February 12, 2007
OTC Fat-Blocking Diet Pill
(Jimmy Akin)
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (29)
December 14, 2006
What Kind Of Coke I Drink
(Jimmy Akin)
Yesterday's mention that I drink a kind of diet coke that doesn't have caffeine or Aspartame prompted some questions about what kind I do drink.
Actually, it varies. Here's a selection . . .
None of these kinds of diet coke have either caffeine or Aspartame in them. They are all sweetened with Splenda.
Here are a few notes on them:
1) Diet 7-UP used to have Aspartame but got rid of it a while back. It is the easiest form of Aspartame-free diet coke to find. One note though: There are variants of Diet 7-UP that still DO use Aspartame, such as Diet Cherry 7-UP. Beware of these. It is the regular Diet 7-UP that you want.
2) Diet Rite is also commonly found in supermarkets, and it was the first diet coke to chuck Aspartame in favor of Splenda, as far as I can tell. It comes in several flavors, which the Royal Crown company (which makes Diet Rite) switches around from time to time. They always have a Cola flavor (which, for some strange reason, upsets my stomach; I think I'm allergic to this flavor, though other people obviously aren't), and lately they've had White Grape and Raspberry (which do just fine by my stomach). Occasionally they have Tangerine or other flavors. At the moment they have Cherry Cola, so I'll see how that does with my stomach.
3) Diet Hansen's has a BUNCH of different flavors. Pictured here are three of my favorites (which is why I had them on hand): Peach, Kiwi-Strawberry, and Black Cherry. They also have Tangerine-Lime, Ginger Ale, Root Beer, and Grapefruit. MORE INFO. The Diet Hansen's drinks taste really good (or at least my favorites do). It's a little harder to find Diet Hansen's, though. I get it at Henry's and Trader Joe's, but I've also seen it showing up at some local Vons. You can also order it online.
Incidentally, all of these drinks (Diet 7-UP, Diet Rite, Diet Hansen's) are also sodium free--so they're not trying to Ferengi you into drinking more of their product by putting salt in it to make you thirsty (unlike most forms of coke).
There are also other, similar caffeine-free, Aspartame-free kinds of coke, but these are the ones that I drink the most and thus the ones that I had on hand.
BTW, a word about why you might want to avoid caffeine and Aspartame . . .
Most folks know that caffeine can make you feel wired, keep you awake, etc. And some people use it precisely in order to stay awake. I'm not opposed to that in principle. However, caffeine also has some side-effects that people don't commonly know about.
If you drink enough of it quickly enough, it will raise your blood sugar (which is bad for diabetics and dieters) and it will raise your adrenalin (which is bad if you have high blood pressure or heart palpitations). INFO HERE. Caffeine is safe for most people in moderation--or at least safe enough that they're willing to live with the obvious side-effects--but it's something that I avoid as part of my diet since I don't want my blood sugar raised.
Aspartame is another story. There is a huge controversy over the safety of Aspartame, and for a long time I didn't pay it any mind. I generally don't get freaked out about safety claims made regarding products that are being consumed by millions of people. If there's a significant problem with the product then, in the long run, science will out.
But I started doing some research on Aspartame and found out some things that concerned me enough that I decided to cut it out of my diet. It breaks down into chemicals that I really don't like. It does this at surprisingly low temperatures, too (lower than body temperature), which is why diet cokes that contain Aspartame frequently have gone "stale" before you open the can. They've been exposed to heat that causes the Aspartame to break down and they taste funny.
Even if they haven't broken down already in the can, they will break down in your body, and one of the things they break down into is phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is something I'm familiar with from my diet and nutrition studies.
Phenylalanine is an amino acid that is common in nature. There's some of it basically whenever we eat meat. But that form of phenylalanine is slowly-absorbed and is pretty safe. If you're taking a nutritional supplement or chugging down diet cokes or certain protein drinks, though, it's another story. In this setting phenylalanine is absorbed much more quickly and causes a spike of the amino acid in your blood stream.
For certain people, who can't metabolize phenylalanine, Aspartame is very dangerous. These people have a condition known as phenylketonuria, and if they consume phenylalanine it will cause BRAIN DAMAGE.
In your body, about HALF of the Aspartame in a diet coke converts into phenylalanine, which is why products containing Aspartame are required to carry a warning label that says "Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine."
Now, phenylketonuria is rare (though it is more common among people of Irish descent), and if you have it, you'd already know about it. It's one of the things they test for right after birth, and if you've never been told that you have it then you don't.
But phenylketonurics aren't the only people who need to watch out for getting a phenylalanine spike in their blood.
Some dieters take phenylalanine because it suppresses hunger (a good thing for dieters), but in significant numbers of people it has bad side-effects, like raising your heart rate and blood pressure (not good things for people who are overweight).
If you have been chugging down diet cokes--even caffeine-free ones--and find your heart racing or pounding or your blood pressure staying higher than it should be, it may be the phenylalanine spike in your blood stream that the diet cokes are causing.
There are a lot of other criticisms that are made of Aspartame, but I already knew about phenylalanine from my own diet and nutrition studies, so when I found out that 50% of Aspartame turns into phenylalanine, that was enough to convince me to cut it out of my diet.
Y'all can make your own decisions, of course, but I'm not waiting for the science to catch up on this one. To my mind, Aspartame is too risky. I'll stick with other sweeteners, like Splenda or Stevia.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (90)
December 13, 2006
*Really* Complex Carbohydrates
(Jimmy Akin)
I've blogged before about the use of fiber in dieting, and I thought I'd give an update about how I'm currently using it.
Fiber is a kind of carbohydrate, but it's a kind of carbohydrate that I'm actually friendly to.
Carbs, y'see, come in different kinds. On the one hand, there are simple, refined carbohydrates like those you find in table sugar or white flour that are absolutely horrendous for you. These are positively EVIL and are the cause of everything from obesity to diabetes to hardened arteries to who knows what. Bad, bad stuff. They are instantly digestible, cause huge insulin spikes, and humans cannot healthily have them in anything but small quantities.
Unfortunately, they are cheap to produce and have long shelf-lives, so the food industry is pushing them at us right and left.
Then there are "complex carbohydrates," which are harder for us to digest and that correspondingly have a lower impact on your blood sugar. These are found in things like whole grains, and they are much better (or at least less horrendous) for us. Some humans can healthily have these in large amounts. Others (like myself) cannot. It depends on your own particular metabolism.
Then there are really complex carbohydrates. In other words: fiber. Dietary fiber consists of the carbohydrates in our food that we either cannot digest or cannot digest very much. They are digestion-resistant (in humans) and so do not spike our blood sugar. They're still carbohydrates, though, and so they get listed on nutrition labels (like the one pictured here) under the heading of "Total Carbohydrates."
This is why you hear low-carb dieters talking sometimes about "net carbs." Net carbs are those carbohydrates that have significant impact on your blood sugar. The way to determine them is to take Total Carbohydrates and subtract out Dietary Fiber. Since we can't really digest that, it won't mess up your blood sugar. In the example above, the product would have 10 grams of net carbohydrates (13g - 3g = 10g).
You can also subtract out certain other carbohydrates that don't have a major impact on blood sugar, such as sugar alcohols (MORE INFO HERE.)
It's important for low-carb dieters to understand how many net carbs they're putting into their bodies, but fiber isn't just a good thing on low-carb diets. It's a good thing for everybody, even people who aren't dieting.
