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satans_mom
Skeptic Friend
USA
148 Posts |
 Posted - 06/24/2004 : 21:03:42
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I read an article in Skeptic Magazine today titled, "The Skinny on Fat," and despite it's sometime's difficult-to-understand scientific evidence, the informative article revealed the many fallacies behind this rather ridiculous fad diet.
What I'd like to know is, is anyone in this site on the Atkins diet? How do you feel, how much weight have you lost?
I'd like to state what I first thought about the diet when I became aware of it. A diet limited to fat doesn't seem like a common sense diet. A diet consisting of meat and an occasional salad or all the choices of foods produced by the now booming Atkins Corporation low in carbohydrates doesn't seem like a very valid diet at all! For one thing, no matter what you eat, to lose weight, one MUST expend more energy than the amount consumed, regardless of how that energy has come about. If a person eats bacon and eggs in the morning, a ribeye for lunch, and a t-bone wrapped in bacon for dinner, and sits, immobile, watching prime-time TV (this is the typical envision I have of an American on Atkins diet-- I know it's broad and stereotypical but I KNOW at least a few million fit this description), if that person lost any weight, the weight will come raging back sooner than hoped for.
The reason why (and please pardon my lack of scientific description, I've always been a literature/grammar/reading person in school myself) people on that Atkins diet lose weight is because of the dramatic difference their body is having to adjust to. Burning fat instead of carbohydrates only regulates certain systems or organs as normal (I believe the heart relied on the certain metabolites produced during the process of converting fat to "fuel," however this is not certain--if you'd like to know the whole process, check out the article) but red blood cells and the brain rely mostly on carbohydrate conversion within the body. If taken away, the body will adjust to feed the red blood cells and the brain, but as a result of the rather slow process, weight loss in caused. However, once the body has stabilized, normal, pre-diet weight will return.
All in all, if a person wants to lose weight and keep it off, the "secret to success" is simply burning more energy than that which is consumed. Simply regulate what is put into the body! Watch for saturated fat, sugars, calories, and convenience foods that offer no nutrition. A diet of regular exercise (even if only a 30-minute walk a day) will provide "miracle solutions" to health and weight concerns. Drink plenty of water! Water, for one, when drank normally, clarifies the difference between thirst and hunger, a difference most Americans do not recognize, therefore, diminishes many cravings for food that is not needed.
Americans are always looking for the easy way out when it comes to dieting. Fad diet books have been around for decades, yet our obesity rates keep climbing... seems to me the evidence speaks for itself, good diet and regular exercise is actually the only miracle cure. that or just giving up and accepting the body as it is (psssh... the possibility in that seems nonexistant).
Moved to the Health Folder - Dave W.
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Yo mama's so fat, she's on both sides of the family.
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2004 : 21:59:50 [Permalink]
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quote:
What I'd like to know is, is anyone in this site on the Atkins diet? How do you feel, how much weight have you lost?
The Atkins diet can be very effective for fat loss. It has some risks associated with it... and it's not sustainable over time.
The biggest issue I see with Atkins is the fact that nobody is willing to live without carbohydrates for extended time periods. Yes, people can exert their will for a few months and drop fat... but when they get some fat off.... boom, carb-time! Fat goes back on. Once you stop following the Atkins plan, unless you make other signifigant lifestyle changes, you end up right back where you started.
I think the best way for people to stay healthy is a diet balanced between carb/protien/fat, with limited use of saturated fat,with calories equal to your demand, and a solid excercise program. There are so many of these out there, but people always want the "quick" fix... so Atkins type diets attrack people to them. |
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2004 : 10:42:44 [Permalink]
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There are still only three ways to lose weight. Eat less calories than you have been, or exercise more, or best yet, do both.
It's still best to do that with as balanced a diet as possible. Fewer carbs in the form of refined starches and sugars is good, but lots of vegetables and fruits. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2004 : 10:56:23 [Permalink]
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A friend of mine followed the Atkins diet for a short period of time. I don't know if she lost weight, but she told me that she felt less energetic during that time. This is why she stopped.
I agree with you guys on the diet issues. The atkins diet is shown to have a short lasting effect, so it is only a temporary solution. Wanna lose weight? Change your life style! (are there plans of government funding of vegetables and fruit? That might help a lot) |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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