Great responses. It sounds like either way is good.
In the doctors office the other day I read a recent National Geographic article about obesity in America. We have way too much food available, and it is killing us, the report said. They compared low carb and low cal and found that although 6 months into a diet the low carb people had lost more pounds, at 1 year the low cal group had caught up to them.
I have heard good things about Atkins, but 30 years in the 70's ago my mom went on it, stuck to it religiously, and only lost 8 pounds. It also is completely opposite of what people thought was good science in the 80's, that low fat was the key, with lots of wholesome carbs, like fresh fruits and veggies, and only very lean meat without marbling. Now we seem to believe that was all wrong and that low carb or low cal are the key. It is rather confusing and hard to know who is right and who just wants to get rich and famous with the latest diet craze.
It doesn't seem sensible that eating meat and fat with low cars can cause you to lose weight, but Atkins seems to be working for so many people around me. It seems to defy logic that eating all of that meat and eggs can actually improve your cholesterol, but nevertheless, the numbers appear to be showing that it does! I tend to think low cal may be the way, but...
11 years ago a natural health guru in the Seattle area (his name was Partridge as I recall) had me go on a diet that was totally refined sugar free, including nutrasweet and other artificial sweeteners. As a result, my carbs went down because a lot of items that have processed sugars are high in bad fat and processed flour too. I lost 30+ lbs., ate as much as I wanted of the allowed foods, and felt great. I ate lots of meat. So it was very much like an Atkins approach. After about two weeks the sugar cravings went away. Unfortunately, the timing was such that I was on my way out of the JWs and about six months later I reverted to sweets under the stress. I found that once I started again, it was hard to quit.
The best thing about this was I didn't feel deprived. Psychologically I was always full, had enough variety, and had natural fruits and vegetables available when I did want some carbs.
I am a bit leery of diets that stress one food above all others, such as a grapefruit diet, or some other such fad diet food. I am also very leery of anything that smacks of quackery. I think it was because my mom put me on so many restrictive diets as a kid due to allergies and chronic fatigue-like ailments. I alternated carrot and celery juice every other day for over a week one time. I drank brewers yeast through most of the summer of 1971, including the Portland District Assembly. I went on spirolina fasts, and even a liver only diet after mom read a book by Adell Davis. They were pure quackery.
I want to follow a common sense approach, because I think that is what I will have the most success at psychologically.
Tammy
