Weekly Weigh-Ins with links

I thought I would publish my weekly weigh-ins with their links from the time I started NutriSystem to my most recent start.

Start: 154
Week 1: 150 (-4) - Week 2: 148.6 (-1.4)
Week 3: 146 (-2.6) - Week 4: 147.2 (+1.2)
Week 5: 145.6 (-1.6) - Week 6: 144 (-1.6)
Week 7: 143 (-1) - Week 8: 142.8 (-0.2)
Week 9: 143.6 (+0.8) - Week 10: 141.2 (-2.4)
Week 11: 143.8 (+2.6) - Week 12: 142.4 (-1.4)
Week 13: 142.4 (-0) - Week 14: 141.6 (-0.8)
Week 15: 139.4 (-2.2) - Week 16: 140 (+0.6)
Week 17: 139.2 (-0.8) - Week 18: 139 (-0.2)
Week 19: 138 (-1) - Week 20: 135.4 (-2.6)
Week 21: 137.2 (+1.8) - Week 22: 139.6 (+2.4)
Week 23: 143.2 (+3.6) - Week 24: 143.6 (+0.4)
Week 25: 137.6 (-6) - Week 26: 139.6 (+2)
Week 27: 142 (+2.4) - Week 28: 137.2 (-4.8)
Week 29: 137 (-0.2) - Week 30: 136.8 (-0.2)
Week 31: 142.2 (+5.4) - Week 32: 136.8 (-5.4)
Week 33: 137.8 (+1) - Week 34: 135.8 (-2)
Week 35: 137.6 (+1.8) - Week 36: 143.8(+6.2)
Week 37: 142.8 (-1) - Week 38: 140 (-2.8)
Week 39: 142.4 (+2.4) - Week 40: 140.4 (-2)
Week 41: 139.6 (-0.8) - Week 42: 142 (+2.4)
Week 43: N/A - Week 44: 141 (-1)
Week 45: 138.8 (-2.2) - Week 46: 139.6 (+0.8)
Week 47: 133.6 (-6) - Week 48: 132.4 (-1.2)
Week 49: 138.6 (+6.2) - Week 50: 138.4 (-0.2)
Week 51: 138.8 (+0.4) - Week 52: 139.4 (+0.6)
Week 53: 137.8 (-1.6) - Week 54: 139.4 (+1.6)
Week 55: 137.6 (-1.8) - Week 56: 136.4 (-1.2)
Week 57: 136.6 (+0.2) - Week 58: 139.4 (+2.8)
Week 59: 136.6 (-2.8) - Week 60: 134.6 (-2)
Week 61: 137 (+2.4) - Week 62: 138.6 (+1.6)
Week 63: 137 (-1.6) - Week 64: 137 (-0)
Week 65: 141.8 (+4.8) - Week 66: 135.4 (-6.4)
Week 67: 136 (+0.6) - Week 68: 139.2 (+3.2)
Week 69: 137.2 (-2) - Week 70: 138.2 (+1)
Week 71: 136.4 (-1.8) - Week 72: 140 (+3.6)
Week 73: 139.4 (-0.6) - Week 74: 140 (+0.6)
Week 75: 137.6 (-2.4) - Week 76: 141.6 (+4)
Week 77: 136.4 (-5.2) - Week 78: 139 (+2.6)
Week 79: 138.2 (-0.8) - Week 80: 139.2 (+1)
Week 81: 139.4 (+0.2) - Week 82: 137.6 (-1.8)
Week 83: 137.8 (+0.2) - Week 84: 137.2 (-0.6)
Week 85: 137.2 (-0) - Week 86: 136.2 (-1)
Week 87: 140.6 (+4.4) - Week 88: 138.8 (-1.8)
Week 89: 139.4 (+0.6) - Week 90: 142 (+2.6)
Week 91: 135.6 (-6.4) - Week 92: 140 (+4.4)
Week 93: 138.8 (-1.2) - Week 94: 138.6 (-0.2)
Week 95: 137.2 (-1.4) - Week 96: 137.6 (+0.6)
Week 97: 139.8 (+2.2) - Week 98: 139.6 (-0.2)
Week 99: 141.4 (+1.8) - Week 100: 140 (-1.4)
Week 101: 138.4 (-1.6) - Week 102: 138.6 (+0.2)
Week 103: 139.4 (+0.8) - Week 104: 136.4 (-3)
Week 105: 137.8 (+1.4) - Week 106: 137.8 (-0)
Week 107: 138.2 (+0.4) - Week 108: 137.4 (-0.8)
Week 109: 136 (-1.4) - Week 110: 133 (-3)
Week 111: 134.2 (+1.2) - Week 112: 132.8 (-1.4)
Week 113: 135.4 (+2.6) - Week 114: 136 (+0.6)
Week 115: 139.8 (+3.8) - Week 116: 137.8 (-2)

My Thanksgiving - Working Out, Then Working

Calories eaten yesterday: 1230
Fat: 22g (17%)
Carbs: 119g (39%)
Protein: 134g (44%)
Weight this morning: 129.2 (One week ago: 129.2)
Calories burned in exercise today: 332

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope yours was a great one!

Here's what I am thankful for:

1) God's salvation.
2) God's Word, the Bible.
3) my friend Brad.
4) a job in this poor economy. My employer laid off a bunch of people just this past week right before the holidays. So I am thankful that I still have work.
5) my two cats Xena and Abby.

Yesterday was the first truly cold and rainy day of the season. It was freezing. I actually took hot tea with me on the bus, and had three cups of hot tea at work. Today it was 60 degrees like yesterday, but felt warmer.

I had a ton more energy today because I ate more. Breakfast was some of the veggie casserole I made, plus coffee with milk and Splenda, two of my healthy homemade oatmeal cookies (plus I ate one last night and one in the middle of the night), about a cup of unsweetened applesauce, and a small apple.

We live in a graceless world. I walked up to the Starbucks inside Safeway this morning and this one woman insisted that I had cut in front of her. I don't know if I did or not, but since that one minute was just so important to her I let her go ahead. As I said, a graceless world. The unsaved don't even know what graciousness really is. And I was the one on the tight schedule and working today. She was just picking up items for Thanksgiving dinner with her family. Gee, wish I could have Thanksgiving at home with my family. At the Starbucks I got a tall non-fat, sugar-free Cinnamon Dulce latte, a small bar of dark chocolate, and one petite vanilla scone.

I'm not sure that Starbucks got my latte order right (I wanted two shots), but I was too busy to check every detail. Then the bus didn't come. I had let the first one pass so I could get go up to Starbucks and get coffee, but the next one didn't show up. That made me late getting to the gym because the next bus didn't come for an hour. I wish I would have taken the first bus.

So I had a crappy morning, but things got better once I got to the gym. Like Emo Phillips said, "Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps."

The gym was busy this morning. It was open in the morning, but they were shutting down at 2 pm. When I came in a little before noon there were a ton of people in both and cardio and weight rooms. I had to do my weight training as machines were available. I did some leg work with my arms as I didn't get a leg day this week.

For cardio I did the pedal-type Stairmaster for 30 minutes. Sweat was literally dripping off me. :) I tried to wear my heart rate monitor so I could work hard enough to keep my heart rate up, but the Stairmaster doesn't have a heart rate feature on it! :-p

Brad and I had Thanksgiving dinner here at work. Turkey of course, and veggie casserole with coffee afterwords and homemade oatmeal cookies for dessert. I did eat bad on the way here. I walked to work from the train station. Burger King was open and I tried to assuage my chicken sandwich craving with chicken nuggets. Didn't work. I bought the six pack of cheesy tater tots. They were only so-so, so when I got panhandled outside I gave the woman the remaining three. I also got a crispy chicken sandwich, but with no mayo (dry sandwich). It was what I was craving and hit the spot. At the convenience store I bought a Snickers bar (was craving that, too), and a small bag of Doritos, but I split those with Brad.

