Political Implications of My First Diet...

[mumon]

I'm 46 years old, and had never been on a diet until roughly 6 weeks ago.

During that time, I've pretty much followed Atkins.


Here's my observations:

1. Atkins after a while, will discourage an interest in food. Which isn't bad, except for the fact that the body goes hungry. Listening one's body will ensure though that one is well fed. (Atkins works, btw.)

2. How do we decide what to eat? What is a "balanced" diet? I've actually felt and looked better than I have in years. I have more energy, clarity of thought, less minor illnesses, better muscular recovery from exercise, than at any time in the past 15-20 years.

3. The major media IS too much dominated by "advertising" (capitalist/consumerist/materialist propaganda) to be able to be used for good judgements about nutrition/health: my doctor had a while back prescribed Protonix for heartburn (a cousin of Nexium- "the little purple pill" advertised on Dr. Dean Edell's website). I found that even before this diet apples eaten raw immediately fix heartburn. I have found that my body really doesn't like certain foods despite how they taste to me. One has to know one's self- intimately- to be able to make good choices here.

I remember that Jefferson Airplane once noted that their "drug" songs were really a reflection of the escapist tendencies of our society. I think these tendencies are real and greatly enforced by advertising: anybody who doubts me should watch how candy is marketed to children: the child eats the candy and is transported to a surrealistic world in which the Starburst Fruit candy "juice" floods the entire world.



Yesterday, somebody posted a news item in LBN about obesity and the poor; the politics of food goes way beyond that.

Even where nutritious food is plentiful, the overt message given by advertisers is to buy the junk- that's most profitable.

[Jivenwail]

1. I have been on Atkins since August

And it's the one I've had the most success with (and over the years, I've run through a lot of diets, only to gain weight back). I'm not the one that loses tons of weight, but I've lost 20 lbs. But most importantly, it's been my overall health. Last visit to the doctor saw my cholestorol levels at record lows, my triglycerides dropped by 22 points. Blood pressure stable. He told me that a couple of more readings on these levels, and the meds can disappear! He also told me that it IS the sugars that are harmful, not so much the fats.

He also said (again this is from my doctor!) that the "low fat" trends was, and is, media hype. If you look at all the marketed low fat foods, what they replace for the fat is sugar. Sugar. While you may be eating "low fat", you are ingesting way too much sugar. And people were conditioned by the media to buy into that trap. I was one of them and could never understand why I wasn't losing any weight - and why my cholesterol, etc, was not leveling off. I resisted Atkins for a very long time, thinking there was no way it could be good for anyone. But after seeing my cousin lose 44 lbs, get excellent reports from her doctor, I did my research. I'm here to say, that for me, it is working. And I could not be more pleased.

ITA - since starting Atkins, I've never felt better, more energy, more self confidence. My workouts are far less stressful and I'm enjoying them so much more. It's been great for me, personally. I've recently started to add a few more carbs and don't regret any of it. I enjoy the choices I make for my meals and don't get bored or tired. I've found many original recipes through other Atkins dieters and on the net. And it's my eating plan for life. I can assure you.

Good luck to you. And to anyone who may start any plan to get healthy.

[hlthe2b]

3. A little sugar anecdote of my own...

I've always liked peanut butter, but a scant tablespoon of natural unsweetened PB satisfies my urges. A few years ago when the low fat craze was all the rage, I tried one of the low fat brands, which as you point out has lowered fat, only by adding sugar. As soon as I had one taste of that stuff, I was addicted and couldn't stop. I was eating it by the jar! It WAS that damned sugar. The more I ate, the more I wanted.

I haven't had sugar-sweeted ANYTHING nor simple carbohydrates for nearly two years straight, now and there is no food that I currently eat that keeps me eating like that.

Those who argue that Atkins or Sugar Busters, or South Beach, or any of the low Carb diets are no different than any other because they are lower in calories are simply missing the point. Yes, that's why you ultimately lose pounds (less calories in, equals weight loss), but the point is the normalization of appetite that comes when you aren't always getting those insulin spikes from sugar/carb overload. No cravings, no binge eating.... Simple as that.

[mumon]

5. That reminds me...

Dr. Dean Edell generally gets my respect mostly because of his take on medical mj.

But take a look at his website at health central:

http://www.healthcentral.com/home/home.cfm

click on the ad- it's for Celebrex.

The other day it was for Nexium...

In situations like this, you can't help but think there's a conflict of interest.

One other thing- for some reason, I've felt more creative on this diet- things I'd forgotten for 20 years are coming back to me, and my general mental health is better.

