anyone else feel lied to?...

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Ok - so now that I've changed my lifestyle (for good) and I've educated myself ON what low-carb really IS...I seriously am almost mad - I sorta feel lied to by society (wow, big surprise? lol)...

but seriously - I've been "dieting" for literally half of my life. I'm turning 30 this year and I can remember starting my first "diet" when I was 12 years old (I was the fat kid, then the skinny, then fat, then skinny...yo-yo dieting is my life).

And - while low-fat/high-carb DID work for me at one or two points in my life - I always had to reallllllly "try" at it - and if I "cheated" or ate something that actually tasted GOOD (ie, had fat in it) - I felt bad like I'd failed.

I can't tell you HOW many times I've started and re-started and RE-started low-fat dieting.

yet - now that I've educated myself on what low-carb dieting really is and (in my humble opinion) this is how most people should really eat - it makes me mad that I wasn't doing this YEARS ago...but - of course - I remember even just learning the word "atkins" a few years ago - hearing that it was "eat meat, cheese & eggs" - that sounded aweful!

I guess the important part is that I know now the truth. I know that biologically speaking carbs really aren't that good for you. Yes they do and will have a place in my diet one day (not including vegees, obviously - i'm more talking grains and sugar)...but c'mon...being told that (for example) 100 calorie packs of JUNK are "healthier" for you than eating eggs (which are probably the most natural food in the world) just because they're lower in calories and fat is absolutely asinine.

and - of course - no matter what sugar should never really have a place in a HEALTHY diet - but, I remember when I was on weight watchers or always watching my fat intake - SUGAR was ok and in fact I'd NEVER EVER even looked at the sugar content of pretty much ANY food I ate. as long as it was low in calories and fat it was ok!

now - don't get me wrong - sugar TASTES fabulous! as we all know that - but as far as the human body goes and the fact that our weight is controlled by the INSULIN in our body and we all know now that high cholesterol has nothing to do with the FAT we eat but actually more with the sugar and CARBS we eat - it's like, "really? seriously? wow. I totally feel LIED to."
I mean - my cholesterol went DOWN from 210 to 192 (so far) from eating FAT. Yet my cholesterol WAS 210 in the first place because of the sugar and carbs I was eating that I thought was "healthy" because I was told fat was bad and that high carbs (whole grains) were what you should be eating - when, again - as all of us here know - the human body does not differentiate sugar. sugar = sugar in the body whether it's pasta or a suzie Q.

And, yes - I know that even atkins does incorporate fruit and whole grains and those CAN and WILL be a part of this healthy woe (not for a while, obviously) - but the difference is that we learn that it's NOT healthy to have a bowl of oatmeal in the morning and then a couple of slices of toast in the afternoon and a plate of pasta for dinner. And obviously of course, too - not every single day either.

But to really do the research, the human body does not NEED grains to live. Really we don't. Yet that's what everyone is told - we "need" these grains that weren't around until the past century even...and wow - what else didn't explode until the past century when we were told to eat low-fat high-carb? heart disease and diabetes!!!!

sorry for going off on a tangent here - it just makes me personally mad that I didn't start this woe YEARS ago. But again - I'm here now, and that's all that counts!!!

[Peej]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

Yes. I certainly feel lied to. I've been overweight my entire life. When I was in middle school my doctor told me to stop eating junk food. I've never been an eater of "junk food" in my life. I ate potatoes, bread, pasta, rice etc. My doctor told me to eat more of that and less fatty meat. My family had steak like twice a week so I stopped eating that and switched to chicken or no meat at all. I've watched my calories and fat since then and all it did was leave me overweight, hungry, achy, and miserable. It never helped me lose weight so my doctor said I must have been cheating. My mom watched me eat. She assured my doctor that I didn't eat candy and cookies and stuff full of sugar and he never believed us. I was always hungry and tired. I restricted my calories and still gained weight and just had no energy. When my mom did Atkins awhile back, my doctor told her that it was a fad diet and that she would just gain the weight back and put her heart at risk. Of course she did... but only because he made her too afraid to stick to it!

Finally, in high school I went to see a nurse practitioner that specialized in PCOS since I had many of the symptoms. She ordered blood tests and they did the wrong ones TWICE. At 17, having been overweight my entire life, that was just the last straw. I still don't know if that is what is wrong with me but I know that I must have some IR issues even though my blood tests weren't conclusive (because they were the wrong ones). I haven't talked to a doctor about it since then. I've only been for checkups. I know some people might frown on that, but I don't trust any doctor now with that sort of thing. Its pretty sad. However, during our last appointment when she informed me that they ran the wrong lab work on the glucose tolerance test they put me through, she recommended that I try the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet. I read the book and I liked a lot of the science behind it, but not the fact that you could eat all the carbs you wanted one meal a day. It sounded counter-productive. I should have started Atkins right then and there, but it took me a few years to really commit.

