are low-carb high-protein diets actually bad for you?

[circusgirl]

I happened to mention on a usenet group that I was doing a medium-tp-low-carb (for me) diet plan (spatt's cutting diet, basically, I am now eating all that tuna after all). And a guy replied and went BALLISTIC abotu the dangers of low-carb diets posting frmo this link -

- http://www.seasoned.com/issues/200203/c.hf.p1.html

Is this true? Because I've read on other sites (eg. www.stumptuous.com - a women's weightlifting page) that high protein is not a problem.

Just curious.

circusgirl

 

[fawnmarie]

I don't know who Micheal Ficks is, but I can see he doesn't know what he's talking about.

For ONE thing, he has the Fit for Life diet listed under "Low Carb". The authors are freakin' vegetarians, for Christ's sake! Did he READ any of these books?

Carbohydrate amounts are relative to activity and nothing but activity. Anything that eaten above actual immediate usage is turned to FAT. There is not recommended minimum for CHO, eat whatever you think you can actually burn and NO MORE. If you want to lose bodyfat, eat less CHO.

So, for a weight lifter or body buider, 100 grms is low, cause they use more per day.
For the sofa-sitters that Atkins appeals to, well 20 is fine - they don't need more.

High protein is not the same thing as low-carb either. I don't compete and don't plan to, so I'm at about 110 grams protein tops. I just don't need that much protein for what I do, and only do a gram per lean body weight as opposed to a gram per total body weight. So, I don't eat "high protein" compared to others here. I'm just trying to cut fat right now, so I ALSO do low carb.

Also, I don't do really high carb refeeds and only one meal, twice a week. Just enough to keep my muscles and thyroid happy.

Either way, disregard this miscreant - he's leading you astray. Listen to the pros here.

Fawn

 

[circusgirl]

Many thanks folks. I was pretty sure this guy was talking bullshit, but I thought I'd check with you anyway. Since posting I've done some searches over on the diets forum and found out that I should have done the search first - doh! I'm sorry to post so many annoying questions that I'm sure you've been asked a million times before. Thank you for your patience and your advice. I've been rotating the carbs as you suggested Spatts and I feel SO much better than when just doing my previous calorie-restriction low-fat diet. And flax oil tastes WAY better than cod liver oil I've discovered - cod liver oil is the work of satan...

BTW some of you might be interested to hear how I made an ass of myself at the gym last week. I mentioned before that I did some weights for a few months and stopped that a few months ago. I am now in a different gym and last week was the first time I used the weights machines there. Well, the leg press is set up so you lie flat on your back on it and press from there. I didn't realise this, coz I had only seen the type you sit on before, I thought when I was adjusting it, jeez, these are made for tall folks and the two cushions and the back kinda were uncomfortable to sit against... double doh! A very nice muscle guy very politely suggested I might do better lying on the machine...... at least some people got a good laugh anyway ("there was this chick at the gym today and....").

Going back for more tomorrow.

4am, yawn, must get to bed (been out clubbing).
circusgirl

 

[MS]

I actually like that website a lot. I particularly like his synopsis at the end:

Do you see the trend here?

1.Good = whole grains, vegetables, fruits, some dairy, a little lean meat,
monounsaturated fats, fiber, fluids, exercise ... the basics.
2.Bad = LCBS, inflated promises, sat and trans fats.

"Carbophobia" is a kernel of truth blown all out of rational and scientific
proportion.
Habits and cravings do not equate to addiction.
Insulin resistance is the result, not the cause, of obesity, and is not rampant.
Weight loss/gain is all about calories in minus calories out.
The average American's primary path to better health is eating fewer calories and exercising more.

There are STILL no safe, long-term-effective, canned shortcuts to health or losing weight! The bottom line remains
unchanged: learn to enjoy healthy food, eat plenty of it, virtually eliminate saturated fat and trans fats and similar junk food,
exercise, and get more sleep and water. The simplest approach for many is to stop cold turkey on bringing sat-fat and junk
food into our homes. Just stop buying -- and soon you'll no longer miss -- bacon, ice cream, butter/margarine, whole milk,
burgers, cheese, and processed crap like cookies and chips and donuts. The amount of those I've eaten in the last 15 years
would fit in one mixing bowl ... and I eat like a horse afire. We should die from age and genes, not junk food, and eating our
fill of healthy food and burning it off at hard play is a great way to do that. If you prefer donuts to a longer life, perhaps it's your
life that needs improving.

This refelects my own basic approach to a healthy BB lifestyle and IT WORKS. I've always been a proponant of getting a blood glucose challenge done BEFORE you embark on an ultra low carb diet because if you don't have any insulin resistance problems then there is really no need to subject your body to this type of diet with it's almost guaranteed rebound problems. He's not knocking high protein diets as such, but quite sensibly knocking any diet that is unbalanced and completely eliminates entire classes of foods without good cause.

Keep in mind this guy was not writing about BBs so his recommendations should be viewed as they apply to your average couch spud. There are times in a BBs life when more protein is beneficial!

 

[new@gettinbig]

I think when you say low-carb diet..people generalize and it is a bad stereotype...I do not eat like the Atkins diet...I rotate my carbs and i eat CARBS....but its called a rotation..your body does not always need the same amount of carbs every day...you do not lift heavy every day...so why would you need so many carbs?? The excess will just be stored as fat. I think people take things to the extreme and they are uneducated as well. I can tell you many stories Ive heard from people who see me eat and make comments all the time..but i can promise you..half of them will never get below 15%....they dont know how and they are too stuborn to learn..and dont want to sacrafice. I eat veggies...salads...some fruits in the a.m......i get plenty of fiber...i dont eat high saturated fat..things like bacon..tons of eggs...and such...But again diet is all individual...and with others...it is best to just keep your mouth shut and eat....let them watch and wonder.

 

[new@gettinbig]

I dont have ratios...dont count calories either..never been a number person...i think it gets to be too complex...keep it simple..on high days i will eat oatmeal, yams, banana and veggies...low days will be carbs from veggies only....i eat anywhere from 6-8 times a day...1.5-2 gallons of water a day...and as my diet gets to me...i drink a lot of diet soda...for the cravings...i eat 6-80z of meat w/ each meal...im a big eater...sometimes it gets me in trouble

 

[The_Monster]

One word will fix all the health woes of the general public:

Moderation.

 

[NY Muscle]

I wish these idiots (most whom are fat and out of shape yet eating tons of carbs and NO FAT) would shut up and get their ass on a treadmill.

Atkins type dieting (if that’s the diet we are talking about here) is the most researched and medically used diet (extreme obesity and epileptic kids) in the world, you think these IDIOTS would shut up already.

BOTTOM LINE:

There are essential FATS

There are essential AMINO ACIDS

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ESSENTIAL CARB!!!!!!!

Get off the hate wagon, its getting you no where, this diet is amazing and EASY to boot.

 

[fawnmarie]

Thank You SOOOOO much, NYM!!!!


Fawn
dedicated to low-carb