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[Low-Carb Diets]: Now with awesome recipes on the first page!

Protein ShakesProtein Shakes __BANNED USERS regular
edited April 2011 in Debate and/or Discourse
--

Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time. --VOLTAIRE

All great truths begin as blasphemies. --GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

--

The low carb diet has probably been the most controversial and hated diets of the last 50 years. Although it was made popular thanks to Dr. Robert Atkins in his 1972 book Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution, the fundamental idea behind the diet goes at least a hundred fifty years back.
William_Banting.png

Meet William Banting, a British undertaker who lived in London in the mid 19th century. Throughout the years, Banting had gained weight gradually, and at one point was so obese that he could not tie his own shoes and had to walk down the stairs backwards or else risk falling. He had tried a variety of diets and exercise regimens to no effect before finding a diet, recommended by his doctor, that finally worked for him. This diet consisted of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine, and avoided sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter. It was so successful that Banting lost weight rapidly, and decided to share his experience by writing an open letter to the public, called Letter on Corpulence. Its popularity was such that it had to be reprinted multiple times, and the term "banting" became synonymous with dieting.

Throughout the first few decades of the 20th century, Banting's results were easily reproduced by a ton of individuals, as well as by researchers during epidemiological studies and laboratory experiments. The results were always the same: the higher the diets were in carbohydrates, the more likely the subjects were to gain weight, and the more difficult they found it to lose weight. The epidemiological studies in particular pointed to strong correlations between the introduction of sugars and refined carbohydrates to the diets of populations previously isolated from civilization, and significant increases in obesity in those populations. The Eskimos, for example, live on a diet that is practically zero carbs, and full of protein and animal fats. The vast majority are lean and athletic, with virtually non-existent heart disease and cancer. It is only those individual Eskimos that regularly visit civilized settlements that demonstrate cases of overweight and obesity (which is why Eskimos are shown as plump in popular media - because Western civilizations typically see only to those individual Eskimos that become overweight after being exposed to Western foods).

But all this changed in the 1950s thanks to one important individual: Ancel Keys. Keys was a scientist who studied the effects of different kinds of fats on health. He was solely responsible for popularizing the supposedly direct link between saturated fat consumption and CVD risk, even though the way he reached that conclusion was highly questionable:
During World War II, Keys studied starvation and sustenance diets using 32 conscientious objectors from Civilian Public Service as test subjects in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, and eventually producing his two-volume Biology of Human Starvation (1950).[2] His interest in diet and CVD was prompted, in part, by seemingly counterintuitive data: American business executives, presumably among the best-fed persons, had high rates of heart disease, while in post-war Europe, CVD rates had decreased sharply in the wake of reduced food supplies. Keys postulated a correlation between cholesterol levels and CVD and initiated a study of Minnesota businessmen (the first prospective study of CVD),[3] culminating in what came to be known as the Seven Countries Study.[4] These studies found strong associations between the CVD rate of a population and average serum cholesterol and per capita intake of saturated fatty acids. Then, as now, critics have rightfully pointed out that this "strong association" becomes weaker when data from other countries are added to the mix and there have been allegations that Keys "cherry picked" the data to support his hypothesis.

Despite the fact that there was plenty of counter-evidence that disagreed with Keys' hypothesis, he ignored all of it (or explained it away using fallacious logic) and was able to use his considerable aggressiveness, charisma, and influence to first get the American Heart Association to accept his hypothesis as fact. Then, through that organization, he convinced the government and eventually the media and the public that fats are bad and should be kept to a minimum, while saturated fats are outright evil and should be avoided as much as possible. Instead, Keys said, the public should follow a diet that is high in complex carbohydrates and moderate in protein, while keeping fat intake limited to small amounts of plant-based fats. And that became the basis for the US Government's dietary guidelines, and the surgeon general has been repeating it since the 1960s.

After that we all know what happened, more or less. Obesity continued to increase despite the fact that the population in general decreased its fat intake and increased its carb intake. Dr. Atkins came along and suggested that, hey, what we're doing is clearly not working, whereas low-carb seems to work, so let's try that. He said a few wrong things, but got most of it right. However, he was vilified and demonized for advocating a supposedly risky diet. Some scientists and journalists went so far as to call him a mass-murderer for recommending free consumption of animal fats under the guise of promised weight loss. And so, even though pockets of followers continued to follow a low-carb diet, the population at large looked at the Atkins diet, and by association any low-carb diet that came after it, as a "fad diet".

It was somewhat funny. You had all these people that were desperately trying to lose weight on a doctor-recommended low-fat high-carb diet and failing, and on top of that paying thousands of dollars every year on cholesterol and blood-pressure reducing medications in an effort to treat the symptoms of their high-carb diets. Yet, when they saw their friends and relatives following low-carb diets and actually losing weight AND reducing their CVD risk factors in check, they looked down upon them as fad dieters who were no doubt committing suicide.

For the past decade or so, there has been an increasing amount of evidence that, contrary to established medical dogma and popular belief, low carb diets are actually quite safe.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121624140800859549.html?mod=2_1566_leftbox
Overweight people on low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean diets lost more weight and got greater cardiovascular benefits than people on a conventional low-fat diet, according to a study that endorses alternative diets published in a major medical journal.

The study, which tracked 322 Israelis for two years, surprisingly found that a low-carb diet, often associated in the U.S. with high levels of meat consumption -- was better than a low-fat diet in boosting blood levels of "good" cholesterol, or high-density lipoproteins associated with cardiovascular health benefits. It also determined that the Mediterranean diet, which includes wine, olive oil, whole grains and fruits, was better than the low-fat diet in controlling glucose levels.

The researchers suggested that doctors and nutritionists could use the findings to tailor diets individually to patients with heart disease or diabetes, stressing that these were alternatives to low-fat diets that many people find hard to follow. The results also indicated that worries that low-carb diets, in particular, might cause health problems, are unfounded.

"A lot of people believe a low-fat diet is the only sanctioned weight-loss diet," said Meir J. Stampfer, an epidemiology and nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who was senior author of the report, published in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found that "there are alternatives that work better."

The study's leader, Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said, "We believe that this study will open clinical medicine to considering low-carb and Mediterranean diets as safe, effective alternatives for patients."

The study was funded with a $497,000 grant from the Jenkintown, Pa., nutritional-research foundation established by Robert Atkins, the late diet guru whose Atkins diet is controversial because it allows dieters to consume large amounts of meat and cheese, while eliminating bread and pasta. The foundation said it didn't influence the findings, and the study's authors said they didn't have any financial conflicts under the New England Journal guidelines.

Dean Ornish, a doctor and University of California at San Francisco professor who advocates extremely low-fat diets, said the Israel study shouldn't be seen as endorsement of the Atkins diet because the low-carb participants in the study were encouraged to consume vegetable fats, as opposed to the meat fats that Atkins dieters typically ingest. "A vegetarian Atkins diet is almost an oxymoron," he said. He also said the low-fat diet in the study, which was based on recommendations by the American Heart Association, doesn't cut out enough fat.

Low-carb diet advocates said they weren't surprised by the results, which they said confirm shorter, smaller, studies done over the past 20 years. Last March, Stanford University researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that over the course of a year, overweight women assigned to follow the Atkins diet lost an average of 10 pounds, exceeding losses recorded by women on other diets in the study. However, the study was criticized because many of the women didn't stick with diet guidelines and because they were paid to participate.

Stephen Phinney, professor emeritus of nutrition at University of California at Davis who has researched high-protein, low-carb diets for more than 25 years, said that with publication in the New England Journal -- which he called "the keeper of the consensus in medicine" -- he expects that "what was considered unacceptable, becomes mainstream thought."

Jimmy Moore, a 36-year-old from Spartanburg, S.C., who operates a dieter's Web site, says he lost 180 lbs. after going on the Atkins diet four years ago. He said he did it even though his doctor "thought I was nuts." He says his doctor was impressed with his diet success, and publication of the study may convince him to recommend the diet to other overweight patients.

In the Israel study, after two years, those in the group assigned to the low-carb diet lost an average of 10.3 lbs. -- 58% more than the 6.5 lbs. lost by dieters who followed the low-fat diet based on the Heart Association recommendations. Those on the Mediterranean diet, which includes lots of carbohydrates like pasta and more calories from fat in the form of olive oil than the Heart Association recommends, lost 10 lbs., nearly as much as the low-carb diet.

Excluding drop-outs, the average weight loss was 12.3 lbs. for the low-carb dieters, 10.2 lbs. for the Mediterranean dieters and 7.3 lbs. for the low-fat dieters. The subjects started out with an average body-mass index of 31, well above the top level of 24.9 considered normal weight. About 85% of those in the study were men.

The study was conducted among a group of workers at Israel's Nuclear Research Center in Dimona. Aided by support from the center, including color-coded menu information in the company cafeteria, 95% of the employees stuck with their diets for a full year and 85% were still involved at the end of the two-year study. Dr. Shai, the lead researcher, said that the "support in the workplace," helped people stay on the diets, even after weight loss plateaued at the six-month mark. She said the success suggests that workplace support for diet programs could help employers improve employee health.

The low-carb diet was also found to reduce harmful triglycerides, a precursor of heart disease, more than the low-fat diet. Levels of "bad" cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein, which is associated with the formation of arterial blockages, didn't significantly differ among the three diets.

Low-carb diets permit people to freely eat cheese, meats and animal fats that are discouraged in traditional diets, although in the Israel study, employees were counseled to emphasize vegetable fats. The low-carb dieters weren't given any restrictions on the number of calories they could consume, although they ended up eating about the same number of calories as the other two groups, indicating that they were satiated by their fat consumption. After an initial two-month period with just 20 grams a day of carbohydrates, they were allowed to consume up to 120 grams a day, well above the Atkins-recommended levels.

The low-fat and Mediterranean dieters were restricted to 1,800 calories a day for men and 1,500 for women. The Mediterranean dieters were urged to eat poultry and fish instead of beef and lamb, and they ate a handful of tree nuts and about five tablespoons of olive oil a day, so they got 35% of calories from fat. The low-fat dieters got just 30% of calories from fat.