Atkins is working for me. I can tell in my weight, in the way I feel, in the difference in my blood pressure, the way my clothes fit, how my skin, hair, and nails feel, and the fact that I'm no longer constantly tired and miserable. This WOE makes sense to me and I can actually feel it working and understand why. Low calorie diets never did that for me. I just felt hungry all the time and if I lost weight it was temporary. I see the symptoms in others, especially in my family, and I feel like they could gain so much from this WOE, but society is going to continue to tell them that it is unhealthy despite the evidence to the contrary. People think that I'm doing Atkins to lose weight, but its not entirely about that for me. For the most part, its about me finally taking my life back from all the doctors who told me that their way of eating was the only healthy way even though it clearly did not work for me.

Yes. I feel lied to. I don't understand why doctors are so horribly opposed to a WOE that they clearly don't even understand it or know that it is anything more than induction. I eat more veggies now than ever before and I actually enjoy them. Just because the majority of my CALORIES come from fat doesn't meant that I'm not filling my belly full of lard every day.

Edit: That was a REALLY long post! It felt good to vent though xD tl;dr

[SunnySmile501]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

I feel worse about ME falling for the lies--like margarine is more healthy than butter. Gezzy Pete--I was raised on a farm! The lie that you should only eat the whites of the eggs--don't eat the yolk, which contains the most nutrients. Must I repeat, I was born and raised on a farm, where we ate butter and the whole egg and we were all thin and healthy!

I have a higher than average I.Q., a college education, and always thought I had a lot of common sense. I still have the high I.Q. and the college education, but the common sense, not so much. I am also a believer, a life-long Christian. Where did I get off thinking that natural foods in their natural form, as provided by the Creator, where bad for me and chemically altered, created in a lab Frankenfoods, were more healthy?

The egg comes in two parts for a reason. You need both parts to be able to digest and metabolize all the nutrients. I was just reading a big study where prevention of Alzheimer's was predicated on eating whole eggs, but the enzyme that helps prevent the disease comes mostly from the yolk.

And, furthermore, cholesterol is required in the body, and low cholesterol is worse for you than high cholesterol.

High I.Q, but DUMB DUMB DUMB!

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

exactly sunny!!!! of course - i look at it more that we weren't told the correct information, obviously - and for me, i think of it like this...

ok - so i've been told over and over and OVER again to do this. eat low fat / fat free foods - eat JUNK food because it's "ok" as long as it's low fat / fat free - and absolutely do NOT eat egg yolks, bacon, high fat ground beef, steak, full fat mayo, real butter, etc...etc...because those things are BAD for you. So for literally 1/2 of my life so far I've been told NOT to do these things and yet for 1/2 of my life so far - I've been overweight/yo-yoing with my weight.

So instead of listening to those "experts" out there - Now i'm doing the EXACT FREAKIN' OPPOSITE of what they've always said is "right" and #1 I'm finally losing weight. #2 My body is actually HEALTHY #3 it feels NATURAL to eat WHOLE FOODS and not all those processed box foods...and again - I'M LOSING WEIGHT! and I do NOT feel deprived at ALL. I don't feel like I'm on a "DIET".

yes, there are certain foods I can't/won't eat (mainly sugar) but it's because I've also finally educated myself on why sugar ISN'T GOOD for you. People think I'm depriving my body when I say NO to doughnuts, chocolate, sugary foods, etc - yet to me it's more like, "No, I'm actually doing GOOD for my body by NOT eating that crap anymore!"

sorry - just thinking about this all the time gets me so riled up. I really appreciate the two responses I've got so far and would LOVE to hear more people's opinions.

[7Miriam]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

I can soooo relate to how you feel. I was scared to follow Atkins when I first started b/c everything I heard about it was so negative - my whole life 40+ years, I've been on and off WW with yo-yoing wieght and it was always extremely hard for me to stick to WW and I never lost all that much, would quit, gain more, then do it again and only lose part of what I gained before quiting again. It wasn't that I didn't try very hard, b/c I did. It was just that it did not work for me. And I never realized that before doing Atkins - I just felt like I was failing all the time and at a certain point kind of gave up on myself.

Atkins is so much easier for me to stay on than WW ever was - it is not a daily battle to stay on the plan. I was really terrified of doing it before I started - and my friends all said how so much fat would be really bad for me - I was literally scared of doing it - but started b/c I felt so bad I thought that it couldn't make me any worse and I'd try it for a little while and see what happens.

I feel so much better on Atkins, I don't think it is possible that it can be bad for me. And I was able to stay on it for 6 months before I went off once - was never able to do anything like that with WW - it was always a strugle to stay on it for an entire week.

Didn't mean to go on and on like this, but what you said really strikes a cord with me. I remember a moment in time when I realized all this and being very mad - like if only I knew this before I could have had a chance of suceeding before, and society making me feel bad about my weight, while at the same time telling me to do things that would only result in my type of body becoming more overweight.

[PHAT Beth]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

We have this healthy restaraunt in town. I used to go to it for lunch (forget that I had McDonald's for breakfast, LOL). When I started this WOE, I went with my friends, thinking I could find SOMETHING to eat in there. I couldn't find much! When I asked if she had anything I could eat as part of a low carb diet, the woman who owned the store loked like she wanted to smack me! She told me, "honey, I wish I could talk to you for a while about Atkins and how bad it is for you! Here, have this bean soup. It's good for you." I looked around at the women who were in there eating. They were all the slightly overweight, office type women (like me). I thought, if this is such a great way to eat, why are all these women still fat? Why are people so predjudiced against eating meat, eggs, cheese, and fresh vegetables, and cutting out unnatural sugars and starches?