So I didn't do as well as I could have food-wise, but things could have been much worse. My weight will majorly rebound tomorrow. :(

A word on my diet for those who don't know:
I am no longer doing a strict low-carb diet. As some of you may know, my calories were going too high so I had to switch to a low-fat diet to keep the calories down. I still watch my carbs. I don't like how the Cream of Wheat runs my carbs up higher than I'd like, but it's the lowest calorie way to get my iron up.

With my fat low and my carbs controlled, the rest of my calories come from protein. As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of protein and feel pretty good on a high protein diet. I try to get about 1g of protein for every pound I weigh. When I don't get the normal amount of protein my body is used to I start craving it.

Technorati tagged: diet, low fat, weight loss, health, exercise, obesity, overweight, fitness

Recipe: Lower-Carb Chocolate Banana Vivannos

I am totally hooked on the chocolate banana Vivannos at Starbucks, so I decided to try my own version at home:

* 1 cup nonfat milk
* 3-4 tablespoons sugar-free Hershey's syrup
* 1 banana
* 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder (I use GNC 100% Whey)
* 1 tray of ice

Put all items in blender and blend until all the ice is pulverized. Makes about two servings.

You can also use unsweetened chocolate almond milk and use one packet of Splenda. Due to the health dangers in soy I do NOT recommend using soy milk.

Technorati tagged: Starbucks, diet, chocolate, low fat, Vivano, recipes, food, Vivanno, recipe

Recipe: Healthy & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

These are not low-carb, but they are lower-carb and low-fat and still taste great. The wheat gluten makes these high in protein and lower in carbs than using wheat flour. :)

Healthy & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

* 3 cups Old Fashioned oatmeal
* 1 ½ cups "vital wheat gluten flour" Check the flour section of the grocery store for "Bob’s Red Mill" brand. May also use 1 cup wheat gluten and a ½ cup whole wheat flour.
* 1 ½ cups Splenda
* 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
* 3 egg whites (or equivalent Egg Beaters)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 1 cup raisins (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Technorati tagged: cookies, diet, oatmeal cookies, low fat, South Beach Diet, recipes, food, dessert, recipe

Week 52, Day 2

Calories eaten yesterday: 1341
Fat: 31g (21%)
Carbs: 106g (32%)
Protein: 146g (44%)
Weight this morning: 134.8 (One week ago: 134.8)
Calories burned in exercise today: 101

Nothing much for exercise today. Ran into San Francisco to get my mail. I walked the 1.5 miles to work from the train and that was it.

I stopped at GNC in the City and bought magnesium aspertate. I need the aspertate and only GNC has it. I also bought SlimQuick drink mix since it does help suppress appetite and I have overtime today (see below).

I stopped at McDonald's on my walk from BART to work for a Diet Coke. I finally figured out why I'm such a diet soda addict - it's a comfort food to me. I was feeling tired and just kinda down. I drank that Diet Coke as I walked and I felt better.

I also stopped at Payless shoes for a new pair of running shoes. I found a pair that was normally $28 on sale for $12! Hopefully they will work for me. I did insist on wide width this time. After my last couple of pairs of regular running shoes it's time to only buy what fits my wide feet.

I have overtime today so I skipped breakfast to save the calories for later. I punched in at 3 pm (my usual time) and won't get off work until sometime between midnight and 12:30. I packed my gym bag for tomorrow and generally tried to do everything last night so that I can get to bed quicker tonight.

Back to the gym for lower body work tomorrow.

I think there's not enough fat in my diet. I already eat very low-fat and then I sometimes take the Alli on top of that. I've been getting sick a lot and I think it might be from lack of fat. I didn't get sick over the summer because the weather was warmer, so hopefully things will improve as spring comes. At any rate, I'm going to try to take Alli a bit less, but still keep it around for high-fat items.

Technorati tagged: diet, low fat, weight loss, health, exercise, obese, fat, overweight, NutriSystem

A Look Back At 2007: Going Low-Fat

Last New Year's Eve I was sick. The toe surgery I had the previous month had taken my immune system down for the count and I got sick three times over the next few months. At least each one was less severe than the previous.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to get to 140 and if you go by official weigh-ins then I made it. I was 139.6 on my last official weigh-in of the year on December 30. My official ending weight for last year taken on December 29 was 144.2.

Nevertheless, I started the year by continuing to gain - all the way up to 152. At 152 I decided to start NutriSystem, binged, weighed in at 154, and started the diet. I quickly got down to the low-140s and stalled out. My body likes to be there, but I want to be in the mid-130s. I signed up February 26. My food came March 2 and I started the diet March 4.

Since I just needed to learn portion and calorie control, I tried to choose lower carb foods, sub vegetables for fruits, and add extra protein. I still practice this to this day. Going low-fat does not mean going high-carb. I prefer a high-protein diet with about 1 gram of protein for every pound I weigh.

I used Bill Me Later (online credit) so I could pay off what I owed over time.

My sister announced in the early part of the year that she was pregnant, but didn't allow me to announce it until she was three months along. The baby, Marina Celina, was born September 10, making me an aunt for the first time.

I ended my counseling sessions in March. They were not helping me at all and were only taking up my time and costing money.

In April I signed up for a personal training special at my gym. They were just half hour sessions which I think I preferred to the hour long sessions I had when I first started at 24 Hour Fitness. Jason was a great trainer and I felt I learned a lot from our sessions. I had to borrow the $99 cost from Mom, but it was worth it. I also asked a lot of questions and got a direction for my weight training. In September I asked him about how to build muscle and he told me how to do "pyramids," which I have been doing since.

May 20 was the Bay To Breakers race. I didn't think I would do as well because I spent this year more focused on weight training and less on cardio. However, the weekly walks Brad and I have done helped more than I knew. I shaved about 5 minutes off last year's time and came in at 1:24:30! I ran the entire race except for the one major hill - about 7 miles of nonstop running! Go me!

I got two of my photos on Flickr into the Schmap Guides, one for Seattle's Spirit of Washington Dinner Train (the photos are on the right, with one credited to me, Victoria Shephard), and the other for Berkeley's Garibaldi's restaurant, where Brad and Lisa and I went out for drinks once (there is just one photo there - mine).

I cancelled NutriSystem in July but continued to get various "Maintenance" orders of just breakfast or dinner or snacks. I officially hit my goal weight in July, but wasn't able to hold it. I would hit it for a week or three and then bounce up, and so on. Very depressing, but at least I did see new lows on the scale this year due to what I learned on NutriSystem. Plus I was able to get the weight I gained while still on Atkins; I was simply eating too much.

I am continuing to eat low-fat (about 30-35g a day), moderate-carb (under 120 net grams a day), and high-protein (about 140g a day). It is a lifestyle change, though I would love to get the carbs down a bit and the fat up just a little. Perhaps if I ever reach goal and stay there...

Conference was early this year so I left the end of July and came back in early August. It was a much needed distraction from normal life. I came home to find both my computer and Direct TV broken. It was God getting my attention and it worked. It took about three days to get my Direct TV back (with a new receiver), and about a week to get my computer back. I began saving for a new computer my having my employer take $35 out of every paycheck and set it aside for me.

I started taking Alli in October to help me lose weight (Web site). It keeps your body from absorbing all the fat in food you eat. I don't know if it's helping with the weight loss, but it does seem to absorb a modicum of fat.

In November I started Project 365 - it's where you take one picture a day for a year and post them to the Project 365 group.

In December my Dad gave me some Christmas money so I was able to buy a new digital camera - a FujiFilm FinePix S700. I love the new camera! It does so much more than my old one!

