chandltp

You're right, I did misunderstand what you said.

And I would agree, that for normal weight people good carbs are not evil. For overweight people, I think many of them have a damaged metabolism that makes restricting carbs beneficial for weight loss.

KirkBeiser

I'm not sure if that is anything more than propaganda. People that are overweight would show a big improvement by significantly restricting sweets and the excess bad carbs that they are currently eating. It wouldn't matter if they went as far as the Atkins diet or if it was just a healthy balanced diet. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't consuming 500-1000 cal/day of excess carbs that contained little nutritional value.

chandltp

I don't doubt that anyone who's overweight will see an improvement by restricting sweet and excessive bad carbs (I'm assuming you mean high GI foods?). For many people, that may be all that's necessary. I agree that's a much easer approach if it works. For some people that just may not be enough.

I have reactive hypoglycemia. Depending on what else I've eaten, even "good carbs" like sweet potatoes can cause blood sugar issues. By limiting carbs of all kinds (with the exception of vegetables), I've achieved complete control of my issues. Many T2 diabetics and pre-diabetics I've talked to have experienced the same thing, even to the point on not needing insulin.

As as side note, even if I completely remove certain types of foods, I still need to track my food intake. No matter what I'm eating I can easily overeat as far as calories are concerned. Maybe if I went very low fat vegan that would be true, but I don't believe I'll ever go very low fat again.

cplager

I would posit that anybody who as a similar (in level of seriousness) condition would do better getting advice from medical professionals and not us idiots.

chandltp

The advice I got from my doctor was bad. It was only after I watched "Fat Head" that I realized there may be a different answer than needing to eat every 2 hours (which caused weight gain since I had a hard time eating 200 - 300 calorie snack at what would normally be a meal time).

On an extremely low carb (and high fat) diet I can function quite well on only two meals a day if I desire. The "feed me now!!" versus "I could eat now, please" is all the convincing I need that what I'm doing works for me. I like to have a more moderate diet, but unfortunately my bad diet and other habits from the past caught up to me sooner than I would have anticipated.

KirkBeiser

Your reactive hypoglycemia and my celiacs are completely unrelated to what is best for those that are overweight or those w/o any conditions. For you Atkins works because of the issues that you describe. For many Atkins is completely unnecessary and imo not as befeficial as cutting out empty calories (mostly from carbs).

Carbonfiberboy 

Also a hypoglycemic, I've gotten control of my blood sugar without any severe cutting back on carbs. Tiny bit. Mostly just changing timing and quantities. Still got to replace that glycogen and only one way to do that.

chandltp

I found it more practical and consistent to cut back on carbs than to eat every 2-3 hours, and my weight is going in the right direction. I don't doubt that it's possible to control blood sugar by changing eating habits and still including carbs, but it didn't work well for me.

I'm not a competitive cyclist, I've always been the slow and steady type so I've not seen any difference in my cycling other than I don't need to eat on rides up to 60 miles, where I used to eat 2-3 times before. If I was competitive I would still likely consume slightly carbs before and during cycling. But that's just a guess, since I've never tried it.

chandltp

I don't follow Atkins.. it's my own style of low carb based on research and personal experience, but I get what you're saying. I believe that moderate carb restriction, especially high GI "junk" carbs, is beneficial for everyone. The USDA recommended way to many grain servings, and not enough fruits and vegetables for the average Joe.

It's funny you mentioned celiacs. I don't suffer from it, but after reading Wheat Belly, I'm pretty convinced wheat is not healthy for anyone. It may not cause harm to some people.. but the absence of harm does not necessarily mean beneficial.