beware the anti-low-carb luddites

[serdar]

have only started since Sunday 29/4 and already lost 7lbs!!! :~)

However, I have since taken doctor Atkins' advice about not mentioning my diet due to the lack of support I've received from ill-informed individuals. My response being:

'if calorie-counting works then why do you still look like a space-hopper after you've been doing it for 9 months? :~)

Since I have an MA in propaganda theory I can honestly say that the calorie-count brigade have succeeded in perpetrating one of the greatest propaganda coups of the era to safeguard their profits (billions).
The degree of ignorance is astonishing and quite worrying in terms of how closed some people's minds are.

All I can say is that I'm ALREADY feeling better and can see visible results, therefore I'll stick with it no matter what.

sometimes feel a bit tired for 45 mins or so in the early afternoon, but my GP says that it's just my body adjusting and it is getting better. Plus I'm doing a good 10-15 mins on the ski machine every morning.

This is such a ridiculously simple concept, but I'm very glad I discovered it.

Best wishes for success to everyone!

Serdar

[tamarian]

Welcome aboard Serdar!

We'll have plenty to talk about regarding propaganda, pleanty od press releases from the wheat councel and sugar association :)

Wa'il

[r.mines]

Well, it sounds like you have a supportive GP, anyway, and that's something. I haven't had the nerve to mention low-carbing to my GP, but I haven't seen her for almost a year anyway. I figure what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Fortunately, I'm disgustingly healthy, touch wood!

I do some part-time work in a place where there are always cookies and candies on the table. I bring my own LC snacks and no one ever says anything. But yesterday the birthday cake came out! (Boy, it smelled good!) I just said no thanks, and I don't eat sweets or starchy things. No comments.

Who can argue with not eating sweets or starches? It's definitely all in how you say it, isn't it?

I would LOVE to hear more about that propoganda theory stuff. I've been a huge admirer of Orwell since I was a teenager, and I've always been sceptical of the mass media, but I've never studied the subject in any formal way. Didn't know you COULD study it in any formal way! Tell me more! In the 'chit chat' (OT) section, if you like.

Cheers,
Rachel

[Ruth]

Welcome Serdar,

I'm new here this week & I've found it an informative group & the collective sense of
humour is great. Great weight loss, congrats. :)

I've run across a few of those Luddites & I usually end up saying that a single WOE or diet may not work for everybody, we each have to find something that works for us.
Isn't it wonderful that LCing is working for you!

Ruth

[doreen T]

Nice going with the weight lost so far.

I too have grown weary from the self-appointed critics of my eating choices. One response that stops 'em dead is to point out that different people get different diseases, and take different medications, why on earth would we all want to eat the same way? Confuses the heck out of some people, mostly because it means nothing .. ;) ... but they never seem to have a comeback.

Just a few suggestions about that late afternoon fatigue. First make sure to have a protein-containing snack in the afternoon. We all have busy lives, it's so easy to grab lunch, then go all afternoon without eating again until dinner 5 or 6 hours later. Another common cause of fatigue, and sometimes headaches -- is low potassium. The ketosis will flush a lot of potassium out in the urine, so it's important to replace it daily. You can buy supplements, but easiest and least expensive is to use a salt-substitute product. Here in Canada, we have a product called NoSalt, and it's pure potassium chloride; simply sprinkle it on food like regular salt -- 1/8 tsp (0.5 ml) yields 320 mg potassium. I mix it half and half with regular salt. Do take care though, if you are taking certain blood pressure medications. And lastly, I suggest a daily multiple vitamin & mineral supplement, any of the quality brands you can buy are fine, doesnt' have to be Dr. Atkins' special blend .. :)

Look forward to more posts from you!

Doreen

[serdar]

apologies for the delay in replying - mad time @ work and then I had a crazy boys weekend away in Barcelona.

Fell off the diet - oops! - all my own fault. seeing an old friend for the first time in 7 years and the Gin got the best of me :~). I kept the rule with food, but was unable to resist the booze.