Dr. Shai, the study leader, said she conceived the study when she was at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston on a Fulbright scholarship. "Before I came, I had the understanding that a low-fat diet was the best. But after I came, I started to think maybe we are wrong." Dr. Shai, 39 years old, said she thought the Israel nuclear research center would be a good place to run a study because it is isolated and people seldom leave. In addition, people were all on a private computer network, making it easy to monitor employee compliance by administering electronic questionnaires. But she says, "The main effects could be achieved in any workplace."

Barbara Howard, former chairwoman of the American Heart Association's Council on Nutrition, said that the group hasn't advocated a low-fat diet in recent years. She said reducing total calories and exercise are the key to weight loss. The group also urges people to avoid saturated fats and limit "calorie dense foods" such as fats and "highly processed carbs like pastries."

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/355/19/1991
Background:Low-carbohydrate diets have been advocated for weight loss and to prevent obesity, but the long-term safety of these diets has not been determined.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that diets lower in carbohydrate and higher in protein and fat are not associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease in women. When vegetable sources of fat and protein are chosen, these diets may moderately reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/1455
Objective: The objective of this study was to prospectively evaluate the relations of the amount and type of carbohydrates with risk of CHD.

..

Conclusion: These epidemiologic data suggest that a high dietary glycemic load from refined carbohydrates increases the risk of CHD, independent of known coronary disease risk factors.

What does obesity have anything to do with this?

Everything, it seems.

For more than 50 years, nutritional science and its related medical fields and disciplines have been dominated by one giant myth: that obesity is an eating disorder, caused by uncontrolled eating and sedentary behavior. As a result, the primary methods used in the treatment of this disease have been based on limited food intake (especially fat intake, because fats are denser and also because of the belief that they are dangerous) combined with cardiovascular exercise.

It is interesting however that, while medicine has been making leaps and bounds of progress in other areas - such as the ability to perform open-heart and open-brain surgeries as routine operation, re-shape the ocular lenses with lasers, and transfer organs from one patient to another - the medical professionals that treat obesity have hit a giant wall of failure. Obesity is at a rise, not just in America but across the entire world. The dangerous health conditions that it causes - heart disease, diabetes, cancer - are killing us faster than anything else. Every year, more Americans die due to obesity-caused diseases than all the Americans that died during both World Wars, The Korean War, and Vietnam War. The conventional wisdom of obesity treatment that prescribes reducing overall calorie intake and increasing physical activity does not work for the vast majority. And, for the small portion of patients for whom it does work, its effects are only temporary. Most of the patients that manage to lose weight with calorie-restricted diets that are low in fat and high in complex carbs and protein gain it right back within a year or two.

Understandably, this is a cause of great frustration among doctors who treat obesity, and those who dabble in nutritional sciences. The reason is that their conventional wisdom is based on a fundamental law of physics: the first law of thermodynamics. You see, it's all about calories in minus calories out. If a person eats more than they burn, then the excess is stored in fat tissue. If they burn more than they eat, then they lose weight. This is supposed to be so simple that even a cretin can understand it! And it's a law of nature, so if it's not working for the patient, the patient must be doing something wrong, and/or they must be lying, and/or must not have any willpower and cannot stick to the diet for extended periods of time. If science can't explain their failure, gluttony and sloth definitely can!

And there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the gluttony/sloth explanation. Every article you read, every TV program on obesity you watch, every expert you hear... they all talk about how fatty foods have become extremely common, how people have become more sedentary thanks to cars, TVs, and computers, and how no one is exercising. These views are usually supplemented by super-sized McDonald's meals showing off their grease in all its glory. We are eating ourselves to death, they say, and the only way to save ourselves is by summoning the collective willpower to say no to the after-dinner dessert, and, if we fail to do that, to get off our butts and go to the gym to "burn off" the calories we just consumed.

The only way science progresses is by continuously questioning itself. Yet that is the one thing that the majority of obesity researchers and medical experts have not done when faced with all the negative data and observations of failure after failure. You have 50-60 year old doctors that are still preaching the same bullshit they read in their medical textbooks back in med school. They have blamed everything and everyone, yet in their zeal to pass judgment on those they treat, they have forgotten to ask one simple question: "What if we are wrong?" In fact, not only have they not done this, but they have also crushed without mercy those of their kind who have suggested it (such as Dr. Atkins). Every alternative hypothesis of what causes weight gain and obesity has either been ignored or vilified by both medical experts and the mass media simply because it contradicted conventional wisdom.
fat-rat1.jpg

There have been some very interesting experiments done on lab rats with regards to how insulin regulates food intake and fat accumulation. In one very interesting study, done in the 60s (iirc), scientists wanted to find out the effect of calorie restriction on rat obesity. They found that, as long as the diet remained low in fat and high in carbs and protein, the rat continued to accumulate fat even if it was semi-starved. It made up for the difference by reducing its movements and sexual activities.

In a similar study, after rats got used to drinking water with X grams of sugar in it everyday, they were given additional servings of water with less and less sugar. The scientists found that the rats drank more and more water as the sugar content in the water decreased, until they reached a point where they exerted more energy drinking the water than they got from the sugar in it.

--

After doing months of research on this topic, I've become convinced that treating obesity as a disorder of eating is wrong. Eating a lot is only a symptom of obesity. The root cause is too much insulin. Insulin is the hormone that is released when blood sugar goes up, and it is in charge of storing it in fat cells. When there is too much insulin in the blood (a condition known as hyperinsulinemia, a pre-diabetes stage), too much of what we eat is stored as fat. As a result, we lack the energy for other activities, and become sedentary and eat more. This is why obese individuals eat a lot and are sedentary. Their sloth and gluttony are symptoms of their obesity, not the cause. In other words, obesity is a hormonal disorder, rather than a behavioral disorder. Therefore, we need to stop looking for the root cause in the brain and start looking for it in the endocrine system, and treat it in such a way that we reduce the total insulin level in the blood. And the only way to do this is by lowering the carbohydrates from the diet as much as we can.

Gary Taubes, the author of the controversial Good Calories, Bad Calories, recently gave an excellent lecture on this recently. Some of the examples he gives, particularly the obesity rates among the Pima Indians and the Indians of the South Dakota Crow Creek Reservation, are particularly telling. Please watch at least some of it before responding to this thread.

I can already hear the cries of "but should we not eat fruits? Surely they are good because they contain fiber and vitamins!" Well, it turns out that the data suggesting the benefits of fiber is also suspect (not necessarily incorrect, however). We now have increased evidence that fiber by itself actually does not do anything. Most of the studies that show its benefits have actually reached incorrect or at best partial conclusions, probably because the existence of fiber is correlated with the non-existence of other carbohydrates in the food (that spike insulin). In other words, the more fiber a food has, the less sugar it has to have (in a given volume). Therefore, it may actually be the case that the benefits of fiber are not brought about by fiber itself, but rather with the decreased carb intake (or at least glycemic index) that comes with it. (Note: the fiber hypothesis was embraced with open arms because it did not directly contradict Ancel Keys' recommendation that we should all strive to eat a diet high in carbs. Suddenly you could eat all the carbs in the world, and as long as you got some fiber with it, it protected you against virtually everything).

The latest book I am reading on this subject is titled Protein Power, written by Drs. Mike and Mary Eades, written in 1997. Mike also has a blog that I regularly read. In the book, here is what they have to say on this:
What does the typical American eat? How about the old standard: meat and potatoes -- protein and carbohydrate. A hamburger and fries -- protein and carbohydrate. A pizza, which is basically cheese, meat, and crust -- protein and carbohydrate. Macaroni and cheese -- protein and carbohydrate. Think of anything we commonly eat: eggs and hash browns, milk and cereal, pork and beans, chicken and dumplings, peanut butter and jelly, ice cream, chili con carne, lasagne -- the list could go on forever; every one of these popular foods is a combination of lots of carbohydrate and some protein. And lots of fat, of course, which we will consider shortly.

Let's forget about protein for a minute and concentrate on just the carbohydrates that we eat, which do an outstanding job of raising insulin all by themselves. The second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics published data in 1983 on the food consumption patterns of Americans. What would you guess as the number-one food consumed by most Americans? White bread, rolls, and crackers -- almost pure carbohydrate. How about number two? Doughnuts, cookies, and cake -- more carbohydrate and fat. Number three, alcoholic beverages. All in all, of the top twenty foods that Americans eat, eleven are virtually pure carbohydrate, four are a combination of carbs and protein, and only five are pure protein or a combination of protein and fat. These last five represent only 12 percent of the calories we eat.

What about the fat and cholesterol we've shrugged off in our discussion so far? Do we not have to worry about them at all? Don't they cause some problems? Sure they do, but not nearly the problems that carbohydrates do. And when dietary fat and cholesterol cause problems, it's usually because of the carbohydrate eaten along with them. It is true that fat is the raw material from which the body makes cholesterol, and it is also true that if you add more fat to your diet your cholesterol will increase, but only if you continue to eat a lot of carbohydrate at the same that you add the fat. Although it is the raw material the body uses to make cholesterol, insulin runs the cellular machinery that actually makes it. If you reduce the level of insulin, the cells can't convert the fat to cholesterol, no matter how much fat is available. Eating fat in the absence of carbohydrate and expecting it to be converted to cholesterol is like trying to make your car go faster by putting a larger gas tank in it. If you reduce the amount of carbohydrate when you add the fat, not only will you probably not see any increase, you could even see a reduction in cholesterol levels.

Sadly, the typical American diet is almost all fat and carbohydrate. According to the National Research Council's Committee on Diet and Health in 1985, 46 percent of calories in the average American's Diet came from carbohydrate, 43 percent from fat, and a paltry 11 percent from protein. 89 percent of the American diet is fat and carbs.
Here is usually what happens: a patient gains weight and subsequently develops high blood pressure, for which the doctor prescribes a mild diuretic and low salt. The patient returns with better blood pressure but now a slight elevation in cholesterol and is put on a low-fat diet. He returns no lighter, with little change in cholesterol, but now his triglycerides or blood sugar have risen, too. The progression occurs because all these disorders are related through a single disturbance (excess insulin) that is actually being aggravated by the treatment
Jayne had been unaware that she even had a problem until she went for a routine physical examination. Her doctor checked her over, told her she appeared to be in good health, drew some blood, and told her he would call her when the results came back from the lab. He called the next day and dropped the bombshell: her blood fats were dangerously elevated. Her serum cholesterol was 750 mg/dl -- normal is anything below 200 and her triglycerides (another blood fat usually measured in the 100-to-250 mg/dl range) were a whopping 3,000 mg/dl! Most physicians get excited over a cholesterol of 300 mg/dl, let alone 750, and become outright alarmed at such a high triglyceride level. So it's no surprise that her doctor -- following standard medical protocol -- completely bypassed Step One and immediately started her on the National Cholesterol Awareness Program Step Two and two potent cholesterol-lowering medications. [protein's note: Step One is reducing fat intake to 30% of daily calories, and Step Two is reducing even further. If both steps fail, cholesterol lowering medication is prescribed.]

