Posted by Lorraine on July 25, 2001, at 21:50:49
In reply to Re: High Protein vs. High Carb Diet, posted by tina on July 25, 2001, at 20:51:18
> > Does anyone out there have an opinion about whether an Atkins-type diet is superior to a high carb or balanced Zone type diet for controlling or losing weight gained on meds?
> >
My experince with med induced weight gain was that the only way that I got it off was with a low carb diet. That is because my meds made me crave carbs. I started with Atkins and after I had lost the weight modified it as follows: I just don't eat rice, bread (except low carb bread made with soy flour), pasta, wheat or sugar. I eat a lot of vegetables, some fruit (one a day) and protein. My snacks tend to be nuts or cheese.Before I went on this diet, I was exercising 6 days a week for at least an hour a day and beginning to double up on my exercise requims--ultimately there were not enough hours in the day to do the amount of exercise that would have enabled me to lose weight. When I went low carb, I actually cut back on my exercise to 3x a week or so.
I would find it very hard to cycle on and off of low carb--the reason is that it is very hard to give up the sugars and refined carbs in the first place. To put myself through that ordeal periodically would be agonizing. There are a lot of low or lower carb choices out there depending on your needs. There is sugar busters (very liberal with unrefined carbs but no sugar); Atkins (very restricted carbs during induction then about 60 carbs a day); Protein Power (which is very restrictive for breakfast and lunch, but allows dinner to be without carb restriction provided that your plate is evenly balanced with protein, carbs and fats); Suzanne Sommers (which allows you to have carb meals so long as they are low or no fat, meals with fat so long as there are low or no carbs and fruit so long as it is eaten alone); The Zone (which represents a fairly balanced diet, while still reducing carbs significantly from what they are in a normal American diet--I believe between 240 and 300 is the norm). My FIL, who is diabetic, was recently put on a diet by his diabetes dietition which limited his carbs to 60 per meal--which he says is still a hard adjustment to make.
Anyway--good luck with it. I'm a low carber for life, although I'll bet I eat about 90 gm of carbs a day now.
poster:Lorraine
thread:71834
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010725/msgs/71843.html