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Another Low-Carb Post!
Parking today on campus reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Homer parks at the far end of the lot for the Nuclear Plant, which turns out to be right next to his house. Thanks a lot Thurtene, WashU's "most esteemed group on campus" [gag].
Lucas' recent post about the Atkins diet reminds me of something I saw on TV a few weeks ago. While waiting for my tires to get rotated at 8:30 AM, I was watching Good Morning America in the waiting room, and they had a "dietary expert" who had just written a new book about dieting, which of course he was hawking to anyone and everyone. During his "interview" (I hate to insult real journalists by calling it that), they flashed up some trivia questions about dieting, which included the following:
Which of the following diets will allow you to lose the most weight in one year:
A) Low-Carb
B) Low-Calorie
C) Both are the same
The answer, of course, is C, and it should have been qualified with a "neither if you don't get any exercise". People are very good about making the "easy" decisions regarding weight loss: eat the item that says it's healthy on the menu, go with salads instead of french fries, etc. But they like to forget that salad is just as bad for you if you put dressing on it and the worst thing you can possibly have with a meal is a soda (or a "Coke" as I like to call it).
People also lose all sense of rationality when confronted with false hopes. If you told someone on the street that you had a pill that could make them gain 30 pounds in 2 weeks they would call you a liar, but I get spam emails all the time advertising pills that promise to cut 30 pounds in 2 weeks, and if they exist then some idiot must be buying them.
In addition to Hardees' Breakfast Bucket that Lucas mentioned, here are some other ridiculous low-carb foods:
-Thomas' Carb Counting Bagels: a bagel, being comprised entirely of bread, is by default ALL carbohydrates. A low-carb bagel is, in fact, 40 percent smaller than the normal-carb bagel. Interesting.
-Pepsi Edge: Pepsi with 50 percent less sugar and carbohydrates and presumably 50 percent more strange chemicals that will be shown to cause cancer in 30 years.
-Any kind of low-carb beer: the way alcohol is metabolized, you're still going to get the unsightly beer gut.
-Low-carb PowerBars: a product intentionally high in carbs and fat for people with an active lifestyle. Why would these people cut carbs?
Here's a typical person who gets brainwashed by the Low-carb media frenzy and ignores common sense: "Tom McMurray, a North Carolina lawyer, used to eat Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Burger King hamburgers and Hershey's chocolate Kisses. He says he's lost 50 pounds in the past year by cutting carbohydrates."
Was it the fewer carbs that lost him the weight, or was it the fact that he's no longer eating doughnuts (high in calories), hamburgers (high in fat) and candy (high in calories and fat)? The CEO of Kelloggs says it best:
"Ultimately it is how many calories you consume and how many calories you exercise away."
Comments
This whole low-carb phase is absolutely absurd. Yet another 1970s fad that people insist on dragging into the present. It would make sense, say, if the diets told you to cut out simple carbohydrates. But complex carbohydrates? The ones that are good for you and make you healthy? I don't get it. Why are diets so focused on losing weight but not actually about being healthy? And why does everyone seem so misinformed about the whole thing? Does anyone actually believe that eating all protein and fat will make you healthier in the long run?
Posted by: Eileen at April 13, 2004 7:37 PM
Posted by: joe at April 14, 2004 1:13 AM
The point of a low-carb diet, like the Atkins diet, is to first cut your body's carb intake so that it burns off the carbohydrates stored in your body as fat. Then you slowly reintroduce carbs to your diet, so you don't burn off all of your fat and die. When you cut a dietary necessity, your body does everything it can to save it, unless you reintroduce it slowly (the nature of Atkins). Staying low-carb for your entire life is a bad idea (because again, you die). But slowly building up to a healthier balance after burning off excess stored carbs...well, it seems to work.
Anyway, I've always felt that I could eat whatever I wanted, as long as I burned it off. I'm not dead yet, so it seems to be working. I'll let y'all know if I turn out to be wrong.
Posted by: Brian at April 15, 2004 11:02 AM
How to lose 15 pounds in three months.
1) break up with girlfriend of 2 years,
2) stay in touch with girlfriend while she dates fantastic new guy she met on the internet,
3) watch the pounds melt away as depression takes away your desire to ingest anything other than caffeine and tobacco.
After 10 years I'm finally back to my swim team weight!
Posted by: Chris at April 15, 2004 5:34 PM
Posted by: Brian at April 16, 2004 8:47 AM
Chris (Hoge) I assume the story is for real -- sorry for your loss (of girlfriend, not of weight). Ron
Posted by: rkc at April 18, 2004 5:05 PM
Thanks for the voice of support Ron. I didn't give the complete story. My girlfriend and I wound up getting back together. During our time apart we both made positive, significant changes. My weight is stable again... with props going out to Cafe Yumm for their awesome food. For those of you with plans to visit Eugene, OR, make sure you treat yourself to a deluxe yumm bowl.
Posted by: Chris at April 21, 2004 2:04 PM
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