Well, except that the writer omits the one thing that is definitely known about all diets: "going on a diet" makes you gain weight in the long run, most of the time.
Most people go on a diet, lose weight (because you can lose weight on any diet, if you stick to it) and then go back to their normal pattern of eating. They then gain back all the weight they lost, plus a bit more. For most people this doesn't matter all that much, physically, because people inclined to go on a diet will often go on a diet if they've gained ten pounds. Losing ten pounds to gain twelve pounds over the course of six months or so doesn't hurt that much. But keep repeating it for increasing amounts of weight over a lifetime, and, well, you can have a serious health problem.
The real problem with the diet industry is that more and more people see "going on a diet" as the only way to lose weight. Which is as foolish and unhealthy a belief as the belief that you can't get anywhere without a car.
(Though eating vast portions of refined carbohydrates with lots of fat and sugar doesn't help, no.)
This was one of the major messages of the two books I've read on low-carb diets - that the low-fat diet has this effect, because lowering protein levels causes your body to go into 'starvation mode', which is (a) hard to stay in and (b) means that it moves more of of your intake into fat. This means that when you start eating again the weight goes back on very quickly.
In my experience, having gone on and off low-carb a few times now, my weight goes back up, but it's never gone back up to more than when I started (and usually less, unless I eat lots of sugary things).
Well, to match your anecdotal evidence with mine: that people gain weight if they go on a diet/come off a diet is so common in my experience that I'm hard put to it to think of an exception, apart from you. ;-)
Possibly most of the diets you know about are of that kind?
Huh? I rarely know what diets my friends are on (exception is Atkins, because that makes it very difficult for me to feed them). My comment was based on observed dieters, not on diets. And yes, it seems to be (nearly) universally true for Atkins as for other kinds of diets.
What kinds of diets restrict protein intake? A low-fat diet isn't necessarily a low-protein diet. I don't know of any diets that specifically restrict protein rather than fat and/or [simple] carbohydrates.
"Restricts proteins" sounds like a phrase that could only come from the Atkins folks. Most real (as opposed to fad) diets aim to provide a balanced diet, which means careful proportioning of all food groups. Yes, the diet may result in limiting protein, but only incidentally, as part of a larger plan.
Nte that "protein" itself is not a food group. You can get protein from vegetables/legumes, grains, and dairy as well as from animals (incl. fish).
Oh, absolutely. (Though I note that dairy is "from animals".) I get lots of protein from lentils, beans, tofu, gluten/seitan, brown rice, and other whole grains and legumes, but whenever I'm in a restaurant that lists "Atkins specials" it's all eggs and bacon.
I mean, do you really trust someone who's in the business of writing diet books to come up with the healthiest possible diet? If they're trying to sell books, the most profitable thing to do is to tell people what they want to hear. And that means saying things that always get interpreted as "it's ok to eat lots of meat!" even if strictly speaking, it means "eat meat or fish or milk or nuts or beans or tofu or brown rice".
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andrewducker) wrote2004-03-07 10:10 am
no subject
Most people go on a diet, lose weight (because you can lose weight on any diet, if you stick to it) and then go back to their normal pattern of eating. They then gain back all the weight they lost, plus a bit more. For most people this doesn't matter all that much, physically, because people inclined to go on a diet will often go on a diet if they've gained ten pounds. Losing ten pounds to gain twelve pounds over the course of six months or so doesn't hurt that much. But keep repeating it for increasing amounts of weight over a lifetime, and, well, you can have a serious health problem.
The real problem with the diet industry is that more and more people see "going on a diet" as the only way to lose weight. Which is as foolish and unhealthy a belief as the belief that you can't get anywhere without a car.
(Though eating vast portions of refined carbohydrates with lots of fat and sugar doesn't help, no.)
no subject
In my experience, having gone on and off low-carb a few times now, my weight goes back up, but it's never gone back up to more than when I started (and usually less, unless I eat lots of sugary things).
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Possibly most of the diets you know about are of that kind?
no subject
Huh? I rarely know what diets my friends are on (exception is Atkins, because that makes it very difficult for me to feed them). My comment was based on observed dieters, not on diets. And yes, it seems to be (nearly) universally true for Atkins as for other kinds of diets.
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Nte that "protein" itself is not a food group. You can get protein from vegetables/legumes, grains, and dairy as well as from animals (incl. fish).
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I mean, do you really trust someone who's in the business of writing diet books to come up with the healthiest possible diet? If they're trying to sell books, the most profitable thing to do is to tell people what they want to hear. And that means saying things that always get interpreted as "it's ok to eat lots of meat!" even if strictly speaking, it means "eat meat or fish or milk or nuts or beans or tofu or brown rice".
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You can safely omit the last 8 words of that sentence.
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