Haven't put any back on - too much partying - but need to get back on the bike again and going for it.
However, back home now and back on it. Hope to be back in Ketosis in a couple of days - just love those 'point the fire hose at the test strip' Ketostix you get from the chemist. They really reinforce in your mind the changes you're enacting - apart from being a giggle to use if you're a bloke! :~)

On the Propaganda front, if you're interested, the two best writers in this field are Jacques Ellul and Noam Chomsky. If you want to learn how it works then get into those guys - very relevant, sharp and penetrating incisive views into how the world REALLY works.

No attacks from the loonies from the land of Lud this week....shame...I was quite starting to enjoy the cut-and-thrust of debate! :~)

Seeyasoon and remember you're fuel-injected - therefore you don't need carbs!!!! (sorry - old biker joke! :~)

S

[r.mines]

Hi, Serdar, I didn't realize you were in London! I'm going to be visiting a friend there at the end of the month. I consider London my second home, since I lived there for four years, 1994-1999.

We're getting quite the UK following on this board!

Cheers,
Rachel

[dankar]

Welcome, Serdar, and good luck. dankar

[serdar]

well....first post for a long time.

Things are going well and the weight loss is....wait for it......28Lbs!!!!!!!!!!.....and counting!!!!

Still get the occasional sweet craving. My lodger left a whole packet of chocolate profiteroles in the fridge a couple of weeks back and managed to torture me quite successfully for a couple of days.

The only thing that generates lapses is booze. What are the rules on booze?

Keep hearing different things...if anyone could enlighten me I'd be very grateful...

all the best

Serdar

[KAZ]

Welcome and congrats on your weight loss!!

I have been on the Atkins diet for 13 days now. With the help of some posters here I have been limiting my carbo intake to less than 20 grams a day (I was previously eating a lot of "hidden carbs", but now I know what foods to avoid and I track my food consumption on fitday.com).

I too, have been tempted by the spirits. I have a high-stress job and a one year old, and I miss my p.m. glass of wine immensely and have succumbed more often than not these past two weeks. I think my willpower is low in that department because I don't completely understand why alcohol is a no no when there are no carbs in it?

[serdar]

I think the main reason booze is a bit of a bugger is the sugar content

....however if that's the case then we should be able to get totally hammered on neat grain alcohol and STILL stay in ketosis!!!! :-) A VERY pleasant thought!!

Any more info/takes on this?

anyone?

[doreen T]

As you know, when you restrict carb intake, your fat stores are broken down into fatty acids, which the liver converts to KETONES, to be used by the muscles, brain and tissues as a very efficient fuel.

Pure alcohol has no carbs, so there is no effect on blood sugar or insulin. However, the liver can make ketones out of alcohol. In fact the process to make ketones from alcohol is much simpler than from fatty acids, so the alcohol will be used IN PREFERENCE to the fat ... and until all traces of alcohol have been metabolized by the liver, your fat burning will be put on hold. This holds true for any fat you EAT when you consume alcohol too ... it will be stored until the alcohol is used up.

And if you're testing for ketones in the urine, you will still be showing purple with the test strips, but the ketones won't be coming from the burning of body fat .. :(

On the subject of carbs, distilled spirits have zero carbs, bone-dry wines (both red and white) have only a trace from the residual fruit sugars .... while obviously sweet drinks and beer are way high in sugar carbs.

Another problem with alcohol is of course, the decreased judgement factor ... way too easy to say "what the heck" and over-indulge ... then suffer regrets and a hangover next day.

Doreen

[KAZ]

Thanks, Doreen, for explaining what happens in detail...it makes sense to me now. I am officially ON THE WAGON and will keep in touch on my progress (as of Day 13 I am UP one pound, but feel and look better than when I started).

[Mrs. Y]

Booze in **moderation** anytime as long it's a weekend or statutory holiday (and after 6:00 pm he he) Oh yes, and WATCH OUT because a little bit goes a LOT FARTHER after you've been l.c.ing for awhile - NumberOneWendy and I are living proof ;)

[fern2340]

Serdar-
28 lbs. is great!!!! Congrats! London--- I am very jealous...have always wanted to go there and hopefully will get a chance to someday! Anyway, just wanted to say congrats on the weight loss so far.