Fiber not only helps fill you up so that you don't eat more (good for dieters), it also can help lower your cholesterol, stabilize your blood sugar, stimulate your immune system, prevent certain types of cancer, and (of course) keep you regular.
In other words, IT'S JUST GOOD FOR YOU, OKAY!
The problem is, with the food industry pushing all those simple, refined carbohydrates at us, the average American doesn't get anywhere near the amount of fiber he should have. An average adult should get at least 20-35 grams of fiber a day, and most of us just don't.
Which is where fiber supplements come in.
There are different types of fiber, and they help with different things. Consequently, the best type of fiber supplement to take is a mixed fiber supplement--one that combines several different types of fiber. HERE'S THE ONE I USE.
This is a powder, so I mix it with water and then drink it down--fast, before it has a chance to gel up. It is also available in capsules, but I don't normally use those because you have to take a bunch of capsules to equal the amount of fiber you get in one tablespoon, and that's inconvenient. (It's also cheaper to use the powder, and you don't have to worry about whether all the capsules will dissolve; if some of them break before the others, they might gel up and keep the others from dissolving).
I do not recommend the use of compressed fiber tablets because you never know if they will dissolve or how much.
A while back I started drinking a glass of water with a couple of tablespoons of fiber in the morning and one again in the afternoon, but recently I changed my practice since I found that I would often forget to have my fiber on this plan.
What I do now is have a tablespoon of fiber each time I eat--either right before eating or right afterwards. By coupling the fiber with when I eat, I don't forget.
There's a benefit to taking fiber right before you eat in that it will help fill you up fast so that you eat less. That's not as much of an issue for me, though, since I don't generally eat three full meals, the size of which varies. I usually have six or so small snacks per day of 200-400 calories each, so I'm not tempted to overeat on particular occasions due to having gone without food for a longer period of time. Consequently, I often take the fiber after eating rather than before.
I also take extra fiber if I'm eating something that is a little higher in carbs or calories since it will help slow down the absorption of the carbs and reduce my blood sugar spike or reduce the absorption of the calories.
It can be hard, though, to always mix a glass of fiber, drink it, clean the glass, etc.--particularly during the workday, so recently I adopted another solution to this problem: Sticking a spoonful of fiber directly into my mouth and then washing it down with water (or, more likely, a diet coke, remembring that "coke" means any carbonated soft-drink; I don't actually drink Diet Coke since it has caffeine and Aspartame in it).
The thing is, I can't do that with the mixed fiber supplement recommended above. There's something about the texture of that which requires it to be mixed with water and then drunk down. If you put it directly into your mouth it instantly clumps up and sticks to your mouth and the result is like trying to clean your mouth with your tongue if you've got peanut butter stuck all over it--only worse.
This effect does not happen, though, with all kinds of fiber, and so when I do the spoon-in-the-mouth trick I use powdered PSYLLIUM HUSKS.
Psyllium is an excellent fiber. It's the one that is used in most fiber supplements (like Metamucil). If you're going to take an unmixed supplement, psyllium is the one to take. It's very beneficial, and it--at least at the level it is normally ground to--does not stick to your mouth like peanut butter on steroids.
Consequently, it's very easy to just stick a spoonful in my mouth, sip a little coke, swallow it, and then drink the rest of the coke--no having to get glasses, fill them with water, stir them up, clean them afterwards, etc.
I still use the mixed fiber supplement as well, but when I'm "on the go" and don't have time for that, I use the psyllium (which, incidentally, is cheaper yet).
So whether your on a low-carb diet, another diet, or just want good health, I'd strongly encourage you to consider using a fiber supplement.
There are, however, a few notes:
1) You must drink fluids when you take fiber. They recommend something like 10-12 oz of water per spoonful. This is because the fiber is going to absorb water as it bulks up inside you, and if you haven't drunk fluid along with the fiber then it's going to start absorbing fluid that you need for other purposes, like keeping your innards lubricated. If you find yourself getting unexpectedly thirsty after taking fiber, this is a sign that you aren't drinking enough fluid with the amount you're taking.
2) You must ramp up the amount of fiber that you are taking. If you aren't used to taking fiber and suddenly jump on a high dosage of it, it will cause uncomfortable bloating or cramping. You need to give your system time to get used to it. Start by taking one serving of fiber supplement a day, then when you're used to that take two, then get used to that and take three, etc.
3) Not all fiber supplements are the same. Some manufacturers, in an effort to make the fiber more appetizing, will load it up with sugar, which makes it useless for dieting purposes. The brands I've linked above are pure--no sugar--but if you're looking at other brands, be sure to read the nutrition labels and find out if they've got sugar in them (some versions of Metamucil are particularly bad in this regard).
4) Be sure that if you are taking medicines or nutritional supplements that you do not take them close to when you take your fiber. When the fiber bulks up, it could prevent them from being properly absorbed. Let an hour go by after taking fiber before you take medicines or nutritional supplements, and don't take fiber quickly after the medicines or supplements, either.
5) If you're taking fiber for weight loss, you should be aware that it will cause the illusion of temporary weight gain. The reason is that even a few grams of fiber absorb multiple ounces of fluid, and fluid has weight. This means that as you ramp up the amount of fiber you are taking, it will be carrying additional water with it through your system, so the reading on your scale will actually go up to reflect the extra water that is accompanying the fiber. This is NOT A BAD THING. The extra weight you see on the scale is NOT fat, it will go away within a day if you stop taking the fiber, but don't do that because the fiber is doing it's job in keeping you like you feel full, so you eat less and LOSE FAT (the purpose of dieting). The addition of fiber makes it look like you weigh more on the scale, but in reality it accellerates the amount of fat your are losing. It also is doing its other jobs like lowering cholesterol, stabilizing blood sugar, preventing heart disease, preventing certain types of cancer, etc.
MORE ON DIETARY FIBER.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (50)
December 12, 2006
Low-Carb Milk
(Jimmy Akin)
When I first went low-carb, one of the things that vanished from my diet was milk. It wasn't a big loss in that I had never been a big milk drinker anyway (now if I'd had to give up diet cokes--in the broad, inclusive sense where "coke" means any carbonated soft drink--then that would be another matter!), but over time I did miss it, and I've found a number of alternatives, which I thought I'd share with y'all.
The problem is that, unlike dairy products such as butter or cheese or heavy cream, normal milk contains way too many carbs. If you want a make-shift low-carb equivalent to milk then the thing to do is get heavy cream or whipping cream (which have virtually no carbs) and then dilute it with water to taste. For a long time, low-carbers had to do that, but now there are a wide variety of alternatives. Here are several, as found behind Door #2 on my fridge:
The best alternatives to high-carb milk that I've found are the two in the center: Hood's Calorie Countdown products. Here I have their Fat Free and Chocolate varieties. They also have a 2% variety, though I generally don't get that one.
Hood's Fat Free Calorie Countdown, to me, tastes indistinguishable from normal skim milk, and there's a good reason for that: It's made from real milk, but with the carbs extracted. Along with most of the calories. As you can see if you squint a little, it has 70% fewer calories than whole milk (45 calories per serving), making it good for dieters of any kind--not just low-carbers. It also has 75% less carbs and sugar than regular milk (3 grams of each per serving instead of 12 grams of each).
