2004; 1:25 PM
A middle-aged man, tired of being fat and having trouble losing weight, happens on a low-carbohydrate diet. He tries it for a few months and watches happily as the pounds slip away without the gnawing hunger and cravings that other diets have caused him. He writes a book that is a huge hit with the public, even though the medical establishment scorns it. The book is William Banting’s “Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public.” It was published in London in 1863.
Imagine Banting’s delight if he could listen in on a 21st-century cocktail party. We’re still duly obsessed with our corpulence. And thanks to Dr. Robert Atkins, the cantankerous cardiologist who revived Banting’s theories in the 1970s, most people now assume that carbohydrates are part of the problem. We don’t “diet” anymore. We “go on Atkins,” trusting that bunless burgers will do for us what fat-free doughnuts never did. Our faith is not entirely misguided. It’s now clear that carb-rich foods can inflate appetite and foster type 2 diabetes, and that low-carb diets –promote short-term weight loss. But healthy eating is not quite as simple, or as boring, as living on fat and protein. The truth is, you can have your carbs and eat them, too. You just have to know how to choose them.
When Atkins came out against bread, potatoes and pasta 30 years ago, mainstream nutritionists dismissed him as a crank. Fat was the demon of the day, and carbohydrates were seen as their exorcist. That’s still true today, at least according to the poorly built USDA Food Guide Pyramid. But many experts now believe that Atkins was at least half right in condemning carbohydrates. Last year five well-designed clinical trials indicated that low-carbohydrate diets were as good as low-fat diets–and in most cases better–for helping very overweight people shed pounds quickly. Study participants stuck better with low-carb diets than with low-fat diets. And though low-carb dieters increased their fat intake, they didn’t suffer harmful changes in blood cholesterol. They enjoyed reductions in LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides (fat-carrying particles associated with heart disease), and increases in HDL (good) cholesterol.
Granted, short-term weight loss is not the best measure of a diet’s ultimate value. There is still no clear evidence that Atkins-style diets are better than any others for helping people stay slim, and their broader health effects are still unknown. Will moderately overweight people enjoy the same improvements in triglyceride and HDL levels as the obese study participants? Could the abundant protein in an Atkins-style diet cause kidney damage or bone loss over time? These important questions deserve answers. But the case against carbs doesn’t rest entirely on weight-loss trials. Other recent research shows that certain carb-rich foods can cause extreme surges in blood sugar and insulin surges that contribute to weight gain and increase your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
The Atkins diet, in its cruder variants, assumes that any food rich in carbohydrates will trigger this toxic cascade. But carbs differ greatly in their potential to do this. The key variable is the glycemic index, a ranking of foods according to how rapidly their sugars are released into the bloodstream. The body converts all digestible carbohydrates into glucose, the sugar that our cells use as fuel. When glucose molecules pass from the gut into the bloodstream, the pancreas releases insulin, a hormone that activates cells to absorb it. Muscle, fat and other cells then sponge the excess glucose from the blood, and insulin levels return to normal. The concept of a glycemic index emerged in the 1990s, when researchers at the University of Toronto showed that some foods (cornflakes or potatoes, for example) raised blood sugar faster and higher than others (oatmeal or brown rice), placing greater demands on the insulin system. That discovery led to an even more useful measurement called glycemic load, developed by a team from the Harvard School of Public Health. It takes into consideration both a food’s glycemic index and how much carbohydrate the food delivers in a single serving. Most fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains have low glycemic loads: their sugars enter the bloodstream gradually, triggering only a moderate rise in insulin. But when fruits are squeezed into juices, or grains are pulverized into fine flour, they become the equivalent of sugar water.
After a snack or meal with a high glycemic load, blood-sugar levels rise higher and faster than after a meal with a low load. The insulin needed to stuff all that sugar into muscle and fat cells also blunts the activity of glucagon, a hormone that signals the body to burn stored fuel when blood-sugar levels fall below a certain point. Glucose levels plummet as a result, leaving the brain and other tissues starved for energy. Concentration flags, muscles –get shaky and the body perceives an emergency. In search of a quick fix, the gut and brain send out hunger signals long before it’s time for another meal. And if you respond to these signals by downing another high-glycemic snack, the cycle repeats itself. The fluctuating sugar levels and elevated insulin levels lead to excessive snacking–and calories.
Foods with a high glycemic load pose another problem for a growing number of Americans. The tissues of people who are overweight or physically inactive resist insulin’s signal to pull in glucose from the blood–a condition known as insulin resistance. This keeps blood sugar at high levels for prolonged periods. It also forces the pancreas to produce extra insulin in order to jam glucose into cells. Overworked insulin-making cells can wear out and cease production, leading ultimately to diabetes.