At the end of December my computer died again. I promised after the incident in August that the next time it died would be the last and I would buy a new one. I gathered up all the money I could, cashing in all but 40 hours of vacation, what little comp time I had, and the money from the $35 a month my employer has been setting aside for me. I managed to collect quite a bit of money. I put the computer on Bill Me Later and paid upfront for what Bill Me Later refused to cover. When the new balance gets posted to that account I will pay off what I can in one lump sum, then pay off the rest over time. I am getting the cheapest MacBook Pro - pretty much what Brad bought earlier this year. It's a laptop and it does everything. :)

Thankfully I got NutriSystem paid off just a few weeks before this, so my balance with them was zero when I put the computer on it. The new computer should arrive in early January. Then I have to get the modem and everything set up the way I want and get the hard drive migrated from the old computer to the new.

I've been on Celexa three years now and it's still working pretty well on my depression. This is definitely the best medication I have been on so far. :)

I'm not making resolutions for 2008 nor evaluating how I did in 2007. I think I can lose weight and get fit without them.

Technorati tagged: atkins, diet, New Year's, low carb, weight loss, low fat, NutriSystem, 2007

The Kimkins controversy

Since this is a low-carb blog I would be remiss without mentioning the current Kimkins controversy. In brief, her unhealthy low-carb, low-fat, extreme low-calorie diet has made people sick, and Kimmer has misrepresented herself - she is in fact a morbidly obese woman.

I never did her diet. At the time she came on the scene I was on Atkins and happy with it. She has no training in the area of nutrition and diet - she is not a doctor, nurse, nutritionist, or dietitian. Thanks, but I'd trust a doctor first and foremost, or at least someone with a modicum of training in some area relating to diet.

There's a ton of links out there. Here's a few to get you started. You should be able to surf around from there and find even more information. Kimkins is the big story in the low-carb community at the moment.

A summary of the controversy from Kimmer's first appearance to now
The private investigator speaks
Jimmy's post - with links to other blog posts by him and his podcast interviews with her

The TV news investigation:
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Technorati tagged: diet, low fat, weight loss, health, low carb, fat, overweight, Kimkins, obese, obesity

More Science and Less Zealotry, Please

This has been winging its way around the blogosphere. Since I have some non-low-carbers who read this blog, I thought I'd repost it. This is copied from Dr. Mary Vernon's blog (direct link to post)

-------------
As always, Dean Ornish and the media put aside science in favor of headlines and self-interest. The following editorial was rejected by NEWSWEEK, TIME, the Journal of the American Medical Association and others. However, Ornish was allowed exclusivity on the playing field. And who pays the price yet again? The American consumer and the millions suffering from obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Dear reader: write to your local media, the national media, phone, email and demand that Dr. Vernon and other experts who follow the trail of science be given a voice.

More Science and Less Zealotry, Please.

The controversy over which diet is best for all has again made headlines with the publication of the Stanford University study in the Journal of the America Medical Association March 7, 2007. Since the results are favorable to the low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, the usual criticism can be expected to follow.

Predictably, Dean Ornish has launched a tirade in which he manipulates the study findings to find fault with the low-carb approach and to deflect criticism away from his ultra low-fat diet which did not perform well in the study. Unfortunately, this is an argument based on dogma and not on science. The science speaks for itself.

As scientists and clinicians, we believe that no one dietary approach is going to be ideal for everyone. There is no doubt that, for some, an ultra-low-fat approach may be appropriate. Unlike Dr. Ornish, we recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to the enormously complex problem of obesity and related conditions. Unfortunately, other authoritative sources like the US dietary guidelines also recommend a single lowered fat high-carbohydrate diet approach and have been doing so over the decades that this epidemic has grown.

Gratuitous attacks on the Atkins diet that imply it involves abandonment of wholesome vegetables and fruit for “bacon and brie” are simply wrong. Even in the most restrictive phase it meets the recommended daily guidelines for vegetables and fruits. As one advances through the phases, low-glycemic fruits, more vegetables, legumes and even whole grains are introduced based on an individual’s metabolic tolerance for these foods. One survey found that people who follow the Atkins plan over the long term eat more vegetables than they did before. Another study found that rather than increase the intake of fat and protein to compensate when carbohydrates were reduced, people simply ate less.

The unfortunate reality of today is that too many Americans are eating potato chips and fries and drinking sugar-sweetened beverages. We support the idea that wholesome foods such as meat, fish, cheese and eggs along with vegetables and low glycemic fruits constitute a healthier diet than chips and fries and sodas.

While this study examined four popular dietary approaches, what is clear is that whatever approach one takes to healthy eating, success will depend on how well you can stick to it. In this case, and in many earlier studies, it is clear that the Atkins diet is the one most people can maintain. On the other hand, the extremely low-fat diet advocated by Dr. Ornish is very difficult to follow. In this study, the subjects who were supposed to reduce their fat intake to his recommended intake of 10% could not reach that target.

Another important aspect of this and earlier studies is the beneficial effect that reducing carbohydrates has on metabolic markers. In his criticism, Dr. Ornish states that the LDL-cholesterol level fell in response to his diet, but does not mention that none of the differences in LDL-C in this study were statistically significant. This is therefore not a scientifically valid criticism. On the other hand, it is widely recognized that elevating the HDL-C, the good cholesterol, is an important factor in reducing cardiovascular risk. In this study there was a highly significant 10% rise in HDL-C in the Atkins group but no such change among those who followed the very high-carbohydrate Ornish diet.

In the same vein, the Atkins group demonstrated a significant (both statistically and clinically) greater reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure than the other three diets. A difference in mean arterial pressure of 5 mm Hg is about the response we would expect to see with a first-line pharmaceutical in the clinical setting. Any objective observer would acknowledge this as a major beneficial effect of the Atkins diet.

Dr. Ornish suggests that the positive findings of research such as this that supports the Atkins diet will cause problems, and that "many people may go on a diet that harms them based on inaccurate information." This is a wildly irresponsible statement, given the consistency with which a reduction in important metabolic and cardiovascular risks are achieved by lowering carbohydrate consumption. It is simply preposterous to suggest that an approach that leads to significant risk factor reduction is unhealthy.

The seriousness of the accelerating epidemic compels us to think outside the box to find new solutions where the status quo has failed. The only approach that will be successful is one that people can actually follow. This study adds to the mounting evidence that the Atkins diet is a healthy choice which should be supported as a viable way to lose weight and improve metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors.

The Real Atkins Lifestyle

Before there was research on the Atkins diet it was commonly criticized in the belief that it would elevate cholesterol, ruin one’s kidneys and bones and cause heart disease. None of this has been borne out by the research.

What is clear from this JAMA study, and others like it, is that cardiovascular risk factors actually improve when controlling carbs. The scientific studies of this approach have shown numerous times that a pattern of rising HDL-C and falling triglycerides is the hallmark of carb restriction and that this benefit occurs even in the absence of weight loss.

Research also shows that rising HDL-C (good cholesterol) and falling triglycerides is correlated with larger LDL-C particles which are less likely to cause heart disease. Even the much touted statin drugs do not deliver this kind of improvement in LDL-C particle size. On the other hand, the research shows that eating a high-carb diet and cutting fat intake results in small dense LDL-C particles that are linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Importance of Fat

There are other problems associated with extremely low fat diets, as well. Cutting fat intake can lead to deficiencies in fat soluble vitamins, depletion of essential fats such as EPA and DHA, and decreases in the absorption of nutrients. Studies also show that people with cholesterol levels that are too low become prone to depression, suicide and cancer and have higher overall death rates than those who have higher cholesterol levels.

When all is said and done, it behooves us to remember that the diet debate is not a horse race where there is only one winner. We know there is a great variability in metabolic and genetic factors that will determine what dietary approach is best for each individual person. Although, in this and many other studies the Atkins diet worked better for more people, it is also evident that other dietary approaches will work for some people as well. The most important thing we have learned from dietary research is that people need to find the approach that will deliver healthy outcomes for them individually. And, just as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of a diet's effectiveness is whether it can sustain those benefits over the long haul. Hopefully, the weight of the evidence will now allow the Atkins diet to be recognized and supported as a legitimate option for people who want to improve their health through better nutrition.

