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Add to FavoritesThe word "diet" is such a misnomer.
The truth is that so-called diets-a specific program or off-the-shelf product that promises the consumer will shed pounds immediately and for good-simply don't work. But to those in the know, the literal definition of the word "diet" means consuming healthy foods on a daily basis in order lose or maintain weight.
This is what I have been doing for since 2006. My diet consists of low-fat foods and eating in moderation. As for my weight loss program, it is not a fad diet but rather a lifestyle change that I have dedicated myself to.
Not once since I started my weight loss program in 2006 did I consider a low-carb "diet" because I wasn't willing to sacrifice some of the foods I love such as breads and pastas to eat in order to lose weight. That's just downright silly.
Do I sound a bit selfish? Well, chew on this.
I have, however, given up a lot of things in my quest to lose weight, most of them foods high in fat. For example, I gave up Chinese food, or at least eating a two-item combo with cream cheese wontons. I also gave up milk, sodas, and red meat in exchange for rice- or almond-based drinks, green tea, and chicken, all of which are low in fat. As you can see, sacrifice does indeed play a large role in losing weight and, more importantly, keeping it off.
But no matter which side of this debate you are on, the one constant that everybody should consider is exercise. There is simply no getting around it-exercise is paramount. The pounds will not lose themselves so if you want to lose the weight, you should not only be prepared to sacrifice, but also get your butt busy.
Although it sounds cliche, walking is still one of the easiest ways to drop pounds. Unless you can't walk, there is simply no excuse for anybody not to get out there and do it. It's free, easy, and requires only the willingness to do it.
This leads to another aspect of weight loss. Many people cannot find the ambition to start their program. They usually start off like gangbusters during the first few weeks and go back to their old eating habits shortly afterwards since their so-called "diet" is making them starve themselves. If you want to lose the weight, you have to get mad and be serious about it.
Remember that moderation is key and slow and steady always wins the race. While I chose to eat foods low in fat content, that does not mean I strictly adhere to such foods. There are days when I have chosen to eat a hamburger, not two or three like I did when I weight nearly 300 lbs. It's true-you can eat the foods you love while losing weight, just not an excessive quantity of them.
I am not on a so-called diet, but rather I am following a healthy diet of low-fat foods that combined with a regular exercise plan, has helped me shed nearly 100 lbs. in just over 2 years. I am living, breathing proof that with some dedication, hard work and proper choices when dining out, successful weight loss can be achieved and maintained by consuming low-fat foods.
In short, what most people consider "diets" do not work. A lifestyle change that consists of healthy foods and a regular exercise program will yield the best results.
Learn more about this author, David Moreno.
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Low carb
What Outcome Do You Want?
I am fat. That has been my condition for the past fifteen years or so, and only one person on this planet can effectively change that condition. Through the years, I have learned to live with plate-glass windows and full-length mirrors, though neither is flattering to someone who is "super-sized."
If I wanted to remake my body, to present more than just a new face to the world, how would I proceed? Would it be better to hop on the fad diet bandwagon and hope that one of the popular ways of shedding pounds works for me? It might work, particularly if I were willing to give up more years of health and mid-size clothing to do the empirical study. Is that the best way to lose weight and potentially add years to my life?
I think not. There is another way to lose weight, gain health, and do away with the worries that I should change to another plan next week or next month because the one I happen to be using isn't quite right. That way was researched and used extensively by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in his medical practice in New York. It is called the Atkins Nutritional Approach these days, and here are the reasons it might be your best friend from now on.
Some Helpful Background
In Dr. Atkins' complementary medicine practice, patients whom other physicians couldn't seem to figure out, people who were approaching desperation in some cases, found that, more often than not, their nutritional status was their first problem. Obesity was one of many conditions successfully treated by replacing bad dietary practices with more sensible-and scientifically supportable-eating habits. A lot of people came in, and there seems to be a good reason for that in our society.
Food refining in our get-it-now nation is monstrous. What we ought to be able to get in our food simply isn't there, Dr. Atkins wrote, "In [the refining] process, the whole food is separated into component parts, thereby discarding some of its nutrient-rich components." [Atkins, 1998, p. 29]
The U.S. pharmaceutical industry seems to encourage our citizenry to limit the consumption of fats in the foods we eat and ensure that we instead eat and drink as much sugar as possible. No, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it seems highly convenient for the food industry to make so many products full of sugar and sell them to those of us who supposedly need to avoid fats.
