Would you go high fat / high protein?

[kdt]

If you knew it could improve your blood profiles?

Yes, low carb, high fat, high protein.

more specifically, eliminating the foods that have a powerful effect on insulin levels (hi GI).
saturated fat being ok.
NO TRANS FATS or other fried/processed junk.

Just trying to gauge the level of myth/knowledge people here at DU have been exposed to :)

[ZombieHorde]

1. If my doctor told me to eat that way, I would strongly consider it. nt

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. I tried the South Beach diet.

I lost a few pounds. It is ALL protein and ALL fat, NO carbs or starch or sugar at all.

Unfortunately I could not stay on it because I was full but still hungry.

[Kolesar]

3. "Hill training" on a bicycle trains your body to burn fat

I wonder if that does the same thing as the South Beach diet. As a salmon eating vegetarian, the diet is out of the question anyway.

[Ratty]

13. That's not true

There's an initial week long "cleansing" phase but after that plenty of carbs. Supposedly the cleansing phase readjusts your blood chemistry to eliminate cravings - and yes you're supposed to avoid all carbs, even fruit, for that week. I won't comment on the scientific validity of this cleansing regimen but the rest of the diet is quite healthy. Plenty of complex carbohydrates like beans and whole grains with little to no simple carbohydrates. No sugar, potatoes, or things made from white, refined flour. Milk is OK. As for the fats, the diet recommends healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish oil and such.

I found the diet to be very helpful in eating more healthy and it did wonders for my triglycerides. It's all tied to that GI index thingy. After awhile I had no problems with cravings or feeling hunger. Sounds like your experience was different though.

Maybe you're thinking of Atkins which, last I heard, really does forbid all carbohydrates. I understand Atkins really does work in terms of weight loss but at a terrible cost to your health.

[supernova]

15. Atkins

does not forbid carbs. It limits carbs to very low GI veggies the first week. After that you are supposed to start very slowly adding additional veggies and nuts back in, then fruit, then finally grains as you reach your goal weight.

You can think of South Beach as a kind of Atkins Lite since it allows a little more carbs in the first phase.

In both Atkins and SB, what you are really doing is using the carbs in your diet to find the optimal level at which you will either lose or maintain weight.

[kdt]

16. atkins unhealthy?

other than the basics i dont know much about atkins. where in it makes it unhealthy? please dont say saturated fats :(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

19. South Beach is all protein and all fats and no carbs.

I tried it the first two weeks and couldn't finish two weeks.

They act like protein and fats will fill you up. Well, they do, but I still could not stand going without any carbs at all.

[supernova]

22. Didn't you eat any vegetables?

Both SB and Atkins both tell you to eat your veggies.

If you wanted pasta morning, noon, and night, that lies with you not the Akins or SB.

[Petrushka]

4. Atkin's Diet? If I was overweight, perhaps . . . but only under a doctor's supervision. (n/t)

[left is right]

5. I don't get it

Some of the thinnest people in the world are rice eaters--rice is higher in carbs than almost everything but sugars. Why is it that when we Westeners eat carbs we have trouble with weight and blood sugars. (Yes, I know that some/maybe most of the carbs we eat are desserts, but even the rice and potato eaters who watch their sugars still have problems)

[hedgehog]

9. I can think of several possibilities to research

1. Total calories

2. Genetics

3. Combination of foods - what they eat with their carbs vs. what we eat with ours

4. Exercise levels/life styles

5. GMO wheat & Corn vs rice modified by traditional methods; perhaps a difference in target qualities rather than method

[supernova]

6. I do it all the time

And I only get into trouble when I don't follow it. :-) I'm not a grains or milk kinda woman. I've been doing Atkins off and on since I hit 40.

Now that I'm older, I have modified it somewhat:

I eat primarily low GI veggies and adequate protein, not high protein. I eat all kinds of meat, but mostly lean.

I round out with fruit if I still feel hungry.

I drink only nonsugar drinks. I might have dessert a couple of times a month. Energy levels go through the roof when I eat this way.

[DUFan]

7. I eat low carb, high protein, moderate fat.

My proteins come from tofu, fish, eggs and a little cheese. I eat lots of vegetables. I'm down 10 pounds with 40 more to go. My numbers were not bad to begin with, just trying to lose weight as painlessly as possible. I also exercise.