On a final note, Dr. Ornish’s repugnant attempt to undermine Dr. Atkins’ credibility by perpetuating the myth that he had heart disease is unconscionable. It is unbecoming of any honorable person to make ad hominem attacks on those who are departed. Enough is enough. Dr. Atkins died of a head injury. He is no longer with us, but the line of scientific inquiry that he started continues to vindicate his dietary approach. And no amount of unfounded criticism will alter the fact that this study, and the 60 others before it, clearly demonstrate that what Dr. Atkins had been telling us all along was right.

* Jacqueline A. Eberstein, R.N. Co-author, Atkins Diabetes Revolution, President, Controlled Carbohydrate Nutrition
* Stephen D. Phinney, M.D. Ph.D Emeritus Professor, Department of Medicine, UC Davis, Elk Grove, Cal
* Mary C. Vernon, M.D., CMD, Co-author, Atkins Diabetes Revolution, President, American Society of Bariatric Physicians
* Eric C. Westman, M.D. M.H.S, Associate Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center
* Jay Wortman, M.D, Department of Health Care & Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia

Technorati tagged: diet, Atkins diet, weight loss, health, dieting, Ornish, obese, overweight, nutrition, Atkins

Week 4, Day 3

Calories eaten yesterday: 1456
Fat: 27g (17%)
Carbs: 137g (39%)
Protein: 115g (33%)

Weight this morning: 143.8
Calories burned in exercise today: 92

The scale is slowly creeping down, but it's depressing. This is ground I have covered before. I am so impatient to lose this weight and not only get back to where I was before I gained the 15 back, but to see that magic 137 on the scale. I came close to that weight, but carbing up for the glucose tolerance test was my undoing. (I gained 10 pounds in 5 days and it didn't come off.)

At any rate, I hope I can take some lessons from NutriSystem back to Atkins with me. Mostly I know I just eat too much. I know I can control my weight if I just eat less, even though that means being hungry all the time.

Well, they are at it again on the Nutrisystem board. This time they are devoting a whole thread (free sign-up required) to bashing Atkins. [rolls eyes] There were a couple reasoned responses from the usual level-headed person, but most people just bashed it - the fat is unhealthy, they did it and lost and gained back more - yadda yadda. Good grief! And of course the latest study proving Atkins is better (how the thread started) is ignored. There is none so blind as those who will not see...

If the thread stays up, I assume I will soon be attacked. We'll see.

Ok, rant over.

Speaking of Atkins and low-fat, I've noticed an increase in my anxiety levels the past couple weeks. I wonder if the fat in Atkins wasn't helping with that and now without that I'm experiencing more. The Celexa is certainly covering most of it, but there is definitely more than I had before starting NutriSystem. I'm also noticing an increase in acne. I had three pimples when I started. They have not gone away and are trying to bring friends. I know for a fact that my acne is directly tied to sugar. Whether it's tied to all carbs in general or sugar only I don't know, but NS is higher in sugar (and much higher in carbs) than Atkins, even though I'm subbing some of the carbs for protein.

More NutriSystem food reviews:
New Orleans Style Rice with Chicken Breast lunch - Spicy. Smelled bad so I added a slice of fat-free cheese and a tablespoon of salsa. After that it tasted okay so I will reorder it. The linked photo is before the additions.

Peanut Butter Cookie dessert - A little dry and crumbly. Otherwise it tasted okay. I think I will order more puddings and fewer cookies than I was planning.

Vegetable Fajita dinner - Pretty tasty, but a bit messy and high in calories. It's 240 calories and you have to add your own tortilla. One large tortilla is 80 extra calories; two small ones are even more. I'll put just one on my reorder.

Technorati tagged: diet, low fat, weight loss, health, fitness, exercise, obese, overweight, NutriSystem, Atkins
Photo courtesy of Mr. Breakfast.

Week 3, Day 5

Calories eaten yesterday: 1533
Fat: 36g (22%)
Carbs: 97g (26%)
Protein: 152g (41%)

Weight this morning: 143.4
Calories burned in exercise today: 252

Before I talk about today, I need to respond to the person who said I was stressing my liver with wine when I said I don't like to stress my pancreas with carbs. The answer: Yes, I am. This isn't a perfect world and you have to pick your poison. If carbs are your poison, fine. Mine is wine. Just about everything these days stresses our bodies and organs in ways they weren't meant to be stressed - pollution in the air, preservatives in food, pesticides on our produce.

If this were a perfect world I would have the money to buy grass fed beef and organic vegetables, as well as the time and inclination to prepare wonderful tasty dinners instead of eating NutriSystem meals and frozen entrees full of preservatives. In a perfect world I would have no vices and eat nothing but a healthy low-carb diet with only the highest quality, organic, locally-grown products, and drink nothing but filtered water and green tea. Additionally, I'd be thoroughly happy eating this way.

But this isn't a perfect world. A quality life is as important to me as quantity, so I pick my vices carefully and try to eat healthy. I prefer to eat less carbs and let my liver finely balance my blood sugar rather than using the blunt instrument control of the pancreas. But hey, if the blunt instrument method works for you, have at it. At least sweet fruits aren't as bad as sugar and will give you a few vitamins. Just don't criticise me for my choice to eat only vegetables and non-sweet fruits.

There are worse vices than fruits, and there are worse vices than wine. They both have some benefits that help to offset their bad side. Can we agree on that?

Ok, onward and upward.

Calories will be a bit higher today because 1) I went to the gym and had my 290 calorie protein shake after, and 2) I'll be up late doing laundry so I have a little extra wine and sometimes some extra sugar free Jello. I'll still eat less than I burn, at least going by FitDay. I have tweaked my activity level there to read "Sedentary (bed-bound)" since it said I was burning more than I was when I set my activity level for "Seated work," which is what I really do. I try to eat less every day than my "Sedentary" status plus whatever exercise I do. More correctly, I try to eat less than my "Sedentary" status period.

Yes, I did make it to the gym today for a total of three times this week. Did one hour of weights and 30 minutes of cardio on the exercise bike. I was able to put it on level 6 and sustain that. Yay! I put my pedometer in my sock so it would count "steps." :)

I also learned a new move today, the "Arnold Press." It was most likely invented by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (governor of this great state). I saw it in the woman's muscle mag I read and decided to try it.

One of the muscle bound guys I see there all the time saw me doing it not quite perfectly and showed me the correct form. I love it when the guys at the gym pay attention to me! :)

This low-fat diet seems to be having its first deleterious effect - hangnails. I used to get them occasionally, but I have had a lot over the last week or so. Now it could be due to my use of Purell, but I don't think I use it enough to dry out my hand. I use the Purell maybe a couple times a day because I can't afford to get sick again. So I really think this sudden rash of hangnails is due to going from a diet with a healthy amount of fat to one lacking in fat. Geez. When will people get over their fat phobia?

It looks like I will just have to deal with this for the duration of the diet.

I also seem to be getting more pimples - a sign of eating too much sugar. I'll have to see if it keeps getting worse, or if this is just one of those things I get sometimes.

Got my reimbursement from my employer today for their portion of my dental bills. I hope this combined with the money from Dad will be enough to cover the rent.

Technorati tagged: diet, low fat, weight loss, health, fitness, exercise, obese, overweight, NutriSystem

What if it's all been a big, fat lie?

What if Atkins were - as I believe - right all along? What if carbohydrates and high insulin levels make us fat? What if fat really is harmless, even healthful? Don't we owe it to ourselves to eat the most healthy, nutrient dense diet we can? I propose that diet is not a low-fat diet, but a low-carb diet. Here's an article from an investigative reporter that challenges convention "wisdom."

If the members of the American medical establishment were to have a collective find-yourself-standing-naked-in-Times-Square-type nightmare, this might be it. They spend 30 years ridiculing Robert Atkins, author of the phenomenally-best-selling "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution" and "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution," accusing the Manhattan doctor of quackery and fraud, only to discover that the unrepentant Atkins was right all along. Or maybe it's this: they find that their very own dietary recommendations -- eat less fat and more carbohydrates -- are the cause of the rampaging epidemic of obesity in America. Or, just possibly this: they find out both of the above are true.

