Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

[womanpraised]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

I didnt know cucumber was a melon. WOW! I learned something new today... guess I can go home and back to bed!

[Brook]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

you clearly said it DOESN'T limit the fruits and veggies.... and I asked why everybody is saying that.......

I'll say it again, Peytonn

It limits the amount of carbs you can eat, which you gradually increase - but that doesn't translate into a limited amount of vegetables and fruits if you choose what you're eating carefully. 30-50 grams of carb in veggies and fruit can be a HUGE amount of veggies and fruit.

[not2late]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

Lots of ethnic food is not necesarily carb based,for example, we have a friend who was born and raised in Germany, and spent a good bit of child hood in Italy. He laughs at "Italian restaurants" and all the pasta,, they serve it because it is cheap to make... wheres the seafood? The fish, the mussels... It isnt ALL pasta and tomato sauce.

In traditional Italian cuisine the pasta course is also referred to as "3 forkfuls". We're lucky enough to have a real Italian restaurant here among the McPastas. The entrees don't include a "side" of pasta. If you want pasta, you have to order it as its own course. I've never had a problem eating there, even when I was on Induction because there was always something to eat.

I think one reason that people in other countries where there is a lot of carb based food are healthier than Americans are that they are not always in a fully automated, do everything for me place, they bike or walk to get around, they are active in their "free time",, they dont ha ve access to so many of the processed foods as kids that they destroy their metabolism and hormone responses from the get go and can thus handle the foods better, and while processed, the food isnt processed to death. I would argue that Atkins in an AntiAmerican way of eating... Much of the charm of travel is doing the local produce and meat markets with friends and relatives, just as they do, they arent buying mac and chz in bulk from Stuffmart, they are grabbing meat from the butcher and in season produce from the produce cart and bread from the baker, and going home and making a meal. Across the board, as other places have access to more "americanized" food and "industrialized" convienences and stores they are fatter and less healthy. People are convienenced to death, and no where is that more evident than good old home sweet home.

This goes back to Bnzstar's post about how they eat on the farm.
My grandparents grew their own veggies, had their own dairy supplier (a Jersey cow) and their own chickens. Was their diets healthier than the typical diet of today? I think it was because they ate minimally processed foods. They ate like "Americans" did in the era before mass processing and refinement. Unfortunately for them, they had lousy genetics and died from heart disease and diabetes well into their 70s (which is an accomplishment because my family has a tendency to drop dead in their 50s!)

Convenience foods dominate many American menues today. Because people want things cheap, fast and easy. What's cheaper, faster and easier than pulling up to a drive through window and ordering a burger, fries, and soda? It fills their stomachs. Look what the long term consequence of "convenience" is.

And this eating trend does begin at home because I read a disturbing factoid that the number one form of vegetable for toddlers is french fries. French fries! Not carrot sticks, or cucumber spears or green beans, but french fries. And the baby food companies aren't any better, imo. They have a whole array of "toddler" food like little chicken nuggets and sausages, cookies, etc. Again, cheap, fast and easy.

[Peytonn]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

I'm not willing to commit long term to a WOE that requires me to limit the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that I can have.



LOL.... and yet nobody is will still just to simply see that that statement as it is written is a FACT!

(and I am committed to this thing... I'm just saying that's why some people aren't)

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

Well I guess that depends on how you interpert it, if you want to eat 12 gallons of vegetables and 8 gallons of fruit a day, then yes, Atkins would seem limiting because more than likely your CCL would not allow for that many carbs.

Is that what you're looking for? A ridiculous amount of fruit and veggies? Come on, if you're going to gorge yourself to death, it won't matter what kind of "diet" you chose, you're gonna end up fat and unhealthy, even on gallons of fruits and veggies.

There are thousands of FAT vegetarians out there too you know!

[womanpraised]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

"And this eating trend does begin at home because I read a disturbing factoid that the number one form of vegetable for toddlers is french fries. French fries! Not carrot sticks, or cucumber spears or green beans, but french fries. And the baby food companies aren't any better, imo. They have a whole array of "toddler" food like little chicken nuggets and sausages, cookies, etc. Again, cheap, fast and easy."