Jayne faithfully followed her doctor's orders for six months, although not without difficulty. The medications nauseated her, and the diet kept her constantly hungry. Her condition was the talk of her friends and relatives, one of whom actually remarked to her, "I didn't know a person could still be alive with a cholesterol of 750!" By the time Jayne returned for her recheck, she was desperate for improvement. And she improved some, but not nearly enough. Her cholesterol had dropped from 750 to 475 and her triglycerides had dropped from 3,000 to 2000 -- an improvement to be sure, but still cause for great concern to both Jayne and her physician. They discussed treatment options. Her doctor suggested either increasing the dosage of her cholesterol-lowering medications of adding yet another medicine to her regimen. Jayne wanted to think about it before she decided which option to take. She decided to do neither until she got a second opinion from another physician, so she came to our clinic.

After listening to her history, we drew another blood sample and found that indeed she did have extraordinarily elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in her blood -- 495 mg/dl and 1,900 mg/dl, respectively. In addition, her blood sugar was elevated to 155 mg/dl (normal is below 115 mg/dl), an ominous sign of impending diabetes.

We instructed Jayne to stop taking both of her cholesterol-lowering medications and to change her diet drastically. Her new nutritional regimen allowed meat (even red meat), eggs, cheese, and many other foods that most people view as causing cholesterol problems, not solving them. We told her to call in three weeks to check in and to come back to have her blood checked in six weeks.

She called at her appointed time and reported that she "felt grand" and that her nausea and hunger had vanished. The results of her blood work astounded her. Jayne's cholesterol level had fallen to 186 mg/dl and her triglycerides to 86mg/dl. Her blood sugar had dropped to 90 mg/dl; everything was back in the normal range. As you might imagine, she was ecstatic.

How could this happen? How can a diet virtually everyone believes should raise cholesterol actually lower it -- and in a person who doesn't have just a slight cholesterol elevation but a major one? We know Jayne Bledsoe's case is not a freak happenstance or an aberration because we've tried variations of the same regimen on countless other patients -- all with the same results. The results make perfect sense, because Jayne's problem, her illness, is not elevated cholesterol level -- that's merely a sign of the underlying problem. Her problem is hyperinsulinemia, a chronic elevation of serum insulin.

When Jayne first came to our office, her insulin level was almost 20 mU/ml, about double what we consider normal, which is anything below 10 mU/ml. After six weeks on a diet designed to lower her insulin level, Jayne's lab work showed that she had dropped hers to 12 mU/ml, almost normal. By treating her real problem -- excess insulin -- we were able to solve her secondary problems of elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar. Standard medical therapies treat the symptoms of excess insulin -- elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure, and obesity -- instead of treating the excess insulin itself. Unfortunately, the standard treatment of the symptoms may even raise the insulin levels and worsen the underlying problem

One interesting fact about obesity is that, historically, it has been viewed as a sign of wealth and power. The thought process was that eating a lot causes obesity (here is that upside down reasoning again), and only wealthy people could afford to eat a lot. So if they were fat, that meant they were wealthy.

There are a ridiculous number of exceptions to this however. In the US alone, obesity tends to be ridiculously common among the poor. This directly contradicts with our historical understanding of obesity and social class. How is it that, in earlier ages, obesity was a sign of wealth, but in today's day and age, it is a sign of poverty? The math does not add up. If you watched Taubes lecture I linked above, he talks about the South Dakota Crow Creek Reservation in 1928 - one of the poorest areas of the US back then, with an extreme shortage of food as well as horrendous living conditions. The obesity rate? You would expect it to be low, based on the historical link of poor = thin, but it was actually a whopping 40% in adult women, 25% in adult men, and 10% in adult children. How was it that these people still managed to grow obese when starving?

To be honest, I am not expecting people here to accept this outright. I started out on a foot of extreme skepticism, and purely by coincidence, and it took months of research and reading to convince me of the beliefs I outlined above. It takes an overwhelming amount of evidence, and sometimes extraordinary conditions, to dislodge conventional wisdom, especially when it is based on a faulty understanding of fundamental laws of nature (calories in - calories out = change in weight).

But, hopefully, we are progressing in that direction, albeit slowly.

Thank you for reading.


tldr; bacon is good for you, mmkay?

Protein Shakes on
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Posts

  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Got any links to good diet/recipe sites? I know geckhan posted a few in previous threads where this was brought up, but I lost the links.

    Julius on
  • Protein ShakesProtein Shakes __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    TOOLS OF THE TRADE
    emot-burger.gif

    This section provides a list of ingredients and food stuffs that will help you bring back some of the flavors you may miss on a low carb diet. I do not own stock in these companies’ products nor am I getting any compensation for recommending these things.

    Carbquik

    Carbquik is a low carb alternative to Bisquick. For dieters or people with diabetes, it's a Godsend. There's lots of recipes on the company's website, but I've had better luck transforming existing flour-based recipes on my own. Two of my favorites are pancakes and Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

    I've also had great success using it for breading. I love me some chicken parmesan with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

    low-carb-carbquik-1-lb-b1871.jpg

    Liquid sucralose

    Sucralose is the sweetener in Splenda. However, Splenda in large amounts can raise your blood sugar. “But I thought it says 0 calories and 0 carbs on the packet?” Such labeling is permitted in the U.S. because the FDA's regulations allow a product to be labeled as “zero calories” if the “food contains less than 5 calories per reference amount customarily consumed and per labeled serving.” Because Splenda contains a relatively small amount of sucralose, little of which is metabolized, virtually all of Splenda's caloric content derives from the highly fluffed dextrose or maltodextrin bulking agents that give Splenda its volume. Like other carbohydrates, dextrose and maltodextrin have 3.75 calories per gram. One cup of Splenda Granular has 96 calories and 24 grams of carbohydrates.

    Liquid sucralose is a concentrated liquid version of the sweetener. It has no bulking agents, so there are truly no carbs and no calories. Unlike aspartame, you can put it in your food before heating. However, I try to leave it for the end, if possible, since there are no granules to dissolve.

    My favorite is the EZ-Sweetz brand. I buy the original “one drop per serving” bottles. I use about 24-28 drops per cup of sugar.

    EZ-SWEETZ-02.jpg

    Stevia

    Stevia is a natural sweetener made from the stevia leaf. Pure stevia has a licorice aftertaste, but two of the leading stevia based products seem to have eliminated this effect:

    Truvia and PureVia.

    I personally use Truvia since it's the least likely to cause an insulin response. Truvia's other main ingredient is erythritol, which is one of the only sugar alcohols to have a zero glycemic index rating and the only one to have almost zero calories. Purevia contains isomaltulose which is low-glycaemic and low-insulinemic, but it's not zero calories or zero carbs.

    I use 24 packages of Truvia per cup of sugar, or 1.5 packages per tablespoon of sugar. I use a 50/50 blend of Truvia and EZ-Sweetz in chocolate recipes or to cut down the aftertaste in a recipe that uses a lot of sucralose. This is a granular sweetener, so you should treat it like granular sugar in your recipes.

    Be careful when purchasing other brands of stevia based sweeteners. They may include dextrose or maltodextrin bulking agents that will raise carb counts.

    DiabetiSweet Brown Sugar Substitute
    [img]http://img.waffleimages.com/a06055862de8c545c2a90e35edd3839fa0bdc6e6/DiabetiSweet Brown Sugar Substitute.jpg[/img]

    The two artificial sweeteners are Isomalt and Acesulfame K. They do not cause a noticeable glycemic response. One cup of DiabetiSweet equals one cup of brown sugar. (Excessive consumption may cause stomach upset.)

    There's a regular white sugar replacement version, too.

    Low carb breads and wraps
    I use these roll-ups every day:

    pkg_rollups_flax.jpg

    Only 6 net carbs. You can't tell from the picture, but these babies are HUGE!

    Try Pepperidge Farm Carb Style 7 Grain Bread.
    SR5DN.jpg
    It's got 5g net carbs per slice. Oh, and it tastes great, too.

    Heavy cream

    You know those recipes that call for milk? Milk contains lots of sugars, so you don’t want to use it. You can substitute that with half heavy cream and half water.

    Trust me, you’re going to be using lots of heavy cream in your cooking, so always keep a couple quarts on hand.

    Low sugar ketchup

    WTF? Ketchup? Yes. Part of lowering your carbs is to find ways to cut back wherever you can. I love meatloaf, but I used a TON of ketchup with it. The container of Heinz ketchup says it's 15 calories with 4g of carbs per tablespoon. Let's say I use 1/4 of a cup of ketchup with my meatloaf, which is being conservative. That's 16g of carbs. For a 50g carb per day diet, that's a lot of carbs to “waste” on a condiment. Luckily, Heinz makes a low carb ketchup that's only 5 calories and 1g of carbs per tablespoon. Here's the kicker: IT TASTES JUST LIKE THE REGULAR KETCHUP!

    HeinzReducedSugarKetchup.JPG

    Blue Diamond Bold Flavored Almonds

    Check these out!

    Blue_Diamond.jpg

    Very low in carbs, high in potassium, and very tasty!

    Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds

    Very sweet, yet only 3g net carbs!

    Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum

    These can be used to thicken and bind foods. I use Xanthan Gum in ice cream and to make Carbquik recipes bind better. A comparison of the two gums can be found here: http://glutenfree4goofs.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/xanthan-gum-vs-guar-gum/

    Other food substitutes

    Cauliflower. Yech! Cauliflower? Yes, it can be made to be delicious. Look for my “Fauxtatoes” recipe below.

