Choosing a Reduced-carbohydrate Lifestyle

What is a Carbohydrate?

Carbohydrates (carbs) serve as the primary energy source for most forms of life. Carbohydrates are one of three fundamental organic substances found in all living things —carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Each of these exists in multiple forms. For example, lipids exist as fats — important food storage molecules in forms such as butter, vegetable oils, and beeswax — and "complex lipids" which serve important structural rols in cell membranes.

Carbohydrates exist in many forms, including

• monosaccharides ("simple sugars") such as glucose and fructose (fruit sugar)

• disaccharides ("double sugars) such as sucrose, lactose (milk sugar) and maltose (the sugar found in beer)

• polysaccharides ("complex sugars") including starch, glycogen (sometimes called "animal starch), cellulose (found in plant cell walls), and chitin (found in the exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects).

Of these, starch serves as the primary source of carbohydrate food for humans.

Why Cut Carbs?

Studies have shown that the body uses carbohydrates first as an energy source, fats second, and proteins last. (This is in direct proportion to the ease and efficiency with which these substances can be used). However, if the carbohydrates are not needed immediately as an energy source, they can readily be converted into fat by the body's internal processes.

Most Americans overeat and many American especially overindulge in carbohydrates: bread, potatoes, rice, cereals, cookies, candies, and high-sugar snacks. Many "low fat" foods contain high amounts of sugar! Reducing the overall number carbohydrates in your diet can have many positive results, including:

• Weight loss

• Improvement of cholesterol and tri-glyceride levels

• Eliminating symptoms of hyperglycemia and stabilizing blood glucose levels

• Reducing the risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes

How Do I Get Started?

We started reducing carbs in our diet on Labor Day 2003 when my spouse's brother-in-law came through on his way home from a vacation north of us. He's doing Atkins (and looks great!). My spouse, Rich, and I are both of a very scientific orientation, being computer programmers both, so we went off to the bookstore and spent an hour in the diet section, looking over (and purchasing) several books which we went home and read. From these we've distilled a personal food philosophy derived from Atkins, South Beach, The Fat Fallacy, the Glycemic Index (which we had discovered a couple of years ago), and a few other sources (including what we like to think of as "common sense :-)

We recommend you also start by reading. Read, do your own research, make intelligent decision, and find a solution you can live with. If something works for you and you're maintaining your health while losing weight, it's good. If something doesn't work or you're damaging your health, it's not good.

Remember, this isn't a "diet" in the traditional "lose weight and stop dieting" sense. This is a lifestyle change in eating habits. Always be sure to drink plenty of water, get plenty of fiber in your diet, exercise, take vitamin and mineral supplements as necessary, and eat "real food" (not weird processed stuff full of strange unpronounceable chemicals :-).

Our Philosophy

Our personal philosophy aligns most closely with Dr. Arthur Agatston's South Beach Diet (with a sizable amount of The New Glucose Revolution and The Fat Fallacy thrown in). That is, there are both "good" and "bad" carbs as well as "good" and "bad" fats.

White flour, refined sugar, saturated fats and trans-fats, excess starch, over-processed foods, unpronounceable chemicals, meals eaten on-the-run, over-eating — These are Bad.

Contrariwise, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, mono- and polyunsaturated fats and oils, foods naturally containing vitamins & minerals, "real food", smaller portions, eating more slowly and enjoying your food — are Good.

Eat right for yourself

Don't just take our word for it. It's your body and your life.

• Read!
• Make an informed decision
• Then, put that decision into practice
• Choose wisely; pay attention to your food choices
• Think!

It's your decision; make it a good one!

References

Essays

I've discussed the low-carb lifestyle several times in my online journals:

• Low carb need not equal faux food

• The South Beach Diet

• A Calorie is a Calorie... or is it?

• Sweet Tooth

• Low-carb pizza?!

• Fat-free (or Carb-free) Still Isn't "Free"

• Hardly Sugar Free

• South Beach Updates "Foods to Enjoy"

Articles

News Articles

• Low-carb craze grabs consumers: Onslaught of new products tempts dieters (SF Chronicle)
• Study surprise: Low-carb dieters eat more, lose weight (CNN.com)
• Low-carb foods leading many dieters astray (USA Today)
• Press Release from York Nutritional Laboratories, "National Bestselling Author Says Most People Are Doing Low-Carb Diets ``All Wrong'' "

Books

We personally recommend the following books:

• The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss by Arthur Agatston
  The South Beach Diet was created by a cardiologist who wanted to find a way to help his patients lose weight and improve their cholesterol and triglyceride counts.

• The New Glucose Revolution by Jennie Brand-Miller, Thomas M. Wolever, et al.
  The glycemic index is a ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. It compares foods gram for gram of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes. The blood glucose response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes.

• The Fat Fallacy by William Clower
  To us, at least, this book makes a _lot_ of sense. It's not so much a "diet"book as a call to change your diet to be more sensible — smaller portions, reduce snacking, less red meat, eat more slowly, enjoy your food, don't starve yourself, don't overeat.

  The book also points to some interesting studies that show that dietary fat is not necessarily directly linked to body fat; that is, a low fat diet may not be the best idea if trying to lose body fat, lower cholesterol, and have more energy. Strangely, the reverse may be true (low fat diets may actually raise cholesterol and make people tired). A good diet is not so much a "High" fat diet, but moderate and reasonable level of fat, still higher than the typical US belief. Combining this with the fact that people who do low carb, it appears that the extra carbs are the bad guys, not the fats.

• Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution
  This comes in 4 different formats, hardcover, trade paper, regular paper and the 'old" edition, and thus several variations on content and price!

• Dr. Atkins' Carbohydrate Gram Counter
  Provides counts for both Carbs and "Net" Carbs (the ones that impact blood sugar) as well as fiber counts

• How I Gave Up My Low-Fat Diet and Lost 40 pounds by Dana Carpender
  Not only a nifty title but the book actually looks good.

Web Sites and Pages

• Why Most of What You Were Taught about Nutrition is Wrong (this essay was written by a long-time friend of mine with whom I agree; I think he said it very well, too.)

• International Food Information Council — Questions and Answers About Glycemic Index

• BBC Horizon Transcript: The Atkins Diet

  LI>Don't Cut the Carbs

• Don't cut out carbs, Just learn which kinds actually can improve your health.

  ---

• The Fat Fallacy Website — fatfallacy.com

• The Glycemic Index — www.glycemicindex.com

• Low-Carb Blog — lowcarb.blogs.com

• Low Carb Freedom

  ---

• Atkins Nutritionals Home — www.atkins.com

• The South Beach Diet Online — southbeachdiet.com

• Fit & Fabulous — www.fabulousfoods.com/fitfab/fitfab.html — Low Carb and Diabetic Friendly articles, recipes, and news

• Hold The Toast — www.holdthetoast.com — Dana Carpender's website. Sign up for the e-zine.

  ---