When Atkins first published his "Diet Revolution" in 1972, Americans were just coming to terms with the proposition that fat -- particularly the saturated fat of meat and dairy products -- was the primary nutritional evil in the American diet. Atkins managed to sell millions of copies of a book promising that we would lose weight eating steak, eggs and butter to our heart's desire, because it was the carbohydrates, the pasta, rice, bagels and sugar, that caused obesity and even heart disease. Fat, he said, was harmless.

Full article here. It is well worth the read - unless you are afraid.

Technorati tagged: high carb, diet, Gary Taubes, low carb, Taubes, obesity, cholesterol, statins, fat, heart disease, low fat

Repost of my post on gallstones and low-fat diets

NutriSystem is very low-fat and I don't believe a low-fat diet is healthy in the long run. For example, it is a major cause of gallstones. The bile isn't used, so it just sits around in the gallbladder and forms stones:

The liver makes bile continuously and stores it in the gall bladder until such time as it is needed. However, if a low-fat diet is eaten, that bile remains in the gall bladder. Gallstones are formed when the gall bladder is not emptied on a regular basis. In people who continually resort to low-fat diets, bile is stored for long periods in the gall bladder – and it stagnates. In time – and it is really quite a short time – a 'sludge' begins to form. This then coagulates to form small stones which then become bigger.

To avoid this on NutriSystem I will eat more fat on Saturday - probably peanuts on the snack table at church since that is one of my favorite things.

Sparky's Girl made this comment on my earlier post. I feel it should be seen by more people, so I'm posting it here:

I'm not sure how I missed this post, but it's a great one. I am one of those people who unknowingly killed my own gallbladder. I ate fat free everything for several years. While in the last couple of months of my first pregnancy I started having these uncomfortable pains behind my ribs. I attributed it to the baby's feet (or hands, elbows.. whatever) and tried to get by. After my son was born the pain worsened. I would literally lie on the floor holding my chest and cry. I frequently felt I would throw up. 3 months later I was diagnosed with gallstones - approx. 40 of the little buggers. I had to have emergency surgery to remove not only the stones, but my gallbladder as well. It was beyond repair. To think I could have prevented it all had I known about low-carb 11 years ago.

What I really find interesting is my doctor told me afterwards, off the record, that he believed the gallbladder was meant to be used, and when it's not, it quits working. He believed low-fat diets were the cause.

The moral of the story: Fat is healthy and good for you. :)

[Editing this post to add something I stumbled across:
But the diet-gallbladder link, if indeed there is one, is far from clear. Consider a class action suit being filed against a popular dietary plan. "Last spring, according to newspaper reports, 19 people filed suit against NutriSystem for developing gallbladder disease after the diet," says Carol Heppe, a consumer safety officer at the Food and Drug Administration. But would they have become ill anyway? There is no ready answer.

From fda.gov.]

[Second edit: Don't miss this view from a doctor on the topic of gallstones.]

Technorati tagged: low fat, diet, gallstones, health, obese, overweight, NutriSystem

Saturday, and gallstones & a low-fat diet

Calories eaten Friday: 1631
Fat: 35g (20%)
Carbs: 41g (10%)
Protein: 107g (26%)

Calories burned in exercise Saturday: 280
Calories burned in exercise today: 275

Weight Sunday morning (starting weight for NutriSystem): 154

Ok, the last post took you through Friday night. Now on to Saturday. I had a frozen South Beach pizza for breakfast. Pretty good. Then I went to church. During the break I was thirsty so I went over to the 7-11 across the parking lot for a diet soda. I spotted the donuts while I was there, and knowing I would be starting NutriSystem today and won't be having another one for a long time, I bought one and ate it. Yummy. I ate way too much of the sweet and salty mix at church - M&M's, raisins, peanuts, almonds, and a few cashews. I also ate pretty horribly during lunch - mostly high carb AND high fat things, but I did have some of the cauliflower potatoes I made, and some of Jane's salad.

At home I had a small glass of wine and separated the NutriSystem food I can eat into four boxes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack/dessert.

Then Brad came over and we walked around the lake twice (roughly 6 miles). I'm getting bored walking the lake, and with Daylight Saving starting next week, Brad hopes to soon take me out to Lafayette Reservoir to walk. It closes at dusk and has no lighting, and with Brad not getting off work until 3 and the long drive out there, we had to wait until the time change to give us an extra hour of light. So...very soon!

After our walk we went to Quinn's Lighthouse for dinner and I was a very bad girl. :) I got the "Arnold Burger" with cheese and bacon. The Arnold Burger is a huge 20 oz. burger on half of a gigantic sourdough roll. I got fries on the side and asked for mayonnaise to dip them in. They bought me a fairly large amount of mayo, which I thought would be way to much, but - sad to say - I ate it all. I dipped my fries in it and spread it on my burger. (I've never been a huge fan of ketchup.)

I also had dry white wine, a pina colada (I haven't had a real one in over a year and a half), and an Irish coffee. I took some pictures with my cell phone, but they came out really bad. I'll clean them up as best I can and post them at some point.

At home Brad and I went through the box of stuff I can't eat and tallied it up. He said he might buy it from his next paycheck. We'll see. If worse comes to worse I'll eat it. As long as I can keep carbs under 120g a day I should be okay. 120g is the amount of glucose the body needs each day. On a low-carb diet the body makes glucose from ingested protein (gluconeogenesis), so anything over 120g a day and you are doing nothing but burning carbs all day. Dr. Michael Eades recommend less than 100g a day, which is a good goal for me to shoot for.

Additionally, NutriSystem is very low-fat and I don't believe a low-fat diet is healthy in the long run. For example, it is a major cause of gallstones. The bile isn't used, so it just sits around in the gallbladder and forms stones:

The liver makes bile continuously and stores it in the gall bladder until such time as it is needed. However, if a low-fat diet is eaten, that bile remains in the gall bladder. Gallstones are formed when the gall bladder is not emptied on a regular basis. In people who continually resort to low-fat diets, bile is stored for long periods in the gall bladder – and it stagnates. In time – and it is really quite a short time – a 'sludge' begins to form. This then coagulates to form small stones which then become bigger.

To avoid this on NutriSystem I will eat more fat on Saturday - probably peanuts on the snack table at church since that is one of my favorite things.

I'll put Sunday in a new post since this is so long already.

Technorati tagged: atkins, diet, atkins diet, low carb, weight loss, health, fitness, exercise, obese, overweight, NutriSystem

Update...finally

Well, that last post sure caused a firestorm! Carron even copied one of her responses to her new blog. Carron, don't worry. I'm not going to delete your comment. I delete only under extraordinary circumstances, and sorry, but you are not extraordinary. You are just another vegetarian (or maybe vegan?), all emotion and no science. Hey, Jimmy Moore is looking for Biblical reasons on his blog why the Atkins diet is sinful. Why don't you drop over there are tell him?

Anyway, let's see....my life of late. I came down with a cold and was out of work on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm supposed to work today, but decided to take it off. I'll go back in tomorrow. I also have an hour and a half overtime tomorrow and Tuesday because Lisa has to work her other job until midnight so I need to stay until about 12:30 a.m. Lisa will drive me home so no big deal. I should be able to get to bed at about my regular time.

Thursday I stayed home and did nothing. Wednesday and Thursday I pigged out on way too much food, so Friday I had nothing but a small non-fat sugar-free Cinnamon Dulce latte, two cans of chicken broth, and green tea. I also had a chiropractor's appointment with massage. I took the bus there and then Brad drove me home.

