Sunday, April 04, 2010

My Expert Advice

Patty made an interesting comment on my earlier post regarding the Atkins diet and I decided to respond to it here.

She said, "should it be stressed at all that Atkins is not so great for anyone with heart,artery issues?
Is that true?"

In my "expert" opinion...Dunno. I'm not actually an expert.

What I would stress is that anyone with any kind of serious medical condition - heart disease or not - should always ALWAYS consult their physician before beginning any radical change to their diet.

The studies I've read - some of them pro-Atkins and some of them anti-Atkins - do report that research participants following a low-carb diet do tend to lose weight initially faster. Additionally, they also tend to see an overall increase to HDL (the good cholesterol) and a lowering of LDL. Since Atkins dieters don't eat much in the way of carbs, they also avoid those pesky trans fats which raise triglycerides.

Just sayin'.

Listen, I've tried lots of different methods to lose weight over my lifetime - some of them radical. Over the course of the last several years, I've tended toward high protein foods anyway so, while the carb count is lower than anything I've ever attempted before, the food list isn't exactly new to me.

But I do not advocate dieting pretty much ever.

What I do advocate is that everyone should make an effort to stay hydrated and exercise. Those two things work for literally everyone attempting to live healthfully.

Beyond that? Who knows? Eat what feels good to you. Everybody is different.

1 comment:

Diva said...

The part most people don't want to hear is that you'll never lose weight unless you eat less and exercise more.

Eat less, exercise more. That's harder than a diet pill or some stupid machine you can buy from an infomercial. But it works every time.