CARBS ARE GOOD!

SanteMulberry

75% of your calorie intake baby!
Vegetables are pure carb.

I do not restrict vegetables---I only eliminate sugar and grain and fruit to a certain degree. I generally eat 2-3 servings of fruit per day and lots of vegetables in addition to protein and good fats.

Dave198lbs

75% of your calorie intake baby!

leaving 25% for both fat and protein?

horrible idea

SanteMulberry

75% of your calorie intake baby!

leaving 25% for both fat and protein?

horrible idea

I agree. Either the protein will be inadequate to maintain muscle mass or a very low fat diet will cause a depletion of essential fatty acids. Neither is at all good.

70davis

Bump

AlabasterVerve

17 RCTs showing significantly more weight loss with low carb diets:
http://www.dietdoctor.com/science

But there are so many papers showing low carb diets being effective at treating disease that even doctors are catching on and it's why you see more and more people on these forums being prescribed a low carb diet for a whole host of medical conditions. To pretend otherwise is to be willfully ignorant.

This article and these studies specifically compare low carb to low fat diets. The first study also says a mediteranean diet performed with similar results to the low carb diet against the low fat diet. Ok, so in comparison to low fat diets, low carb and mediteranean performs better. Who is recommeding a low fat diet as the way to go? So, by definition the first study shows that there is at least one other diet that performs as well as low carb against low fat.

This data does not demonstrate a metabolic advantage except when compared to low fat diets. I'm guessing most have read other data that the whole low fat recommendation contributed to the trend towards obesity, among other thing over the last 25 years. If you've got anything that shows broader comparisons I'd love to see it.

But as I've said, Krieger, Aragon, McDonald and Troutman say there isn't any and they are very credible. FTR, McDonald believes in Ketogenic diets for stubborn fat and Kreiger's stated bias is that there should be a metabolic advantage! But no proof of one currently exists that he is aware of. He is a highly credible source and on top of the research as he is a nutritional researcher by profession.

Again and probably for the last time, you choose low carb? That's your business. Do what you feel is best for you. But there is no proven metabolic advantage. You want to believe there is based on a lack of evidence? Again, your business. But if you post that kind of nonsense on a public fitness and nutrition forum, there is likely someone who is going to challenge it. And rightly so.

The low carb diet in the first of seventeen studies on that page still out performed the Mediterranean diet (which is also a lower carb diet, btw) and the low fat diet in that study but the biggest take away? The low carb diet didn't restrict calories while the other two diets did.

The low carb dieters lost more weight than the other calorie restricted diets, without hunger, eating as much as they liked. That doesn't seem like a big deal to you? Seriously?

bcattoes

The low carb diet in the first of seventeen studies on that page still out performed the Mediterranean diet (which is also a lower carb diet, btw) and the low fat diet in that study but the biggest take away? The low carb diet didn't restrict calories while the other two diets did.

I don't know what you mean by "lower carb" ("lower" than what?) but a Mediterranean diet is heavily plant based including plenty of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes, along with olive oil, fish and lean meats. While there is no universal definition of how many carbs = "low carb", a Mediterranean diet would not fit most definitions.

Also, while it is quite easy to maintain a healthy weight on a Mediterranean diet, it is not a weight loss diet per se.

SanteMulberry

The low carb diet in the first of seventeen studies on that page still out performed the Mediterranean diet (which is also a lower carb diet, btw) and the low fat diet in that study but the biggest take away? The low carb diet didn't restrict calories while the other two diets did.

I don't know what you mean by "lower carb" ("lower" than what?) but a Mediterranean diet is heavily plant based including plenty of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes, along with olive oil, fish and lean meats. While there is no universal definition of how many carbs = "low carb", a Mediterranean diet would not fit most definitions.

Also, while it is quite easy to maintain a healthy weight on a Mediterranean diet, it is not a weight loss diet per se.

