I was thinking about the media forces that are against Low Carb. All the propaganda for Low Fat out there. It seems if you tell the average Joe or Jill - 'I'm on Low Carb', they turn their brains off and immediately spout all this junk the media has fed them.

I thought, why don't we fight back? Fighting back with our own words of propaganda. But propaganda that gets the average non-lowcarber to think and want to investigate further for themselves!

Really we are only talking about labels here. This is not about denying truth, this is just about presenting truth with a bunch of different labels.

What if someone says - Wow you have lost a lot of weight, what are you doing ?

And you answer - Oh I'm on the Low GL diet.
And they are like Oh is that like Low GI ??
And we say, - kinda similar but Low GL looks at the total amount of carbohydrates in the diet.
And people are like - oh I see, sounds good, I want to learn more.

We can call it many different think like: The Anti-Cancer Diet, The Heart Healthy Diet, The Blood Sugar Control diet.

If we use a whole bunch of different labels all the time, I think people will want to learn more and be intrigued.

Then we start converting them, slowly one by one, like a virus the starts all around the world.

Soon everyone is starting to watch their carbohydrate levels. The first ones that will respond are the food industry, and then the academics, and lastly the government - LOL

I know we are already doing this, and have been doing it for years! Hey that's why I'm a low Carber, you other Low Carbers!

There is a nutritional war on, and we need to step up our defense. Instead of coming head-on at them like an axe with words (emotionally tagged) like Atkins & Low Carb, we instead envelope them with generic science words, that they can't dismiss!!

Who is with me ?

I would call it the 'Fountain of Youth' diet!
Have you seen how much younger everyone looks in their 'after' pictures?

Yes Indeed, I looked in the mirror this morning and I was shocked at how young I looked!

I'm with you! Many people aren't receptive to the words "low carb" so oftentimes I'll just say that I'm not eating sugar and starch. "Low GL" being "low glucose?" The people on this forum are closing in on collectively losing 1.2 MILLION pounds. How about "The Whole Foods Diet?" Sometimes I just tell people that I'm avoiding all processed foods. No one can argue with that!
Chris

I was afraid to try induction due to all the bad publicity and 'expert advice' out there that it can ruin your health.

It can turn back the clock though, at 58 I can work out now like I am 35 and feel younger. I no longer have to sleep in and take naps.

An overweight friend of mine knows I am on Atkins, he admits he needs to "find a better diet", but now he calls me a carnivore. I used to kid him he ate too many steaks when we went out to eat. He says "Atkins was fat and died of a heart attack." He still follows the doctors advice on meat and egg yolks, but his lipid profile is not healthy so he takes statins.

Most diet books refer to Atkins as either untested, boring, impossible to stick to, unhealthy, unbalanced, a fad diet, or my favorite "a high protein diet."

Low Glycemic Load.

I have a good friend who is afraid to try low carb, but dismally fails on everything else, he is at 464 pounds now after gaining again on a low fat diet, he is very afraid to try our way of eating because he had a bypass last year, but i am afraid if he does not change his lifestyle i will lose him, we went shopping together yesterday and my cart was full of LC real foods, and his full of low fat, processed stuff. at the farmers market i bought steaks and chops, and fresh veggies, he got skinnless chicken breasts and low fat baked goods. when we stopped to drop off my food i put copies of DANDR and the South Beach Diet in his bags i hope he reads them, maybe south beach will not scare him so much, it is a bit lower fat then i like

Thanks Lisa,

Yes that's what it means

It annoys me when they say Dr. Atkins was fat.

What do they count as actual body fat - the weight of a person! GAH!

No one seems to mention that his check in weigh was recorded at a normal range!

In my humble opinion, what people say about Atkins's health, non-health, or whatever, is not really relevant. The point is that low-carb works. If Atkins was fat (I'm not saying he was - I simply don't know) - so what? Maybe he wasn't following his own diet? Maybe he would have been even fatter if not for low-carb? Who knows?

Don't let ignorant people get up your nose, Dave - it's not worth it! You know that low-carbing works for you, and that's all that matters.

On your earlier posting - I, too, avoid words like "low carb" and "Atkins" if anyone asks about my food preferences. I say I avoid sugar and starchy things. I have NEVER had any negative comments about that!

Rachel

I don't say I am doing low-carb either because I always get that dismissive "humph" when I don't eat breads or whatever. I say that I am eating unprocessed, low-sugar foods and that gets a completely different reaction. It's a bit annoying actually.

On another note, the propaganda that Dr. A was fat when he died was spread by the overly spiteful vegan community. Yes, Dr. A was overweight when his weight was recorded from his autopsy. But wait....