The taste of Hood's Chocolate Calorie Countdown is delicious. This is a 2% reduced fat product, so its calories are a little more than the Fat Free version. It's got 90 calories per serving (compared to 230 calories in a standard chocolate milk). And it has 4 net grams of carbs per serving (5 total grams, less one gram of fiber), which compares to 31 grams of carb in a normal chocolate milk. It's also got WAY less sugar: 3 grams as opposed to 29 grams! So even if you aren't on a low-carb diet, this is a great chocolate milk to use.
Incidentally, both of these also come with 8 grams of protein per serving.
The Hood company is based in the northeast, and if you live in New England you can even get it delivered to your home. SEE THEIR WEB SITE FOR DETAILS. Out here in California, you can get it in the stores, but you may have to ask for it. Albertsons carries it and Vons used to but doesn't have it now unless you ask (at least that's the way it is in my neighborhood). You can probably get it by special request from your grocer no matter where you are.
Here in California there are sometimes kinks in the pipeline getting it from New England, and so I've also researched other substitutes, and I can tell you about the two that you see on the ends, both of which are forms of soy milk.
The first thing to know about soy milk is that while it can be low carb, it isn't automatically low carb. Apparently the manufacturers of a lot of soy milk load it up with sugar, which completely ruins it for dieting purposes. If you're wanting to use it as part of a low-carb diet, what you need to get is UNSWEETENED soy milk (NOT the same thing as "plain" soy milk; "plain" means "doesn't have a flavor like vanilla or chocolate added").
SILK is one of the bigger soy milk producers. They've got a bunch of varieties and are commonly available in supermarkets. Here I have pictured their unsweetened version--recognizable by its green carton. It has 80 calories per serving, but only 3 net grams of carbs (4 total minus one gram of fiber). It's also got 7 grams of protein. Now, if you're used to reading nutrition labels, you're saying, "Okay, so if it's only got 3 grams of carb and 7 grams of protein, how can you get 80 calories per serving out of that?" The answer is that this is not a fat free product. It's got 4 grams of fat per serving, which makes it quite rich tasting, and fat is not a problem on a low-carb diet.
If your grocer has any of the Silk soy milks on his shelves, he should be able to get the green-cartoned, unsweetened one for you.
Incidentally, since this isn't actually made from milk (unlike Calorie Countdown), there's a little difference in the taste. I initially perceived it as a faint soy-like aftertaste, but it isn't unpleasant, and I got used to it very fast and don't even notice it now.
The final product--on the far right--is Westsoy's Unsweetened (there's the key word) Vanilla Soymilk. From a nutritional perspective, this one is quite interesting. It's got 100 calories per serving, 4.5 grams of fat, and 9 grams of protein, making it the highest in protein of any of these products. It's also the lowest in carbs. According to the nutrition label, it's got only ONE gram of carb per serving (5 total grams minus 4 grams of fiber, which means it's also a good source of fiber).
Now, you may be wondering how this could be so different from the milks discussed above--how it can have so much more fiber and so much less carbs than they do--and yet taste like normal milk. The answer is that it doesn't. This is the least milk-like-tasting product of the ones considered. It has a thinner consistency and has a kind of nutty flavor, like almonds (which is interesting, because it isn't almond milk--THEY ALSO MAKE THAT). It's not an unpleasant taste, but it's just not as milk-like as the others.
I got the above carton of Westsoy Soymilk at Trader Joe's, but it's available in a lot of other places, including normal supermarkets, too.
Incidentally, the soy milks don't have lactose in them so they are also good if you're lactose intolerant--a condition that is surprisingly common around the world. I was floored when friends of mine from other countries told me that not only were they lactose intolerant, but basically everyone in their home countries was as well. It appears that most people around the planet are lactose intolerant and you can only tolerate lactose well if your ancestors drank a lot of milk straight--without processing it into cheese first--as is the case with northern (not southern) Europeans, certain groups in the Middle East, and certain nomadic groups in Africa and Asia. MORE HERE. AND HERE.
So, whether you're a low-carb dieter, a low-calorie dieter, or have a personal disagreement with lactose . . . Cheers!
P.S. Just 'cause I know folks will ask: The packages you can see to the right of the milk cartons are tofu . . . mostly nigari tofu, which is really good with worchestershire sauce. Mmmmmm.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (57)
September 01, 2006
Eggs Pope Benedict
(Michelle Arnold)
While wandering the Web sniffing out something to blog about, my nose latched onto an aroma of eggs. Curious, I checked it out. Apparently, in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's election, some people were having a bit of good-natured fun with the new pope's chosen name.
Behold the breakfast of popes: Eggs Benedict XVI.
(Nod to Chew Toys for the image. And speaking of Chew Toys, I must say that I enjoyed this blogger's blog squib from Despair.com: "Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots.")
Benedict XVI, when he was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, once said that "humor is in fact an essential element in the mirth of creation. We can see how, in many matters in our lives, God wants to prod us into taking things a bit more lightly."
Given the Pope's great appreciation for humor, I think he'd also smile over the papal eggs. And then, after saying grace, I'm sure that he'd eat them.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (23)
July 17, 2006
Lose Pounds While You Sleep!
(Jimmy Akin)
Maybe!
In my research on dieting I've run across a number of indicators--both in published literature and anecdotally--that suggest weight gain is associated with lack of sleep.
The reasons why are not clear.
Some have suggested that when we don't get enough sleep it messes with our hormones, which produces weight gain.
Others have suggested that we simply have less time to eat if we're asleep more.
Or maybe it's that we don't burn quite as much energy and so our appetites don't get stimulated.
Or maybe we're eating more to try to boost our energy levels when we feel tired during the day.
Or maybe it's the other way around and people who have weight gain have a harder time staying asleep (in which case forcing youself to get more sleep might not have any effect on your weight).
Whatever the casusality, there seems to be a connection between lack of sleep and being overweight.
GET THE STORY.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)
Unfortunately, I haven't had the ability to make a really good personal test of the "Get more sleep and lose weight" theory due to my lifelong battle with insomnia.
Hey, wait . . .
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (28)
June 27, 2006
All About Twinkies
(Michelle Arnold)
If you thought Twinkies were just a cream-filled sponge that lives forever, think again. Not only do some people eat their Twinkies, they actually cook with them too!
"Twinkies, they're not just for dessert anymore. The new Twinkies Cookbook has recipes for everything from a Twinkie Burrito to Twinkie Lasagna.
"Theresa Cogswell compiled about 50 recipes for the book.
"Many were submitted to Hostess, as part of Twinkies' 75th anniversary celebration last year."
In your excitement over the endless possibilities of using Twinkies, just be careful not to eat too many. The Twinkie Defense might not work today.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (25)
June 22, 2006
If Breast Is Best...
(Michelle Arnold)
... why is it that so many mothers bottle-feed their babies in developed countries? I'm don't consider myself a "lactivist" -- someone who is hysterical in support of breastfeeding to the point of scorning mothers who feel they must bottle-feed, as unfortunately a few breastfeeding activists can be -- but I found the following article from The Ecologist to be fascinating:
"Infant formulas were never intended to be consumed on the widespread basis that they are today. They were conceived in the late 1800s as a means of providing necessary sustenance for foundlings and orphans who would otherwise have starved. In this narrow context -- where no other food was available -- formula was a lifesaver.
"However, as time went on, and the subject of human nutrition in general -- and infant nutrition, in particular -- became more 'scientific,' manufactured breastmilk substitutes were sold to the general public as a technological improvement on breastmilk."
What was the result of this alleged scientific advance?