That experience is NOTHING compared to what I get at work! The first thing I got was, "You know, you may lose weight, but as soon as you start eating normally again, you'll gain it all back." Well, that's if you consider eating "normally" the things I used to eat! I would shove an entire danish in my mouth and not taste it, followed by Mountain Dew and some lovely chips! Now I eat some eggs with tomoato and green pepper, maybe some bacon, and have some water. How AWFUL! Now I get, "wow, you look GREAT, I can't beleive you stuck to it. Don't you miss sugar?" Sure, but I don't miss that roll on my back. Meanwhile, the Weight Watchers ladies cheat, gain, and try to derail you. and all I can do is tighten my belt and smile to myself.

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

I can soooo relate to how you feel. I was scared to follow Atkins when I first started b/c everything I heard about it was so negative - my whole life 40+ years, I've been on and off WW with yo-yoing wieght and it was always extremely hard for me to stick to WW and I never lost all that much, would quit, gain more, then do it again and only lose part of what I gained before quiting again. It wasn't that I didn't try very hard, b/c I did. It was just that it did not work for me. And I never realized that before doing Atkins - I just felt like I was failing all the time and at a certain point kind of gave up on myself.

Atkins is so much easier for me to stay on than WW ever was - it is not a daily battle to stay on the plan. I was really terrified of doing it before I started - and my friends all said how so much fat would be really bad for me - I was literally scared of doing it - but started b/c I felt so bad I thought that it couldn't make me any worse and I'd try it for a little while and see what happens.

I feel so much better on Atkins, I don't think it is possible that it can be bad for me. And I was able to stay on it for 6 months before I went off once - was never able to do anything like that with WW - it was always a strugle to stay on it for an entire week.

Didn't mean to go on and on like this, but what you said really strikes a cord with me. I remember a moment in time when I realized all this and being very mad - like if only I knew this before I could have had a chance of suceeding before, and society making me feel bad about my weight, while at the same time telling me to do things that would only result in my type of body becoming more overweight.

wow. that is EXACTLY how i feel, too, about having been on WW. i've mentioned before that i'm a lifetime member of weightwatchers - having lost 60 pounds (well, 40 the first time around - gaining back 25 and then 45 again...)
And I can't tell you how many times in the past few years I'd say "ok, today's the day - I'll start counting points again..." and i'd do it for a few days and then give up because being "on plan" was just soooooo hard for me to get back into! and then try it again the next week and "fail" again and it's been the same cyle for so long!
or - even if i WAS "successful" on being "on plan" - i wasn't losing ANYTHING because I didn't know I was Insulin Resistant.

Yet - on atkins - I don't feel like I'm depriving myself in ANY way and so, because of that - I don't feel "guilty" for eating something that isn't "on plan" because now - I know - that those foods that I should NOT be eating - I know why they are bad for me, and not just saying they are without really knowing why they are...

[kibskix]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

Its all marketing, imho.
Grains and cereals were a cheap and easy way to feed your family back in the day. I saw a tv show a while back about the huge boom of marketing for that stuff back in the 40s and how they went about convincing everyone it should be the basis of your diet. Then that damn food pyramid showed up. Nowadays its so embedded in people's brains they argue with you before they even do the research themselves. My boyfriend said to me "wow do you realize how many food groups you're cutting out?" This coming from a guy who only eats cheese/chicken quesadillas, mac and cheese, reese's cups and 6 dr. peppers a day. *rolls eyes* He's incredibly supportive of me, and sees how much better I feel, but he still isn't interested in considering giving up his precious sugar

[msanjelpie]

Re: anyone else feel lied to?...

I was mostly mad at my doctors. I don't think they lied intentionally, it's just that since they hadn't done Atkins themselves, they really didn't know how great it was...

I've had hypoglycemia since I was 20... Everytime I would have an attack of low blood sugar the answer was always... 'eat some sugar' There aren't any pills to take to control LBS so the answer was always the same.

Wow what a mind-blowing experience my 3rd day on Atkins when I could actually go through an entire night without having to get up to eat so my stomach wouldn't cramp, and a week later when I could get up out of bed and I could go 2-3 hours without having breakfast! It was such a foot hopping revelation...

Having never had steady blood sugar before Atkins, I had no idea how normal people felt. Then if I ate something wrong all of a sudden I felt literally sick all over, muscle aches, sleepy, all the symptoms of blood sugar upset, I just couldn't believe that I used to feel like that all the time...

I would kiss Dr Atkins feet if I could, and I defend him constantly when others think they have a clue what a low carb lifestyle is all about and they are negative about it when they haven't even tried it, or not tried it correctly...

It really bugs me when I hear someone say, 'i'm doing Atkins, and nothing is happening' and you find out that they aren't doing it right at all... I just wanna slap em and say, don't tarnish his name that way...

Then others claim that 'South Beach' is an 'easier' version of Atkins, and I think... well you get what you pay for...