He slipped on the ice, hit his head and was in a coma. While in this coma, they pumped him full of IV fluids. I was in the hospital last week for 4 days and I gained over 10 pounds!!! This was just from the IV fluids. As I understand it, Dr. A basically blew up from the fluids they pumped into him. He died from complications of his fall because his brain damage caused his body to start shutting down. He did not die from heart problems, he died from hitting his head after slipping on ice. It is so sad that the media has gotten this SO wrong. Quite criminal really.

I would love to change the perception of the world at large about LC because I get so tired of hearing it bashed. I, for one, take every opportunity at work to bash the hell out of low-fat. My favorite is the most recent long-term study on low-fat that showed it had absolutely no positive effect on health or weight!! Loved that, by the way. Anyway, most people don't take the time to actually read beyond the two-second quips they see on the nightly news. Since this study caused about 15 minutes of conversation on the news, they can vaguely recall it being mentioned. So, when I use this study as evidence of the ineffectiveness of low-fat, they say something along the lines of, oh yeah, I heard about that. Love that!

I say we use the same tactics the vegans, low-faters, and others have used. Make people think there is something wrong with them if they doubt the validity of your claims, lol!! I am telling you, it works. I tried it on the people in my lab. They were asking me if I was worried about heart health, etc, with the way I eat. I looked at them, totally deadpan, and said "you really need to watch the news once in a while." This, of course, put them back on their heels since a lot of people say they are up on their current events, but actually aren't. Anyway, I went on to say that low-fat has been proven to be harmful and that's why you aren't seeing as many low-fat products (ok, so I took some creative license). Anyway, I basically make it sound as though they are insane to think low-fat is at all good. It usually works because people hate to admit when they are clueless on a subject and they hate to be the odd man out. I basically make them think that they are the odd man out if they believe low-fat is good. Honest to god, it has totally worked on the guys in my lab. PLUS, they have seen all of the weight I have lost and now there is another guy in the lab doing LC!!! Love it!!

So, I agree with Dave. Let's change it!! A bit of manipulation and a bit of education should do the trick. Hell, low-fat got popular solely through manipulation and never even tried the education. At least we have education on our side!

Me too!! I agree with Dave and have been thinking along these lines lately myself. Thanks Dave!! Great idea!!

But do we fight it with the truth and logic? Or do we somehow harness what the anti low fat people have done? I hear about Dr. Atkins dying of a heart attack all the time! How is it that that story is kept alive? Maybe we need some really good stories from the other side. Like, maybe Dr. Dean Ornish is secretly on Atkins now. Al Roker didn't have surgery, he just went on Atkins and was embarrassed to admit it. The drug companies paid the government to keep the current food pyramid because they want to keep selling drugs. How am I doing?

I wish you all could read Swedish..... There is a doctor here in Sweden who has made it her life's mission to get the message across about the benefits of natural dietary fat and an LC woe and the detriments of a grain-based diet also featuring polyunsaturated and hydrogenated fats and oils (she says the only good use for margarine is to shine your shoes). She has gone down to working part-time as a physician because she spends so much time writing articles, giving speeches, and generally being a pain in the arse to the "medical establishment", as well as keeping an extensive blog going with all kinds of interesting links. She treats all her diabetic patients with a "high-fat," low-carb WOE.

As for me, I am doing my bit by showing my diabetes nurse the evidence - lower, more stable blood glucose readings, weight loss, better health overall. I am not trying to convince her with words - only with the proof. When she objected to the idea of a "high-protein" diet, I explained to her that I now eat more vegetables than the average person and my protein intake is normal, and that there are no documented cases of Atkins (my version of LC) causing kidney disorders in otherwise healthy individuals. She was skeptical at first, but now is behind me 100% and I suspect that as she sees my progress, she may start re-thinking the diet advice she has been giving to other diabetics.

As for the rest of the world, I just say I am allergic to wheat and starch (i.e., potatoes, rice and pasta) and sugar is out because I am diabetic. I don't have the energy to save the world, but I am determined to save myself. In so doing, I eat better and more healthily now than I ever have. Honestly, filet mignon with a cream-based sauce and veggies or a salad tastes a far sight better than a processed "heart-healthy" frozen dinner (the kind of stuff I and my family used to eat) and costs only slightly more!

Rosemary

Rosemary - it sounds like a lot of good low carb stuff is coming out of Sweden!

PS Diva, you are right on. Maybe we need to get dirty.

Maybe we need a secret Low Carb division that works behind the scene to run mis-information etc.

You can tell I used to like all those WW2 movies and Hogan's Heros!

I know a lot of people will say, Oh we have to carry the truth as our beacon and teh truth will save us.

But the truth doesn't have a marketing budget or an agenda. The truth simply 'is'. The truth existed all along, even when certain men were inventing the Low Fat diet and the Cholesterol Phobia.

There are heaps of people working for the cause. I read Jimmy Moores Blog every day. I like his style how he combats stupid media reports.

We need a propaganda campaign!