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Carbs are being unfairly demonised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! » Dinah

Posted by bluedog on December 20, 2002, at 0:44:47

In reply to Re: DON'T restrict carbs. Restrict GI for less anx » Aadika, posted by Dinah on December 19, 2002, at 16:31:54

> Oddly, I become Mr. Hyde when on a low carb high protein diet (I think it was Atkins). My husband has flat out forbidden me to ever try one again. Anxiety and anger go through the roof. My family and friends hide and quake as I go by. It does work for weight loss though.


Hi Dinah

Although the Atkins diet can work for some I am a VERY strong believer that you should not restrict carbs in your diet but what you SHOULD do is to minimise carbs with high glycemic indexes (GI's) from the diet.

I very strongly believe that you should not restrict one of the 3 macro-nutrients from your diet (fat and protein being the other 2 macro-nutrients) as carbs are absolutely essential in many of the metabolic processes in your body and limiting the carbs will eventually compromise your health. (I think these diets are fine for SHORT TERM use to lose weight but that long term use of these diets will have a negative impact on human health). I know that my comments will sound like heresy to the pro-Atkins school of thought but I wish to emphasize that this is my personal opinion only BUT that this opinion is backed up by scientific research.

I believe that the carbs are currently being demonised in the same way that dietary fat has been demonised over the last 30-50 years and that the low carb/high protein diets advocated by diets like "Atkins Diet" and the "Zone Diet" are the principal culprits in demonising the carbs.

It is now becoming clear with current research that the fat is not so evil after all but that the types of fats and consuming the fats in the correct ratios is what is important (as is evidenced by all the posts that we have seen on omega-3 versus the omega-6 EFA's recently made on this message board). It is now clear that fats are absolutely essential for our health and the same thing can be said for the carbs.

The trick is to get the ratios of the macro-nutrients right and I think that recent awareness and many recent studies on the Glycemic Indexes (GI's) of the carbs are a VERY positive step in the right direction that will eventually make the Atkins and Zone diets obsolete like the Pritikin diet (regarding fats) before them.

I much prefer the views of Dr Andrew Weil in his book "eating well for optimum health" and I believe this provides a much more sensible and balanced view of a healthy diet. Dr Weil also very eloquently explains in this book why he thinks that diets like the "Atkins Diet" and the "Zone Diet" actually work and the mechanisms behind the weight loss experienced in these diets is not particularly good for long term health. Adhering to diets like the "Atkins Diet" or the "Zone Diet" makes things way to complicated and turns eating into an anxiety and guilt ridden experience which is counter-productive to your health.

Here is an exchange between Beardy and myself in a recent thread which sums up my view quite well:-

==================================================================================================
Beardy wrote:
> The Zone books all treat food like a drug, which really turns me off, as I like food and would rather enjoy it than it it as if I were simply filling my tank or tanking my meds.

Bluedog responded:
>I HATE all books like the Zone diet books and the Atkins diet books etc. I think you can extract SOME useful information from these books but if you follow them religiously your life becomes a living hell filled with guilt and anxiety about what you eat. I mean in the Zone diet if you even so much as look at a banana you will be condemned to metabolic damnation and the fires of hell will consume your entire being.

I also believe food ought to be enjoyed and should be a pleasurable experience. What I was trying to say in my post was that from a purely bio-chemical perspective the body simply sees a molecule as a molecule and therefore to REDUCE the stress and anxiety that you can put yourself through you shouldn't make too big a deal between "real" food and dietary supplements. What I was trying to say is that fish oil supplements can actually be classed as "real" food and that it can form part of a healthy balanced diet where you can have a bit of everything in moderation (including Coke, chocalate, potato chips(crisps), french fries beer and pizza).
==================================================================================================

kind regards to all
bluedog


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