    Replace high sugar fruits and veggies with low sugar alternatives.

    From http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatfruit.htm

    Fruits Lowest in Sugar

    Small Amounts of Lemon or Lime, Rhubarb, Raspberries, Blackberries, Cranberries

    Fruits Low to Medium in Sugar

    Strawberries, Casaba Melon, Papaya, Watermelon, Peaches, Nectarines, Blueberries, Cantaloupes, Honeydew Melons, Apples, Guavas, Apricots, Grapefruit

    Fruits Fairly High in Sugar

    Plums, Oranges, Kiwifruit, Pears, Pineapple

    Fruits Very High in Sugar

    Tangerines, Cherries, Grapes, Pomegranates, Mangos, Figs, Bananas
    Dried Fruit, such as Dates, Raisins, Dried Apricots, Prunes

    From http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

    Low-Carb Vegetables
    This list is roughly arranged from lowest to highest carbohydrate counts, but all are non-starchy and generally low in carbohydrates. Exact carb count depends on serving size. Remember when counting carbs in vegetables that the fiber is not counted, and can be subtracted from the total.

    Sprouts (bean, alfalfa, etc.)
    Greens – lettuces, spinach, chard, etc.
    Hearty Greens - collards, mustard greens, kale, etc.
    Radicchio and endive count as greens
    Herbs - parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.
    Bok Choy
    Celery
    Radishes
    Sea Vegetables (Nori, etc)
    Cabbage (or sauerkraut)
    Mushrooms
    Jicama
    Avocado
    Cucumbers (or pickles without added sugars)
    Asparagus
    Green Beans and Wax Beans
    Broccoli
    Cauliflower
    Green Bell Peppers
    Red Bell Peppers
    Jalapeno Peppers
    Summer Squash
    Zuchinni
    Scallions or green onions
    Bamboo Shoots
    Leeks
    Brussels Sprouts
    Snow Peas (pods)
    Tomatoes
    Eggplant
    Tomatillos
    Artichokes
    Fennel
    Onions
    Okra
    Spaghetti Squash
    Celery Root (Celeriac)
    Carrots
    Turnip (see Carb Counts of Root Vegetables)
    Water Chestnuts
    Pumpkin

    Starchy (High Carb) Vegetables
    The main veggies to be avoided when reducing carbohydrates are the starchier vegetables:

    Beets
    Carrots on some diets, but they aren't as high as others in this group
    Corn
    Parsnips
    Peas
    Plantains
    Potatoes in all forms
    Winter Squashes (particularly acorn and butternut)

    Frozen pizza

    I have been blessed by the Gods to have found a local store that sells Eat Rite Chicago Deep Dish Pizza I don't know how the hell they can claim 4g of net carbs and still make it this tasty.

    Slim Fast Low Carb Shakes

    Of all the “diet shakes” out there, they taste the best and have some of the least net carbs. If you know any diabetics who drink these kinds of shakes, these are better that the ones made for diabetics.

    Restaurants

    It's challenging, but not impossible. Here's some examples of cutting carbs while dining out.

    Wendy's

    Order two Double Stacks and two Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. Throw out the extra buns and make a single burger out of it. This monster mini-burger has about 30g of carbs, but for $3, you can't beat it. Drop the bun altogether and you'll save about 24g!

    emot-siren.gifBEHOLD! emot-siren.gif

    Chili's

    Chili's is nice enough to provide a nutritional menu. Here are some low carb items:

    Guiltless Carne Asada: 5g
    Guiltless Cedar Plank Tilapia: 3g
    Guiltless Grilled Salmon: 5g
    Triple Dipper Wings over Buffalo w/ Bleu Cheese: 2g
    Caesar Side Salad (Hold the Croutons): about 6g
    Chicken Enchilada (cup): 8g
    Spicy Garlic & Lime Grilled Shrimp: 7g
    Chili's Classic Sirloin: 1g
    Pepper Pals Grilled Chicken Platter (kids): 4g

    I usually order this for two:

    Full rack of the Original ribs, Wings over Buffalo with bleu cheese, replace the two sides for $2 extra and get two Caesar salads sans croutons.

    Outback

    Outback 12 oz. Special with green beans or broccoli in butter. House salad with bleu cheese or mustard vinaigrette.

    Boston Market
    Reposted from http://speedweightlossbook.com/blog/diet/boston-market-for-weight-loss/

    1/4 White Rotisserie Chicken: 320 calories, 12g fat, 52g protein
    Green Beans: 90 calories, 3.5g fat, 7g carbohydrates, 3g fiber, 2g protein
    Creamed Spinach: 280 calories, 23g fat, 12g carbohydrates, 4g fiber, 9g protein

    Totals: 690 calories, 38.5g fat (346.5), 19g carbohydrate (76), 12g fiber, 7g net carbs, 63g protein (252), 51% fat, 12% carbohydrate, 37% protein

    Any Mexican place

    Order fajitas, but bring your own low carb tortillas. Enjoy the guacamole and sour cream, but lay off the black beans and tortilla chips.

    Products to Avoid

    A lot of people have heard about Dreamfield's pasta and how it allegedly contains an additive that blocks the starches from being digested. It's a controversial product and I'd suggest you avoid it unless you really want to go through the trouble of measuring your glucose levels to prove it does or doesn't work. (Yes, people actually did this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkStVTKGb7g

    Here's an in-depth article on the subject: http://www.mendosa.com/dreamfields_pasta.htm

    To be fair, Jimmy Moore seems to give it a thumbs up:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkwZxm-hRa0

    Granular sweeteners that have dextrose or maltodextrin in the list of ingredients.

    Protein Shakes on
  • ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    If low-carb diets are so much better, then why does all the research show that low-carb (Atkins, specifically) and low-fat diets have roughly the same rate of weight loss and Atkins is only slightly better for retention?

    There's an obvious caveat that telling people that saturated fats are bad for them caused them to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats (butter w/ margarine), which we later found were even worse.

    Also, bacon's still terrible for you.

    Scalfin on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
  • Protein ShakesProtein Shakes __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    YUMMY LOW-CARB RECIPES
    emot-burger.gifRecipes

    I’ll be adding more soon, but I’ll start you off with these:

    Carbquik Pancakes

    Follow the recipe on the box, but add:
    1 tsp. vanilla extract
    1 tsp. baking powder
    14 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    emot-siren.gif ¼ tsp. Xanthan Gum plus ½ cup additional heavy cream or water emot-siren.gif

    Please note that the pancake recipe on the box is very "doughy" and not really pourable. It kind of looks like mashed potatoes. I recommend using a GOOD non-stick pan. I bought a $10 Chefmate 12" non-stick pan in Target that works spectacularly well. A worn out non-stick surface may be okay for making scrambled eggs, but not pancakes. The small amount of Xanthan Gum helps bind the pancakes in the absence of starch. DO NOT OVERUSE! Xanthan Gum is very potent. I would not attempt adding more than ¼ teaspoon to this recipe and only if you have a more than 1 cup of liquid. If you don't use the Xanthan Gum, it's going to be almost impossible to flip Carbquik pancakes with a spatula since they fall apart so easily. Instead, you should develop a flipping technique. Slide the pancake down to the edge of the pan and up the side. Perform a quick pop with your wrist and if the Gods are smiling, it will do a 180 cooked side up. Good luck!

    Serve with Mrs. Butterworth's sugar-free syrup. It's the best one I've tried.

    Red Lobster's Cheddar Biscuits

    If you've eaten at Red Lobster, you'll know how good these can be. The recipe on the Carbquik box is okay, but I found one that that blows it away thanks to Top Secret Recipes.

    Ingredients:
    2½ cups Carbquik
    3 fl. oz of heavy cream
    3 fl. oz of water
    4 tbsp. cold butter (½ stick)
    ¼ tsp. garlic powder
    1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese

    Bush on Top:
    4 tbsp. butter, melted
    ¼ tsp. dried parsley flakes
    ½ tsp. garlic powder
    pinch salt

    Directions:
    1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
    2. Combine Carbquik with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, heavy cream, water, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.
    3. Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.
    4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.
    5. When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes one dozen biscuits.

    Recipe courtesy of Todd Wilbur, "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2," Plume Books.

    Impossibly Easy Coconut Pie

    Ingredients
    1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Unsweetened coconut
    35 drops of EZ-Sweetz liquid Splenda
    ½ cup of Carbquik
    ½ stick of softened butter
    1 cup heavy cream
    1 cup water
    1½ tsp. of vanilla extract
    4 eggs

    Directions:
    1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9" pie plate.
    2. Stir all ingredients until blended. Pour into pie plate.
    3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or knife inserted comes out clean. Store covered in refrigerator.

    Makes 6 slices
    1 Serving: Calories 364; Fat 34g; Cholesterol 205mg; Sodium 122mg; Carbohydrate 9g; Net Carbs 4g; Protein 8g

    Picture of what it looks like (not mine):

    pie.jpg

    Impossibly Easy Lasagna Pie

    Ingredients
    1 pound ground beef
    ½ cup think-and-chunky tomato sauce
    ⅓ cup ricotta cheese
    3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
    1 tbsp heavy cream
    ½ tsp salt
    1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
    ½ cup Carbquik
    ½ cup heavy cream
    ½ cup water
    2 eggs

    Directions
    1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9" pie plate.
    2. Cook beef in a 10" skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. Stir in tomato sauce; heat until bubbly.
    3. Mix in ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp cream, and the salt.
    4. Spread half of the beef mixture in pie plate. Drop cheese mixture by spoonfuls onto beef mixture.
    5. Sprinkle with ½ cup of mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining beef mixture. Stir Carbquik, ½ cup cream, ½ cup water, and the eggs until blended. Pour into pie plate.
    6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese. Bake 2 to 3 minuted or until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 mins before serving.