And yet...here's a site:

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/lcd.html

that strongly implies that the Atkins diet is "quackery."

I responded to "Dr." Barrett as follows...

I viewed with skepticism your webpage; I'm convinced that Gary Null is pretty quacky. However, he's right about one thing: physicans really don't know very much about diets. Your article on low carb diets (http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/lcd.html) is not only somewhat out of date, but chock full of logical fallacies.

A few:

"The AMA Council on Foods and Nutrition <2>, Consumer Reports <3>, and many individual experts have warned that the unlimited intake of saturated fats under Atkins' food plan can increase the dieter's risk of heart disease"

Argument by authority. In fact, as this article (http://atkins.com/Archive/2003/1/20-542932.html) that I read in the NY Times noted last year, there is very little reason to suppose that the FDA "food pyramid" is healthful at all; that in fact, the "experts" have unwittingly - or out of denial- given us advice that would make us fat.

Here's another gem from your article:

"In yet another study, researchers who compile the National Weight Control Registry analyzed the diets of 2,681 members who had maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for a year or more. Because the Atkins diet has been used for more than 30 years, the researchers reasoned that, if it worked, its followers would be well represented."

Did they also study the Scarsdale diet? Carlton Fredericks' low sugar diet? Fit for Life? Did they give distributions?

"The mean duration of successful weight maintenance in this low-carbohydrate group was 19 months, whereas the mean duration of dieters who consumed more than 24% of their daily calories as carbohydrates was 36 months."

Can you say "statistically insignificant??" (What the good Doctor Barrett failed to tell people is that 1% Atkins dieters out of a sample of about 2000 dieters creates results that are statistically insignificant. Dr. Barrett seems to be a quack himself if he can't even interpret the results of the studies he's quoting.)

The following quote is not a fallacy per se, but needs to be addressed: "In 1999. Atkins set up a foundation to provide "funding for research and education on the role of controlled carbvohydrate utritional protocols in treating and preventing a wide range of medical conditions." <9>"

You know, my physician prescribe Protonix for me for frequent heartburn. Never once was I told what eating a raw apple would do for heartburn. Never once was I told what the interaction of the gall bladder and its role in heartburn was. Atkins' website told me the latter; I found out the former on my own. Your website added nothing of medical value.

"There is insufficient evidence to make recommendations for or against the use of low-carbohydrate diets..."

And so you're calling Atkins a quack because- even if his diet works due to reduced caloric intake, it still doesn't??? Actually, this is kind of a lie- you don't actually state WHY "there is insufficient evidence." It's because "We included 107 articles describing 94 dietary interventions reporting data for 3268 participants; 663 participants received diets of 60 g/d or less of carbohydrates--of whom only 71 received 20 g/d or less of carbohydrates."

Why didn't you say that the study actually didn't test Atkins in a statistically meaningful manner? Well, because you wanted to call him a quack, apparently.

"Although short-range studies have found that low-carbohydrate diets can produce weight loss, no study has demonstrated that such diets are safe or effective for long-term use <11-16>. Atkins advocated his diet for more than 30 years and stated that more than 60,000 patients treated at his center have used his diet as their primary protocol. However, he never published any study in which people who used his program were monitored over a period of several years. Scorekeeping can be done simply and inexpensively by mailing an annual questionnaire and tabulating the results. Why do you suppose he never did this?"

Because it costs money to do so.

Look, when I see Dean Edell's website with ads for Nexium, all I can think of is "conflict of interest."

As with anything, caveat emptor. And it's articles like this that basically give physicians a bad name.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. First thing to do on a diet

is to turn off the boob tube. Try and eat fresh things-the life force energy is still strong in them. I've been on an Atkins-like diet for a year, ever since my doctor gave me the guidelines. I find that what I want to eat coincides with the diet-and when I get cravings, it is for things like spinach and celery!

I've been on diets since I was eight. Low calorie and low fat don't work for me. Low carbs does. I also take chrome to regulate blood sugar-something folks should ask their physicians about, as blood sugar rises/falls can be a factor in the success of a diet.

[mumon]

4. Yeah- you re-learn to eat.

I've been having periods where I've been a little bored with what I was eating - mostly because I didn't have the time to cook, but if you know what you're doing, the food possibilities are endless.

I don't feel like eating bread, pastries, etc. The very thought of eating candy would have me bouncing off walls now.

My son is 2 1/2. We have always fed him a wide variety of foods- turns out he loves various kinds of seaweeds- dulse, hijiki, nori (one of his favorite snacks).

I'm hoping that training him to have a diverse palate will innoculate him against the hamburger clowns.