Don't bash....

[TitianWasp]

This seems like a funny post for our particular board, but after catching up on new posts the last few days, I wanted to offer a request/suggestion.

Try to not fall into the same trap as the other diet groups/experts/scientists/authors and bash any study, evidence, method that doesn't mesh with ours. That's what everyone else does. To quote my grandmother, we should not stoop to that level.

There are lots of ways to eat healthfully and there are lots of ways to lose weight. Atkins is what works for us. Some people might do well on Mediterranean, Weight Watchers, Cabbage Soup - and that's great....for them. Just because it's not Atkins doesn't mean it's wrong or bad or suspect. It's just not Atkins.

New studies are finding new chemical/biological properties in foods - excellent. They are finding genes that affect our metabolism? Great. All new, well-researched info is fantastic. What we chose to do with it is up to us. All this should encourage us to be well-educated and open minded and that philosophy should include accepting that other people will do things differently - and sometimes succesfully, and that's ok.

My two cents.

[readytolose2008]

Re: Don't bash....

i agree, one of my co-workers started weight watchers the same time i started atkins and we are both down 30 pounds. a couple of years ago me and a good friend started this woe and we both didnt cheat i lost 50 pounds in a few months she lost 5 but she does great on another diet.

[ttdriver]

Re: Don't bash....

I totally agree! Whatever works for you and whatever YOU CAN DO FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE ...

It all boils down to the fact that if you abandon the plan, you will regain the weight ...

Betty

[julirama723]

Re: Don't bash....

Titian, great post. I agree!

Atkins is what works for me, but I would never force it on another person. To each his own.

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Don't bash....

I completely agree. It's really putting the shoe on the other foot (is that the right saying? I'm falling asleep here lol) -- Just as I dislike folks giving me a hard time about Atkins, I shouldn't degrade their choices either. I myself have lost weight quite well both with Atkins and with lower-fat/calorie-counting methods. I just find that, for myself, the success is greater with Atkins and easier to follow.

[canIdoIT]

Re: Don't bash....

Great post! even with atkins... i've kind of made it *my own* not following it by the book, but with what works for me- and i've lost a lot of weight and have done well and altho i am not doing it *by the book* .. *the right way*... what does it matter if it works for me and i'm getting results? i really like this board and the ppl on it.. i don't feel i've been bashed- and i think ppl who disagree with what i'm doing were very tasteful and all that they said has stuck in my mind.. and when i'm done nursing, i feel i will take the advice.

and of course there are ppl like my husband- who tries desparately to GAIN weight- lol.. on his own he decided if low carbs make me lose weight then HIGH CARB will make him gain weight. He has been on a ice cream, candy bar, cinnamin roll, mountain dew diet and has LOST weight - so low carb is not for everyone (and no i do not agree with his diet, but he's stubburn and i guess needs to make himself sick to realize its not good!)

[sadie147]

Re: Don't bash....

and of course there are ppl like my husband- who tries desparately to GAIN weight- lol.. on his own he decided if low carbs make me lose weight then HIGH CARB will make him gain weight. He has been on a ice cream, candy bar, cinnamin roll, mountain dew diet and has LOST weight - so low carb is not for everyone (and no i do not agree with his diet, but he's stubburn and i guess needs to make himself sick to realize its not good!)

LOL he should write a diet book...now THAT diet would certainly gain a big following!!!!

Great thread, I've always been in agreement that works for one person, wont necessarily work for everyone. My mother was a very successful 'weight watcher' back in the 80's, lost 60lbs and kept it off. She was happy with the food choices she had and it was doable for her. I've also had friends who've recently been successful on South Beach and Weight Watchers and are more than happy with their food choices, and I say good for them! what matters in the end is it's a food plan/way of eating that you can live with!

[cruisergal]

Re: Don't bash....

I agree totally with what everyone is saying. We cannot criticize if something other than Atkins works for someone else. As long as it is consistant, and people are maintaining their weight loss, and a healthy lifestyle, that's whats important. I too have friends who have been successful on other plans, but have never criticized them as to how they lost their weight. Wish I could say the same thing about them not being critical about the way I'm losing weight on Atkins!!