I decided I need to cut calories to keep my weight gain from getting even more out of control, so I gave Brad a bunch of high fat stuff I had around the house - a huge bowl of 10% ground beef, a bag of pork rinds, some whipping cream, and my cauliflower "potato" dish because it was made with low-fat products instead of non-fat. Later I found some avacados and gave those to him Saturday. In trade I want him to buy me some bottles of Merlot and White Merlot, which I am running low on. The easiest way for me to cut calories is to cut fat, so I'm going to buy non-fat products from now on except for cottage cheese - there's two varieties of low-fat and one has extra calcium added, something I need.

Saturday I skipped church and slept a lot, but Brad and I showed up later at Pastor Brent's house to see One Night with the King, a movie about Queen Esther. My biggest complaint is they should have followed the Bible more closely. There was ice cream served but I didn't have any. I had a sugar-free pudding cup I brought with me, way too much popcorn, and tons of Diet Coke.

Today I plan to stay home. Tomorrow before work I have to run into the City for my bimonthly mail run. I will stop at Old Navy and buy a new pair of size 8 jeans to replace the pair I ripped. I will not buy the next size up because I will get back to size 8 again!

I'm still looking into NutriSystem. I've made a couple of calls to them to ask questions. If I go with it I will have to go with the diabetic program - it has less sugar, which can only be good, especially when it comes to the free meals they choose for you; the lower the sugar the better. Other than that I figure I can sub in lean protein any time I'm supposed to supply my own bread. Time to stock up on tuna! The cats will love that because they get the tuna water I drain off. NutriSystem is woefully low in protein, and I need to keep it high so I can work on building muscle. Their idea of carbohydrate ratios is about 55%, and only about 80g protein. 80g is way to low for someone like me, and 55% carbohydrate will only make me miserable. So yeah, if I do this I'll have to tweak the program a little.

I wanted to add one more thought. This occurred to me Ash Wednesday, but I haven't had a chance to write it down. Ash Wednesday is, of course, the beginning of the six week period of Lent leading up to Easter. When the ashes are placed on your forehead it is with the following words, "For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." It is a reminder of our mortality, that someday we will be just as the dust now placed on us. And the thought that occurred to me is how ultimately useless weight loss and health and fitness is. Someday all the work I put into it won't matter at all. My body - both fat and lean tissue - will decompose to nothingness.

That's not to say that none of this is important. In the short term of life, here and now, it is important. But in the eternal view of things it's not. I'd just like to put off the eternal a little longer by taking care of myself, and feel better about myself now by getting off the weight.

Technorati tagged: atkins, diet, atkins diet, low carb, weight loss, health, fitness, exercise, obese, overweight, fat

The Soft Science of Dietary Fat

How much hard, scientific evidence is behind the "Fat is bad for you" message that America has heard for the last 30 years? The answer might surprize you.

The Soft Science of Dietary Fat
by Gary Taubes

During the past 30 years, the concept of eating healthy in America has become synonymous with avoiding dietary fat. The creation and marketing of reduced-fat food products has become big business; over 15,000 have appeared on supermarket shelves. Indeed, an entire research industry has arisen to create palatable nonfat fat substitutes, and the food industry now spends billions of dollars yearly selling the less-fat-is-good-health message. The government weighs in as well, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) booklet on dietary guidelines, published every 5 years, and its ubiquitous Food Guide Pyramid, which recommends that fats and oils be eaten "sparingly." The low-fat gospel spreads farther by a kind of societal osmosis, continuously reinforced by physicians, nutritionists, journalists, health organizations, and consumer advocacy groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which refers to fat as this "greasy killer." "In America, we no longer fear God or the communists, but we fear fat," says David Kritchevsky of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, who in 1958 wrote the first textbook on cholesterol.

Full article here.

Technorati tagged: high carb, diet, Gary Taubes, low carb, Taubes, obesity, cholesterol, statins, fat, heart disease, low fat

Book review: Dr. Dan's Super Weight Loss Plan

So this author's publicist sees my reviews at Amazon.com. I get an e-mail saying she'll give me a free copy of the book if I promise to write a review on Amazon. I figure, okay, no problem. I like reading diet books and if I get a free one just for writing a review after, cool.

So I say yes and the book arrives and I'm flipping through it and I am not impressed with some of the claims the book makes.

First, the co-author claims that women can "bulk up" if they use high weights at low reps (pg. 12). Um...no...not unless they are taking testosterone or steroids. I've used high weight and low reps and only have a little muscle tone to show. Certainly no one would call me bulky!

Dr. Dan writes about BMI, body fat, and lean mass (pgs. 35-43). All good stuff and worthy of discussion. Thumbs up. Too many people focus on BMI when body fat percentage is an important part of the equation.

He then spends a great deal of time on weight lifting exercises. Nothing wrong with that, and if you want to get into weight training, the book is worth the price just for that. He believes in a mixture of high reps with low weight and low reps with high weight. When you can do 15 reps at a given weight, that's your start weight. Then add a bit of weight for each additional set.

The exercises have lots of drawings to show how to do them, and some of them can be done at home with minimal equipment. Others require a gym. He spends very little space on aerobic exercise, so this isn't a good book if that is your primary interest.

This book is less about weight loss and more about strength training and getting fit, but I don't suppose titling it "Dr. Dan's Super Fitness Plan" would sell as many books. If weight training and fitness are your goal, this is a good book. But for weight loss I feel there are better books. In fact, if you want to lose weight, get this book for the weight training, find another on aerobics, and another on nutrition. While Dr. Dan has a bunch of nutrition information, it's not much different from The Zone diet (Dr. Barry Sears). If you choose to eat as Dr. Dan outlines, you'd be better off with The Zone book, though both plans have way too many carbohydrates for my taste. Carbohydrates aren't necessary for life (fat and protein are) so I try to keep them low. Why make what isn't necessary the basis of a diet? I'd rather eat what my body needs, and what will prevent me from getting diabetes in the future.

My problem with Dr. Dan's nutrition information is he feels a need to take a swipe at low-carb diets.

You know, I have this theory: if you can't tout your diet program without knocking down another to make yourself look better, your diet probably isn't worth my time. I stumbled across this in the chapter on nutrition:

I get patients and clients on an almost daily basis who have "been on Atkins" for months or years. Frankly, I have yet to see one that was fit and in good condition; they are mostly plump, bloated [um...carbs cause bloating] and out of shape [and this is the fault of the diet...how?]. Many have lost weight with Atkins, gained it back, lost it again, and then gained back even more. This is the inevitable consequence of loss of lean muscle mass and lowered metabolic rate. If you really enjoy eating very low carbohydrates for prolonged periods, you feel healthy, have energy, reach your ideal body weight and stay there, and are lean and fit [he thinks these are impossible], then I have no objection to Atkins or any of the other carbohydrate-restricted plans. However [you knew that was coming didn't you?], it is interesting to note that the finest athletes do not eat that way. Enough said. (pg. 162).

It seems this book was written when Atkins was very popular and Dr. Dan does his best to dissuade people from that approach. I'm knocking off one star from my review just for the section quoted above. It seems it was written at the height of the low-carb craze, but seriously, to ask a low-carber (me!) to review a book that bashes low-carb probably wasn't the best idea!

He goes after low-carb again a little later: It is impossible to take weight off and keep it off if you are not able to eat your favorite foods. Um...my favorite foods were all refined carbs, not allowed even on your plan, Dr. Dan. What do you suggest I do?

He continues, You have to have a diet that you can stay on now and forever and enjoy. So avoid those extreme diets that deny you whole categories of food. Oh, gee. Here we go again. Low-carb is NOT no-carb, Dr. Dan. Low-carb allows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and doesn't deny any "whole category of food," so it is a lifetime plan, for me and many other people. How can I believe anything he says when he doesn't bother to do the slightest bit of research on what low-carb is, yet writes about it authoritatively? What else might he have said that is also wrong?

But he's still not done. Experience has shown that very few people can stay with a dietary approach that denies them the foods they enjoy and are used to. But most overweight people are "used to" foods that made them overweight. So even on your plan they have to give up the foods they are "used to."

