no carb vs. low calorie

NO carb? how is that possible? I could understand low carb, but fruits and vegetables have carbs in them so I can't understand how you could completely eliminate them from your diet or why your doctor would suggest you completely cut out healthy fruits and vegetables

I'm sure he meant low carb. I think "no" carb is pretty impossible...Bananas have 20+ grams!

I think LOW carb is much healthier for a long-period of time. Carbs are bulky and help with digestion. Plus, lacking nutrients, including carbs, can be harmful for your body.

Then again, listening to your doctor is important. If you are not supposed to eat carbs for a really long period of time (longer than, say, 1-2 weeks), then I would not heed what this doctor is saying. You may want to visit someone else.

I tried Atkins once and found it to be like a lot of other fad diets. It worked a little but it was not viable for the long term because it asks for things that are NOT things you would want to do the rest of your life. I am searching for things I can do that help me lose weight now and will give me the tools I need to control my weight once I reach my goal weight. For me, watching the sum total of all calories I eat versus my BMR is the way to go. When you eat protein, 30% of what you eat is used to digest what you ate. In addition you get a lot of nutrition for building lean body mass. When you eat carbs, 11% of the calories you ate are used to digest what your ate. Fat uses only 3%. If you eat carbs, you should avoid the heavily refined carbs like white bread and opt instead for whole wheat. Fo me I look at my BMR and create a 500 cal/day deficit for a 1 pound a week loss. I add to that another 500 cal/day in exercise which I do not eat back. Total then is 2 pounds a week. Increasing my protein helps me build lean body mass and some carbs gives me a quick boost to my fuel supply when I need it. My gold is to watch the calories and be sure what I eat is good fuel. Look at your body as a fine-tuned engine. Do you want to fuel it with last years left-over gas (crud like potato chips) or do you want to put nitro in the tank (lean protein, whole grains, fiber)?

I tried Atkins once and found it to be like a lot of other fad diets. It worked a little but it was not viable for the long term because it asks for things that are NOT things you would want to do the rest of your life. I am searching for things I can do that help me lose weight now and will give me the tools I need to control my weight once I reach my goal weight. For me, watching the sum total of all calories I eat versus my BMR is the way to go. When you eat protein, 30% of what you eat is used to digest what you ate. In addition you get a lot of nutrition for building lean body mass. When you eat carbs, 11% of the calories you ate are used to digest what your ate. Fat uses only 3%. If you eat carbs, you should avoid the heavily refined carbs like white bread and opt instead for whole wheat. Fo me I look at my BMR and create a 500 cal/day deficit for a 1 pound a week loss. I add to that another 500 cal/day in exercise which I do not eat back. Total then is 2 pounds a week. Increasing my protein helps me build lean body mass and some carbs gives me a quick boost to my fuel supply when I need it. My gold is to watch the calories and be sure what I eat is good fuel. Look at your body as a fine-tuned engine. Do you want to fuel it with last years left-over gas (crud like potato chips) or do you want to put nitro in the tank (lean protein, whole grains, fiber)?

Exactly what about the Atkins plan asks for things that you would not do for the rest of your life?

People that actually do Atkins correctly learn how to eat a controlled carb lifestyle in moderation.............

Dude,how does one stay regular without the bulk of fiber? I would imagine you'd be seriously stopped up if you weren't eating at least fruits and vegetables. Not trying to be a smart *kitten* just genuinely curious!

lol I think to most of us the idea of no carbs is horrifying i try to limit my carbs to like 155 g a day and it has been a pain in the *kitten*! Literally almost everything has carbs,even my plain yogurt! :sad:

Actually, I said "low carb" and my doctor corrected me and said "no carb." She did reccomend portion control and veggies.

I think it's time to find a new doctor.

ok,well if she said to eat veggies then it's not a no carb diet but just extremely low carb ! silly doctors.

Your brain requires carbs to work properly: http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html

It requires glucose, not carbs.

When most people say "carb" they think bread, rice, pasta, crackers, cereal, potato, etc. Not fruits, veggies and the like. So I'm guessing your doctor was speaking starch carbs not ALL carbs. Call and ask. I do low carb but NO bread, rice, pasta, crackers, cereal, potato on a regular basis. I'm perfectly healthy and usually happy. :ohwell:

Firstly, you can't do 'no carb' - there's no such thing. Low-carb, yes you can do...how low would be dependent on what your doctor advises. When I do low-carb (starting again tomorrow) I eat around 20g per day for a couple of weeks then slowly increase - with those mainly coming from vegetables. I've got PCOS so the amount of carbs I eat really does affect my weight loss (or gain as it usually is). Why does your doctor advise low-carb?

There are people that consume 0 carb aka "no carb"............

Check it out!

http://forum.zeroinginonhealth.com/showthread.php?tid=53

Sorry, I do apologise...I should have said - Firstly, you can't do 'no carb' unless you're prepared to eat a shed load of meat and not much else - which you'll probably be able to stick at for about a week, unless of course your will power is actually made of steel :laugh:

No carb is really unhealthy... I don't know why your doctor would suggest that. You'll drop weight fast, but it won't stay off and you can really damage your heart and blood vessels from all of the fat you'll need to eat for energy.

Fat does NO damage to the heart or the blood vessels. and NO carb is not unhealthy either. Humans have ZERO need for any carbs.

Fat and protein will provide the body with the necessary nutrients needed to not only survive, but also thrive.

Here is a whole forum of information to read.

http://forum.zeroinginonhealth.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=6

YIKES! Don't listen to this!!

OP Please look at http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx. Fruits and veggies are valuable sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals. Don't understimate the value of whole foods. It is the processed crap and saturated fat animal products taken in such large quantities that are harming us.

Please, research, research, research. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it! If you don't understand what your doctor is saying, please call the office nurse and ask for clarification!! never follow blindly!! NEVER!

No carb is really unhealthy... I don't know why your doctor would suggest that. You'll drop weight fast, but it won't stay off and you can really damage your heart and blood vessels from all of the fat you'll need to eat for energy.

Fat does NO damage to the heart or the blood vessels. and NO carb is not unhealthy either. Humans have ZERO need for any carbs.

Fat and protein will provide the body with the necessary nutrients needed to not only survive, but also thrive.

Here is a whole forum of information to read.

http://forum.zeroinginonhealth.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=6

YIKES! Don't listen to this!!

OP Please look at http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx. Fruits and veggies are valuable sources of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals. Don't understimate the value of whole foods. It is the processed crap and saturated fat animal products taken in such large quantities that are harming us.

Please, research, research, research. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it! If you don't understand what your doctor is saying, please call the office nurse and ask for clarification!! never follow blindly!! NEVER!

Your wrong about the saturated fats and the vitamins.

Saturated fats are the main component in breast milk. If they were so bad for us, breast milk would be made of something entirely different. Nature doesn't get it wrong.

Saturated fat is a WHOLE food, just like broccoli, tomatoes or eggplant.

Keep the source of the issues with Obesity and other lifestyle diseases where it needs to be. Processed crap coming from refined sugar, grains and transfats.

There are virtually no sources of any vitamins to be in vegetation (which is why all vitamin supplements are synthetic), but all are found in abundance in meat. For example no source of A other than animal liver exists. The amount of B complex in 30 gm of fresh red meat is more than can be extracted from one hundred
kilos of yeast concentrate- once it was done, but at great expense. C is not the only antiscorbitic substance, since a diet of just red meat prevents scurvy (the Inuit diet).

Nothing is refined or processed in anything that I have written.