C is for Carbs-- The science behind the low carb diet.
Tina
Awesome job on this Elina. It all makes sense now. I definitely see a correlation to this and what is happening to me. If I eat too many carbs, I don't lose. If I lessen the carbs, I lose. I love fruit so it's hard to go without, but if that's what I've got to do, so be it. I am determined to lose the weight and keep it off this time. I appreciate the time you took to share this!!! 
Great post! If I may make a reading recommendation to anyone that is interested.. Gary Taubes Why We Get Fat.. is an easy read that goes into this to a fairly deep degree. It's not a "diet" book at all, more of a "here's how the human body works when you feed it XYZ" book. If anyone really likes digging deeper, the tome Good Calories, Bad Calories by Taubes gets much deeper into the science, but both will get you to the same place of understanding. I really feel these books should be required reading for anyone with any degree of weight/insulin issues.
Gary Taubes (New York Times science writer) deserves a Nobel Prize in science and pulitzer for journalism. He shook things up about 10 years ago when he published an article in the NYT entitled "What if it was all a big fat lie?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm) which challenged the validity of the "food pyramid" and the tyranny of the "low fat" dietary movement launched in the early '70's. He postulates that the 8 servings of "grains" (aka carbs) per day recommended in the pyramid (for the benfit of agri-business) as well as making no distinction between fats, was the beginning of the diabetes explosion in America. In "Why we get fat" I was particularly fascinated by the review of the history of dieting, and the subtle shift in the 1950's of equating obesity to moral failure and gluttony, initiated by a single physician!
There are many Taubes lectures on you tube mainly for health care professionals. Feel informed, understood and vindicated all at once. I agree that Taubes should be required reading, especially for health care providers. He might also enlighten our loved ones and friends who just don't understand "Why We Get Fat"
There are many Taubes lectures on you tube mainly for health care professionals. Feel informed, understood and vindicated all at once. I agree that Taubes should be required reading, especially for health care providers. He might also enlighten our loved ones and friends who just don't understand "Why We Get Fat"
OT side note about the power of learning to make positive changes..
My skinny husband (voracious reader too) picked up Taubes after I was done with it.. he had just went in to the Drs. and his lipids were crazy high & the Dr. immediately without even suggesting lifestyle changes (just looking at him, figuring he's a healthy weight, active) wanted him on statins.. When my husband raised the idea of eating better, working out etc first before meds... the Dr basically said most cholesterol/lipid issues are hereditary, and with someone like him in healthy shape- unless he wanted to take up marathon running, statins were the way to go and start immediately as raising HDL was very difficult, and his triglycerides were a huge concern.. We both gave that advice a big NO!
He read the book.. he turned his eating around and went nearly grain free with me.. 4mo later retested on our own at a private self-pay lab, triglycerides went from 500+ to 60 something, LDL went down slightly, HDL went up by a good %! He also ended up dropping about 20lbs, and his energy went up as well.. no more mid-afternoon crashes. I'd bet when he has his more in-depth VAP particle lipids done with the Dr, it tracks positively with the findings of eating lower carb as well. He's been eating this way for a year now, no weight regain- and due for his annual and VAP.. I can't wait to see what our Dr has to say about it.
There may be some who say low-carb is a fad, but both he and another friend have had similar very positive laboratory verified changes going from a carbohydrate based S.A.D. to a more healthy meat, fat and veggie based diet.. and both have had the same unplanned "lost weight without trying" effects while eating to satisfaction at every meal.. can't beat that in my book.
My skinny husband (voracious reader too) picked up Taubes after I was done with it.. he had just went in to the Drs. and his lipids were crazy high & the Dr. immediately without even suggesting lifestyle changes (just looking at him, figuring he's a healthy weight, active) wanted him on statins.. When my husband raised the idea of eating better, working out etc first before meds... the Dr basically said most cholesterol/lipid issues are hereditary, and with someone like him in healthy shape- unless he wanted to take up marathon running, statins were the way to go and start immediately as raising HDL was very difficult, and his triglycerides were a huge concern.. We both gave that advice a big NO!
He read the book.. he turned his eating around and went nearly grain free with me.. 4mo later retested on our own at a private self-pay lab, triglycerides went from 500+ to 60 something, LDL went down slightly, HDL went up by a good %! He also ended up dropping about 20lbs, and his energy went up as well.. no more mid-afternoon crashes. I'd bet when he has his more in-depth VAP particle lipids done with the Dr, it tracks positively with the findings of eating lower carb as well. He's been eating this way for a year now, no weight regain- and due for his annual and VAP.. I can't wait to see what our Dr has to say about it.
There may be some who say low-carb is a fad, but both he and another friend have had similar very positive laboratory verified changes going from a carbohydrate based S.A.D. to a more healthy meat, fat and veggie based diet.. and both have had the same unplanned "lost weight without trying" effects while eating to satisfaction at every meal.. can't beat that in my book.
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