GET THE (SOMETIMES SCARY) STORY.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (55)
The Obesity Epidemic
(Jimmy Akin)
It's no secret that in the developed world there is a widespread problem with . . . being widespread.
I have to struggle with weight issues myself, and it's certainly something I'm familiar with.
The question is what is causing this, and there are several obvious factors that undoubtedly play a role, such as the fact there is just a lot more food available today than there was in the past and the fact that the American diet is loaded with insulin-provoking carbohydrates, and particularly lots of refined, "Give me Type-II diabetes, please!" carbohydrates like those in flour and table sugar.
Dietary conditions are not the only reason that people struggle with weight issues. There are also hormonal and even genetic influences that incline certain individuals toward obesity.
And then there may be something else.
The obesity "epidemic" may be part epidemic in an unexpected sense.
It turns out that there is at least one virus that may be related to weight gain in humans.
EXCERPT:
Unpublished studies in humans show that 20 to 30 percent of overweight people are infected with adenovirus-36, compared to about 5 percent of the lean population.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (45)
May 25, 2006
A Lemonade Per Day...
(Michelle Arnold)
... may keep the kidney stones away. Or so says recent research.
"Regular consumption of the refreshing drink -- or even lemon juice mixed with water -- may increase the production of urinary citrate, a chemical in the urine that prevents the formation of crystals that may build up into kidney stones.
"So conclude two studies presented Tuesday at the American Urological Association annual meeting in Atlanta."
<Tongue in cheek> Just you watch. If this theory gains traction, the next thing you know the Food and Drug Administration will close down kiddie lemonade stands for prescribing medicine without a license. </tongue in cheek>
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (8)
May 01, 2006
Vegans Need Not Apply
(Michelle Arnold)
You've been feeling ashamed of killing innocent potatoes, corn, eggplant, and artichokes in your pursuit of a totally vegan diet, haven't you? But you keep justifying this willful slaughter of hapless vegetables because a body has to eat, right?
Well, the solution is now at hand! Forget about going vegan. Go Fruitarian!
"Welcome to the Fruitarian site, the international meeting point for people who love to eat fruit. We eat raw fruit only … and we feel GREAT!!!!
"This site will be sponsored by 'The International Fruitarian Foundation,' a non-profit organization, to welcome, support, connect and defend the interests of all fruitarians around the world, to promote the style of life of living on fruit only. You will be able to learn about nutrition, fruit, seeds, fruit trees, and the environment for a better life…"
If you'll excuse me now, I hear Ronald McDonald calling my name. And he's not offering a fruit-and-seed patty.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (40)
March 14, 2006
Turning The Water Into Beer...
(Michelle Arnold)
Tired of home taps that only deliver water? How would you like a beer tap hooked up to your kitchen sink? One Norwegian woman recently discovered her tap water had turned into beer.
It wasn't a miracle, though; it was just a plumbing malfunction.
"It almost seemed like a miracle to Haldis Gundersen when she turned on her kitchen faucet this weekend and found the water had turned into beer.
"Two flights down, employees and customers at the Big Tower Bar were horrified when water poured out of the beer taps.
"By an improbable feat of clumsy plumbing, someone at the bar in Kristiandsund, western Norway, had accidentally hooked the beer hoses to the water pipes for Gundersen's apartment.
[...]
"However, Gundersen said the beer was flat and not tempting, even in a country where a half-liter (pint) can cost about 25 kroner ($3.75) in grocery stores."
I'm not much of an alcohol drinker myself. I wonder if I could get my taps to spout soda....
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack
March 03, 2006
Sweet Heart
(Michelle Arnold)
Guess what the heart in the image pictured here was created from.
Did you say Necco candy hearts? Then you were right.
(Nod to CandyAddict.com for the link. Be sure to check out CA's post for related links.)
Feel free to caption the photo in the combox.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack
February 23, 2006
Weight Loss Good News
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
You made some blog posts in July of last year in regards to fiber and wieght loss. The scientific approach that you used for losing weight was very appealing to me (I'm a software engineer).
Basically I set a goal of losing 2 lbs a week (with some weeks being exceptions like Thanksgiving and Christmas). I then weighed myself twice a day to determine how I was tracking to that goal each week and adjusting my food intake accordingly.
I get most of my exercise playing indoor soccer 3 times a week and chasing my 4 kids (I will really be in for it once my twin 11 month old boys figure out walking).
I did supplement fiber via powder mixed in water for the first few months of dieting pretty consistently, but less so after that. Long story short, I was 210 last July and am 155 now (at 5 ft. 7in) and I credit you with inspiring me to strategize losing weight.
It will be nice when I get back into backpacking this year to have a lighter load to carry. So thanks Jimmy for sharing your knowledge and perspectives through your website,
Congratulations! I'm honored to have played a role in your achieving your goals. I hope your remarks come as an encouragement to others.
I'm also glad that the fiber recommendation was useful. It really can play a significant role in helping folks achieve their weight goals.
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 03, 2006
A Rosary A Day
(Michelle Arnold)
Michelle here.
Confession time: I am not a fan of the rosary.
Well, let me be a bit more clear: I appreciate the wonderful history and heritage attached to the rosary; I was impressed and grateful when John Paul II gave Catholics the luminous mysteries of the rosary (I even wrote an article with a sidebar on that event); I admire those who are have a devotion to the rosary. But I don't. It's always been a difficult prayer for me to pray. When I use my rosary beads, I usually use them to say the Divine Mercy chaplet, a prayer devotion that I personally prefer.
So, you can imagine my horror when a friend suggested that I pray a 54-day novena, a novena that entails saying five decades of the rosary for 54 days in a row! This friend is a spiritual mentor, so I didn't reject her suggestion out of hand. I thought about it.
Then I said no.
My friend, like a good spiritual mentor should be, was perfectly fine with that. Then she had a brainstorm. She knew of a particular intention for which I had been praying for years. She suggested that I offer up some of the trials I had experienced over this past year for that particular intention to be fulfilled. Sounded like a great idea. She never even mentioned the 54-day novena.
It did occur to me though that a 54-day novena would be a significant and, for me, sacrificial, means by which I could offer up those trials for that intention. I sighed and told both my friend and the Blessed Mother that they had won. I'd do the 54-day novena.
I've been doing it for the few weeks and have about twenty days left. The reason I tell this story to you is because of a side benefit that praying this novena has had for me.
At first I prayed the novena while sitting on my couch in typical couch-potato style. Then I had a brainstorm.
I had been wanting to establish a walking routine for some time now, but for various reasons this had proven a fruitless effort. Then I realized that the rosary usually takes me about twenty minutes to pray. If I walked while I prayed the rosary, I would be walking twenty minutes per day. Not exactly an Iron Woman regimen, but it would be a good place for me to start.
You might think that a Couch Potato like me would have difficulty doing the whole rosary before needing a break. The first night I only got through three decades before needing to sit down, but after that I could do all five. And so, for twenty minutes per night I've been pacing my living-room floor praying the rosary in this 54-day novena.
At this rate, and assuming I maintain my Rosary A Day after the novena is finished, I expect to reach China sometime in the next century.
NOTE: Any and all prayers you want to add to mine for my special intention would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (70) | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
Col. Sanders: Cruel To Chickens?
(Michelle Arnold)
PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is on the warpath again, this time charging that a bust of Colonel Harlan Sanders, founder of the fast-food chicken franchise KFC, is "a monument to cruelty" -- to chickens, that is.
