This is an adjunct to my article on the Arclein Dietwhich I posted one before. Anunemphasized assumption to that diet was a low carbohydrate intake. This article reminds us just how importantcarbs are too outright obesity.
This suggests a modification to our diet for folks whoare suffering obesity and are scaling way over the 125% of weight optimum.
As an example, an ordinary three squares a day withlittle carbs will take a natural person weighing 180 pounds up to a stable 225pounds. All weight over that level isarguably been supported by the carbohydrate intake of your diet. Eliminating the carbs should allow yourweight to drop back to the 225 level while never going hungry or yet fasting.
For most individuals, the first task is to eliminatecarbohydrates as much as possible from your diet. The writer here points out that in hisexperience, even a little bit of indulgence triggers a reaction. It all means, no sweets at all, no bread, norice, no grains, no beer, and so on. Meals become eggs, meat, fish and ample veggies, particularly as one istrying to bring oneself back to the 225 mark of the example.
If this sounds a lot like the Atkins diet or theHerbalife approach, you are right.
As an aside, the Atkins book is an excellent study of theunderlying science of his approach. Hisconclusions were always attacked in ignorance but no one ever made any headwayagainst the science. Quite rightly, thecritics knew few could properly read and understand the science and reach theirown conclusions. Thus they simplypromoted outright ignorance to gain their own ends. This is unfortunately the pathway for many socalled controversies.
If you are morbidly obese, get bulk from vegetable andeat plenty of protein. I would eat a lotof sardines because of their nutrient load, others like salmon. Tofu works as any fresh meat and fish. Eggs also work well of course. My point is that it is not too difficult toget a protein of choice even if it is loaded with transfats and the like.
The initial problem is to quit eating bread and potatoesin particular. Thus there is littlepoint learning how to fast until you have licked that problem.
For the obese individual, there is two phases in asuccessful diet. The first is to stopeating carbs and through that lower ones weight to the 125% level. One can practice fasts along the way and onecan perhaps add modest amounts of whole grains depending on the impact on themonthly weight loss. At least one willbe planning proper carbs in the diet which will be handy once one enters thelast phase.
In the last phase, one is fasting for twenty four hoursevery second day for three full days. Good quality carbs will be welcome at that point and are good to go.
However, when one is first breaking with a carb intakesupporting obesity, I suspect it is best to initially try cold turkey todiscover what your body is able to do before you add any back in.
Scientists saycarbs—not fat—are the biggest problem with America
BY Ed Bruske
21 DEC 2010 10:13 AM
Just in time for the holiday-season blizzard of baked goods comes thenews that carbohydrates -- not fat -- are more likely to be responsible forobesity, diabetes, heart disease, and the other ills of moderncivilization.
The Los Angeles Times hasa detailed report on the growing body of scientificevidence that until now has been treated as nutritional poison: Fat is good,carbs are bad.
"The country’s big low-fat message backfired," Dr. Frank Hu,professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School America
Remember Robert Atkins? He's the guywho was nearly drummed out of the medical profession for proposing thatthe way to get slim and stay healthy was to eat lots of meat and fat, andabstain from bread and potatoes.
The Atkins diet struck many as pure craziness.But study after study has shown Atkins more right than wrong.Carbohydrates -- meaning plant-derived foods -- have beendirectly linked with elevated triglycerides (fat) in the blood;suppression of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol; increased productionof low-density lipoproteins (LDL) that damage arteries; weight gain andhigh blood pressure.
Eating carbs triggers insulin, the fat storagehormone. Over-consumption can lead to insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2diabetes.
Put all of these carb-related problems together and you have whatmedical researchers dub "metabolicsyndrome." According to the Times, 25 percent of Americans now exhibit at least three of themajor symptoms of the syndrome, which include elevated triglycerides, low HDLcholesterol, fat bellies, and high blood pressure.
Now, oversimplification runs both ways. Not all fat is"good": the fat from feedlot beef and factory-farm pork and chicken,which are fed loads of carbohydrates, has a different nutritional profile,higher in heart-disease-linked Omega-6 fatty acids, than those that eat theirnatural diets and forage on pasture, which are rich in Omega-3s. (The Eat Wildwebsite collects the scientific literature on thedifferences.) And not all carbs are "bad": complex carbohydrates fromwhole-plant-based foods cause less of a spike in blood sugar than do refinedcarbohydrates, i.e. processed foods.
Says Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of thedepartment of nutrition at the Harvard School
I should know: I've lost a ton of weight in mymiddle age and turned my cholesterol readings around by giving up carbs andembracing a diet heavy in pastured meat, eggs, and cheese. I still enjoy saladsand green vegetables out of our garden. But I blow up like a balloon if Itry even a little dessert. I can't eat bread. Beer is strictly taboo.
I know it sounds looney, but fat keeps me slim-- or what passes for slim in my universe.
Turns out the only two macro-nutrientsessential for human survival are protein and fat. Carbs in the form ofgrains and sugar are a very recent innovation in evolutionary terms, yetAmericans may be consuming twice as much of them as they should, thanks in partto decades of medical advice and food marketing urging us to cut back onfat.
Meanwhile, a growing movement says weshould abstain from meat to save the environment. Does this latest science notcreate a real dilemma for those advocating a more plant-based diet? What doesit mean for our Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which place carbohydrates atthe foundation of healthful eating? And what about the orange juice, chocolatemilk, and sugary cereals that most schools feed kids for breakfast everymorning?
The L.A.
I predict that in 2011, the nutritious-dietwars will shift to implicate spelt and lentils.
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