    Picture (not mine) with a Caesar salad:
    6aac76654fe57ca923eb0391595a4f2b8c0a6f17.jpg

    Fauxtatoes

    Ingredients
    1 head cauliflower (preferably fresh, but you can use frozen instead)
    2½ tbsp butter
    2 cubes (4g each) chicken bouillon (the soft mushy kind)
    1 tsp salt
    ½ tsp white pepper
    1 tsp dried onion flakes
    ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
    ⅓ cup heavy cream (as needed)

    Directions
    1. Cut cauliflower into small pieces. Place about 2 cups florets in a microwavable bowl. Add ¼ cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and cut three slits to allow steam to escape.
    2. Cook for 15-20 minutes on high power in microwave. Cauliflower should fall apart when pressed on by a fork. Dump cooked cauliflower in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain as much water from the colander as possible.
    3. Put cooked cauliflower in food processor and turn on high for 30 seconds.
    4. Add butter, crushed chicken bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, Parmesan, and onion flakes. Run food processor for another 30 seconds.
    5. Remove top of food processor and push down sides with rubber spatula.
    6. Turn on food processor for another 1 to 1½ minutes. While running, add heavy cream a little at a time and ensure mixture does not get watery.

    Coconut Chocolate “Yummies”

    Ingredients
    3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut (lightly "toast" for a different texture!)
    20 pkgs (tsp) of Truvia
    35 drops of EZ Sweetz
    2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
    1 stick butter
    ½ cup “LC Milk” (¼ cup heavy cream + ¼ cup water)
    1 tsp vanilla
    1 cup creamy peanut butter
    ½ cup of DaVinci Toasted Marshmallow syrup (optional)

    Directions
    1. Mix granular sweetener, cocoa, butter, and “milk” in saucepan. Bring to a boil (stir constantly). Boil for EXACTLY one minute (do not overcook).
    2. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, DaVinci syrup (optional), liquid sweetener, and vanilla. When peanut butter is evenly spread throughout mixture, add the coconut. Stir to coat evenly.
    3. Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper. Chill in refrigerator.

    Makes 20 yummies

    1 serving: Calories: 213, Fat: 20g, Cholesterol: 10mg, Sodium: 9mg, Carbohydrates: 6g, Net Carbs: 4g, Protein: 4g

    They sort of look like this. (This isn't an actual picture, but it's close.)

    Full-ChocMacaroons-Vert.jpg

    Cheesy Bacon Quiche

    Ingredients
    1¼ cups Carbquik
    ½ stick butter, cold, sliced into pats
    2 tbsp boiling water
    1 cup shredded sharp cheddar or Swiss cheese (4 oz)
    ½ package (6 ounces) bacon
    ¼ cup green onions, diced
    1¼ cups heavy cream
    ¼ cup water
    3 eggs
    ½ tsp salt
    ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

    Directions
    1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Stir Carbquik and butter until blended. Add boiling water; stir vigorously until soft dough forms. Using a mixer on low is fine, but the heat from your hands kneading the mixture is necessary to melt the butter enough to blend with the flour. Press dough on bottom and up side of pie plate.
    2. Cook bacon until it is very well done. Bacon should be crisp enough to fall apart in your hands. Break bacon into small pieces.
    3. Sprinkle cheese, bacon and onions over crust. Beat heavy cream, water and eggs; stir in salt and cayenne pepper. Pour into crust.
    4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

    Serving size: 6 slices

    Calories: 537, Fat: 47g, Cholesterol: 235mg, Sodium: 1180mg, Carbohydrates: 13g, Net Carbs: 4g, Protein: 24g

    quiche.jpg

    Low Carb Peanut Butter Cups

    The original recipe is here: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/pbcups.htm?p=1

    pbcups.jpg

    Some of my suggestions...

    Don't listen to her about pouring boiling water over the chocolate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. It's easy-peasy. Don't go crazy looking for Hershey's unsweetened chocolate. The Baker's brand works just as well. Make sure your peanut butter has only two ingredients: peanuts and salt. Replace the "3/4 cup powdered erythritol" with about 18-20 packets of Truvia. Use 24-28 drops of EZ-Sweetz for the liquid sucralose part. I have a non-stick mini-muffin pan and I had no need to use hot water to get the cups loose.

    New York Style Cheesecake

    Crust
    1 cup almond meal
    1 tsp. ground cinnamon
    4 tsp. Splenda or 3 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    Pinch of sea salt
    2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
    1 large egg white

    Filling
    2½ lb. cream cheese at room temperature
    ½ cup heavy cream or sour cream (I prefer heavy cream)
    63 drops EZ-Sweetz liquid sucralose
    2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
    2 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
    Pinch of sea salt
    2 large egg yolks
    6 large eggs

    Directions
    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and coat the inside of the pan with butter.
    2. To make the crust: In a medium bowl, mix the almond meal, cinnamon, sweetener, and salt. Add the butter and mix well.
    3. In a small bowl, beat the egg white with a whisk until foamy and add to the almond mixture. Stir well and pat into the bottom of the prepared pan.
    4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. (If the crust rises up, just poke it with a fork and press it down.) Let cool.
    5. Increase the oven temperature to 500°F. Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. This will be used for our water bath later on. Pour enough water in the baking sheet until it’s approximately ¼ inch high.
    6. To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sour cream or heavy cream, sweetener, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Blend in the egg yolks. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Scrape the bowl frequently while you are mixing.
    7. Carefully pour the filling over the crust.
    8. Place the springform pan on a rack above the baking sheet containing the water bath. Bake for 10 minutes.
    9. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°F. Continue baking for 1½ hours. (Do not open the door during this time!) The cheesecake should look soft in the center. Feel free to use an instant read thermometer in the center of the cake - a slightly blemish is worth a perfect cake. The center of the cake should be 150°F (making sure it does not exceed 160°F).
    10. Remove from the oven. After 10 minutes, run a knife around the outside of the cheesecake. Let cool to room temperature. Serve immediately or chill.

    NOTE: I don't care for the crust and never make it anymore. This recipe is just heavenly without it.

    Nutritional Information without crust (per serving assuming 8 servings)
    Calories: 624, Fat: 60g, Cholesterol: 391mg, Sodium: 562mg, Carbohydrate: 7g, Net Carbs: 7g, Protein: 15g

    Homemade Ice Cream

    Hell yeah! I converted a number of recipes from the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream book, put them into a spreadsheet and uploaded it to Google Docs.

    http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Apgom8CCYERbdGgwN21Qc2tjWDV2X1VFZURmYzVpMXc&hl=en

    I haven't made every flavor yet, but the chocolate chip and butter pecan are amazing!

    No Sugar Hot Cocoa

    Merry Christmas! Enjoy this converted recipe from Hershey's website. It's the best damn hot cocoa I ever had, bar none.

    Ingredients
    6 pkgs (tsp.) of Truvia
    ⅓ cup hot water
    ¼ cup Hershey's unsweetened cocoa
    Dash salt
    7 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    2½ cups heavy cream
    1½ cups water
    ¾ tsp. vanilla extract

    Directions
    1. Stir together Truvia, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan; stir in ⅓ cup of hot water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add heavy cream and water; stirring constantly, heat to serving temperature. Do Not Boil.
    2. Remove from heat; add vanilla and EZ-Sweetz. Beat with rotary beater or whisk until foamy. Serve topped with low carb whipped cream, if desired.

    Makes five 8-oz. servings.

    Shirataki noodles with peanut sauce
    Thanks to kanteyluip

    Ingredients
    ½ cup peanut butter
    2 tbsp soy sauce
    2 tbsp rice vinegar
    2 tbsp sesame oil
    Minced ginger and garlic
    little bit of hot water to thin it to a reasonable texture

    Directions
    I stir-fry some chicken and vegetables, then add the peanut sauce and well-rinsed shirataki noodles and mix it all together. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped green onions. Peanut sauce makes everything awesome.I think the white-colored tofu shirataki noodles taste better than the standard clear shirataki noodles, but I'm not sure of the nutritional differences between the two.

    Low Carb Peanut butter Fudge
    Based on http://genaw.com/lowcarb/peanut_butter_fudge.html

    This recipe is one of my all time favorites. These things are addictive as heck.

    Ingredients
    2 sticks of unsalted butter
    1 cup of peanut butter
    4 oz. of cream cheese
    2 cups of granular Splenda or 48 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    8 packages of Truvia
    1⅓ cup whey protein powder, vanilla flavor, 4 scoops (I used Champion Nutrition Pure Whey Protein Stack because it's cheap and low carb.)

    Directions
    Melt the butter, peanut butter, and Truvia together in the microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes; whisk well. Whisk in the cream cheese until well blended and smooth. Whisk in the Splenda then the whey protein powder and blend well. Line a 7" x 5" baking dish with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Spread the fudge mixture in the pan and chill or freeze until set. Cut into 8 or more rectangles. Store in the refrigerator or freeze.

    Makes 8 pieces
    Can be frozen

    Nutritional information per serving with liquid sucralose:
    Calories: 450, Fat: 37g, Cholesterol: 68mg, Sodium: 87mg, Carbohydrate: 11g, Net Carbs: 6g, Protein: 23g

    I have one recommendations to make: Run, don't walk to your nearest diet shop and see if you can find CarbSmart Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunks. Add a bunch to this recipe. They're not so hot on their own, but in the fudge, they're out of this world! Make sure to break them apart if they're stuck in the bag. Mix them in gently just before you're about to put the mixture in your parchment paper lined container.

    peanut_butter_fudge.jpg

    Pigs in a blanket

    Ingredients
    1¾ cups Carbquik
    ⅓ cup low carb "milk" (half heavy cream/half water)
    1 tbsp. mustard
    8 hot dogs

    Directions
    1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease a cookie sheet.
    2. Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Knead the dough with your hands and shape it into a ball.
    3. Flatten dough to a 13 inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Roll hot dog beginning at rounded edge. Put tip down on cookie sheet.
    4. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

    I used extra long hot dogs, so I ended up cutting them in half and doubling the other parts of the recipe. The original recipe used Bisquick, which yields a bread that's like a crescent roll. The Carbquik version yields a soft pretzel kind of taste and texture. You can add cheese and relish during the rolling up, if you like.

    r34694fp.jpg

    Alfredo Chicken Bake

    Follow the recipe here replacing Bisquick with Carbquik:

    http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/alfredo-chicken-bake/47abd440-fde1-40b7-a675-b70701cc0e19

    The quality of the Alfredo sauce and Swiss cheese will greatly effect the outcome. I like a Jarlesberg or Finlandia Swiss cheese with this dish.

    r37920fp.jpg

    Carbquik Apple "Cake"

    Ingredients
    2 cups Carbquik
    3 packages Truvia or 4 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    ¼ cup water
    ¼ cup heavy cream
    2 tbsp. butter, softened
    1 egg
    1 medium unpeeled red apple, sliced (about 1 cup)

    Topping
    ¼ cup butter, melted
    3 packages Truvia
    ½ tsp. ground cinnamon

    Directions
    1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, stir Carbquik mix, 3 packages of Truvia, heavy cream, water, 2 tablespoons of butter, and egg until well blended. Spread batter evenly in the pan.
    2. Arrange the apple slices in 3 rows, overlapping slices slightly, on batter. Brush ¼ cup melted butter over tops of apple slices.
    3. In a small bowl, mix 3 packages of Truvia and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.
    4. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

    The best apple to use, IMHO: the Honeycrisp.

