maybe as a short term thing it would be okay, but you'd really mess up your metabolism. Your body would basically be in starvation mode and using up its own resources (ie fat to start with, which is why you lose weight quickly) so if you ever switch back to a normal diet it'll convert carbohydrates straight to fat in order to stock up for the next 'famine'. Using protein as an energy source also creates by-products that the body isn't equipped to deal with in large amounts. I'm studying immunology and it's scary to see some professors, who should know about metabolic biochemistry, on atkins. One just quit though because his cholesterol had skyrocketed and he was now at high risk of heart disease. I think the safest thing is the unfashionable reduce calories in, increase calories burned method, making sure you still get all your essential nutrients - it's good to see people doing that here :)
Before 1920 coronary heart disease was rare in America; … by the mid fifties heart disease was the leading cause of death among Americans. Today heart disease causes at least 40% of all US deaths. If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American diet. Actually, the reverse is true. During the sixty-year period from 1910 to 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62%, and butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person per year to four. During the past eighty years, dietary cholesterol intake has increased only 1%. During the same period the percentage of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils increased about 400% while the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased about 60%...... Maybe this is one reason Atkins is healthy, it's not the animal fats that have been killing us.
I would tend to think that the increased number of people who are overweight is due more to the changes in lifestyle that lead people to take in more calories than they can use. If you can burn all the calories you take in, then it doesn't matter if you take in a lot of fat because it won't be in your body for long. But, fat contains a lot of calories so you have to burn a lot more just to stay even. If not, fat is the first thing that will be stored and when there's too much to store it will stick to your arteries. Animal fat could well be healthier for you than a lot of the processed fats around, but eating a lot of it is still going to make it harder to lose weight and be healthy. I agree that a lot of people eat way too many highly processed carbohydrates and they also make it hard to lose weight, but that's no reason to avoid high fibre, complex carbohydrates that can fill you up and provide sustained energy release.
Thanks for your post Pigpuppet. I thought that the (EXTRA) sugars we intake turned to a fat storage and that is where all the problems were coming from. I guess it the same as what you are saying though, You need to burn the calories you are taking in or you'll gain weight.
you're right, extra sugars will definitely be converted to fat too, but fat will be stored first because it doesn't need to be converted. It's easier to store fat than burn it that's why you need to cut out all carbs to force your body to burn the fat you eat rather than burning carbs and storing the fat. In any case, if a diet's working for you, then that's great. I'd recommend checking in with a doctor and keeping track of your cholesterol levels though, to make sure it's not causing any problems.
It's defintely the calories in the fat that cause the trouble. And there's no evidence that ketosis is healthy.
I think the arguement that people in the 20's ate more animal products and died less often of heart disease, there for animal products are healthy is flawed. The fact is people had shorter life expectancies back then, as life was more dangerous, we didn't have advanced medicine to fight disease... and many people's lives were cut short because of it. Remeber during the turn of the century being fat was a sign of wealth, because you could afford more then enough food, and didn't have to work physically. Obviously times now are differnt.
The layout of the land was a lot different in 1920's. In fact there was a great depression. There weren't fast food restuarants and gas stations every 2 blocks back then. So in that respect, I guess by default options were a lot more limited. I also read that low carb diets give you bad breath. That isn't cool!
I say that if your doctor ok's it and it works for you go for it. [color=red:d3e12ee64c][u:d3e12ee64c][b:d3e12ee64c]Kiara[/b:d3e12ee64c][/u:d3e12ee64c][/color:d3e12ee64c]