Weight Loss: Carbs? Or No Carbs?
By Michael Lewis
Dietitians just plain don't like low-carb or high-protein diets.
Whether it's The Atkins Diet, The Stillman Diet, The Scarsdale Diet or
Eat Yourself Thin Like I Did by Nancy Moshier, a popular, new book that
recommends a low-carb regimen, medical experts say these diets are not part
of long-term weight maintenance.
"All of these diets, they are warmed-over versions of The Atkins Diet,"
says Heather Holden, RD, LDN, clinical dietitian at Vanderbilt University
Medical Center in Nashville. "Low-carb, high-protein, it doesn't matter what
you call them, they don't work in the long run."
But some aspects of Eat Yourself Thin are useful, says Holden. In
particular, the book's focus on calorie counting can be useful.
How Many Calories Do You Need?
---------------------------------------------------
"The best thing about the book is that it teaches people how to calculate
an approximate basal metabolic rate," says Holden. "That's the number of
calories your body needs every day to maintain a constant weight. The number
is different for everyone."
The book, says Holden, tells readers to establish their ideal body weight
and then multiply that number by 10 to arrive at the daily calorie intake.
For example, if your ideal body weight was 130 pounds, you would multiply
that 130 by 10 to get 1,300 calories per day.
"That is a very rough estimate of what you need to eat each day at your
ideal weight," says Holden. "So that gives you a place to start. If you
weigh 160 pounds, and your ideal weight is 130 pounds, then you start a
calorie diary to see how much you're eating each day. Then you can get a
better idea of how much you can eat every day to start working off weight to
get closer to your ideal weight."
That much, she says, is useful. But the book goes on to tout the wonders
of low-carb eating as the best way to maximize loss of body fat.
"That's the part you want to avoid," says Holden. "Low-carb diets provide
quick weight loss but do not help you maintain weight loss."
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) says that both low-carb and
high-protein diets are bad.
"These diets are not safe, they are not healthy, and they are not a good
way to try to get healthy," says Leslie Bonci, RD, nutritionist with the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Complex and a spokesperson
for the ADA. "They provide short-term, rapid weight loss by causing the body
to shed water weight and muscle. But that is no way to keep weight off for
very long, and it's dangerous to your body chemistry."
Dangerous Process
-----------------------------------------
According to the ADA, low-carb diets and others like it trigger short-term
weight loss through a process called ketosis. This process kicks in when
your body is in short supply of carbohydrates, a prime source of energy for
the entire body, but especially for the brain, which operates exclusively on
carbohydrates.
During ketosis, your carbohydrate-depleted body grabs other sources,
including ketones from stored fat or protein, to satisfy daily energy needs.
This leads to ketoacidosis, a state similar to that seen with type 1
diabetes. This type of diet can have a negative long-term impact on health.
"Next time you talk to someone on one of these diets, pay attention to
their mental state, how alert they seem," says Holden. "The lack of
carbohydrates tends to make them seem a bit fuzzy mentally because the brain
is not getting enough fuel. Is that any way to diet?"
New Research Supports It
-------------------------------------
But a study in the July 2002 issue of the American Journal of Medicine
showed that the most famous of low-carb diets, the Atkins diet, does work.
Study participants lost an average of 20 pounds while on the Atkins diet
for six months, but they were not followed longer to see if they kept the
weight off. Most people also had improved cholesterol levels at the end of
the study, even though the eating plan permits unlimited quantities of
cholesterol-rich foods such as eggs and meat.
The study was funded by a grant from the Robert Atkins Center for
Complementary Medicine. Duke researcher Eric Westman, MD, says he became
interested in studying the Atkins diet after several of his patients lost
large amounts of weight on it.
But though researchers were impressed by the weight loss, they say more
study is needed to pronounce the carbohydrate-restricting diet safe.
Safe Dieting
------------------------
Here's how the American Heart Association says to take weight off, and keep
it off.
Be active: try walking 30 minutes a day most days of the week.
To lose weight, most women should eat 1,200-1,500 calories per day.
To lose weight, most men should eat 1,500-1,800 calories a day.
A loss of one to two pounds per week is considered a healthy weight loss.
People who lose weight gradually are more likely to keep the weight off.
Eat no more than 30% of your total calories from fat.
Include at least five servings of fruit and vegetables in your diet each
day.
Examine your eating habits -- keep a written journal of what and when you
eat.
Weigh yourself only once a week.
Eat breakfast to curb binge eating.
"There are still a lot of things we don't know about food and nutrition,"
says Holden. "Nutrition is a relatively young science, but we do know that
you can trick the body's mechanisms in the short run. In the long run,
however, those short cuts catch up with you in the form of weight gain."
Source: WebMD
You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the
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Original URL (The Web version of the article)
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Weight Loss:
Carbs? Or No Carbs?
About The Author
----------------
Michael Lewis has been collecting articles and information on Weight Loss
and HGH (Human Growth Hormone and related health benefits. He has created
and edits numerous web sites about this subject. Michael is a staff writer
for http://www.ageforce.com
and several otherwebsites. If you would like to contact Michael you can
e-mail him at Michael@AgeForce.com
If you would like to know more about Weight Loss, HGH (Human Growth Hormone)
and related health topics please visit us at
AgeForce.com.
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