    Beer-Braised Pot Roast With Mushrooms

    Follow the recipe here: http://southernfood.about.com/od/potroastrecipes/r/r90520c.htm

    My comments:

    I didn't care for the bacon as part of this dish since it became soggy and flavorless. Leave it out. Obviously, don't use flour to thicken the gravy. Use Carbquik instead. I deviated from the instructions slightly and thickened the gravy by making a roux using Carbquik and butter and then adding the gravy cold.

    Cocoa Brownies
    Recipe inspired by Alton

    Brown's


    Ingredients
    Soft butter, for greasing the pan
    4 large eggs
    24 to 28 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    1 cup DiabetiSweet Brown Sugar Substitute
    2 sticks melted butter
    1¼ cups cocoa, sifted
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    ½ cup Carbalose flour (not Carbquik), sifted

    Directions
    Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square pan.In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add DiabetiSweet Brown Sugar Substitute and EZ-Sweetz. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 30 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

    Serves 9 brownies.

    Calories: 305, Fat: 25g, Cholesterol: 148mg, Sodium: 69mg, Total Carbs: 34mg, Sugars: 0g, Fiber: 7g, Sugar

    Alcohols: 22g, Net Carbs: 5g, Protein: 4g

    Some notes: You can use Carbquik, but the shortening in it will clog up your sifter. That's why I recommend plain Carbalose flour. I eliminated the salt from the original recipe since the Carbalose flour is salty enough. I cut 15 minutes off the original cooking time since Carbalose flour cooks faster.

    Coconut Raspberry Muffins
    Adapted from http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breads/r/coconutrmuffins.htm

    coconutmuffinsa.jpg

    I tripled the original recipe amounts and recalculated the nutritional information myself. I have no idea how she was getting six regular sized muffins out of the original recipe. You may want to add a little more sweetener depending on the tartness of the fruit.

    Ingredients
    9 eggs (room temperature - important)
    1 cup coconut flour
    1½ stick butter, melted
    1½ tsp. vanilla
    ¾ tsp. salt
    42 drops of EZ-Sweetz
    1½ tsp. baking powder
    8-15 tbsp water (see below)
    1½ cup raspberries or blueberries

    Directions
    1. Heat oven to 375° F. Prepare muffin pan with a generous amount of butter or use a non-stick one.
    2. Whisk or beat the eggs until whites and yolks are well-mixed. Stream in the melted butter while continuing to whisk. Add salt, vanilla, and EZ-Sweetz and mix until combined.
    3. Mix the remaining dry ingredients -- coconut flour, and baking soda.
    4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Now you will whisk in water, one tablespoon at a time. The coconut flour will absorb the liquid from the wet ingredients like crazy. You want to get it to a consistency that will hold up the berries, but not be too thick. I usually end up using about 12 tbsp. of water.
    5. Gently fold in the berries.
    6. Divide among 12 muffin cups. Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until just turning golden on top.
    7. Let the muffins cool completely, otherwise they will fall apart very easily.

    Makes 12 muffins.

    Nutritional information for each muffin:
    Calories: 205, Fat: 16g, Cholesterol: 189 mg, Sodium: 154 mg, Carbohydrate: 8g, Net Carbs: 4g, Protein 6g

    Strawberry Shortcake

    Shortcakes
    2⅓ cups Carbquik
    ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
    ¼ cup water
    3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
    7 drops EZ-Sweetz liquid sucralose

    Whipped Topping
    ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
    4 oz. cream cheese
    14 drops EZ-Sweetz liquid sucralose
    1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
    2 cups strawberries, sliced

    Directions:
    1. Heat oven to 425°F.
    2. To make the shortcakes: In medium bowl, stir Carbquik, heavy cream, water, EZ-Sweetz, and the melted butter until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.
    3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
    4. To make the whipped topping: In small bowl, mix and beat all ingredients except strawberries with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
    5. Split warm shortcakes; fill and top with strawberries and whipped topping.

    Makes 6 Strawberry Shortcakes

    Nutritional information for cake:
    Calories: 362, Fat: 32g, Cholesterol: 83mg, Sodium: 325mg, Carbohydrate: 25g, Net Carbs: 7g, Protein: 10g

    Instant Flax Meal Peanut Butter Hot Cereal

    Ingredients
    4 Tbsp. Flax meal
    2 Tbsp. Peanut butter
    1 scoop Vanilla whey protein
    14 drops EZ-Sweetz liquid sucralose
    ½ cup Heavy cream (optional)
    1 cup Water, boiling

    Directions
    1. Add flax meal, peanut butter, vanilla whey protein, heavy cream (optional), and EZ-Sweetz to a bowl.
    2. Pour in boiling water and stir. Use as much water as needed to achieve desired consistency.

    Makes 1 serving

    Sausage-Cheese Balls

    Ingredients
    3 cups Carbquik
    1 pound bulk pork sausage
    4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (16 ounces)
    ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
    ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
    ¼ cup water
    ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed
    1½ teaspoons chopped fresh parsley or 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes

    Directions
    1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease bottom and sides of jelly roll pan, 15 1/2x10 1/2x2x1 inch.
    2. Stir together all ingredients, using hands or spoon. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Place in pan.
    3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brown. Immediately remove from pan. Serve warm with sauce for dipping.

    You can substitute 1½ cups finely chopped fully cooked ham for sausage. Omit rosemary. add 2 tablespoons parsley flakes and ⅓ cup heavy cream and ⅓ cup of water. Mix and bake as directed.

    BTW, I used a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat instead of a jelly roll pan. I also made the balls bigger. Stop laughing.

    Other recipes:

    Steak in a cast iron pan
    Low-carb Pesto Pizza
    Stuffed Bell Peppers and Cabbage
    Shirataki noodles in peanut sauce
    Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Cheese
    Low Carb Eggnog
    Bavarian Apple Cheesecake
    Shrimp Ceviche
    Omelot Muffins
    Herb Crusted Tuna Cakes with Lemon Aioli Sauce

    Other resources:
    Linda's Low Carb Recipes and Menus
    Healthy Indulgences The most creative low-carb desserts I've ever seen!
    "The Low-Carb Gourmet: 250 Delicious and Satisfying Recipes" by Karen Barnaby
    "The Low-Carb Gourmet: Recipes for the New Lifestyle" by Brigit Binns

    Credit goes to Sizzlechest of Something Awful forums.

    Protein Shakes on
  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Aren't there places in the world where many carbs are eaten, like japan, where obesity rates are low (or were, until relatively recently)? Or am I wrong?

    override367 on
  • poshnialloposhniallo Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Aren't there places in the world where many carbs are eaten, like japan, where obesity rates are low (or were, until relatively recently)? Or am I wrong?

    You're absolutely right. High-carbs, high-fibre, low-protein (compared to the US, possibly perfectly OK compared to human needs).

    Loads of skinny Asians which will, I'm sure, be ignored by Atkins zealots.

    poshniallo on
    I figure I could take a bear.
  • tofutofu Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I'm a firm believer in a lot Michael Pollen's ideas, including that nutritionism is basically junk and we shouldn't let it dictate how we eat. We really don't know enough about the components of food and our own metabolisms to determine that "all fat is bad" or "all carbs are bad."

    tofu on
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    poshniallo wrote: »
    Aren't there places in the world where many carbs are eaten, like japan, where obesity rates are low (or were, until relatively recently)? Or am I wrong?

    You're absolutely right. High-carbs, high-fibre, low-protein (compared to the US, possibly perfectly OK compared to human needs).

    Loads of skinny Asians which will, I'm sure, be ignored by Atkins zealots.

    Yeah, haven't read the OP in it's entirety but one of the problems with this whole thing is that you're not actually talking about the same thing.

    A high-carb diet is basically the best thing for a person to have. However, it's absolutely not when that person is obese. The low levels of obesity are not attributable to what is in the diet but to life-style and how much the diet is.

    Julius on
  • ShurakaiShurakai Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    This might sound like an Atkins commercial but --

    I lost 60lbs in 6 months.

    Low carb works, especially if you are used to eating alot of bread and sugar and such before you go on it.

    I'm feeling stronger and healthier than I ever have before.

    As far as the Asian paradox is concerned, there is a passage or five in the Good Calories Bad Calories book that I'll have a look at to see if I can answer that particular mystery.

    Basically at this point I look at all the people that are overweight in my life and want to ask them "Hey you, do you want to be free of Obesity? I have the cure. Want me to let in you in on the secret?"

    I really do feel like I've found the cure, even though I realize that if everyone ate the way I do the world would be in a bit of trouble. Grains are cheap. Meat? Not so much.

    Shurakai on
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    tofu wrote: »
    I'm a firm believer in a lot Michael Pollen's ideas, including that nutritionism is basically junk and we shouldn't let it dictate how we eat. We really don't know enough about the components of food and our own metabolisms to determine that "all fat is bad" or "all carbs are bad."

    It's really not about that, which is why most people find it rather hard to accept. A low-carb diet is simply to be advised for obese people who want to lose weight. If only because it works quicker.

    The health-benefits of the foods are basically irrelevant. Carbs and sugar and fat are broken down to glucose anyway.

    Julius on
  • ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    Shurakai wrote: »
    This might sound like an Atkins commercial but --

    I lost 60lbs in 6 months.

    Low carb works, especially if you are used to eating alot of bread and sugar and such before you go on it.

    I'm feeling stronger and healthier than I ever have before.

    As far as the Asian paradox is concerned, there is a passage or five in the Good Calories Bad Calories book that I'll have a look at to see if I can answer that particular mystery.