Dr. Atkins wrote of this "partnership," "... [I]f sugar and high-carbohydrate diets were denounced from the scientific pulpits as if they were sin, it would seriously compromise a mutually supportive food and pharmaceutical industrial cartel." [Atkins, 1999, pp. 144-45] Our problem is not too much fat in our diets, at least not in a primary sense. No, our difficulty is with too much sugar in our diets, along with an American public that seems unable to recognize those items that constitute "sugar."
Fat Is Not the Evil We Were Told?
Watch your television networks for a couple of days. You're not paying attention if you don't see a raft of advertisements for drugs intended to hold off the fat-and-cholesterol assault. One set of commercial messages even urges you to take a pill that contains TWO cholesterol-lowering drugs (one of which recently failed to deliver expected results in clinical testing), in the hope that you can get out ahead of the big bad boogeyman that has attacked your body.
Now is the time to put your mind in gear. Think about the "recommended" products for reducing your fat intake: sweetened yogurt, low-fat salad dressings, artificially manufactured margarines, and skim milk. Sure, I've left some things off the list, but these will do for our purposes.
Do you truly believe that eating fat will make you fat? Does that make sense to you, considering that human metabolism breaks fats down into their component nutritional parts upon consumption? Perhaps the pharmaceutical companies have been successful in their misinformation campaigns, because most Americans I've talked with believe that drinking skim milk-as awful as it can be-will help them to reduce the fat in their diet.
Let me suggest another possibility: three of the four products listed above have lowered fat content. Problematically, those products-yogurt, low-fat dressings, and milk (whether skim or otherwise) contain more sugar than items they were evidently targeted to replace. Who is being fooled here?
The fourth item is "butter," because many people seem to believe it is as acceptable to eat margarine as it is to consume a pat of butter. Is it? Most margarine is manufactured using a hydrogenation process, and the end result is not a food item appropriate for human beings. Partially- or fully-hydrogenated oils contain trans-fatty acids, which are not a healthful alternative to the compounds found in real butter. Which do you think might be preferable to someone seeking a healthier lifestyle?
A sixteen-week study of nineteen individuals showed that a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic (fat-burning) diet was helpful to them. In this kind of diet, certain fats are much less restricted, though carbohydrates are reduced to 20-40 grams per day. "Results indicate that type 2 diabetics may benefit from a LCKD, as body weight and triglycerides were reduced, and improved glycemic control enabled participants to use less medication. It is important to note that close medical supervision was provided to ensure medications were adjusted appropriately." [Yancy, Foy, Westman, 2004, p. 110]
In a major study, doctors followed the progress of women who regularly consumed low-fat diets. Here is what they found:
"The eight-year study of nearly 50,000 middle-age and elderly women - by far the largest, most definitive test of cutting fat from the diet - did not find any clear evidence that [low-fat dieting] reduced their risks, undermining more than a decade of advice from many doctors." [Stein, 2006, p. A01]
Why Would Doctors Support Low-Fat Diets?
Many physicians truly believe that cutting fats from the diet will lead to improved health. It is possible that this is what they were taught in medical school and they have had insufficient experience with actual patients to develop a real-world standard of care. However, it must also be noted that human beings respond to a number of therapies in ways that defy prediction and experience. We are all individuals, and that means medical practitioners must find out for each patient what actually works.
In this vein, research has shown that, while both low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets may assist persons wishing to change their health outlook, there is far more evidence for the benefits to be found in carbohydrate-restric ted diets. While I know it will be a hard sell for many doctors and their long-term patients, the facts are available to anyone with the desire to learn them.
Works Cited
Stein, Rob, "Low-Fat Diet's Benefits Rejected: Study Finds No Drop in Risk for Disease," The Washington Post, February 8, 2006.
Yancy, W.S., Foy, M.E., Westman, E.C., "A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus," Journal of General Internal Medicine, 19(1S), 2004.
Atkins, Robert C., Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, New York: Avon Books, Inc., 1999.
Atkins, Robert C., Dr. Atkins' Vita-Nutrient Solution: Nature's Answer to Drugs, New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1998.
Learn more about this author, Jon Dainty Sr..
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