"Pamela Anderson is leading a charge to remove a bust of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders from the state Capitol.
"The actress called the Kentucky native's likeness 'a monument to cruelty' to chickens in a statement issued by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the animal rights group.
[...]
KFC spokeswoman Laurie Schalow called the move to oust the colonel 'just another misguided publicity stunt by PETA in their attempt to create a vegan society.'"
Star-for-a-day celebrities such as Ms. Anderson may keep the publicity mill churning by making ridiculous statements about "cruelty to chickens" for a thirty-second soundbyte on Entertainment Tonight, but when it comes to real injustice -- such as one million unborn children slaughtered in the U.S. every year -- they are either conspicuously silent or conspicuously marching as Celebrity Guests at rallies to promote the injustice.
Which leads me to believe that it is not the cause de jour that matters so much as the public image and the publicity.
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January 09, 2006
Gluten-Free Noodles?
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
My husband is gluten intolerant do you know if the yam flour in the shirataki is gluten free? I also did the low carb and lost 100 lbs. but now putting it back on and have to get it off health reasons. so new year new life again. Please let me know if you know about this thank you. Have a wonderful New Year and every day.
I did some checking and there are a bunch of sites on the Net that indicate that shirataki is gluen free.
This would make sense. A dictionary I checked defined gluten as "A mixture of plant proteins occurring in cereal grains, chiefly corn and wheat, used as an adhesive and as a flour substitute." Since the kind of yam from which shirataki is made isn't a grain, it shouldn't have gluten.
Just to be sure, though, I'd probably have your husband test a small bit (assuming that's safe for him) to see if there's any reaction.
It hadn't occurred to me before, but folks who are gluten-intolerant (celiac) must sometimes have a difficult time finding noodles that are safe. I assume rice noodles would be okay, but not if you're trying to do low-carb.
MORE INFO ON THE PLANT FROM WHICH SHIRATAKI IS MADE.
Note that this article refers to the "corm"--C-O-R-M--from which shirataki is made. A corm is a large underground root (hence: "yam"), not to be confused with "corn" (C-O-R-N), which means a grain. (Here in America we call "Indian corn" (i.e., maize) "corn," but in England the word is used for other grains, like wheat.)
INFO ON THE LOW-CARB ASPECT OF SHIRATAKI.
BTW, I really like the little, shrimp-sized bundles of shirataki noodles (like the bundle pictured above). They're called musubi-shirataki in case you want to try them.
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December 02, 2005
Beginning A Low-Carb Diet
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
I was on you site and hope you can help me. I need to lose 40 lbs. I am a women 5'7 and weigh 190. My age is 50 . I would like to go on the Atkins diet but for me it is hard to sit down and write a meal plan for every day can you please help me?
Buy the book.
Do not say buy the book. I have a busy life style with foster children and not much time for myself.
Oh, okay.
The good news is that if you want to do the Atkins diet you won't have to write out a meal plan for every day. You only have to keep certain principles in mind:
- Eating carbohydrates causes your body to manufacture insulin, which prevents you from burning fat. If you eliminate carbohydrates then your body will be able to burn fat better.
- Your body has three sources of fuel it can burn: carbohydrates, fat, and protein. If you get rid of the carbs then your body will have no choice but to burn fat and protein.
- Atkins recommends that you eat no more than 20 grams of digestible carbohydrates per day for your first two weeks on the diet (the Protein Power Diet recommends 30 grams instead if you feel 20 is too restrictive). This will virtually guarantee that you go into fat burning mode.
- After the first two weeks, you can increase the number of digestible carbs you eat per day to a higher level (perhaps 40-60 carbs per day) as long as you don't stop losing weight. If you do stop losing weight (over a period of a few weeks) then reduce the number of carbs till you start losing again.
- After you've lost the weight you want to lose, you can increase your daily carbs again, so long as you don't start gaining weight. If you start gaining weight, reduce your carbs till you get back to where you need to be weight-wise.
- If you go off the diet completely then you are likely to gain back all your weight. This happens when you go off any diet, so don't view the diet as a temporary thing but as a long-term change in how you eat.
- To figure out the digestible carbs you are eating, look at the number of carbs listed on the product label and subtract those that are due to fiber (which you can't digest) or which are listed as "sugar alcohols" (technically, you can digest these, but they don't spike your insulin up). For example: If the package says that a serving has 11 grams of carbs, 4 of which are fiber and 2 of which are sugar alcohols then the total digestible carbs in a serving are 5 grams (11 - 4 - 2 = 5). It's the total digestible carbs (not total carbs) that you want to keep low. DEGESTIBLE CARBS ARE ALSO SOMETIMES CALLED "NET" CARBS ON PRODUCT LABELS.
- The fact that you are counting carbs means that you are NOT counting calories. Eat whenever you are hungry and eat as much as you need to satisfy your hunger (NOT MORE). Just keep the carb count low. You are counting carbs, not calories. This makes the diet much easier than calorie-restriction diets since you can eat whenever you are hungry and thus avoid hunger pains.
- The upshot of lowering carbs in this way means that you need to avoid things made from sugar or grain (wheat, rice, corn) or anything starchy (potatoes).
- You can eat beef, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, butter, oils, and cheese, though, since these have virtually NO carbs. (Eating meats--which have protein--is better than lots of butter, oils, and cheese, though, since meats will give your body protein to burn so that your body only burns fat rather than the protein stored in your muscles.)
- Eating green vegetables is generally good (but not corn, which is a grain, or potatoes, which are starchy).
- Eating fiber is good. I recommend drinking a powdered fiber supplement mixed with water (not a pill)--such as the ones make by Yerba Prima. This will fill you up without adding calories (you can't digest fiber). DO NOT drink fiber supplements mixed with sugar since the sugar will spike your insulin and hinder your weight loss. If you can get 25 or more grams of fiber a day it will make your weight loss easier, but build up to this level slowly or you may feel bloated while your body gets used to the new level of fiber.
- Take a good multi-vitamin EVERY DAY to make sure you're getting enough vitamins. If possible, take a multi-vitamin designed for people on low-carb diets.
- Get some exercise. Just twenty minutes of brisk walking three times a week will really jump up your metabolism and make you burn fat better. (Take the kids walking with you if you need to; it'll help THEM get exercise they need, too!) Do in-home walking if you want. I recommend Leslie Sansone's in-home walking DVDs to help keep you happy and motivated. She's so friendly and supportive of you ask you walk away the pounds. She'll make you feel good about exercise and not bored by it.
- Learn about low-carb substitutes for foods you like. There are TONS of these now. There are good low-carb breads, tortillas, pastas, pizzas, chips, cereals, meal bars, diet shakes, ice creams, candies & candy bars. Just make sure you don't go crazy with them and eat more digestible carbs than you should. Keep that daily carb-count low. These same low-carb products can be ordred online (do a Google search for them) if they aren't in your local grocery, nutritional, or health-food stores.
- You may have carb cravings for a few days but these generally go away in two weeks, and you can eat low-carb foods like the ones mentioned in point #15 to stop them.
- You may feel tired the first few days on the diet. This is normal, but your energy will snap back in a few days and you'll feel GREAT--like you have more energy than you've had in years.
- Once you have settled into a routine, you likely won't need to count carbs any more. You'll know instinctively from what you're eating that you are below your weight-loss threshhold. And you WON'T need to do a daily meal plan or deprive yourself if you start feeling hungy.
