Diet Debates: Unhelpful For Most

Well said, Jim, well said.

We have a lot of free time on our hands. If it's not a sports team, it's a political party or ideology, or it's diet.

For the most part, for the vast majority of people I've met, diet is a kind of religion, along with the requisite my God can kick your God's butt.

Without commenting on the efficacy of the diets various well-known gurus recommend, it amazes me how much time people spend parrotting their diet guru at other people. Atkins, Mercola, whatever - my favorite aspect of the cults of personality that arise around these individuals is how all of them are, to their followers, "renegades," lone (millionaire) voices in the wilderness speaking the truth above the corrupt nutritional paradigms of the "establishment" - the FDA or the Mayo Clinic or whatever.

Seems to be a lot of money in being a revolutionary when it comes to challenging traditional diet advice, I've noticed.

I have yet to see a single dietary maxim for which there is no contradictory evidence.

Grains are:

(a) Unimportant when trying to lose weight as it's all about calories; you will lose weight if you expend more calories than you consume, and everyone into glycemic loads and Atkins and stuff like that are a bunch of hippies.

(b) Fibrous, complex carbohydrates are okay but refined carbs are DEADLY KILLERS.

(c) Carbohydrates are POISON; DEADLY KILLERS, ALL.

My own advice, to anyone who would be dumb enough to seek it, is:

Do not eat plutonium.

Plutonium is POISON. It causes inflammation and attacks the immune system.

It is carcinogenic.

Whole buncha free radicals and stuff I read about in a Wikipedia article and on the Mercola website so it must be true.

No fiber in plutonium.

Cavemen didn't eat plutonium, therefore plutonium is definitely bad, and not eating plutonium is groovy as all get-out because cavemen also were not-plutonium-eaters.

In the days before anyone ate plutonium, dudes lived like, a million year lifespans. Suddenly, bam, plutonium, and today we all have a life span of about 17.

Besides, plutonium is stored in horrible, horrible conditions, and there might even be PUS in it from all of the antibiotics...I forget where I was going with this but you get my point.

Walt disney should make a film with the Little Mermaid which shows an undersea world in which no one eats plutonium.

Yes, this is the last word on all diets.

Now send me money, all of you.

Kneel before Iggy.

Kiss the ring.

You plebeians.

People do tend to forget that mortality is based on lots of factors other than diet. Jim, you make an excellent point about life expectancy in countries where illness runs rampant. It doesn't matter much what you eat if you're going to die of AIDS. And yeah, you could probably find a group of people that survive to be in their 90's living on Twinkies and ice cream. There are other factors involved...environment, heredity, lifestyle, etc. Some groups of people live very active lives and some do not. That will greatly affect the choice of diet. Food is food and as long as it's edible and a source of calories, people will eat it...it's a survival instinct. No food is "toxic" unless it kills you when you eat it. Certain mushrooms are toxic, so is polar bear liver. (both of these are not grains, either)

You can lose eating carbs or not eating carbs it all comes done to calories in the end.
All the diets that work on lowering the person’s calories. They’ve proven this in low carb studies that the diets are just another way to reduce caloric intake. You remove a food group you cut back calories. It’s the same reason Vegan diet that’s high in carbs can help some people lose weight. Portion control, The Shangri-La Diet, weight watchers, ediets, and exchange diets like deal a meal all lower calories in the end.

After all the debate on the list lately. Apples even organic ones are simple carbs by the way and raise one’s insulin level higher than oatmeal. By the way I eat apples and oatmeal all the time but count them. I eat lots of crabs and lost a lot of weight. In the end

Excellent post, Jim. I think the secret to a happy and healthy life is moderation in all things, accepting yourself, and enjoying your blessings, however modest they may be.

(And Iggy--ROTFL! I'll stay far, far away from that nasty ol' plutonium.)

Please don’t take this the wrong way Jim, but if we all did just sit down and enjoy a delicious meal with someone we loved and did not waste life with these fruitless arguments, I don’t think there would be much left of the diet-blog.

www.antiagingatlanta.com

Randy: Hmmm.... good point :-) Bring Back The Arguments!!!

To be honest... the issue of diet and weight loss is a major one (just ask Oprah). It's on the agenda of most governments in the world.

I think we'll be debating for a few decades yet... I just hope we can get some sense and balance out of it all. There are debates, and there are quasi-religious wars. Let's stick to a healthy version of the former.

A calorie is not just a calorie. If this were true a person eating 1500 calories worth of twinkies would have the same result as someone eating 1500 calories worth of carrots. It takes more energy to digest a carrot than it does a twinkie. So you'd end up with a net loss instead of a net gain.

very well put.

As for my two cents, I think we've traded our health for technological advances. Think cars, video games, overprocessed+genetically engineered foods (giant tomatoes anyone? twice the size with half the nutrients!), pollution and stressfull lifestyles are some of those things. Not that I have anything aagaist technology per-se (god forbid I become a hypocrite being the internet addict that I am).
However, as you said we have a choice: no-one makes you eat fast food; it's convenient. No-one makes you drive your car; it's fast. No-one is making you keep your stressfull jobe; it pays well.
thats just how it is. Ofcourse diet is part of it, but diet is not life, it's part of your life. I think people forget that sometimes.

