I have also noticed that grains are the worst. When I allowed myself eating low carb tortillas, I found that I'm quickly getting addicted to them and starting to gain weight. They are made of whole grain and only contain 3 carbs each, 24 carbs for the whole pack.

I stopped eating the tortillas, switched to high protein, moderate fat diet and reduced my carb intake from 40 to 20 a day. This has automatically reduced my calorie intake from 2500 to 1500 and made me lose weight.

I drink plenty of low carb flavoured decaffeinated coffee which contains corn syrup during the day and this causes me no problem.

I think chocolate isn't a problem. For some reason chocolate gets lumped in with really bad food when it doesn't have many carbs and is actually pretty healthy. I think if you tried this with chocolate it would work - in fact, I did just that and now chocolate is a normal food for me . Same with peanut butter and nuts (frist I broke myself into unsalted, unroasted... then worked my way up to salted and roasted - I couldn't eat these without really over eating before).

But I get the idea and I agree - in order for this to work for us we have to respect that we can't eat too high carbs. This doesn't mean we have to count them on our hands (IMO ketogenic low carb is just a way of avoiding changing bad behavior with food... this is why ketogenic diets often have restrictions like no nuts limited cream and cheese etc). It does mean we can't eat indiscriminantly, at least in my opinion.

Do you think it might have been the more intense flavor & texture combination of the wrap + the high fat low carb fair, and not necessarily blood sugar? This could stimulate your appetite and lead to more eating.
Plus the wraps themselves would contribute more calories (They are fairly high cal at like 130 per usually).

Speaking personally I know I tend to eat more when food is more appetizing. A meal with a wrap is going to make me want to eat more than one without. If I salt my veggies and put butter on them I will find them delcious and want seconds, whereas if I leave them plain and dip them in very low cal vinegar dressing I have absolutely no problem stopping.

Not such a bad analogy.



to turn a phrase. How do you think this will apply to all the surgically-altered humans we're turning out with weight loss surgery? What's their future?

To those who are grossly over-weight may I add this caveat. Almost two years ago I lost my middle (of three) daughters aged 45 to BC. She too was grossly over-weight which is reckoned to depress the immune system and hence possibly the BC. She was a single woman residing on her own and living close to a shopping centre (Mall) where she regularly bought ready-made meals to heat in the microwave and possibly hence the obesity. Up until she was 42 she maintained good health, but, when her health broke she went downhill rapidly and quickly succumbed. As a concerned father I encouraged her (over the years) to be careful about her weight, but I think loneliness (although she preferred solitude) compelled her to eat in the manner she did; who, indeed, can be certain? On saying this, it is not intended to alarm, but, rather, to provide courage and support to those who are grossly over-weight and who sometimes may wonder if there is any real point in dieting. Surely this little anecdote proves the point. Dieting is healthy (if not taken to the extreme).

Yes. I think it is the flavor. Before Atkins diet, fresh baked french bread has been always the hardest for me to resist. Low carb tortillas have probably triggered this memory in my mind.

Low carb ice cream and chocolate are also bad, but not too addictive for me. I also have no problem with sugar or corn syrup in particular as long as I eat the right amount of carbs per day.

Thanks
What I was trying to say was that there are more or less permanent changes (or defects) to the endocrine system / fat organ triggered by the sum of hyperinsulinemia, rapid & extreme weight gain, and other features of what is recognized as "extreme obesity". These changes have the net result of necessitating a fat mass (amount of fat stored by weight) that is higher than average forever.

Likely liposcution and removing much of the excess skin & fat after weight loss can help reverse some of the "damage" from obesity. I think most of the issue is too many fat cells with too little fat after weight reduction. This triggers a "starvation state" characterized by decreasing sensitivity/activity/expression to lipolyic hormones/enzymes, increased to fat making ones. I'm sure it's very complex, and very real.

My plastic surgeon told me once he removes the tremendous amount of excess skin from my ex-obese areas, I will not be physically capable of gaining weight their like I can now. It is probably also true that I will find it more difficult to gain fat weight absolutely, than I do now (although probably still easier than a "normal" person since even surgery to remove excess fat & skin cannot make my body as if it were never obese).

Probably very similarly to diets. Most will regain some weight in time; none will naturally be thin even if they keep it off. It will always be a fight against the body to maintain "normal weight" thinness.

This is not to say losing weight is impossible. It's very possible to keep off "excess fat" that was caused by the upward trend in weight from carb abuse and gorging on huge portions. This is likely to not be regained assuming they don't go back to eating garbage food and stick with their low carb diets.

There is a difference between healthy eating and weight loss dieting.

Healthy eating is always good.
Sometimes weight loss dieting and healthy eating are the same thing or at least close cousins. You notice your eating is unhealthy and making you fat - you then start eating healthy to try to be slim.

However, weight loss dieting as a primary focus is at odds with healthy eating. I do not think focusing on weight primarily can ever result in optimal health because the weight loss dieter will often find the weight hteir body wants to be is at odds with eating for health. To use myself as an example - often I find it difficult to eat the bare minimums of nutrition without gaining weight, often I find I have to drastically cut my portions to lose weight from eating "too much" at celebrations, etc. I make choices that are not in my best interest health wise because it is in my interest weight wise. Not that i am unhealthy, however, I do recognize my choice to focus on weight does mean I am less healthy than I could be if I just accepted my normally heavier size (even WHEN eating healthy i.e. unrestricted of healthful foods).

Oh okay; you listed the carb count of the tortillas so I thought you were saying it was a carb thing (not a "super tasty food" thing )

Hmm...perhaps what's really in question here is our innate capacity to intuitively desire and pursue that which is objectively good and beneficial for our physical (and mental) health. Perhaps not. Either way, I find that a lack of trust in my own intuitive abilities is the foremost obstacle to implementing intuitive eating; impatience follows closely, as does the desire to fit the "fit body" stereotype.

In college, while studying 'Feeds and Feeding', we were taught that animals that are self fed from the beginning will eat until full and then eat no more. But if they are hand fed a set amount at the beginning of their lives and then, at a later date, allowed to self feed they will invariably overeat everytime....

That's an interesting point 'dstartz' with equally interesting implications, not only to animals, but, in the early feeding of children too. I wonder how many young mothers know of this feature?

dstartz - wow, that is really interesting. I agree with Duparc. All this dieting makes us want to eat and eat the minute we ' loosen up' our restraint!

Good point!

I am constantly at odds with my DW about our sons. They come to eat, and eat what she deems is too little and tries to get them to eat more...BAD JU JU in my book!!!

So, I encourage them to eat only what the feel like eating, and be sure to eat some veggies and the like (you know kids) and if they are hungry later, I allow a healthier snack.

She (DW) is doing like we were all raised with, you eat now, eat "enough" now and you won't have to eat later. She also tells them to eat the healthier foods we have at mealtime while she sits there tucking into half a bag of Doritios.....

The battle wages on......

I'm sorry Prof. Hopefully the kids will follow your advice, and go with the intuitive eating.

Best wishes!