[DebDaCajun]

Do not go to the Joslin Diabetes discussion board unless you want to be berated constantly by anti-low-carbers! After correcting a bunch of assumptions about low-carb (and I was talking about Dr. Bernstein's diet which is a bit more liberal on the carbs than Atkins [at least the induction phase anyway, don't know enough about Atkins to compare]), most everyone kept posting links to studies etc saying how horrible the low-carb "fad" is. The last straw was when one person said (more or less), "Well, those who believe in the fad diets won't be convinced so we just have to let them go on with their experiments." And the moderator said, "Yes, they're adults, they can choose what they want to eat, all I can do is tell them what has been proven by credible studies." Oy vey. That was the last straw for me -- I took the link there out of my favorites.

Oh, this is what I posted, BTW:

There is a big difference between a low-carb diet and a no-carb diet. Low carb [and here I refer to Dr. Bernstein] means eating a small amount of carbs at each meal so that one's body is not overwhelmed by the amount of glucose entering the bloodstream. Typically this means only about 15g of carbo per meal -- but this is a salad AND a cup of broccoli! And this doesn't mean one has to pig out on fatty meats -- one can break up one's meal eating into 5 or six small meals a day and eat enough lean meats to feel satisfied. Eating this way means one could have at least 75g of carbohydrate a day -- hardly seems like one is depriving oneself. You said cutting out carbos is cutting out too many calories -- I thought cutting calories to lose weight was a GOOD thing?

I do agree with you about one thing -- glucose IS the body's preferred energy source. But that doesn't mean one needs to consume more carbos than the body needs. The body is also quite happy to use fat stores and dietary fat as energy sources. Fat in and of itself is not the harm -- overconsumption of fat and/or carbohydrates is.

According to my biochemistry text book (Stryer), glucose (converted into acetyl coenyzme A) is not only used for energy but is also the buildling block for cholesterol and triglycerides. And insulin facilitates the building of these fatty acids. Just because a diabetic's cells are resistant to insulin does not mean the insulin is not still quite effective at its other jobs. If one eats more carbos than the body requires for energy, the blood sugar will go up and the body will use the excess carbos to make more fat and cholesterol.

Speaking of which, just because one limits dietary cholesterol does not mean one's cholesterol levels will go down. Dietary cholesterol inhibits the production of in vivo cholesterol, but even without dietary cholesterol the body will make more IF it has the building blocks to do it. And look at all the people who cut fat and cholesterol out of their diet and still have to take Lipitor. Obviously, something else is going on here to make people have high cholesterol besides eating fat.

[tamarian]

Originally posted by DebDaCajun
just because one limits dietary cholesterol does not mean one's cholesterol levels will go down. Dietary cholesterol inhibits the production of in vivo cholesterol, but even without dietary cholesterol the body will make more IF it has the building blocks to do it. And look at all the people who cut fat and cholesterol out of their diet and still have to take Lipitor. Obviously, something else is going on here to make people have high cholesterol besides eating fat.



Can't beleive they didn't know this Fact. All I can say, forgive them for they do not know ;)

Welcome abaord Deb,

Anyone who needs studies can just click on the "Studies" menu option above, we list both arguments for and against, for any open-minded person to see for themselves. Now if they're closed-minded, better not waist one's time!

Tel us more about you, not them :) How long have you been following Dr. Bernestein's?


Wa'il

[doreen T]

Whoop! Good for you.

And a year from now, your health will be so improved and they'll still be struggling with the same old same old....

I'm slowly familiarizing myself with Dr. Bernstein's program .. I think it's excellent ... and useful for blood sugar levelling even for the non-diabetic ... someone with difficult craving problems related to glucose swings ...

Welcome aboard, and I look forward to reading more posts from you... :)

Doreen

[doreen T]

hey Wa'il,

We've got it down to a real art, this posting at exactly the same minute .. :D

Doreen

[tamarian]

Down to the minute! :)

Wa'il

[DebDaCajun]

Originally posted by tamarian


Tel us more about you, not them :) How long have you been following Dr. Bernestein's?


Wa'il

Will post more info about me in a sec in a whole new thread :D

Debbie