Yes, I know the feeling. I am a full-time college student (at age 44) and have found the school's cafeteria to be disastrous for low-carb, as the choices available are typically pizza, hamburgers (the meat tastes like a$$), fries, pop tarts, rice krispy treats, Snapple, Sobe, and all the Coke/Pepsi products.

I really don't want to have to prepare something and schlep it to school everyday, but I also don't want to be fat anymore. This is the world we live in.

It's hard with low-carb to make something "transportable", as "forget bread", so sandwiches are out; nevertheless, I am discovering newer-and-better choices and I am liking them. I just may have to invest in high-quality Tupperware containers or something.

I'm new to this site. Also a physician myself.

I read an online interview with Gary Taubes where he pointed out a plausible cause for the dropout rate with low carb diets: people do not have the support of their physicians. . . and so eventually lose courage and regress to the mean. How can you make something a natural lifestyle (rather than a temporary diet) without that kind of support?

The current and emerging emphasis on metabolic syndrome may change this, one hopes.

I think PeteRipley has something there--with out the support of your doctor, it's much harder for most people I think. You have to be exceptionally independant--or maybe just plain stubborn--to do this if you don't have at least ONE person solidly on your team, supporting you and encouraging you regularly. For many, that would have been their general practicioner on any other diet plan, but on LC, they'd be out in the cold so to speak.

My mother is a perfect example of this, as she did Atkins for a while and lost weight. The problems were, she told me, that "she dearly missed bread" and that was also "concerned over its possible health effects".

Thus, it need not be one's OWN doctor to relate fears and doubts, but "collective fears", generated by institutional beliefs, even if unsupported by science.

From my experience, the biggest problem of eating low-carb is of BOREDOM, as although my body may be satiated by meat/fat, I simply miss many of the foods I enjoy, including bread, potatoes, and sweets. Thankfully, I am not a soda drinker (but I love fruit juice, so there's really no difference).

Nevertheless, Taubes' book explains the PROCESS of exactly how I got fat. Finally, someone has answered my puzzle, as although I am not a tiny eater, I have never been a "monster eater" either. I simply realize that my body does not process carbs properly and turns them into fat.

Also, he has confirmed why doing 45 minutes on the treadmill has NEVER resulted in me losing weight: 'cause it doesn't work.

The most powerful revelation from "Good Calories, Bad Calories", for me, is that the most fundamentally-held belief of nutrition, calories-in/calories-out, is wrong. The law of thermodynamics is not wrong, but mis-interpreted. Understanding that is the QUALITY (kind) of calories, not the quantity, that makes us fat, is mind-boggling. It has completely changed how I think. In fact, so much so, that I don't even look at calories in my plan (low-carb, high-fat).

The good news is that it's working for me. Yes, I struggle a little with not having the "goodies" I like and want, but I feel I understand the physical processes going on inside me... and to me, that information is like gold, as I am no longer "stuck" worrying about what foods I can have, or cannot have; rather, I feel I "get" the science BEHIND the food and can thus make better choices.

Like Oprah says, "You did what you knew how to do... and when you knew better... you did better."

Hi Doc!
It took a few months for me to get over my psychological craving for sugar. After that, items in the grocery store that used to call my name didn't even register anymore. It was a lifestyle change for me. In 2007, it took 6 months to go from 160 to 150 but I didn't fret about it because I felt so good and was free of the cravings. I figured out later that my body needs more carbs to shake things up. When I reached 150 pounds and added carbs it seems the weight started coming off faster. I fell hard this fall and dealt with the emotional ramifications of several consecutive life stresses by picking up sugar free candy then straight to the sugar. Looking back I still can't believe it. That woman wasn't me! The me I thought I was.
Anyway, once I did that - it (sugar addict behavior) was off and running and spiraled downward for 2-3 months with a net gain of 35 pounds. I feel tremendously fortunate to have made my way back here on December 12th. It was a powerful and painful lesson in that I'm not "cured" from this thing that has plagued me for 37 years. Low carb is the medicine for what ails me.
Denise

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the link.. haven't had time to read the references yet, but love the article. Most of what I've seen links plaque to fat in the bloodstream, but most of the stuff I've read proclaiming fat digested goes directly to your bloodstream seems mostly based on "you are what you eat" LOL.

