Atkins diet

[Joan]

I did mention "certain" endocrine disorders.... the thyroid gland is one example..................


Where does insulin come from???

mgv, you have hit the nail on the head, most and I say it again, most obese people use all sorts of excuses for being overweight, from their glands, their metabolism, etc.

Energy intake should equal energy output ( in kilojoules) to keep your weight constant....

To lose weight one has to decrease energy intake and increase energy output.......


Have you ever seen a FAT marathon runner, a FAT cyclist......the list goes on!

[Joan]

Originally posted by Bushbaby
Hypoglycaemia is a tough one to deal with. It has always struck me that diabetics who are insulin dependent seem to have to practise this very delicate balancing act between what they can eat and what they want to eat. The diabetics that I do know seem to either be overweight, or bordering on underweight.

Adult onset diabetes or Tpe II as it used to be called is manily, but not only(!!!!!) found in obese persons. Race and genetics seem to play a role too, that is why people who may be predisposed to diabetes and the problems of hyper- and hypoglycemia, are advised to lose unwanted weight and to maintain body mass index of less than 25.

[spam]

Originally posted by Joan
[B]I did mention "certain" endocrine disorders.... the thyroid gland is one example..................


Where does insulin come from???

mgv, you have hit the nail on the head, most and I say it again, most obese people use all sorts of excuses for being overweight, from their glands, their metabolism, etc.

Energy intake should equal energy output ( in kilojoules) to keep your weight constant....

To lose weight one has to decrease energy intake and increase energy output.......


Have you ever seen a FAT marathon runner, a FAT cyclist......the list goes on! [/B]

Pleny, when was the last time you watched a road race....what you are stating hold true for the top athletes but for the "social" athlete this does not hold true. What one needs to do is balance your intake of carbs, fats and proteins. Atkins bans carbs for the first TWO weeks, thereafter carbs are introduced. What happens is that a massive amount of weight loss can be achieved in the first 2 weeks, this leads dieters to carry on for prolonged periods of time which IS unhealthy. In fact calling Atkins a diet is a misnomer, he does not advocate diet but rather a healthier and balanced eating way of life. The initial phases are only to kich start the metabolism.

[Joan]

Originally posted by spam
Pleny, when was the last time you watched a road race....what you are stating hold true for the top athletes but for the "social" athlete this does not hold true. What one needs to do is balance your intake of carbs, fats and proteins. Atkins bans carbs for the first TWO weeks, thereafter carbs are introduced. What happens is that a massive amount of weight loss can be achieved in the first 2 weeks, this leads dieters to carry on for prolonged periods of time which IS unhealthy. In fact calling Atkins a diet is a misnomer, he does not advocate diet but rather a healthier and balanced eating way of life. The initial phases are only to kich start the metabolism.

I did mean regular mararthon athletes and regular cyclists, not those who do it once in a while spam!!!!

Think of Paula Radcliffe, Bruce Fordyce, etc...

I started this thread because the promoters of the Atkins diet seem to be worried that they may be sued......scoll back to first posting, all the meat and whatever was supposed to be so good for one seems not to be the true thing after all, and that is what I have been saying for ages............A balanced diet with sufficient exercise (taking a long pleasant walk, cycling, etc) keeps the weight down, one does not need to follow specific diets, like Atkins, the Grapefruit diet, the whatever diet, just common sense...count the kiljoules taken in and the kilojoules you "burn"....
It all boils down to a proper balance of the scales....pardon the pun

[BlackHawk]

Originally posted by Joan


I did mean regular mararthon athletes and regular cyclists, not those who do it once in a while spam!!!!

It all boils down to a proper balance of the scales....pardon the pun

This is true in my view Joan ..................

Too many people make excuses for the weight they carry ............ the bottom line in the majority of cases is that people are lazy and eat rubbish in excess.

I'm a prime candidate here, I am overweight simply because I like to eat and have gotten lazy when it comes to exercise over the years.

There are of course people that put on weight for medical reasons, but these will be in the minority and not the majority. then again with the poor eating habits of many nowdays, more and more people are going to be medically affected and obese because of it, as well as other health problems, asthma, diabetes, high bood pressure, clogges arteries, poor heart rate/strength etc.

To counter this I believe that more should be put into early school exercise and nutrition lessons, and this will be carried through their life, rather than the breed or couch dwellers we have nowdays in many cases.

Far too many excuses!

With regards to Atkins etc ............ this diet will suit some if followed correctly, it wont suit others. It also depends on what expectations the dieter has, if one wants to be a svelt size and they are a Dawn French or Pavarotti right now, then they are dreaming, however, if people are realistic in what they want to achieve and actually study their body type etc, then more pleasing and satisfactory results will be achieved. It would also help is media pressure was minimised accross the population too.

BH

[Bushbaby]

Joan, I find your attitude very disappointing. Looking at a fat person and assuming they are that way because they overeat is like looking at a blonde and assuming she is stupid, or looking at an Afrikaner and assuming he is an inbred racist. Stereotypes with little validity behind it. I would have expected a more enlightened view from someone who is otherwise so obviously intelligent.