I have a radical idea - instead of trying to let overweight people eat the foods "they enjoy and are used to," how about those of us who are overweight get "used to" a new, healthy way of eating and liking foods that are good for us? It's amazing how good vegetables can taste once you are "used to" eating them. Once this occurs, it's easy to stick to any diet.

Dr. Dan claims his diet is not low-fat, and yet in his example of a 200 pound person he expects them to only eat 67g of fat a day. That's pretty much low-fat in my opinion, and your food won't taste very good limiting yourself to that amount.

Kudos for him on the amount of protein recommended - he says to shoot for 1g of protein per pound of body weight. While this might seem extreme to some people, it is safe and necessary to build muscle (again, he focuses on weight training, and protein is essential for this).

Kudos to him for recommending supplements. I think everyone should take a multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement no matter what kind of diet you eat - low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie. It is hard to get enough vitamins from the food we eat today because the soil is depleted, we are less active than our paleolithic ancestors, and we eat more carbohydrates than they ("enriched" foods are the worst because they have everything good taken out and then a few things put back in).

Because we need less food and the food we eat isn't the high quality our ancestors ate, supplements are a good idea for everyone today.

Again, if you are looking for a good, basic fitness program, then the exercises in this book will help you, and the carbohydrates allotment won't be extreme because you'll be working it off. But if you are looking to lose weight and keep it off there are better books.

Why low-fat diets don't work

Quite simply, they don't work because

1) You feel deprived; fat tastes good and our bodies crave it because it is necessary to life.

2) You feel hungry. Protein and fat satiate - they keep you full longer than carbohydrates ever could, no matter how "complex" they may be. Any diet that restricts fat is likely going to make up those calories with carbs, which leave you with swinging blood sugars and constant hunger.

3) Low-fat diets don't address the carb addiction most people have, and therefore don't take away the cravings. Yes, carbohydrates are addictive. Grains trigger the pleasure center in the brain the same way drugs do.

Here's what prompted my post, an example I came across on the blog of a low-fat dieter. (All spelling mistakes are in the original.)

The picture of the fried chicken sandwich on the billboard screamed, "Look at me, FB...I'm DELICIOUS!!! come on...you want me...you KNOW you want me..."
"Oooh" said my Eyes. "You DO look delicious. I didn't have much to eat for breakfast today, so..."

"WAIT!!" yelled my Brain, "You are on a diet!!!!! you'll be sorry if you eat it - keep looking at the road! isn't that a cute little baby over there in the carriage?"

By this time I had passed the humungous picture tempting me and things began to quiet down when my Mouth chimed in with, "I'm beginning to salivate. I want to feel that juicy, crunchy chicken tantilizing my tongue and I want to feel it NOW, do you hear me, Ears?"

"NO!!!" said my Brain, "Don't listen to Mouth!!!!" Aren't you happy that you lost the weight that you did?! you may gain if you have it!!! You're doing better these days!!!! Don't you WANT to be thin?!!!!!"

"Oh God, I want that sandwich," said my unrelenting Mouth that was salivating even more than before.

At the red light my Eyes gazed down at my Stomach and said, "Your clothes will get tighter and you'll feel depressed if you give in."

"I don't CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!" growled my Stomach, and the light then turned to green. "Neither do I," said my Eyes as if this whole thing weren't their fault in the first place.

I began to steer the car in the direction of the restaurant, much to the immense relief of Touch and Taste as they cheered the others on.

See what I mean? Who wants to live with cravings like that?

Technorati tagged: atkins, diet, atkins diet, low carb, weight loss, obesity, obese, overweight, fat, exercise, fitness, Weight Watchers, low fat

Easy Recipes

Here you will find links to my favorite recipes posted here, collected to make them easy to find. Click on the "Recipe Box" link on the left to return to this post at any time.

Many of these recipes can be modified to be made lower fat by using non-fat cream cheese and cheddar cheese. I cannot vouch for their taste as I have only tried one recipe this way. I personally use (and recommend) low-fat cheese and cream cheese. Non-fat sour cream tastes okay though.

Low-Carb Recipes
Easy Flax Seed Bread (by the slice)
Easy Vegetable Casserole
Easy Faux Mashed "Potatoes"
Easy Eggplant Lasagna
Easy Low-Carb Frozen Dessert
Easy Low-Carb, Low-Fat Chocolate Cheesecake
Low-Carb Holiday Eggnog - by the serving (traditional and easy versions)

Not Low-Carb but Still Healthy
Easy Homemade Starbucks Chocolate Banana Vivanno
Healthy & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Technorati tagged: atkins, diet, atkins diet, low carb, South Beach Diet, recipes, food, lasagna, eggplant, cheesecake, chocolate, potatoes, casserole, egg nog, cauliflower, cookies

Weight Loss blogs (non low-carb)

Weight Loss blogs (non low-carb)

Sorry, no current blogs.

Technorati tagged: low fat, diet, Weight Watchers, weight loss, obesity, obese, overweight, fat, exercise, fitness, high carb, blogs, Nutrisystem

More anti-low-carb nonsense

From a MySpace.com forum on health.

Dangers of a Low Carb Diet
By: Greg Landry

Low carb (carbohydrate), high protein diets are the latest dieting craze. However, before you jump on the band wagon, you may want to consider a few things:

1. Low carb (ketogenic) diets deplete the healthy glycogen (the storage form of glucose) stores in your muscles and liver. When you deplete glycogen stores, you also dehydrate, often causing the scale to drop significantly in the first week or two of the diet. This is usually interpreted as fat loss when it's actually mostly from dehydration and muscle loss. By the way, this is one of the reasons that low carb diets are so popular at the moment - there is a quick initial, but deceptive drop in scale weight.

Muscle loss? LOL! I've gone from 37.8% body fat to 24%. I've actually gained muscle and can lift much heavier weights than before.

And I've lost 60 pounds. Is that all water?

2. Depletion of muscle glycogen causes you to fatigue easily, and makes exercise and movement uncomfortable. Research indicates that muscle fatigue increases in almost direct proportion to the rate of depletion of muscle glycogen. Bottom line is that you don't feel energetic and you exercise and move less (often without realizing it) which is not good for caloric expenditure and basal metabolic rate (metabolism).

You'll have to tell the trainer I fatigue easily because he told me I was overtraining and needed to CUT BACK on the cardio I was doing. I have tons of energy and feel great!

3. Depletion of muscle glycogen leads to muscle atrophy (loss of muscle). This happens because muscle glycogen (broken down to glucose) is the fuel of choice for the muscle during movement. There is always a fuel mix, but without muscle glycogen, the muscle fibers that contract, even at rest to maintain muscle tone, contract less when glycogen is not immediately available in the muscle. Depletion of muscle glycogen also causes you to exercise and move less than normal which leads to muscle loss and the inability to maintain adequate muscle tone.

Where does he get this stuff? I am much more toned than before. In fact, a couple people at work have commented how toned I look. What are muscles made of after all? Protein, right? So a high-protein diet PRESERVES muscle mass.

Also, in the absence of adequate carbohydrate for fuel, the body initially uses protein (muscle) and fat. the (sic) initial phase of muscle depletion is rapid, caused by the use of easily accessed muscle protein for direct metabolism or for conversion to glucose (gluconeogenesis) for fuel. Eating excess protein does not prevent this because there is a caloric deficit.

With enough dietary protein, your body does not need to use its muscles for protein. A caloric deficit does NOT equal a protein deficit. There are other sources of fuel for the body besides protein.

When insulin levels are chronically too low as they may be in very low carb diets, catabolism (breakdown) of muscle protein increases, and protein synthesis stops.

My insulin levels are fine and my doctor is not concerned. As I said, in the presence of dietary protein (as on a high-protein diet), your body will not go after its own muscle. Only in cases of starvation (with no dietary protein) does the body go after its own muscle.