Sadie
I might shock you but a person can lose eating twinkie's and no veggie’s. I know people who have lost on candy bar, but but weight loss is not the same thing as being healthy. A calorie is a calorie but lower energy density things like vegetables with just comes out to more filling with less calories.
Now eating one Twinkie is fine but A thousand calories isn’t very many twinkie’s.
Now if someone’s diet is only high calorie food they will tend to eat more of it due to being hungry. Most people eat more than they think they do. We underestimate how much we eat. We get the salad than load it with 900 calorie Creaser dressing.

Ugg, I posted the one with all the mistakes.

Sadie
It might shock you but a person can lose eating twinkie's and no veggie’s. I wouldn’t recommend it though. I love my veggies. Weight loss is not the same thing as being healthy.
We need veggies to fill us up as well as good sources of fiber. A calorie is a calorie but lower energy density things like vegetables with just comes out to more filling with less calories.
You can lose on candy bars and no veggies. I know people who eat mostly high calorie foods but less and still lose. Now eating one Twinkie is fine but a thousand calories isn’t very many twinkie’s.
Now if someone’s diet is only high calorie food they will tend to eat more of it due to being hungry. Most people eat more than they think they do. We underestimate how much we eat. We get the salad than load it with 900 calorie Creaser dressing.

Some people have slower metabolism than others and have a harder time losing but all diets that work deal with calories.

I agree. Nobody knows a dam thing about health. Furthermore I never expected to die healthy. Pass me a slice of pepperoni pizza.

Yes, Everying in life, in moderation, in natural things. And also remember that everybody needs different things. One person's primary plant based diet supplimented with meats may be great, but won't work on a second person where he or she is better off with a primary animal-based diet. Fruits, vegrables, nuts and beans, seeds, some dark low-sugar chocolate, and a variety of meat, eggs, and seafood, including oily fish. Don't be afraid to have lobster with butter ocassionally. It's not as bad as you think, as the lobster contains omega 3 fatty acids, while the butter may also not be as bad as you think as you need some saturated fat for proper vitamin D absorption, proper omega fat utilization, proper lung function, and proper building blocks for your organs. You can still have your shrimp and eggs even though you have cholesterol problems as dietary cholesterol don't effect your cholesterol much, even in high numbers. Trans fats are the true bad guys that you need to view as rotten eggs. Doughnuts, french fries, and fried foods? Forget about them. They are high in artery clogging trans-fats, and it's the doughnuts and pasteries, not the eggs and shrimp, that raises bad cholesterol and people with high cholesterol problems should avoid.

I would love to have bison on my plate. The American indians lived off of it. As you see, the Okinawans may live a long healthy life, because they may be carbohydrate-type people. But if a protein type person tries to follow that diet, he or she may get sick.

But I will have some nice, juicy fish tomarrow.

Jim,

I think we are passionate, when we find something that works for us.

The ATkins diet has been like an absolute miracle for me, literally saving my life. So far I've lost over 120 pounds. Unless a person has been morbidly obese, they do not understand. Your body changes is so many ways.

I agree that people did Atkins like a fad, and didn't follow it properly, with exercise and veggies and fruit, but is that Dr. Atkins fault ? Is he responsible for every idiot on the street.

I am becoming more aware that different diets, suit different people.

But that doesn't stop people slagging me off!

Jim, you make such good sense and dole out the information without judging it or telling people what to think. I agree with you almost totally on the above post - which is why I keep coming back to the blog.
And for a second there I thought James had changed his tune! Then he brought up the bison again :-(

iportion

This is based on science. I know a person can lose weight eating only junk food. And I also realize that it's easier to eat 1500 calories worth of twinkies than it is to eat 1500 calories worth of carrots. I understand that you're suggesting a person eating only the twinkies would likely end up eating more than the 1500 calories, but I was being hypothetical. The body requires energy to digest food. A person eating only raw veggies with the same amount of calories as someone eating junk food would lose more. It takes more energy to digest a high fiber food as opposed to a high fat food. Therefore, the person eating the carrots would actually burn more calories just by eating.

Sadie
The theory you talk about is actually called the negative calorie theory.
Here is an article on it.
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfitness/wtmngment/articles/0,,232_551419,00.html

Also eating one type of food isn’t healthy. I eat several salads a day but I also eat fruit and grains.

lowcarb_dave: Atkins will always have it's place. Right about now it's trendy for some writers to slam it... in order to sell their own arguments.

Frangelita: Thanks! Hope you get something useful out of all these crazy diatribes...

I've read many articles debunking the theory. But I haven't seen any studies being done to prove otherwise. It makes sense to me. So I choose to believe it. Besides, there are other factors involved concerning calories in and calories out, such as the toxins in junk food taxing your organs making it harder for your body to burn fat to it's full capacity.

It is giving up to say eat in moderation, that is the lazy way out of true health.
http://www.biblelife.org/carbs.htm

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/diseases_index.html

Look no further for the end of the debate and beginning of health from today to the day you die.