Reminds me of when we had my sons speech assessment done, and had to write out all the words he should be saying by 2... she had a list she checked for... on her printed out by the State Dept of Health list was "McDonalds"... she says that almost all two years olds know that word, usually much younger.. he got that one wrong, LOL... She really couldnt believe it.

Once of my neices first words was "donalds"... when she was hungry. They still eat that way. My kids think their cousins are the luckiest kids in the world, my sis will fix them whatever they will eat, scratch what the family is eating, my nephew has a banquet chicken nugget dinner for dinner almost every night, unless it is the pizza one. And they get new toys every week, whatever they ask for. I try to explain about being healthy, and about living within our means, without using credit cards. They dont get it. I hope they appreciate it someday.

Oh well..

[not2late]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

I'm not willing to commit long term to a WOE that requires me to limit the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that I can have.



LOL.... and yet nobody is will still just to simply see that that statement as it is written is a FACT!

(and I am committed to this thing... I'm just saying that's why some people aren't)

Don't worry Peytonn, I get it. But the irony is that almost all diets, including the USDA's food pyramid, limits the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables one can eat.

I went to a talk given by a bariatric surgeon a few months ago and he said that after 20 years he's been in practice, he concluded that most people believe the ideal weight control diet is easy, cost-free, risk-free, exercise-free, guaranteed to keep the person at normal weight, and allows the person to eat whatever they want in unlimited quantities. If you can find something like that, you'd be richer than Oprah.



Womanpraised--that's scary about the toddler words. But it's also revealing how young children are being trained to eat crappy....Sad.

[Peytonn]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

QUOTE]Don't worry Peytonn, I get it. But the irony is that almost all diets, including the USDA's food pyramid, limits the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables one can eat.[/QUOTE]

absolutely.... I agree.... I'm saying that people use that as an excuse to stop Atkins.... instead of telling this person they're not limited.... some of the arguments I got would be better.....

yeah.. they're limited... but if chosen carefully.. there's a BUNCH of things you can have and still be atkins friendly.. (balancing choices with quantity/quality)

coming from the REALLY rural area I do... we had a garden and let me tell you... 6 to 8 cups was a MEAL.. not a daily ration.. lol... and I mean Cream Corn, butterbeans, slaw, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers.... and usually some melon or fruit like cantalope.....

we did a lot of physical labor... so looking back I understand how i stayed thin eating tons of those 'bad' veggies and cornbread.... (we rarely ate meat except on the weekend... not that we didn't have it.. we just didn't cook it much during the week)

I totally agree that there's lots of veggies on this thing.... but if mashed potatoes are your favorite.. or creamed corn etc. ... then yes.. they are limited and you might choose to eat a higher quantity of a different veggie..

just don't say they are not limited!!! that's why people think we're all quacks and crazies here...

[Peytonn]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

? did anybody read the essay in Time? as much as it bashed atkins... I had to laugh... because it IS the perception so many people have....

my favorite line was something about 'gorging on Lardsicles while limiting fruits and veggies'

[not2late]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

my favorite line was something about 'gorging on Lardsicles while limiting fruits and veggies'

Well, I've got to admit--I've never had a "lardsicle" on this WOE (never even knew it was on the food lists)

Hey Brook, Betty, have you all eaten lardsicles lately? I guess that's just an Atkins maintenance food.

[Brook]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

But the irony is that almost all diets, including the USDA's food pyramid, limits the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables one can eat.

BINGO. It's all about perception. They're "limited" on every WOE so calling that out and trying to make a point with it about this WOE is pointless. It's a non-arguement.

Well I guess that depends on how you interpert it, if you want to eat 12 gallons of vegetables and 8 gallons of fruit a day, then yes, Atkins would seem limiting because more than likely your CCL would not allow for that many carbs.

Is that what you're looking for? A ridiculous amount of fruit and veggies? Come on, if you're going to gorge yourself to death, it won't matter what kind of "diet" you chose, you're gonna end up fat and unhealthy, even on gallons of fruits and veggies.