[tabatha]

8. good fat, lean protein, low-GI vegetables

[kdt]

10. glad to see you guys have an open mind. here's the scoop

here's a link that is exposing the nonsense "low fat diet, more carbs!" junk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1368980/

if you are not interested in the science, skip to the conclusions at the bottom. note: LDL = bad, HDL = good, triglycerides = bad.


this is for HEALTH only. if you want to be skinner, you still need to intake less than you burn (incidentally i took in 3500+ cals on a similar diet and did not gain a pound for about 2 months. i was about 175lbs and lifting moderately, though).

one secret is the combo of saturated fats with high GI carbs is a NONO for health and weight. (think fries, ice cream, cake, donuts, mashed potatoes). separate the two and theyre totally fine, with carbs actually being worse.

[tabatha]

14. Yep, I went low fat for a while.

Changed it after it did not work.

A long time ago, I went on the grapefruit diet, and that was the easiest weight-loss program I have been on.
However, I cannot eat that amount of grapefruit anymore.

I have not eaten potatoes in over 10 years, and eat very little rice or other grains.

Carbs tend to make me more lethargic.

I have found that a veggie dish with a good oil dressing diminishes hunger.

[Emillereid]

11. I have eaten this way for years -- and do nutrition research about low

carb eating all the time.

Yes, my fasting insulin level and my blood glucose are quite low. My HDL is 104, my TGs are 80 and my LDL is mostly of the large, benign fluffy type - pattern type A. Saturated fat is actually good for you.

When I first started graduate school in nutrition I believed my textbooks and put myself on a low fat, high carb diet -- and within no time I gained 50 pounds, all my lipid numbers went crazy, especially my triglycerides and I felt quite ill most of the time. It took a while to get over my fat-phobia, but I'm sure glad I did. BTW, I began to do my own independent reading of the medical journals -- and low and behold if they don't support my way of eating. The science never did support low fat, high carb - it might look better than the SAD, but low carb blows it out of the water most of the time. We are still genetically hunter- gatherers.

A website of interest: http://www.paleoforlife.org/latest.php

[kdt]

12. great results! shows u that the high carb junk does not help

what i dont get is that studying nutrition actually makes you less knowledgable! some government conspiracy here. i often find myself holding my tongue because 99% of the population will refuse to believe the truth.


people on the Anabolic Diet (high fat/protein low carb) often post their blood profiles afterwards in journals. a quick search will tell you that they generally have better blood profiles after and also lose a ridiculous amount of weight.

[grasswire]

18. thanks for the link

some good info there

[MorningGlow]

17. Not quite

I'm insulin resistant and hypothyroid. I will be eating this way the rest of my life: low carb, low- to moderate fat, high protein. It's not that hard. Except for the fries. I do miss fries. :(

[uppityperson]

20. Only if recommended by a health care provider I trusted as it can cause problems also

Ketoacidosis isn't fun. Neither is metabolizing your muscles for energy, like anorexics do.

[laughingliberal]

21. Have been attempting that for years. I fall off, at times, but find it keeps my weight & my moods...

under much better control. I have used a modified form of the low carb model lately whereby carbs are restricted severely in the first couple of weeks and then eaten on an every other day basis. The thinking behind this is that so long as glycogen stores are unavailable, the body can not convert carbs to fat. Once glycogen is depleted, the initial intake of carbs will be used to make glycogen. Eat no (or very limited) carbs the next day and glycogen is depleted again.

I like this approach as it is not so austere and does not require a continuous state of ketosis. Seems to work for me.

[old mark]

23. I did last Feb. My cardiologist MADE me do Atkins. I lost over 10 pounds over a month or so,

my blood sugar went down from around 300 to normal range in about a week. My cholesterol is also in the normal range per bloodwork done 2 weeks ago, and everything else is good.

When I eat bad carbs - even "good" carbs, my glucose goes up, but I can get it back to normal with Atkins. Rice is poison to me - jacks my sugar up for a day. Barley and oats are much better.

My LDL is good, overall cholesterol is good.

I have type II diabetes, insulin resistant, and NOTHING ELSE works like high fat/protein...and I FEEL GREAT!

(I just had a small steak for breakfast.)

This works perfectly for me, and might be a good choice for others as well, and I believe most of the "negative" things I read about these diets is ignorant bullshit
...the type of thing that "everybody knows" which is untrue but widely believed and not based on facts.


mark