The Goverment was asking for comments on a new nutrition pyramid.. have you ever seen that? They are acutally asking for input on the web! Pretty cool idea. Very interesting responses.. some predictable.. from PETA people, but also some interesting responses, including one from the sugar industry asking why "sugar" is bad, but fruits very high in sugar are considered desirable. I found think link to a doctor that is pretty LC focused while I was looking for information on the 2010 goverment guidelines on nutrition.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...ary-guidelines/

Mike

Dr. Steve and all you other healthcare workers!

I'm another one--Certified Nurse Midwife. I see not only pregnant women but women of all ages for their well woman exams or any other issues with thier women's health.

I talk a lot, and I mean A LOT about carbohydrate controlled eating. My latest small success--I have a pregnant gal, overweight, normal pregnancy, normal glucose screening. We were discussing fluid intake and thru discussion she drinks large quantities of juice because it is "healthy". I gave her the graph that most recently came out comparing fruit juice to soda (I am sooooo glad to have a visual now!). She was appalled! Fast forward 10 days---at her next appointment she had lost 5 pounds. I questioned her about it hoping she hadn't been sick with the flu or diarhhea--Nope--she cut out all fruit juice and drinks nothing except water. She is a believer now and it's so cute (and makes me feel great) she is now spreading the word to her friends and family.
One small victory.

Another victory--I have a mid 20s patient with PCOS---she wants to get pregnant--bad! At herlast appointment we talked about carbohydrate controlled eating and insulin/hormones etc. I have a hand out with most of the plans and talk about pluses and minuses. She decided to adopt South Beach. I told her I'd check in on her every month for the next 3 months, then every couple months and re-evaluate in the spring. We just passed the first month--has already lost 15 pounds and had a period. Talk about someone who is THRILLED and a believer. One small victory.

Some people look at you like you've grown two heads, other people are willing to keep an open mind. Hopefully the more I talk about it the more lights will go on.

Hopefully all my small victories for my patients will keep adding up.

Keep posting because thru your research it can make me even more persuasive

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

cnmlisa
I'd be interested if you could email me your graph / handouts to see if they are something I could use in my practice.
Peter

Welcome.

Actually, I didn't go into specifics with my doctor about losing a lot of weight over the course of one year. We don't sit around and talk about LC vs. low fat. He just stared at me and asked what provoked it. I reminded him that HE had the previous year when he told me that my weight and blood pressure were the precursors to diabetes and kidney failure and early death. He was no nonsense and I took him seriously. My grandmother died from heart failure and diabetes complications. He paused and said "Most of my patients don't listen to me, but I'm happy you did." I wish more doctors would level with their patients about what their weight problems would cause.

Hello to all the hard working MD's and Nurses out there!

As someone who struggled since my my early teens to lose weight, I have to say low carb is the only thing I have ever been able to stick to.

Low fat and calorie restricted dieting always led to horrific binges because, on a cellular level, I was STARVING!!!

One thing that keeps me on the straight and narrow was having read "Good Calories Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes. For me, seeing the source of current dietary" wisdom" and understanding the big picture keep me from going back to my carby ways.

Unfortunately I have yet to have any of my friends read it despite their considerable weight gain over the last few years. They try, but then their eyes glaze over and they nod off face first in to a bowl of pasta!

I have had MUCH better luck when convincing people to watch Gary's lectures online or put the documentary FATHEAD by Tom Naughton in to their Netflix cue.

Here it is....

Yes, I understand. It is very difficult to fully explain Taubes' findings, as I think people think it's just another "schtick". I realize that it will only be my weight loss (I have 170 lbs to lose) that will gain peoples' interest and attention.

Even that is no guarantee. I think all my friends are waiting for me to gain the weight back (kept it off over 2 years so far) or for my heart to explode because of all the fat I use in my cooking :P

Wow, if two years of consistent success is not enough to convince others, then nothing ever will be.

Nevertheless, it really goes to show the degree to which the belief in low-fat, high-carb, calories-in/calories-out has affected us.

Welcome to the board!