According to some definitions that I have seen, a "lower carb diet" would be one in which the dieters ate a total of 75-100 grams of carbohydrate per day. Low enough to get the benefits of appetite suppression that comes from lower blood sugar/insulin but not so low as to put the dieter into "ketosis". The Atkins diet and other " very low carb" (60 grams or less of carbohydrate per day) plans actually aim to put the dieter into ketosis but that is not a healthy state for the body to be in, long-term. Ketotic diets also tend to be very high in fat which is unhealthy from a bowel cancer perspective. While moderate fat is healthy (contrary to what you have been told, a low-fat or "no-fat" diet is not a particularly healthy diet as it tends to deplete one's supply of essential fatty acids) it also has the added benefit of suppressing appetite by suppressing blood sugar swings that provoke binge eating.

The Mediterranean diet is a very healthy diet but may not be low enough in carbs to get the desired fat loss---especially for obese women who, because of their hormones, tend to store carbohydrates as fat instead of burning them for energy.

fishgutzy

Low fat is also linked to depression are many other health problems and can actually raise triglycerides and bad cholesterol.
I put my fat intake target around 60%. I don't always hit that. But I don't eat anything with an eye toward lower fat.
Whole eggs, whole milk. Sausage, pork. And the result was a 30% drop in cholesterol and triglycerides and a drop in blood glucose and A1C to normal levels. That is enough evidence for me.

SanteMulberry

Low fat is also linked to depression are many other health problems and can actually raise triglycerides and bad cholesterol.
I put my fat intake target around 60%. I don't always hit that. But I don't eat anything with an eye toward lower fat.
Whole eggs, whole milk. Sausage, pork. And the result was a 30% drop in cholesterol and triglycerides and a drop in blood glucose and A1C to normal levels. That is enough evidence for me.

Yep! Same happened for me AND I have been able to get off my B.P. medication! It was wrecking my muscles and that made me gain body fat while I was kidding myself that I wasn't gaining weight so I must be okay. I was pre-diabetic before I started on the lower-carb plan too. Now my blood profiles are great and my muscles don't hurt anymore! (By-the-way---CONGRATULATIONS on your health victories!)

chubbybuddha101

50% of my daily calories are carbs! I love me some carbs! Try training/running a half marathon without them!

MellyGibson

Anything you are eating that I am not eating? It's wrong.
Anything you are doing that I am not doing? It's wrong.

Wow, someone with the same philosophy as me!

Good to know.

cravingskinnybody

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID THE TRUTH!
thank you!

amylovescupcakes

Love my carbs, all my carbs.

Well well!!!.....I love me some David Tennant!!!!

Oh my husband David Tennant and me both love some carbs!

JaceyMarieS

Low fat is also linked to depression are many other health problems and can actually raise triglycerides and bad cholesterol.
I put my fat intake target around 60%. I don't always hit that. But I don't eat anything with an eye toward lower fat.
Whole eggs, whole milk. Sausage, pork. And the result was a 30% drop in cholesterol and triglycerides and a drop in blood glucose and A1C to normal levels. That is enough evidence for me.

Enough evidence for me as well. My last A1c was 5.5 (down from 7.3), total cholesterol was 172 (down from 207) and my triglycerides dropped 50 points as well. The weight loss is a bonus.

heykaraoke

Actually, everyone is different, and some are so metabolically broken that they cannot consume carbs. There is no dogma, sorry

Yep, I've got a friend who went on one of those fad diets and ended up in the hospital because she overdid it. Result? Carbs make her extremely ill. She can have a little bit of carbs every day, but nothing like the normal amount most people can consume. She's in good health and takes care of herself, just has to be extremely particular about what she eats now.

SanteMulberry

Actually, everyone is different, and some are so metabolically broken that they cannot consume carbs. There is no dogma, sorry

Yep, I've got a friend who went on one of those fad diets and ended up in the hospital because she overdid it. Result? Carbs make her extremely ill. She can have a little bit of carbs every day, but nothing like the normal amount most people can consume. She's in good health and takes care of herself, just has to be extremely particular about what she eats now.

Yes---I went on a very low-fat diet (which is typically very high in carbs). Got pretty sick. Lower carb is the only way I can eat and stay healthy while losing body fat. I'm not a fanatic about it for other people---you have to do what is right for you and your circumstances. As long as they are healthy ones, there is nothing particularly bad about carbs---they work well for athletes. But a high-carb/low-fat diet is a health catastrophe for me (and I'm talking about any more than 100 grams of carbs a day as high).