02-04-2004, 06:55 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Tara
one thing is for sure that up until the '70's people were eating far more natural substances and not this man-interfered with rubbish which is foisted upon us now.
I remain convinced that the "food" which we eat nowadays is responsible for many of our illnesses now. Man made food is not natural - low-fat, low carb, sweeteners, de-caffeinated. Surely it is poison? Margarine..... a man made by-product of petrol! Loads and loads of stuff being made with what they call vegetable oil. Does anyone know what this vegetable oil is? Well is is oil seed rape - in other words, poison.
People used to eat fresh meat, fresh vegatables, full cream milk, fresh fruit etc etc. Not any more. That is all supposed to be bad for us, but I am sorry, I don't believe the scientists.
I have been slim most of my life. However when I turned forty I decided that with heart disease in my family and the approach of middle age I had better swap to 'healthy' eating, follow the food pyramid with its emphasis on carbs, switch from butter to marg, full fat milk to skim milk. etc.
I faithfully followed this approach for 7 years. My weight went up, I became borderline type 2 diabetic, my cholesterol was high and my fingers were very swollen with arthritis.
With hindsight I can now see that all my health problems started when I switched to 'low fat healthy' products.
It was only when I saw a TV program on Syndrome X ( insulin resistance) that I realised what the problem was. I then did lots of research and with my doctors and consultants approval started Atkins 2 year ago. It took me about a year to loose 2 stone and since than have been on Atkins lifetime maintenance.
I have spoken to so many doctors about low carb and have yet to meet a single one who has any problems with it.
My husband recently spent 10 days in hospital seriously ill and it was interesting speaking to all the medical staff. Many of them were low carbing! (doctors, consultant and nurses)
If low carb is bad for us why do our health problems disappear when we switch to low carb? On the low carb site I belong to there are just so many stories of people who cannot loose weight on weight watchers etc. They loose weight on low carb and then also see an improvement in problems such as IBS, PCOS, allergies,arthritis etc
I am not saying that low carb suits everyone. If you feel well and healthy following the traditional standard advice then so be it. But we are not machines,we all have individual metabolisms and the 'one size fit all' approach does not work. Thirty years of the 'low fat fad' has led to an increase in heart disease and type 2 diabetes. If you speak to elderly people the advice was always to cut out the white foods(potatoes, bread rice and pasta). At the end of the day that is what low carbing is all about.
Yesterday on BBC breakfast they interviewed a dietician who said that 20% of the population and 50% of middle aged people were probably insulin resistance and that the best way to deal with this was cutting down on carbs.
We know our own bodies best. Following the traditional approach made me look and feel. ill. I am now healthier than I have been in years.