    Basically at this point I look at all the people that are overweight in my life and want to ask them "Hey you, do you want to be free of Obesity? I have the cure. Want me to let in you in on the secret?"

    I really do feel like I've found the cure, even though I realize that if everyone ate the way I do the world would be in a bit of trouble. Grains are cheap. Meat? Not so much.

    Which could also explain your weight loss, as I tend to lose a lot of weight when budgeting.

    Scalfin on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Shurakai wrote: »
    This might sound like an Atkins commercial but --

    I lost 60lbs in 6 months.

    Low carb works, especially if you are used to eating alot of bread and sugar and such before you go on it.

    I'm feeling stronger and healthier than I ever have before.

    As far as the Asian paradox is concerned, there is a passage or five in the Good Calories Bad Calories book that I'll have a look at to see if I can answer that particular mystery.

    Basically at this point I look at all the people that are overweight in my life and want to ask them "Hey you, do you want to be free of Obesity? I have the cure. Want me to let in you in on the secret?"

    I really do feel like I've found the cure, even though I realize that if everyone ate the way I do the world would be in a bit of trouble. Grains are cheap. Meat? Not so much.

    Which could also explain your weight loss, as I tend to lose a lot of weight when budgeting.

    What indicates that he was budgeting?

    Julius on
  • ShurakaiShurakai Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Shurakai wrote: »
    This might sound like an Atkins commercial but --

    I lost 60lbs in 6 months.

    Low carb works, especially if you are used to eating alot of bread and sugar and such before you go on it.

    I'm feeling stronger and healthier than I ever have before.

    As far as the Asian paradox is concerned, there is a passage or five in the Good Calories Bad Calories book that I'll have a look at to see if I can answer that particular mystery.

    Basically at this point I look at all the people that are overweight in my life and want to ask them "Hey you, do you want to be free of Obesity? I have the cure. Want me to let in you in on the secret?"

    I really do feel like I've found the cure, even though I realize that if everyone ate the way I do the world would be in a bit of trouble. Grains are cheap. Meat? Not so much.

    Which could also explain your weight loss, as I tend to lose a lot of weight when budgeting.

    Did I say I was poor?

    I eat as much as I want, whenever I want. My meals are large and slathered in rich sauces and fresh vegetables.

    Between meals I snack on nuts and seeds of every flavor and variety.

    There is no restriction, here, besides the obvious.

    You are encouraged to eat as much as you want. Semi-Starvation just leads to more obesity.

    Shurakai on
  • MalaysianShrewMalaysianShrew Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I think the last thread basically devolved to:

    Eat good food.

    You will have more energy and burn more calories.

    If you starve yourself you will become lazy and even if you exercise you will make up for it by being lazier the rest of the time. low carbs generally force you to eat better because cheeseburgers are full of carbs and steaks are not, while steaks and vegies are great for you.

    So yes, it helps you lose weight if you ate like shit before and your body was making you lazy.

    MalaysianShrew on
    Never trust a big butt and a smile.
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I thought semi-starvation diet worked pretty well, the problem was you know, people don't follow through with it long term and go back to their equally terrible former habits?

    Leitner on
  • Dead ComputerDead Computer __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    How is it that, in earlier ages, obesity was a sign of wealth, but in today's day and age, it is a sign of poverty? The math does not add up.

    Don't read too much into this. People simply weren't quite as informed as we are today. Poor people in old days were still more active than poor people of our times, so they never became obese. But if they sat around at a desk all day doing some random database work in a cubicle they would have gotten just as obese.

    These days, well chiseled and toned bodies are the new status symbols of wealth, power and luxury.

    Dead Computer on
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    poshniallo wrote: »
    Aren't there places in the world where many carbs are eaten, like japan, where obesity rates are low (or were, until relatively recently)? Or am I wrong?

    You're absolutely right. High-carbs, high-fibre, low-protein (compared to the US, possibly perfectly OK compared to human needs).

    Loads of skinny Asians which will, I'm sure, be ignored by Atkins zealots.

    I've actually read Taubes' book as well (geckahn talked about a whole bunch in the H/A fitness thread) and I can tell you right here and now that you are absolutely wrong. The low-carb proponents do not "ignore" skinny Asians. The reason Asians are skinny despite their high carb intake is that their overall calorie intake is really low, compared to those of Americans. This is in fact mentioned in the OP: it is possible to lose weight or remain skinny in a high carb diet if you're extremely calorie-restricted. Which is basically what we see in Asian populations.

    Also, this article may interest you. It demonstrates what the OP says to the letter: those Japanese that turn to a high carb, high meat diet put on weight just as if they were Americans.

    Perpetual on
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    If you guys don't want to or are not planning to read Taubes' book, the lecture in the OP is excellent. It would be interesting to see some of you try to refute the points in it, especially since you guys apparently had a thread on this topic before. :)

    Perpetual on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    How is it that, in earlier ages, obesity was a sign of wealth, but in today's day and age, it is a sign of poverty? The math does not add up.

    Don't read too much into this. People simply weren't quite as informed as we are today. Poor people in old days were still more active than poor people of our times, so they never became obese. But if they sat around at a desk all day doing some random database work in a cubicle they would have gotten just as obese.

    These days, well chiseled and toned bodies are the new status symbols of wealth, power and luxury.

    I thought it was because it's easier to get a lot of cheap food now. Back then, it was hard to get food.

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Shurakai wrote: »
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Shurakai wrote: »
    This might sound like an Atkins commercial but --

    I lost 60lbs in 6 months.

    Low carb works, especially if you are used to eating alot of bread and sugar and such before you go on it.

    I'm feeling stronger and healthier than I ever have before.

    As far as the Asian paradox is concerned, there is a passage or five in the Good Calories Bad Calories book that I'll have a look at to see if I can answer that particular mystery.

    Basically at this point I look at all the people that are overweight in my life and want to ask them "Hey you, do you want to be free of Obesity? I have the cure. Want me to let in you in on the secret?"

    I really do feel like I've found the cure, even though I realize that if everyone ate the way I do the world would be in a bit of trouble. Grains are cheap. Meat? Not so much.

    Which could also explain your weight loss, as I tend to lose a lot of weight when budgeting.

    Did I say I was poor?

    I eat as much as I want, whenever I want. My meals are large and slathered in rich sauces and fresh vegetables.

    Between meals I snack on nuts and seeds of every flavor and variety.

    There is no restriction, here, besides the obvious.

    You are encouraged to eat as much as you want. Semi-Starvation just leads to more obesity.

    This was exactly the experience of two of the people I used to coach at my previous gym. They were trying various diets over a period of 9-10 months or so, and most of the time they were sleeply, lazy, grumpy, etc. and didn't lose much weight. But from the moment they started a low carb diet, they started slimming down, and they started coming to the gym in awesome moods and with lots of explosive energy. It was actually pretty incredible to witness.

    It's really too bad that I didn't read Taubes' book earlier than that. It took some random person on an Internet forum (thanks geckahn) to finally convert me over to the idea that low-carb is at least as feasible and often times much more effective for weight loss.

    Perpetual on
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    VeritasVR wrote: »
    How is it that, in earlier ages, obesity was a sign of wealth, but in today's day and age, it is a sign of poverty? The math does not add up.

    Don't read too much into this. People simply weren't quite as informed as we are today. Poor people in old days were still more active than poor people of our times, so they never became obese. But if they sat around at a desk all day doing some random database work in a cubicle they would have gotten just as obese.

    These days, well chiseled and toned bodies are the new status symbols of wealth, power and luxury.

    I thought it was because it's easier to get a lot of cheap food now. Back then, it was hard to get food.

    Well, yes and no. While what you are saying has some truth to it, you also have to remember that upper classes back then had access to all the refined grains and sweets, which were imported, expensive luxury foods. For example, if you were rich, you ate white bread. If you were poor, then you couldn't afford that, so you ate whole wheat bread. Guess which makes you fatter?

    It is only after those countries started developing their own agricultural industries that refined grains and sugars became affordable for the masses. And it's precisely around those times that you see their general populations starting to get obese.

    Perpetual on
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I was on the Atkins diet off and on from the 80s through the 90s. It worked, to a point, but made my body feel like it was composed of moist chalk.

    I later lost 70lbs by eating stuff like pizza and ice cream and burritos and lasagna - I just made sure to count the calories.

    Diets really need to be tailored to an individual's eating habits, tastes, and environment. For me at that time, it was pizza and ice cream.

    Incenjucar on
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Incenjucar wrote: »
    I was on the Atkins diet off and on from the 80s through the 90s. It worked, to a point, but made my body feel like it was composed of moist chalk.

    I later lost 70lbs by eating stuff like pizza and ice cream and burritos and lasagna - I just made sure to count the calories.

    Diets really need to be tailored to an individual's eating habits, tastes, and environment. For me at that time, it was pizza and ice cream.

    To be fair, Atkins diet back then wasn't that great. The core idea was solid, but it also said some wrong things, such as "avoid animal fat". So, I don't know what you ate specifically during those years, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that your body isn't supposed to feel like "moist chalk". That's the first time I'm hearing that analogy actually. :?

    Perpetual on
  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Perpetual wrote: »
    Incenjucar wrote: »
    I was on the Atkins diet off and on from the 80s through the 90s. It worked, to a point, but made my body feel like it was composed of moist chalk.

    I later lost 70lbs by eating stuff like pizza and ice cream and burritos and lasagna - I just made sure to count the calories.

    Diets really need to be tailored to an individual's eating habits, tastes, and environment. For me at that time, it was pizza and ice cream.

    To be fair, Atkins diet back then wasn't that great. The core idea was solid, but it also said some wrong things, such as "avoid animal fat". So, I don't know what you ate specifically during those years, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that your body isn't supposed to feel like "moist chalk". That's the first time I'm hearing that analogy actually. :?

    I'm trying to come up with a sexual pun involving the words "moist chalk" right now.

    Julius on
  • tehmarkentehmarken BrooklynRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Named diets exist only as marketting. To be healthy, you just have to eat the nutritients your body needs.

    The thing is, different carbs have differing levels of healthiness and nutrition. Just like different fats.