Beautifully said, MOG

[Peytonn]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

here's the TIME article... just for your amusement.. ::





Essay
Eat This, Low Carbers
As Atkins files for Chapter 11, it's goodbye, bacon. Hello, linguini
By JOEL STEIN



Aug. 15, 2005

The most difficult way to be popular is to tell people what they can eat. When Christians retooled Judaism, they didn't excise the Old Testament rules on adultery or idolizing graven images; they started drawing up plans for Tony Roma's and Red Lobsters. Martin Luther could have saved himself 94 theses just by posting one about getting rid of fish on Friday. The Scientology Celebrity Center in Hollywood has a Sunday brunch buffet you would not believe.

So it's not surprising that when Dr. Robert Atkins' 33-year-long fad diet finally came to a crashing end last week, a whole lot of us were glad. This was a guy who wanted to take away our bread. Even prisoners get bread. Bread is so basic that, unlike water, restaurants don't have the guts to charge for it. Certain foods cannot even be made without bread -- such as French toast and bread.

I felt relief and a sense of justice when Atkins Nutritionals, which makes more than 50 low-carb products and 100 nutritional supplements and no grammatical sense, announced that it is $300 million in debt and has filed for bankruptcy. Over the past year, the company has fallen apart as the country went from having 9% of its citizens on a low-carb diet to having 2%. I knew the Atkins plan was doomed when a diet designed to let you indulge in Lardcicles was losing its willpower and selling people low-carb versions of the rolls and bagels it had demonized. It got so bad that last September Atkins was sending surplus low-carb products to food banks in Appalachia, which to me just seems cruel.

I love the thought that Atkins acolytes will no longer be smarmily drinking their ridiculous low-carb wine and chastely munching on low-carb Doritos, because I have suffered through their unrequested speeches about ketosis that don't make any sense. You know what happens "on a cellular level" when you eat that junk? You get a lot more cells. It had got so dire that I had taken to eating carbs at restaurants as a punk gesture of rebellion, dipping mashed-potato sandwiches in granulated sugar and inventing something I call Cake-Ravioli Cereal, which, if I can ever figure out how to get it on a stick, will undoubtedly be a huge hit at state fairs.

My hatred of low-carb diets is somewhat surprising since in 1995 I managed to lose 25 lbs. in six weeks for a magazine article, in part as a result of a low-carb diet, and never put it back on. Plus, I met my wife because she saw my well-lit photos in that story. I'm not entirely sure what a diet would have to do to impress me, but I think it would involve some of that sweet, light-headed Trimspa giddiness that makes Anna Nicole Smith so crack happy.

Thus my thrill over the downfall of Atkins isn't so simple as being able to eat whatever I want, which, if it's not clear, is bread. It's not even due to the fact that I think Atkins' high-cholesterol foods are dangerous for your heart, no matter how much weight you lose by gorging yourself on gut-filling fats. No, when Atkins Nutritionals filed for Chapter 11, it was a justification of my entire world view. Life is full of immutable truths, one of which happens to be that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight. Another is that bacon and pork rinds in mass quantities are not good for you. Atkins claimed godlike mastery over these equations. And every time someone does that--whether it's about ginkgo biloba, Reiki techniques or lowering taxes to pay off the debt--eventually the immutable truths rear up, and all of us suffer. Although that's a small price to pay for making me feel superior.

But I know there will be another diet soon enough, whether it's The 3-Hour Diet regimen, which involves snacking, or the French Women Don't Get Fat approach, which involves eating a quick, light meal without your husband so he has time to see his mistress. Whichever diet it is, people will swear that it finally holds the solution. And they will believe it. It's part of the optimism Americans have about progress. It's the same attitude that allowed people to pour money into the Google IPO and watch Showtime TV shows. So I have to admit that even though these diets will never work, there is something beautiful in that people believe each time. I'd rather have a society with that attitude, after all, than one in which everybody and his brother looks good in a half shirt.

[Peytonn]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

oops.. the Lardsicle comment was about the bread... not veggies..

[Iapetus999]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

Note that Atkins limits the amount of fat and protein you can eat too.
There's no hard and fast number like for carbs but you can't eat "unlimited" amounts of fat on this program. It's not an "all you can eat" buffet here.

So you when you say "limit" it should be common sense that unlimited food intake of any kind is a problem.

[not2late]

Re: Why do people give Atkins up after experiencing success?

Gotta hand it to TIME---religion, low carb, and bacon all in the same article. Wow! How talented.....