[Miss Phode]

Re: Don't bash....

Good post. I agree. It really irritates me when people on the board talk about how "stupid" their friend, mother, brother, co-worker, etc is because they're doing WW or another diet program. *gasp* Get over it. One size does not fit all.

[DuchessOfDork]

Re: Don't bash....

I bash my friend whenever he tries to starve himself to lose a couple of pounds. No way in **** am I okay with him doing that to himself.

[Hudson]

Re: Don't bash....

If by bash, you mean being rude and close minded, and using personal attacks, I can agree. But I don't agree if you mean that any method is ok as long as there are results. I am of the conviction that sugar dosen't just make you fat. It kills you. So any diet that includes sugar I will disagree with. As I will disagree with any diet that believes saturated fat must be avoided. I think both of those are dead wrong and I feal an obligation to say so. WW works because of the encouragement. It would work even better if it was LC.

But I do almost exclusively encourage those that do WW and have lost weight. The losing weight is always good.

[spazzyhilo]

Re: Don't bash....

So long as it means one is actually EATING then there is no sense to bash them. We all lose weight differently so therefore there isn't one eating plan that will cause every single human being on the planet to lose weight.

[sallyseachange]

Re: Don't bash....

If by bash, you mean being rude and close minded, and using personal attacks, I can agree. But I don't agree if you mean that any method is ok as long as there are results. I am of the conviction that sugar dosen't just make you fat. It kills you. So any diet that includes sugar I will disagree with. As I will disagree with any diet that believes saturated fat must be avoided. I think both of those are dead wrong and I feal an obligation to say so. WW works because of the encouragement. It would work even better if it was LC.

But I do almost exclusively encourage those that do WW and have lost weight. The losing weight is always good.

This could be me posting... I'm with you here Hudson, and would underline the "sugar kills and sat fat is good" part.

[montanaman]

Re: Don't bash....

well said. I too have meshed this WOE to my body so that I am able to stick with it and have positive results

[kate58]

Re: Don't bash....

I completely agree with not bashing individual people's choices, everyone makes their own decisions and there is probably no one way of eating that's perfect for everyone. I also agree that reflex bashing of studies is not a good thing.

BUT. I'm with Hayden.

The quote I use in my sig applies here: "Everyone is entitled to an informed opinion". Too many people (and I used to be one) accept all the studies and published material that promotes low fat eating as the only healthy option as gospel, when it patently isn't. People need at least to be told there are other opinions and that none of that is actually proven. What they subsequently do is their own affair, but they at least should be aware that what is being sold to them as unassailable fact simply isn't.

And if the likes of Dr A and Gary Taubes, who didn't blindly accept the orthodoxy but instead actually examined the evidence underpinning the message and saw how flimsy it was, didn't openly critisise the generally accepted doctrines and take the abuse that often resulted, things would be much, much worse than they are.

On a personal level we all make our own decisions and need to respect each other's choices. But powerful people are making decisions and publishing what are called recommendations but amount almost to edicts on how entire societies should eat, without sufficient evidence to show that they are right, and in fact in the face of compelling evidence that following those recommendations is making people sicker not healthier. That HAS to be bashed, loud and long, or nothing will ever change.

Good science depends for it's progress on people taking published studies and scrutinising their methods, trying to disprove them, find holes in them, replicate their results multiple times. Bashing them if you like. Only when they have been rigorously subjected to that kind of process can their conclusions be verified. As Taubes so clearly showed, nutritional reseach has so rarely been subject to that sort of process in recent years that it can barely be called a science at all. And now things are worse because the non-scientific press leap on the flimsiest of results as long as they make an intersting headline, and suddenly weak theories become solid fact in the public mind.

Titian is right, we should not bash studies etc just because they don't agree with our way of eating. We should be critical of them all and examine them all carefully, even if they do.