4. Loss of muscle causes a decrease in your basal metabolic rate (metabolism). Metabolism happens in the muscle. Less muscle and muscle tone means a slower metabolism which means fewer calories burned 24 hours-a-day.

Metabolic rate goes down on all diets because you're smaller. In take fewer calories to maintain 145 pounds of body weight than 206 pounds. And as I said, I've GAINED muscle.

5. Your muscles and skin lack tone and are saggy. Saggy muscles don't look good, cause saggy skin, and cause you to lose a healthy, vibrant look (even if you've also lost fat).

I have saggy skin (only on my tummy) because I've lost 60 pounds. Lack of skin tone...HA. My acne went away so my skin looks better than ever before.

6. Some proponents of low carb diets recommend avoiding carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes, carrots, etc. because of they are high on the glycemic index - causing a sharp rise in insulin. Certain carbohydrates have always been, and will always be the bad guys: candy, cookies, baked goods with added sugar, sugared drinks, processed / refined white breads, pastas, and rice, and any foods with added sugar. These are not good for health or weight loss. However, carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grain breads and pastas, and brown rice are good for health and weight loss. Just like with proteins and fats, these carbohydrates should be eaten in moderation. Large volumes of any proteins, fats or carbohydrates are not conducive to weight loss and health.

I eat the way God designed us to eat - the way the Paleolithic people ate. They didn't have bread and grains. They had vegetables, berries, nuts, some fruit, and lots and lots of meat.

7. Much of the weight loss on a low carb, high protein diet, especially in the first few weeks, is actually because of dehydration and muscle loss.

More like excess water and fat. I never realized how bloated I was before. Yike!

8. The percentage of people that re-gain the weight they've lost with most methods of weight loss is high, but it's even higher with low carb, high protein diets. This is primarily due to three factors:

Where's the evidence for this? The rate for regain on all diets is about the same. People don't want to change their lifestyle; they want a quick fix.

A. You have lost muscle. With that comes a slower metabolism which means fewer calories are burned 24 hours-a-day. A loss of muscle during the process of losing weight is almost a guarantee for re-gaining the lost weight, and more.

This person REALLY needs to get their facts straight because this is untrue.

B. You re-gain the healthy fluid lost because of glycogen depletion.

It's not healthy fluid; it's bloating. And you don't regain it if low-carb is a lifestyle.

C. It's difficult to maintain that type of diet long-term.

2.5 years and counting for me. Why would I stop? There's so much delicious food to eat!

D. You have not made a change to a long-term healthy lifestyle.

I have. The way I used to eat is quite simply, crap, and I will never go back. I feel better. Going back means losing all those health benefits.

9. Eating too much fat is just not healthy. I know you've heard of people whose blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides have decreased while on a low carb, high protein diet. This often happens with weight loss, but it doesn't continue when you're on a diet high in fat. There are literally reams of research over decades that clearly indicates that an increase in consumption of animal products and/or saturated fat leads to increased incidence of heart disease, strokes, gall stones, kidney stones, arthritic symptoms, certain cancers, etc. For example, in comparing countries with varying levels of meat consumption, there is a direct relationship between the volume of meat consumption in a country and the incidence of digestive cancers (stomach, intestines, rectal, etc.).

My cholesterol is fine. I have it tested every summer. Three tests so far and still great results.

And that stuff about kindey stones and everything. I'd like to see PROOF because it isn't true.

Fat is certainly necessary, and desirable in your diet, but they should be mostly healthy fats and in moderation. Manufactured / synthetic "low fat" foods with lots of added sugar are not the answer. Neither are manufactured / synthetic "low carb" foods with artificial sweeteners or added fat. By the way, use of artificial sweeteners has never been shown to aid in weight loss and they may pose health problems. According to Dr. Keith-Thomas Ayoob of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, "In my experience, unless you're willing to throw out decades of research, you cannot ignore that diets chronically high in saturated fats are linked to heart disease, " Dr. Ayoob is also a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and says that low carb, high protein diets are an attempt at a quick fix and not a long-term lifestyle change.

The only unhealthy fat is trans-fat. God gave us the rest and I use what He gave.

10. As someone recently told me, "it must work - people are losing weight". People that are truly losing fat on low carb, high protein diets, are doing so because they are eating fewer calories - that's the bottom line. There is no magic - the same can be done on a healthy diet.

Low-carb IS healthy, lol!

11. Low carb diets are lacking in fiber. Every plant-based food has some fiber. All animal products have no fiber. A lack of fiber increases your risk for cancers of the digestive track (because transit time is lengthened) and cardiovascular disease (because of fibers effect on fat and cholesterol). It also puts you at a higher risk for constipation and other bowel disorders.

I'm regular for the first time ever. I eat about a pound of fruits and veggies a day, so trust me, I get plenty of fiber.

12. Low carb diets lack sufficient quantities of the the many nutrients / phytonutrients / antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, necessary for health and aiding in prevention of cancer and heart disease. In fact, you need these nutrients even more so when you're consuming too much fat as is often the case on a low carb high protein diet.

Not according to FitDay. I am getting just about all I need from food, as well as taking a multi-vitamin (which I feel all people should).

And since when do we not eat fruits and vegetables and legumes? Peanuts are a legume and I eat them, and I eat plenty of fruits and veggies. So really, this person needs to read a book on the topic because he doesn't know what he's talking about. All low-carb diets stress fruits and veggies.

13. Amercans (sic) already consume more than twice the amount of protein needed. Add to that a high protein diet and you have far too much protein consumption. By the way, most people don't realize that all fruits, all vegetables, all whole grains, and all legumes also contain protein. Animal products contain larger quantities of protein, but that may not be a good thing. Excess dietary protein puts you at a higher risk for many health problems: gout (painful joints from high purine foods which are usually high protein foods), kidney disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis (excess dietary protein causes leeching (sic) of calcium from the bones). By the way, countries with lower, healthier intakes of protein also have a decreased incidence of osteoporosis.

So on the one hand are muscles are wasting away, but on the other, we eat too much protein. Which is it? You can't have both since muscle is MADE of protein.

14. Low carb, high protein diets cause an unhealthy physiological state called ketosis, a type of metabolic acidosis. You may have heard the phrase, "fat burns in the flame of carbohydrate". Excess acetyl CoA cannot enter the Krebs Cycle (you remember the old Krebs Cycle) due to insufficient OAA. In other words, for fat to burn efficiently and without production of excess toxic ketones, sufficient carbohydrate must be available. Ketosis can lead to many health problems and can be very serious at it's extreme.

Ketosis is not dangerous. He's confusing it with ketacidosis, which is high blood sugar in diabetics. Low-carber don't have high blood sugar so it's impossible for that to happen to us. Ketosis happens to almost everyone every night when we fast for 8 hours while we sleep. Ketones are not toxic and I challenge anyone to show that they are (excepting diabetics, who are in ketoacidosis).

15. Bad breath. Often called "keto breath" or "acetone breath", it's caused by production of acetones in a state of ketosis.

And his point is...? Besides, not everyone has this side effect. I didn't.

So why the low carb, high protein craze? I believe there are several reasons.
A. Weight loss (mostly muscle and muscle fluid) is often rapid during the first few weeks. This causes people to think they're losing fat rapidly.

I have lost fat and that's a scientific FACT.

B. It gives you "permission" to eat the "bad foods": bacon, eggs, burgers, steak, cheese, etc., and lots of fat.

And fruits and vegetables. He keeps forgetting that.

C. Many see it as the new "magic" they've been looking for, although it's been around, in various forms, since the 1960's.

It's been around since the 1800s. A guy named Banting wrote the first book after his doctor put him on a low-carb diet and it worked. That book is available for free online today.

If anyone wants to know the TRUTH, I'm willing to talk and recommend book by medical doctors and nutritionists who know what low-carb is really about. But this no fruit or veggies and all meat and fat is just plain WRONG. Read a low-carb book. Any book. Challenge your biases. I dare you. It will prove this person wrong in a heartbeat.

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