Atkins diet.......works for me..anyone else?

[DoctorKrel]

Carbohydrate control may be an important tool to lose weight. Various forms of this diet are espoused in such popular diet titles as Robert C. Atkins' Diet Revolution, Body for Life, The South Beach Diet, Sugar Busters, and The Zone.

It seems to be very effective for a lot of people. It doesn't seem to have any significant drawbacks and a lot of people can do this type of program while the rest of the family eats normally.

My general sugestion is that different programs work for different people. If it works, use it.

 

[Boondox]

David, I'm an epidemiologist by training, not a physician, and have never understood the opposition of the allopathic community. I realize Atkin's runs counter to conventional wisdom, but the data never supported (IMO) some of the more strident protests coming out of the medical community.

Just out of curiousity, what did they say about it in med school?

Pete

 

[cowboydoc]

Pete,

I have stayed out of this because of this question. As far as what is taught is school we learn the scientific workings of the body. There may be discussions about this on a small scale but on a large scale as a doctor you have to rely on scientific fact. What has been proven by research to be safe and effective procedures. Especially in this day and age with all the sue happy people anything experimental puts you at extreme risk. One malpractice case can ruin a doctor. Whether it be financially or in the ability to secure healthcare contracts in the future to even be able to treat patients.

As far as Dr. Atkins diet there are no long term studies to say that it is safe or not safe. Just about every diet program will work for awhile. I just shake my head at what I see most of the time. Most diets and health "infomercials" are based on one tiny bit of truth and a whole lot of conjecture. As far as Atkins I don't think it's a bad overall diet at all. The Atkins for life gives you some very useful information. It also promotes the balanced approach.

There are basically two reasons for being overweight. The first is lack of exercise and the second is what you eat. Our society is full of people that do no exercise at all day after day. Secondly we have become a fast food society. Everything we buy is processed. Our bodies can't digest and sytnthesize processed foods very easily or it's processed too easily and leads to an increased amount in the blood which triggers the body to store fat. You can take any person and put them on an exercise program and a sensible diet and they will lose weight just like Atkins. All Atkins really does is move you to eat sensibly. If you look at Atkins for Life it really promotes a rounded diet. This includes no processed foods. That right there is the #1 key. Don't even follow the Atkins diet but do a few things. #1 only eat real food. Don't eat anything canned, processed, bagged, etc. Only eat real fruits and vegetables, whole milk and cheese products, fresh meats, etc. Get 40-60 minutes of real exercise per day. Eat sensible meals and break down your meals into 6x/day. Don't let your body become hypoglycemic. Eat smaller meals and more of them. Eat breakfast, cut out soft drinks, sugar, etc. and lastly don't eat late at night.

A person doesn't have to follow Atkins to lose weight. They just have to approach it sensibly. Just because a person loses weight with an approach doesn't mean that it is safe or effective long term. Long-term you have to make lifestyle changes. Anything will work short term but it is the long term that a person should be concerned about. Our bodies need a balanced diet. You don't get phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, etc. from protein only. You need everything in balance. And not just diet but mentally as well. I guess I could go on and on all day on healthy lifestyles. The problem is everybody wants a quick fix. Nobody wants to really take responsibility for their health or I should say very few. Most people want to do what they want to do with their lives and then when things go wrong they want a quick fix or some gimmick. They go to the doctor and don't want to make lifestyle changes. They want a pill or a special procedure that will do it for them instead of making lifestyle changes.

I have a "lifestyle change" program that I put people on. I don't call it a diet because it isn't a diet. I could spout off all kinds of scientific literature and make it out to be some new and greatest procedure but it's not. It's a very simple two page report that people follow. I have yet to have one single patient that actively followed the program not get to their target weight or lifestyle that they wanted to. Am I some kind of guru or have I developed a new procedure? Heck no. Neither has Dr. Atkins. He has merely created a program that could be easily summarized in a page or two and given to a patient. The rest is just fluff. You don't sell books and food from a two page report. You sell books and food with all the fluff. The mechanics are simple. The process is simple but again you can't take something and make it seem like any avg. Joe could do it and make money. I could teach just about anybody to sew someone up. The process is simple. But do you know what else to check for? No that is what takes all the training and experience.

