A Low-Carb Diet Works—If It Suits You
Picking a diet because it worked for your friend (or a celebrity) always seemed to me like borrowing their clothes: Unless the two of you are built very similarly, it's not going to work out well. So the recognition—in the New England Journal of Medicine, no less!—that individual preferences should be taken into account when planning a weight-loss program is a welcome one. After all, you can lose weight following pretty much every diet on the bookstore shelf. The problem is that unless the diet fits your lifestyle, you're not likely to stick to it for the long term, and the weight will creep back on. "You want a diet you can live with," says Meir Stampfer, senior author of the diet study in the NEJM and associate director of Brigham and Women's Hospital's Channing Laboratory in Boston.
The study, out this week, found that among moderately obese people in Israel, mostly men, the Mediterranean diet (which emphasizes fish, sources of "good" fat like olive oil and nuts, veggies, and whole grains) and the low-carb Atkins diet actually outperformed a low-fat diet (no more than 30 percent of daily calories from fat) at promoting weight loss over a two-year period. And, the three diets produced similar improvements in things like liver function and indicators of cardiovascular health, which have been a concern for the Atkins diet. So all of the eating plans look like viable options from both a weight-loss and health standpoint, the authors say.
The less-than-great news is that none of the diets produced huge weight loss: Among the more than 300 people in the study, those assigned to the low-fat group lost the least, about 6.4 pounds, while the Mediterranean diet group lost an average of 9.7 pounds and the low-carbers lost 10.4 pounds. And this was from a starting weight of about 200 pounds. (The findings are similar to those of a study published last year that compared a low-carb plan with three other diets strategies.) Given that the study participants got great support in the form of regular contact with a dietitian, guidance on food choices in their work cafeteria, and even education for their spouses, the findings underscore what most people who have tried already know—that losing weight is really tough.
But what if the subjects had been allowed to pick which diet fit in best with their preferences? If you're trying to lose weight, you have that option. Someone who orders a burrito mainly for the tortilla is probably not going to be able to easily stick to a low-carb diet. If you hate counting calories and find it much easier to make rules—like steer clear of carbs—Atkins may be for you. And if you really love your olive oil, the Mediterranean diet guidelines may work better than a low-fat approach. (I wrote about the Mediterranean diet and other eating patterns based on ancient food traditions earlier this year.)
The point is, as long as you're working within some basic parameters—opting for mono- and polyunsaturated fats over saturated and transfats, focusing on lean proteins, picking whole grains over processed carbs, getting plenty of fruits and veggies, controlling your portions to some degree—you're probably on the right track. Do what works for you, including the occasional indulgence in whatever floats your boat.
Respect your other preferences, too. If you know you're hungriest during the lunch hour, plan to make that your biggest meal of the day and ease up at dinner. In an earlier post, I talked about one easy way to target a few changes in your eating and exercise patterns if you're trying to lose weight.
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Diet
OK, this whole article comes to the wrong conclusion. "It's up to you depending on your preferences" is a plan to fail.
The first thing anyone needs to do before starting any good diet is go to the doctor and make sure you're otherwise healthy enough to start a weight-loss diet.
The second thing you need to do...and do not underestimate the importance of this... is to change nothing and do nothing until you READ THE BOOK. People assume they know what Atkins is, get the Cliff Notes or listen to anecdotes from a friend or spouse and think they're doing the diet. READ THE BOOK. UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES AND WHY YOU MUST DO WHAT YOU MUST DO. PREPARE MENTALLY FOR THIS. Before you start. Take your time with this part and really understand it. Then follow it to the letter. If you understand the "why", it's much easier to do it right.
With Atkins, the first two weeks is critical and you have to be completely strict with NO cheating. Starving the body of carbs forces it into a state of "ketosis". This is a condition where your body starts turning fat into the carbs it needs. There are little test strips that tell you if you are or are not in "ketosis" from the properties of your urine. If you're not getting there, you're cheating and you won't get the results.
You need to have a target weight. You need to write that down and look at it. You want to continue the diet until you are slightly UNDER that target weight.
It's easy to say "well this can't be healthy" and allow yourself some bread or other really carb-filled item. You have to really know why you're doing this and understand the chemistry. Then you can do it. After the first few days, your appetite for carbs diminishes and you find you really don't want them. After two weeks, you begin to see results and you keep going, although you can be slightly less strict after 3 weeks or so.
The book is full of descriptions of all the traps and temptations and things that can throw you off. It also goes into great detail about what you need to do after you've reached your target weight. You have to remained disiplined. If you just jump back into a Doritos and white bread thing, you will gain every pound back.
All these diets are more than diets, they are lifestyle changes. You need to stay with them more or less forever. They will not make you magically immune to bad habits or make you 18 years old again. They will just allow you to lose weight and fat.
The South Beach diet is a blatant rip-off of Atkins. It just presents Atkins in a more palatable way. Atkins says you can eat certain healthy carbs along with fiber and the fiber will cancel some of the carbs (Net carbs) South Beach simply says you can eat salads and have a glass of wine if you want. Both say you must eat sufficient fats or you'll be so hungry all the time that you'll quit the diet. That's why low-fat diets are always temporary and involve great sacrifice.
The Mediterranian Diet sounds interesting. Lots of good fats and low carb. I could live like that.
The Greatest Diet I Found
I have been on the Fletcherism diet for a little over 3 months and have lost 37 pounds. I chew eat bite 32 times and eat Lunch and supper only and have a mid afternoon snack about 3 pm and another one at 8:30 at night. Be sure to chew eat bite at least 32 times. You will eat about 20-30 minutes and feel totally full and are eating a lot less calories by eating less food and you feel totally satisfied. Read Horace Fletcher’s book in Google books called How I Became Young at Sixty.
http://staythinforever.blogspot.com/
Obesity per se is not the problem
Obesity per se is not the problem. The real issue is the health and mortality consequences which follow from obesity. In November Harvard Medical School studied obese mice. The team of researchers gave one group biotivia transmax resveratrol extract, a commercial version of a compound found in red wine, and the other a placebo. The group receiving transmax resveratrol lived 31% longer and did not contract the normal diseases of aging such as diabetes, tumors, and cardiac diseases. Their endurance and energy levels also improved dramatically. Resveratrol is clearly no substitute for a good diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle but it may augment all of these and extend the potential for ultimate life span. We need to first concentrate of the prevention of the disease of obesity and treat the excess weight as a separate issue. This approach will result in a reduction of suffering and huge health care cost savings.
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