- Your weight can go up and down a good bit over the course of a day or a few days. Therefore, don't get discouraged if you see it fluctuating in this fashion. To avoid this, some dieters recommend weighing yourself only once a week so you'll see less of the fluctuation. What counts is that you are losing weight over the course of several weeks, not that you seem to be losing it every time you step on the scale.
- To the extent you can, spread out your consumption of digestible carbs throught the day. This will minimize your insulin reaction to the food you're eating. Don't eat one big, high-carb meal if you can avoid it.
- For low-carb milk buy the low-carb milk in your grocer's freezer or use (and, if needed, dilute with water) heavy cream or whipping cream or half-and-half. Sour cream is also low-carb.
- For low-carb crunch eat celery, pork rinds (chicharrones), nuts (without honey-roasting! always watch the digestible carbs on the label!--macadamias are the best, though peanuts and almonds are good), or small amounts of raw carrots or popcorn--or specially-designed low-carb chips.
Also, few other notes:
- If you have a major health problem, check with your doctor before starting the diet (or any diet).
- To smooth your transition into the diet, take 2-3 days to adjust to the low levels of carbs you'll be eating at first. Decrease your carbs over these 2-3 days until you're at the 20 (or 30) grams of digestible carbs per day that the diets recommend.
- Consider taking nutritional supplements that will help you lose weight--like chromium picolinate and L-carnitine. Here's a good book on the subject.
- Poke around my diet section for additional suggestions (like drinking flax seed oil, cranberry juice, and lemon juice--or how to make low-carb mashed potatoes or low-carb hash browns). These may be a help.
- Buy the book. It really will help. Just treat it as a source of ideas rather than something you have to read from cover-to-cover.
- Get a low-carb cookbook or two. The recipe ideas will help keep the diet from getting old and will help you discover low-carb equivalents for your favorite foods. The standard low-carb diet books (like the Atkins book) also include recipe sections to give you ideas. Many low-carb recipes are also available online for free. Just Google "low-carb recipes."
- When you have time (amidst your busy schedule), check out some similar low-carb diets, like the Protein Power Diet, the South Beach Diet, and the Fat-Flush Diet. They can give you good tips and recipe ideas, too.
Finally, BE CONFIDENT! You CAN do this!--and without feeling hungry.
I spent YEARS trying to lose weight before my doctor told me about the Atkins Diet, but when I discovered it, it changed my life. I lost a HUGE amount of weight on it, I've KEPT THE WEIGHT OFF (despite some slips and plateaus), and I'm fitter and feeling better than I did for YEARS.
You can feel that way, TOO! Go forth and CONQUER!
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (26) | TrackBack
November 29, 2005
Happy Turducken Day?
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
I'm Canadian, but I did spend 6 years living in Los Angeles, CA and I do have an American girlfriend so this year I decided to celebrate American Thanksgiving. The Canadian version is actually in October on what you guys celebrate as Columbus Day.
So for my US Thanksgiving feast I decided to finally make a turducken. In case you haven't heard of it, a turducken is what you get when you stuff a chicken into a duck and then into a turkey. Of course that's the short version of the preperatory phase. I took some pictures of the process and a friend of mine was kind enough to post them on his websit. The last photo is a cross section with labelling. The stuff between the birds is sausage stuffing and cornbread stuffing.
This particular bird took 10 hours to cook at 225F until the internal temp reached the target of 165F. I invited 14 friends over to help us feast and we still had half the bird left. Anyway, though you might find the pictures interesting.
Y'know, I've read about turducken, but I've never known anyone to actually make it. Amazing.
It's a good thing turkeys are native to the New World or there's probably have been a prohibition on this kind of thing in the Mosaic Law.
GET THE PICTURES. (WARNING! Pictures of cooked and uncooked food!)
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Bad Reactions
(Michelle Arnold)
I had heard that some people who suffer severe allergies to certain food can suffer reactions because of proximity to, rather than ingestion of, the food in question. For example, I once heard of a child allergic to peanuts who went into anaphylactic shock upon stepping into his classroom, where it turned out that there was a Snickers wrapper in the wastebasket. I believe that child survived. A young woman allergic to peanuts, who went into anaphylactic shock after kissing her boyfriend who had just eaten peanuts, tragically did not survive.
"A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday.
"Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.
"Desforges, who lived in Saguenay, about 155 miles north of Quebec City, was almost immediately given a shot of adrenaline, a standard tool for treating the anaphylactic shock brought on by a peanut allergy, officials said."
What a terrible story, but it does shed light for parents on the necessity to determine just how severe food allergies are and exactly what kind of proximity to the food can trigger an attack. It can also show that one person's food allergy may require an adjustment in eating habits not just for that person but for family and friends.
Posted by Michelle Arnold in Diet | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack
November 24, 2005
Holiday Tip: Low Carb Mashed Potatoes!
(Jimmy Akin)
This is another "wish I'd thought of this sooner" post. If it comes too late for you to use this Thanksgiving, consider it for Christmas.
For hard-core low-carb folks who will keep the discipline even on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas (which is to say, people like me), here's a way to approximate traditional holiday cuisine a little bit.
Some things like turkey and ham are, of course, no problem as long people don't mess them up with carb-laden additives.
But how is it possible to get a low-carb equivalent of that holiday favorite, mashed potatoes?
Actually, there's more than one way. I've seen mixes for low-carb equivalents to mashed potatoes, but there's a very simple way to do it that just uses what you can get in an ordinary grocery store.
Here's the secret: Make mashed cauliflower instead.
Like potatoes, cauliflower brought to the right temperature gets nice and mushy, so you can then mush them up. It's also simliar in color to potatoes but--unlike the latter food--it is quite low carb. A 3 oz. serving of it has like 2 grams of digestible carbs and 2 grams of fiber and only 20 calories.
So just get some cauliflower--frozen or fresh--and nuke it until it's really soft (I just tested a package of fresh cauliflower florettes in a bag and after 7 minutes on high it was quite mushy)--the mush it up with a spoon and you're ready to go.
Since cauliflower--like potatoes--has a relatively neutral taste (not the same as potatoes, but still pretty bland) it's really just a flavor vehicle for what you put on it.
So what can you put on it?
Exact same stuff you put on mashed potatoes: milk, butter, gravy, mushrooms, chives, cheese, salt, pepper--none of those are problems from a low-carb perspective (as long as you use low-carb milk or half-and-half or heavy cream and as long as the gravy isn't loaded with carbs; many commercial gravies aren't bad carb-wise at all), so have at it!
When I was a boy my mom would do fancy things with mashed potatoes on holidays, like form them into individual, ball-like servings (with a point on top) and brown them in the oven before serving. I haven't verified that that would work with mashed cauliflower, but I imagine it would, so if your family's into that kind of thing, you might try it, too.
Good luck with your holiday low-carbing!
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November 18, 2005
Go Tofurky!
(Michelle Arnold)
What's a vegan to do when the whole country eats Thanksgiving turkey and all he believes he can gnaw on is a lump of tofu? The creative vegan might respond that when life gives you tofu, make tofurky!
A company specializing in making food for vegans, ironically called Turtle Island Foods because it makes one wonder about just what is ground into the tofu, has created tofu turkeys for vegans who long for a meatless turkey around holiday time:
"Turtle Island Foods has been providing premium quality soy products at affordable prices since 1980.