As to those overweight people who are that way because they overeat, I would ask you to look beyond the obvious and ask yourself why they overeat? Very often that too is the result of an emotional problem, be it insecurity, fear, or something else - eating becomes a comfort blanket, something to hide behind or find solace in.

These things are not as simple as you and some other apparently ill informed individuals would like to believe. What I have seen here is just more of the casual arrogance of people who have never bothered to try and understand why others are the way they are. Very disappointing indeed.

[Pampered]

Originally posted by Bushbaby
Joan, I find your attitude very disappointing. Looking at a fat person and assuming they are that way because they overeat is like looking at a blonde and assuming she is stupid, or looking at an Afrikaner and assuming he is an inbred racist. Stereotypes with little validity behind it. I would have expected a more enlightened view from someone who is otherwise so obviously intelligent.

As to those overweight people who are that way because they overeat, I would ask you to look beyond the obvious and ask yourself why they overeat? Very often that too is the result of an emotional problem, be it insecurity, fear, or something else - eating becomes a comfort blanket, something to hide behind or find solace in.

These things are not as simple as you and some other apparently ill informed individuals would like to believe. What I have seen here is just more of the casual arrogance of people who have never bothered to try and understand why others are the way they are. Very disappointing indeed.

Well said, Bushbaby. You took the words right out of my mouth...

No pun intended:mad:

[BlackHawk]

Originally posted by Bushbaby

As to those overweight people who are that way because they overeat, I would ask you to look beyond the obvious and ask yourself why they overeat? Very often that too is the result of an emotional problem, be it insecurity, fear, or something else - eating becomes a comfort blanket, something to hide behind or find solace in.

Hi Bushbaby .............

With respect to the above, this is psychological and really is down to the individual .......... but it is still self-inflicted and something to be dealt with accordingly. It is still basically over-eating and lack of exercise .......... and personally I think they'll go hand in hand, one'll comfort eat and put on the weight and this in turn makes them more self-concious which in turn makes them continue to eat more.

A sense of well being would be obtained simply by breaking the cycle of eating for comfort and exercising a bit, the results would be pleasing and encourage them onto more, but one'd have to be careful that it does not go the other way too.

BH

[Petunia]

Ok, I shall lay my cards on the table...

2 years ago I had put on loads of weight, well for me I had,
I was not obese but had got overweight, I had gone up 2-3 sizes,I had always been a naturally slim person(my family are all slim people) and could not understand why I had put on so much weight....seeming...
1. I was and still am a fitness freak, my fitness is at athlete level
and my resting pulse is 48bpm and have an amazingly quick recovery rate, so am very very fit.

2.Have always eaten sensibly, have had the odd chocolate binge , but not enough to make me fat...

I could not understand why this was happening to me. I had tried out all sorts of diets, spoken to nutritionists, bought books on nutrition read up on it as much as I could, as I have always been interested in the health side of things... Yet the weight would not budge....So it got me thinking that
.... maybe it was the age/hormonal thing as I am in my late 40s, maybe I was diabetic or something.... So eventually went to the GP had blood tests done and it turned out that I had a very underactive thyroid....
Since being on thyroxine for my thyroid plus going to Weight Watchers,I have gone right back to my natural size again.
I have managed to maintain my weight now for well over a year
and hope to stay that way. Personally, I found Weight Watchers
great, it suited me, it did not suit some of my friends. So what I can only deduce, is that it definitely depends on what suits each individual. Some thrive on Atkins, some dont, it definitely all depends on each individual. I certainly do not have anything against overweight people or even skinny people, everyone is treated the same in my books....

[Toktokkie]

In Joan's defence, she did not state ALL overweight people overeat, she stated MOST. There is a difference.

My husband is a Naturopathic doctor and a very successful part of his practice is the weight loss program. He also claims that 99% of overweight people overeat. Again, that is MOST not ALL.
As Joan has explained, their caloric intake exceeds their caloric output. We are all metabolically different and it's important to find out what every individual's resting metabolic rate is and to eat within those confines. Excersize can raise that metabolic rate.

My husband has also had tremendous success with diabetics and he has many people where diabetes "runs in the family" and yet when they change their eating habits and weight loss occurs, their insulin levels adjust also and many countless people have gone off their insulin. He says in those cases it's not so much that they inherited the disease, it's more like they inherited their mother's cookbook.

The human body is not created to consume large amounts of meat like with the Atkin's diet. Unlike fruit and vegetables, meat takes days to digest and before we've digested and eliminated the meat, we eat more. The body needs a break every now and then to allow it to cleanse itself. What happens when we leave meat out in 100 degree temperatures for a couple of days? It putrifies. That's what happens in the human body and it's not healthy.

Remember years ago when Catholics would only eat fish on Fridays? It's really not a bad idea as it gives the body a chance to unload.

I babble and will therefore get off my soap box.