    Simple carbs give you available energy immediately, and if you don't use it all up it then gets stored as body fat. Things like sugar, syrups, processed bread.

    Complex carbs do the same thing, but are harder to digest so the energy isn't as immediate, so it's a longer energy supply. Things like fibrous grains (oats, bran).

    The majority of carbs on the market are simple carbss; and most people only eat simple carbs (even if they have no idea what they are). So cutting out all carbs is almost always effective. And for obese people, it definitely works; and most people who thing they are just a bit pudgey are actually obese by scientific standards.


    And a general rule of thumb, is that the more processed a food is, the quicker it cooks and the less nutrition it has. Instant oatmeal doesn't come close to real oatmeal in nutrition, but real oatmeal takes like 30 minutes to cook.

    tehmarken on
  • tofutofu Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Julius wrote: »
    tofu wrote: »
    I'm a firm believer in a lot Michael Pollen's ideas, including that nutritionism is basically junk and we shouldn't let it dictate how we eat. We really don't know enough about the components of food and our own metabolisms to determine that "all fat is bad" or "all carbs are bad."

    It's really not about that, which is why most people find it rather hard to accept. A low-carb diet is simply to be advised for obese people who want to lose weight. If only because it works quicker.

    The health-benefits of the foods are basically irrelevant. Carbs and sugar and fat are broken down to glucose anyway.

    The only "quick" weight you loose with a low carb diet is from water loss, it's not actually making you healthier.

    Basically we are not prepared to say whether or not a diet like this, or any diet that goes to such extremes, is healthy. Because of this, in my opinion, it is best to advocate an lifestyle along with a balanced diet to promote weight loss.

    tofu on
  • tehmarkentehmarken BrooklynRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    It all depends on your definition of quick. Over a period of a week or two, nothing matters.

    Over the period of a month, you can see differences if you also exercise.

    Without exercise, probably about two months.

    A low carb diet isn't extreme. Most people who are obese are, unkowingly, usually on high-carb diets. Cutting out the majority of carbs still leaves plenty of other foods to get essential daily nutrients from.

    Low-carb also cuts muscle mass though, so you get a general feeling of weakness.

    Nutritution isn't a simple science, but it IS a science. And like a lot of other sciences, there's exceptions here and there, but in general there's plenty of solid guidelines.

    tehmarken on
  • tofutofu Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I mean extreme in the sense of eliminating an entire food group, not in the quantity of food consumed.

    Nutritionism is a science that has been embroiled, and even governed, by politics. Maybe in another 50 years we'll be able to exactly understand all the biochemical mechanisms going on in our bodies but until then I have a hard time accepting a diet like this rather than a balanced diet that humans have been eating for centuries.

    tofu on
  • ElJeffeElJeffe Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited May 2010
    I'm perfectly willing to admit that low-carb diets can work for people who do it intelligently. Just as long as people don't insist that non-low-carb diets can't also work great for people who do it intelligently. Not all carbs are equal. If you're taking in a reasonably low quantity of fat and eating whole grains and complex carbs with a good amount of fiber from a variety of sources, you're probably doing pretty well.

    (Also, fiber is pretty important for your digestive tract. All things equal, if I take in insufficient fiber I get constipated something awful.)

    Basically, there's not a single diet that everyone must follow or else be a big ol' fatty.

    ElJeffe on
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  • tehmarkentehmarken BrooklynRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    For the long term, I agree with you tofu. But I believe when dealing with extreme cases there needs to be drastic changes before settling on a well rounded diet.

    And it is hard to find real data and facts behind economically motivated studies. Knowledge of biochemistry goes a long way, because you can't put a spin on chemical equations.

    tehmarken on
  • tehmarkentehmarken BrooklynRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    ElJeffe wrote: »

    Basically, there's not a single diet that everyone must follow or else be a big ol' fatty.

    Every discussion about diets needs to just have this stamped all over.

    tehmarken on
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Perpetual wrote: »
    To be fair, Atkins diet back then wasn't that great. The core idea was solid, but it also said some wrong things, such as "avoid animal fat". So, I don't know what you ate specifically during those years, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that your body isn't supposed to feel like "moist chalk". That's the first time I'm hearing that analogy actually. :?

    I ate mostly meat, cheese, dairy, and salads drenched in blue cheese dressing.

    I discovered that I could eat an entire package of turkey dogs on my own. The economy size packages.

    Incenjucar on
  • ElJeffeElJeffe Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited May 2010
    FWIW, my wife is on a low-carb diet because she's borderline diabetic and suffers from PCOS. I'm on a low-saturated-fat diet because I have tummy issues exacerbated by saturated fats (especially things like cream and animal fat). Prior to that, I was on a fairly standard "consume moderate fat and eat lots of veggies and whole grains" diet, which worked well for me.

    ElJeffe on
    I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
  • tinwhiskerstinwhiskers Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    While not specific to low-carb I've been looking at workout/nutrition plans to lose a few pounds and they all seem to be against consuming caffeine. To me this is completely counterintuitive as stimulants would logically raise metabolism. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this.

    edit: I really like my coffee and coke zero, so no caffeine cause book says so is probably not happening.

    tinwhiskers on
    6ylyzxlir2dz.png
  • tehmarkentehmarken BrooklynRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Caffeine isn't a metabolic stimulant, it's a brain chemistry stimulant. If you want details you can check out the wikipedia article and it's sources.


    edit: Maybe too strong to say that. It's more like caffeine is a blocker of certain biochemical actions, so your body then does other things to make up for that.

    Keep caffeine intake low and you'll be fine. Just like cocaine.

    tehmarken on
  • CervetusCervetus Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Vegetables are low calorie, high in nutrition, and filling. I think if people just made a concerted effort to eat an appropriate amount of them a fair bit of excess weight and lack of energy could be solved.
    tehmarken wrote: »
    And a general rule of thumb, is that the more processed a food is, the quicker it cooks and the less nutrition it has. Instant oatmeal doesn't come close to real oatmeal in nutrition, but real oatmeal takes like 30 minutes to cook.

    Although as I've recently discovered real oatmeal tastes a lot better.

    Cervetus on
  • InterjectionInterjection Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I think the only diet that works for everyone or be a big old fatty is...eat less calories than you burn.

    That is the primary way to lose weight isn't it?

    Interjection on
    aka kcMasterpiece
  • tofutofu Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    That is the only way to lose weight.

    tofu on
  • Protein ShakesProtein Shakes __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    I think the only diet that works for everyone or be a big old fatty is...eat less calories than you burn.

    That is the primary way to lose weight isn't it?
    tofu wrote: »
    That is the only way to lose weight.

    No. Did you guys watch Taubes' video? He refutes this myth.

    The problem with the "it's all about eating less calories than you burn" is that it does not address the root cause of the problem. It simply states it another way.

    Suppose you're in a crowded room, and you ask the person next to you, "why is this room getting so crowded?" And they answer, "well that's silly: obviously it's because more people are coming in than going out!"

    Is that an answer? No. In fact, you'd probably be annoyed that they are treating you as if you're a little child with a brain disorder. You didn't ask the matter-of-fact reason why the room is getting crowded. What you are really interested in is finding out why more and more people are arriving. Is there a movie playing on the screen? Is someone giving an interesting lecture? Is there an art exhibit?

    Similarly, when you talk about obesity, you should never think "well, it's all about calories in versus calories out" because that doesn't say anything. What you really need to ask is, what is causing my body to want to consume more calories than it burns?

    In addition to that, the equation (calories in - calories out = change in body weight) is useless for trying to lose weight, because the first two variables are inter-dependent. The more calories you take in, the more the body up-regulates its metabolism in order to burn more. Similarly, if you limit calorie intake, your metabolism will be down-regulated to conserve energy. This is why it's really futile to think in terms of calories in versus calories out: the second number you will almost never be able to measure accurately because it's very dynamic.
    ElJeffe wrote:
    I'm perfectly willing to admit that low-carb diets can work for people who do it intelligently. Just as long as people don't insist that non-low-carb diets can't also work great for people who do it intelligently. Not all carbs are equal. If you're taking in a reasonably low quantity of fat and eating whole grains and complex carbs with a good amount of fiber from a variety of sources, you're probably doing pretty well.

    The problem is that, while you may be able to regulate your body weight with a high-carb diet (even if it consists of complex carbs), you will have extreme difficulty holding other risk factors under control. This is why millions of people have to pay huge amounts of money every year for things like anti-cholesterol and anti-blood pressure medications. They are trying to treat the symptoms of having too much insulin (as a result of too many carbs), rather than treating the root cause itself (reducing carb intake to limit insulin production in the body).

    The science makes perfect sense - and unlike the conventional wisdom, the data is overwhelmingly positive and the results do not rely on supplementary medication. More and more doctors are abandoning the old low-fat/high-carb myth and prescribing a low-carb/high-fat diet.

    Also, people on low-carb diets can typically eat shitloads of food without gaining weight, because their body literally doesn't have the means of storing the excess energy as fat (insulin). So it does the only alternative: it burns those calories by up-regulating the metabolism.

    Protein Shakes on
  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    This is the point where people start to get angry and talking past each other. Lets try and defuse the situation:

    I am a proponent of Calories in < Calories out = weight loss (cico=wl) school of thought but I understand where the Taubes school is coming from. I'll try and lay it out here and see if we can get a quorum going.

    The Taubes school preaches that what you eat is vitally important to how much you eat. This is very true: and a key component in someone changing losing weight is cghanging their diet . But, for me, in the rush to explain this very important fact they seem to slip past the truth that ultimately it's about how much you eat. Yes the body is a feedback system but the second law of thermodynamics still holds, and that's why cico=wl get seemingly pissed off with Taubes teachings. If someone eats more than they burn then they will put on weight, it doesn't matter if that comes from a high fat or low fat diet.

    I think that's the two truths that need to be respected by both sides, in fact, there isn't really two sides: to lose weight you must consume less calories than you burn, the best way to do this is to alter your diet.

    The thing that actually pissed me of in the last Taube inspired thread we had was the towering strawman constructed that stated that modern western medicine/nutrionology had constructed a 'ideal' diet that consisted of nothing but sugar and white flour shoveled down our throats 24/7 and bizarrely, that easting plenty of fruit and vegtables was also bad for you (apparently).

    Alistair Hutton on
    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
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