"From our home on the banks of the Columbia River we manufacture Tofurky, Tempeh and other innovative soy products.
"Our goal is to produce alternatives to meat products of uncompromising taste and texture that are made from traditional soy foods like Tofu and Tempeh, not solvent extracted soy powders, isolates and concentrates. We are certified organic processors (by Oregon Tilth) and certified vegan (by the Vegan Society)."
Oh, and if your sense of gratitude at having spared the life of a turkey by slaughtering a tofurky spilleth over this holiday season, you can enter an essay contest devoted to honoring the best story about "featuring Tofurky in a peacemaking situation." No, first prize isn't a turkey (or a tofurky), but an iPod.
SEE CONTEST FLYER. (Warning: Evil .pdf format.)
JIMMY ADDS: Although I personally have no problem with offing turkeys for Thanksgiving or any other occasion, I had to chime in on this one because I've actually eaten the Italian sausage tofurky franks pictured above, and (despite the fact it tastes nothing like turkey or Italian sausage) I actually kind of like it in a weird sort of way. (Though de gustibus non disputandum est.) They're also low-carb.
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October 17, 2005
Low-Carb Pizza
(Jimmy Akin)
One of the challenges of low-carb dieting is figuring out how to come up with low-carb equivalents of foods that you're used to eating.
Like pizza.
Many low-carb dieters have tried different ways of making low-carb pizza, and most of the home verisons aren't that successful.
One of the most successful attempts was a Red Baron low-carb pizza that was marketed last year, but they stopped making it and you can't buy it anymore. So now low-carb dieters are back to self-made efforts when it comes to pizza.
Fortunately, I've discovered an amazingly simple way to make low-carb pizza at home.
The result of my efforts is pictured above.
Now let me tell you how to make it.
Here in SoCal we have a pizza chain called Papa Murphy's (NOT the same as Papa John's). The thing about Papa Murphy's is that they don't cook the pizza. They make it, but then you pick it up and take it home and bake it yourself. (It is, correspondingly, cheaper than ordering from a pizza shop that makes, bakes, and delivers the pizza.)
Last year Papa Murphy's started advertizing low-carb pizza, and I couldn't resist stopping in to see what it was all about.
It turned out that they were putting pizza ingredients in to a "special" pan that you took home and baked in your oven. There was no crust to this pizza. Instead, you poured a few eggs (or equivalents from a store-bought "Best of the Egg" product in a carton) into the tray before baking it. This served as a binder, fluffer, and crust.
Then you cut it up and eat it.
It worked great!
I hadn't order it for a long time, but recently I went back to Papa Murphy's and asked if they still had it available.
At first they were confused, for they now have an ultra-thin crust "low-carb" pizza (13-14g per slice ain't low-carb in my book, that's more "mid-carb"), but then a more experienced employee said that they still have what I was after, only they call it a "fritatta," which the dictioanry defines as an open-faced omelette.
That's pretty much what this is: It's like an open-faced omlette that uses pizza ingredients and made to resemble a pizza more than an omelette. In fact, the end-result reminds me much less of an omelette than a pizza.
They can still probably make it cheaper at Papa Murphy's than I can at home since they buy the ingredients in bulk, but it can be made at home.
I realized that there was nothing so "special" about the "special" pan that Papa Murphy's provides, so I decided to make it myself. I went to the store and bought a couple of disposable, aluminum stuffing pans, as well as the ingredients I wanted to use. These included:
- Ragu Pizza Sauce
- Shredded Mozarella cheese
- Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Hormel sliced pepperoni
- Pre-cooked bacon strips
- Pre-cooked chicken strips
- Sliced mushrooms
- Sliced black olives
To make the low-carb pizza, you begin pre-heating my oven to 375 degrees (190 degrees Celsius, for international readers).
While it is heating you spread the pizza sauce across the base of the aluminum pan. (This is IMPORTANT to keep the other ingredients from sticking to the pan.)
Then you lay down a thick layer of Mozarella cheese.
Then you begin laying down the other ingredients, working in some more pizza sauce at one stage.
Finally, you top it off with some more Mozarella cheese (so that it will melt and hold together the ingredients you put on the top).
Then, when the oven is hot, you pour the egg-mixture over the result and put it in to bake.
Wait till the surface is golden brown (pictured above), which should be 20-45 minutes later--piling the ingredients thicker means longer baking time but thicker pizza. The end result can be an inch thick (2.5 cm for international readers), which is like deep dish pizza.
Let it cool for 10-15 minutes and cut the pizza into squares.
Delicious!
Enjoy!
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack
August 17, 2005
By The Numbers
(Jimmy Akin)
One of the things that we've inherited from the low-fat diet nonsense is the idea that eating fat will automatically raise your cholesterol level.
Since on the Atkins diet you end up getting a higher percentage of your calories from fat than you did before (which is bound to happen if you diminish carbohydrates as a calorie source) many low-fat diet zombies have tried to scare people off the Atkins diet by saying that their cholesterol will shoot through the roof.
Not!
What actually happens is that when you decrease your carb intake it causes your body to go into fat burning mode. When that happens, your body burns up the fat that otherwise would get turned into cholesterol and harden your arteries.
When on a low-carb diet, your cholesterol may actually go down.
That's what mine did.
My cholesterol has never really been high, but after going low-carb, my cholesterol readings decreased markedly.
Here's what they read after I had them tested recently:
Total Cholesterol: 128 (best category: Less than 200 is "Desirable")
High-Density Lipoprotein, a.k.a. "good cholesterol": 31 (good: My ideal would be 37 given my Total Cholesterol level)
Ratio of Total Cholesterol To High-Density Lipoprotein: 4.13:1 (less than 5:1 is the goal, 3.5:1 is optimal)
Low-Density Lipoprotein, a.k.a. "bad cholesterol": 85 (best category: Less than 100 is "Optimal")
Triglycerides (really bad cholesterol): 60 (best category: Less than 150 is "Normal")
Since my cholesterol is not bad, I haven't researched the meaning of all these readings in detail, but I am given to understand that they are not only good, they are very good and would be perfect if my HDL was a few points higher. My total cholesterol is apparently so low that it's very uncommon for people to have rates that low.
HERE'S THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES.
Now, in the interests of full disclosure:
- These numbers are typical for what I get when I have a cholesterol test since going on the Atkins diet (i.e., they are not fluke low numbers).
- They are non-fasting numbers (I'd eaten a bowl of low-carb pasta before the test), which would have (if anything) caused my triglycerides to go up as a result.
- I am not taking any cholesterol-lowering drugs.
- I am not specially targeting cholesterol with nutritional supplments (though some I take may have an effect on lowering cholesterol).
So, I thought I'd report these numbers in the interests of Science (. . . Science!) and to say that if you've been thinking about low-carbing but have been deterred by claims it will make your cholesterol skyrocket, don't let that stop you. Only balderdash can be heard from guys who say that, and no one should give any ear to their tongue-wagging.
My cholesterol (which wasn't bad) decreased markedly after I went low-carb.
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August 04, 2005
Eggs & Lemon Juice?
(Jimmy Akin)
A piece back I mentioned The Fat Flush Diet, which is so female-oriented that the author doesn't even bother writing the book for both sexes. The author, a dietician named Anna Louise Gittleman, writes only for women.
The diet is incredibly regimented. There's no way a typical guy doing his own cooking would be willing to undertake a diet so elaborate.
But that's not to say that one couldn't incorporate elements of it.