I saw a patient for severe foot pain and hip pain. She has early degerative hip disease and heel spurs. She weighed 290 lbs. and is 5'3. I talked to her about this problem and how her weight is contributing greatly to this. After some discussion she has tryed about every fad diet out there. But she never stuck with anything. And yes she was on Atkins as well. She doesn't want to exercise and doesn't want to change her lifestyle. She wanted the new fat loss drug. I explained to her about a need for orthotics, physical therapy, and lifestyle changes to fix these problems. She wasn't interested in that. I see this everyday. No diet or anything of the sort is going to solve the problem. The only thing that is going to solve the problem is taking responsibility for our lives.

You know what always makes me laugh about these situations is I ask these people if they watch tv. Probably less than 5% say they don't watch tv at least 10 hours/week. So you have time to watch tv but not to take the time and eat a sensible diet and exercise? It's not that we don't have the time it's that it's not a priority in our lives.

 

[fivestring]

"Probably less than 5% say they don't watch tv at least 10 hours/week."

Is it that high?
I'm a minority!!!!

TV was invented to educate people. That worked for about a month. Since then, it's use is to brainwash people. One only needs to look at channels like CNN to figure that out.
A lot of parents use the TV as a babysitter, thus starting a cycle of those new humans getting hooked on TV.
I bet I don't watch 8 hours a week... most of it is Weather Channel, A&E, History Channel, etc. I do not watch much on the network channels.

 

[pruntyc]

Cowboydoc, about the only thing I disagree with you on, is you say there is no long term study on Atkins diet. Well, he had it out for about 50 years or so, I would call that long a time. And the last I saw him on TV, he looked pretty good. And for exercize, well we had a lot of real hard working farmers where I was raised, ate a lot of meat and probably a lot of things that wouldn't be on Atkins diet also. You know potatoes and pies and etc. But we worked with a team of mules or horses, just about everything by hand. Hand milked and carryed the water to each cow, you get the picture. The only person that I knew of that had poor health and a heart problem was a retired school teacher that lived down at the mouth of the run, he didn't get any exercise at all and bought all his food, and got WAY over weight. So I believe in a high meat diet, but I think you are right on TV and all the other things people do instead of exerciseing. I always tell the wife, look at the people running for exercise, I'll bet if you would ask them to do some work, they would get mad at you. I personally think work is better than running, at least you are getting something done, that probably needs to be done. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[FarmNut]

Great post! I agree with almost everything you said. It amazes me that there are so many critics out there that focus on the induction phase of the low carb diets and fail to focus on their long term recommendations, which is really a lifestyle change that includes a balanced diet (the traditional food pyramid is not a balanced diet) and exercise. I know part of my problem is not enough exercise compared to my younger days, but the high intake of processed carbs was probably even more of the problem.

FarmNut

 

[Egon]

Thanks for an enlightening post Cowboy Doc.

Many years ago when my father and two sisters all died within several years I realized I may not be bombproof. Spent a lot of time reading health related books from the library and even went to the university medical library.

Didn't understand much but concluded lifestyle, reduction of processed food and ensuring there was a variety so all the required minerals were supplied seemed to be main items in most of the reading. And last but perhaps not least moderation in all.

Also noted that some populations/ had medical problems directly associated with thier diet. These problems would go away and new ones surface when they moved to a different country and diet.

Egon

 

[cowboydoc]

Dick I completely agree with you. I'm not bashing a high meat diet at all. On the contrary. I support a high meat diet regulated with everything else. I also don't believe Atkins was necessarily wrong. It's just that it wasn't anything new. All he did was take the basics and get people to ketosis and stop eating junk. Take a look at the Atkins for life diet plan. It couldn't be any closer to a balanced diet if you had tried.

 

[Mrwurm]

Coyboydoc, don't you mean ketosis?

 

[Boondox]

Richard -- Thanks for a very informative and well thought out response. I know there have been a lot of case studies full of anecdotal evidence, but can't put my finger on many studies of rigorous design. It was nice to get such a clear, concise explanation. Thanks again! Pete