Why Eat Low Carb?
This is the same link in the post about the woman snarling about the "fat privilege" of those who only wear a size 18 when others wear a size 26. This one is point 10 of 13:
Since the year 2002, over 20 randomized controlled trials have examined the effects of low-carb diets on various aspects of health.Almost every one of those studies agrees that:
•Low-carb diets lead to significant decreases in blood pressure (82, 83).
•Low-carb diets where people are allowed to eat as much as they want cause more weight loss than low-fat diets that are calorie restricted (84, 85).
•Low-carb diets increase HDL (the good) cholesterol and decrease triglycerides much more than low-fat diets (86, 87, 88).
•Low-carb diets change the pattern of LDL (the "bad") cholesterol from small, dense LDL (very bad) to Large LDL - which is benign (89, 90).
•Low-carb diets have powerful positive effects on type II diabetes, significantly lowering blood sugar and reducing the need for medication (91, 92, 93).
•If anything, low-carb diets appear to be easier to stick to than low-fat diets, probably because people don't have to restrict calories and be hungry all the time (94).
I used to monitor what I ate, count calories, run seven miles three times a week. Now I am what I call "effortlessly thin," meaning I can nothing to maintain my weight but eat bacon, kale in bacon grease, steak, hamburgers, and heavily buttered green vegetables, and for snacks, a little dry salami or Camembert, and some tea with coconut oil and foamed milk. (I do exercise a little because it's healthy for my brain and body.)
But what's great is, I'm never hungry in a big way, and when I do get hungry, at whatever time of day, I eat something and don't have to worry about it or chastise myself. My body is running, I believe, in its optimum form.
The last time I was seriously hungry was in early 2009, I believe, when I still used to eat things with flour and sugar. I accidentally got a lowfat muffin at Starbucks. Without the fat in it to balance out all the sugar, it made me ragingly hungry in about 20 minutes. Ragingly hungry, as in, I wanted to tear off somebody's arm and take a bite because the line to get more food and coffee was taking a while.
Via @AnnChildersMD
Absolutely. Absolutely.
I've had trouble with my blood sugar my whole life. It runs in the family. I had diabetes with both of my pregnancies. My son is now 9 months old. Gestational diabetes doesn't usually manifest until the 3rd trimester, but my blood sugar was elevated by 8 weeks. I tried to keep eating low carb, but, you know, pregnancy. I gained 70 pounds. I finally got back on the low-carb wagon when my son was 3 months. 6 months later I'm back under my pre-pregnancy weight. In fact, I weight less than I did when I got married, and my bra size has shrunk to a C-cup, my HIGH SCHOOL size! :D
Sosij at October 19, 2013 6:10 PM
Recently at a fast-food place, they gave me my spicy chicken sandwich "protein style", i.e. with a lettuce wrap-around instead of a bun, by mistake.
I ate it anyway. Wasn't as filling as with the heavy bun, but still quite good. Made me think Amy might not be absolutely crazy about this low-carb stuff. Hmmm. ;-)
qdpsteve at October 19, 2013 8:07 PM
Amen. LC all the way. I point everyone to Marksdailyapple.com
Its hard though. Big Agra is totally in cahoots with big Pharma/Med and Big Gov- hmm is is any coincidence that most of the people I know that are primal/LC are also libertarian- or at least part of the party of "Personal Responsibility"--of which I would consider taking care of/feeding yourself properly and not relying on others to do it for you- a major tenet.
Its hard though, I wonder how much other "mainstream medical" advice is b.s. -obviously, if you break your leg, you need to go to a doctor to get a cast. But all those drugs- including statins- they want to put my husband on them- granted he needs to lose a little weight but I said "no way" especially since he has a family history of heart issues.
Keep at it Amy. Any time you convince even one person, you done good- but I fear that like stupor over politics that most of the country is in- especially the leftist east coast elites ( where I live, Im quite the anomaly) its wont happen until its too late- whatever that means ---
jan at October 20, 2013 6:02 AM
I could show you photos of me, before I started 5 years of low fat diet and then the after photo at about +50 pounds, despite being in the military and running, marching, working as a heavy eq operator. I took it to the extreme, eating as little as 15 grams of fat a day.
Now I am diabetic and working hard to get my weight down and conquer my addiction to sugar and flour.
KLC at October 20, 2013 7:53 AM
Wasn't as filling as with the heavy bun, but still quite good.
I've found that on my variation of a low carb diet I eat less and still remain satisfied. At most, I become a bit peckish if I delay lunch for an hour.
But that can be cured with a bit of beef jerky.
I R A Darth Aggie at October 20, 2013 7:58 AM
I R A Darth Aggie: I would definitely like to get back into the beef jerky habit. Back in the 90s I had a supervisor (an attorney) who loved the stuff so much, she'd send me to the nearby liquor store (Bruce's Grill/Bar and Bottle Shop in Santa Fe Springs) to pick up a brand called Enjoy. It was literally served in an open plastic barrel of long strips that anyone could open up and grab a strip out of.
Enjoy's "Hot" variety is still my fave. I should make plans to pick up some again soon at Smart & Final.
qdpsteve at October 20, 2013 6:53 PM
I owe Amy my thanks, actually, for convincing me to go low-carb with her writing here. I ended up dropping 22 pounds (over 10% of my body weight) eating steak, bacon, cheese, eggs, etc. I eventually decided I shouldn't waste all this good protein I'm eating, so I took up strength training and started packing on muscle. Everyone notices and comments on how good I look, and I definitely feel better and even more confident.
I originally thought I'd just do low carb for a while to lose weight, but I've adopted it as a lifestyle instead. I really just don't miss the bread, rice, pasta, etc. The only thing that kills me - being a bit of a beer snob - is missing good beer.
I know weight loss doesn't come this easily for many people, particularly the morbidly obese. But if most "average fat Americans" just had some knowledge and self-discipline, I believe they could do the same thing I have. Then again, most people just want to follow the herd, and the American herd implies it's perfectly acceptable to be fat.
I have also noticed that a lot of people who do low-carb or Paleo are also attracted to things that aren't totally mainstream. Lots of them seem to be libertarian leaning, fans of Dave Ramsey, and prefer functional-fitness regimens to vanilla gym routines.
MikeInRealLife at October 21, 2013 11:02 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/10/19/why_eat_low_car.html#comment-3995476">comment from MikeInRealLifeThanks, MikeInRealLife. Means a lot.
Amy Alkon
at October 21, 2013 11:34 AM
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