In fact, I've been doing so, myself.
There are several quirky aspects to this diet, but I've tried a few of them and . . . they've been working. Here's what Gittleman has to say about a couple of the unique elements on this diet:
I learned first hand that one of the best kept secrets to weight loss and lasting weight control is keeping the liver, the key organ for fat metabolism, in tip-top shape. For example, bile , which is synthesized and secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, helps the liver break down fats. . . .
So I researched all the "liver loving" foods and nutrients that would enable the body to produce quality bile and aid in thinning it out. Since one of the primary ingredients of bile is lecithin--a highly effective emulsifier with a detergent-liek ability to break up fats--I decided to experiment with adding lecithin-rich eggs to my daily diet. Soon, the addition of fresh lemon juice and water--a well-known bile thinner--followed suit twice a day. Not only did my own cholesterol come down (a good 20 points to be exact), but so did my weight.
Just to make sure I was onto something, I enrolled thirty of my [weight loss] clients in a six-week dietary exploration and instructed them to add at least two eggs daily to their current diet regimens and to add lemon juice and water twice a day--without changing anything else in terms of diet or exercise. Without exception, they all lost weight, especially around the waistline. In fact, one woman lost 21 pounds over the six-week period (p. 4).
In Atkins' books, he also talks about the importance of the liver in weight loss, but he doesn't target it as much as Gittleman does. The fact he stressed its importance, though, was enough for me to try to give some of Gittleman's liver-oriented weight loss techniques a try.
I haven't done precisely what she recommends above, though. Instead of cooking eggs every day in order to get their lecithin, I simply eat a few spoonfuls of granulated lethicin (in his book on nutrition, Atkins especially recommends the granulated form of lecithin).
Similarly, instead of mixing fresh lemon juice and water, I buy reconstituted lemon juice in those plastic bulbs (I can't find it in bottles in the stores locally) and then just squirt it directly into my mouth.
Theoretically, I'm getting the same nurtients that Gittleman recommends to improve bile secretion and operation, but without as much daily hassle.
Lemon juice also is supposedly able to help fight blood sugar rises by slowing down the absorption of carbohydrates, so whenever I'm about to eat something with carbs in it (e.g., low carb pasta), that's when I'll drink the lemon juice.
As I said, it's kinda quirky, and I don't know if Gittleman has the science behind it right, but my weight loss has been increased since I added Gittleman's techniques of this type.
Take it (or don't) for what it's worth.
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July 25, 2005
The End Of The Diet?
(Jimmy Akin)
Today I've been writing in response to a gentleman who weighs 175 lbs and wants to lose 20 lbs. Compared to many folks, he's quite close to his weight goal, which is great! But it also brings up a note of caution that I'd have for him:
One thing I need to warn you about, though, is what happens when you get to your weight goal. If you approach dieting with the idea that as soon as you hit your desired weight you can go back to eating exactly the way you used to then your diet will do you no good at all. It may even harm you.
When you get to your weight goal you can modify your eating habits somewhat so that you stop losing weight, but you can't just go back to eating the way you are now or all the weight (and likely then some) will come back.
This is important to know when you are as close to your weight goal as you are. If you had a hundred pounds to lose then the idea of making a permanent change in your eating habits would set in long before you got to the target weight. With only twenty pounds, though, (ten of which is likely water weight that will come off in the first two weeks) you may get to your weight goal so quickly that you are tempted to think of a diet as just a temporary change of eating habits.
But the thing is: You body is used to weighting 175 lbs. That is where you "set point" is right now. You can get away from the set point by changing your eating habits, but if--as soon as you hit 155 lbs.--you completely stop dieting then your body will try to trick you into getting back to 175, because that's where it's used to being. It will treat 175 as your normal weight and 155 as some kind of temporary famine weight that it wants to get away from as quick as it can. You have to stay at 155 for long enough for your body to establish a new set point, for your body to think 155 as the "new" normal, and that means a longer commitment to new eating habits than just the effort needed to get down to 155.
Both Atkins and South Beach have modified, longer-term variants (described in their respective books) to help you keep the weight off, but you're so close to your goal that you need to be aware of these up front or you may think that you don't need the diet any more and stop as soon as you hit your weight goal (in which case five to ten pounts of water weight will come back within a matter of days upon resuming your previous eating habits, and fat weight will start accumulating again also).
Hope this helps, and happy dieting!
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Diet | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack
His & Hers Dieting
(Jimmy Akin)
Earlier I was answering a reader who was asking about whether to go on the Atkins or South Beach diet. Here's another consideration I'd raise for him to think about:
One thing that you don't mention in your list but that may be important is the fact that you are a guy. After reading lots of diet books, it has become clear to me that certain diets are better suited to "guy psychology" and others to "gal psychology." In other words, guys and gals will find certain diets easier to do than others. For example, diets that require more complicated cooking tend to be easier for women than men on average, since women are more comfortable doing complicated cooking on average.
The most extreme "gal" diet I've yet encountered is the Fat Flush diet, which is so female-centered that the author doesn't even bother writing the book for both sexes. Instead, the author writes exclusively on the assumption that the person doing the diet is female and then, at the back of the book, has a single question devoted to "Can guys do this diet?" It's also clear from the nature of the diet why the writes so exclusively for women. It's not just that most dieters are women, it's that the diet is so micro-regimented that very few guys doing their own cooking would be willing to attempt it .
Guy dieters tend to have more of a "Just tell me what I need to know and let me get on with it" attitude and don't want to have to deal with complicated menu plans or cooking.
Judged by that standard, Atkins is more of a "guy" diet, and South Beach is more of a "gal" diet (though nowhere near as much as Fat Flush).
Don't get me wrong: Both genders can do perfectly well on both diets. Many men may even prefer South Beach to Atkins (particularly if they aren't doing all of their own cooking), and many women may prefer Atkins to South Beach (particularly if they are cooking for just themselves and don't want to make a lot of speciality dishes for just one person). I'm simply saying that, on average, I suspect Atkins fits a little better with guy diet psychology and South Beach fits a bit better with gal diet psychology.
You mileage may vary.
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Atkins Vs. South Beach
(Jimmy Akin)
A reader writes:
So could you answer a quick question for me?
I'd like your opinion on which diet to do: South Beach v. Atkins.
Different diets work better for different people, so instead of simply telling you which to try, let me interact with the conditions you feel are important to making the decision and give you my impression of which way a particular consideration tips.
Impacting this decision:
- I'm 5'6", about 175 lbs., looking to drop about 20.
Okay, the good news is that your weight loss goals/needs are modest enough that probably either one of the diets will work for you. It's not like you have 100 or more pounds you need to lose. If you did then you'd likely need to consider a more intensive strategy than you do.
- I currently have very little idea what I'm allowed to eat or not eat with either diet, but really only have the time to read up on one.
If time is a consideration then that probably tips toward Atkins. The Atkins diet is built around a few simple principles that are easy to learn and that you then apply yourself to come up with your own menu. South Beach's principles are "fuzzier" and it relies more heavily on telling you what you can and can't eat. One of the things that South Beach does not do is give you a formula that you can go out and apply for yourself. It relies more on giving you lists of approved and disapproved menu plans and foods. This means that you have to rely more on the book and less on your self.
To put the contrast crisply: I could take two minutes and tell you the principles you need to know to do Atkins, but there's no way to do that with South Beach because the author never comes out and gives you a concise list