The good news is that you needn’t swear off carbohydrates to avoid these problems. The trick is to choose foods with low glycemic loads. As you can see from the table at health.harvard.edu/NEWSWEEK, a serving of orange juice has nearly three times the glycemic load (13) of an orange (5), and a serving of cornflakes carries five times the load (21) of a serving of All-Bran (4). Whether you’re shopping, cooking or ordering out, it’s wise to focus on foods that fall into the low teens and below, and to save those at the high end for the occasional snack or meal. But you don’t have to carry a food chart to eat wisely. Here are some rules of thumb for choosing the best carbs:
EAT PLANTS. Eaten whole, most fruits and vegetables have a modest effect on blood sugar and insulin. They also deliver fiber and other healthful nutrients. Starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn have high glycemic loads, so use them sparingly. And don’t count fruit juices as fruit servings. Most fruit juices contain too little fruit, too much sugar and too many empty calories.
BANK ON BEANS. They’re an excellent source of protein. They’re rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients. And they generally have a small effect on blood sugar and insulin.
GO NUTS. Almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios and walnuts are great low-carbohydrate alternatives to crackers, chips or pretzels made with refined flour. Walnuts also have heart-healthy omega-3 fats. Keep in mind that at 185 calories an ounce, eating a handful of walnuts a day without cutting back on anything else could make you gain 10 pounds or more during the course of a year.
CHOOSE THE BEST FATS. Fats tend to slow the passage of food from the stomach to the intestine. So eating good fats with a carbohydrate–olive oil with bread, for example–can curb increases in blood sugar. Good fats are unsaturated fats, such as those found in vegetable oils (olive, canola, peanut, corn, soybean), fatty fish, nuts and avocados.
SWITCH TO WHOLE GRAINS. Until the 19th century, humans ate grains either whole or roughly ground. In this form, grains offer a carbohydrate package rich in fiber, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, plant enzymes and hundreds of other nutrients. Today’s refined grains–white bread, white rice and many breakfast cereals–have a higher glycemic load. Fortunately, whole grains are making a comeback. There are at least a dozen options, from brown rice and cracked wheat to quinoa and spelt. Make a habit of starting the day with a bowl of whole-grain cereal. If you’re partial to hot cereals, try old-fashioned or steel-cut oats or Kashi. Quick and instant oatmeals are also fine, but they have higher glycemic loads. If you’d rather have cold cereal, the less glycemic ones include Wheaties, Great Grains, Wheat Chex and Grape-Nuts. And don’t give up on pasta. Whole-wheat pasta is now more widely available. If you don’t like the texture, try one that is half whole-wheat flour and half white flour.
Can you eat all these carbs and still lose –weight? Consider a recent study of overweight teens at Children’s Hospital in Boston. One group was assigned to an all-you-can-eat diet that emphasized fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and reduced carbohydrates to about 45 percent of total calories. The other group got the traditional advice for overweight people. Instead of reducing glycemic loads, participants were encouraged to limit overall food intake and reduce fat, so that carbohydrates supplied between 55 percent and 60 percent of calories. The teens on the first diet lost more weight and body fat–and stayed slimmer–than those on the second. But weight control is only one benefit of eating the right carbs. Several large, long-term studies suggest that people who eat two to three servings of whole grains a day are less likely to develop heart disease, diabetes and digestive problems such as diverticulitis and constipation.
Robert Atkins deserves credit for publicizing the perils of refined carbohydrates, but the centerpiece of the original Atkins diet–eating unlimited amounts of beef, sausage, butter and cheese–is a bad idea. Although such a diet may be good for short-term weight loss, it’s not a prescription for optimal health. A diet that includes fish, poultry, beans, nuts, fruits and vegetables, whole grains and vegetable oils can work for weight control even as it reduces the risks of heart disease, diabetes and several cancers. In other words, it can bring you greater benefits than any medicine yet invented. It tastes better, too.
Willett and Skerrett are the authors of “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy,” published by Simon & Schuster Source. For more information, go to health.harvard.edu/NEWSWEEK.
stands up and cheers for ya after being floored by the fact that these Atkins low carb things were still SO friggin high in calories. gotta reduce to reduce. heh heh, i’m so sleepy that actually sounded cool.
i’m off to count my points!
i have that book “eat, drink and be healthy.” it’s totally worth a read. it seems to be the most common sense approach to eating that i’ve encountered in a long time.
wow, that was long. i guess there’s no size limits on these things. gotta look into that. ;)
i do find it interesting how much people have to say on this subject though.