The best defense is the results. I have struggled with my weight my entire life - to the point where I was bulemic when I was in high school. When I first started Low Carbing - my family was very concerned - then I lost my 50 pounds - and when I gained back a bit and started it again - they were actually proud of me. Even though I did gain back about 15 pounds in a year of being not quite so good (I was still LC but not entirely as I would endulge on deserts and pastas frequently). My mom wants me to stay on this WOE becuase she knows that it keeps my weight stable ... and in turn is better than gaining and losing 50 pounds every couple of years!

Lisa, don't you love to see their faces when they found out that this WOE is healthy and then they too want to try it. My friends are on Weight Watcher and they said that they are starving. Their weight is slowly coming off. My girlfriend even ask me to find information for her. So by just being healthy and happy is showing others that we are not crazy but very knowledgeable.
Donna

Tell them you're on the Eat Right for Your Blood Type. That'll sound irrefutably scientific! And when they ask why you eat all that meat and no grains while being a type A, just answer: "Errr, I am a type O trapped into a type A body!"

Type O trapped in a type A body...ROFL...I LIKE that one! I don't have to use that excuse because I really am a type O...but it's still funny!

When people notice how much weight I've lost they do ask how, so I cheerfully tell them I'm on a low-carb diet. The first words out of almost everyone's mouth are "But what about your cholesterol?" Even more cheerfully I tell them that mine dropped 65 points the first month I was on the diet, my high blood pressure went away, my husband's GIRD disappeared and now so has his gout. That usually gets their attention and they either have nothing to say or ask me for the name of Atkins' book!

And for those who try to tell me it's unhealthy or a fad diet I love to point out that if that were true the human race would have died out sometime in the million years before they started raising and eating grains 7,000 years ago.


Karla

for people still having this problem with defending a LC eating style, I found the following lucid explanation from a herbal supplement website (energywave). I edited a few words, and it's all true, and perhaps a simple explanation of these two kinds of overweight would help others "get it"

"Calorie Sensitivity

One metabolic type is referred to as "calorie sensitive." For these individuals the standard low calorie diet and increased exercise will do the trick. They tend to lose weight quickly on a low calorie program and are generally not more than 10 to 25 pounds over weight.

Symptoms:

* Normal body weight when younger but slowly gained weight after age 30
* Presently over weight by up to 25 pounds
* Normal appetite at appropriate times (mealtimes)
* Few food cravings
* Maintained basically the same eating habits through life
* Eat three meals a day
* After gaining extra body weight, tapered off in weight gain
* Only a few of the carbohydrate intolerance symptoms (listed next)

Carbohydrate Intolerance

Those more heavily overweight (more than 30 lbs. Of excess body fat) do not respond well to low calorie diets. They tend to regain weight rapidly after stopping a diet. Carbohydrate intolerance is also known as hyper-insulinism. The pancreas secretes too much insulin on a somewhat regular basis. Hyper-insulinism is linked to fluid retention and hypertension (high blood pressure). Over time this can lead to heart damage.

Excess insulin can result in hypoglycemia and adult onset diabetes.

The function of insulin is to remove excess sugar (glucose) through converting it to triglycerides. Triglycerides are then stored in fat cells.

People with carbohydrate intolerance tend to have food cravings, especially for sugary foods.

Symptoms:

* 25 lbs. Or more overweight
* Tendency to be overweight through life
* Overweight since a child
* Poor appetite; skip meals or don?t think about eating
* Prefer not to eat in the mornings
* Food cravings that temporarily go away when starch or sugary foods are eaten, then return
* Intense cravings for specific foods
* Most of the symptoms listed under advanced carbohydrate intolerance apply to you.

Advanced Carbohydrate Intolerance

Symptoms:

* Nervousness, Irritability, Needless worrying
* Fatigue & exhaustion
* Faintness, Dizziness
* Cold sweats, Shakiness, Weak spells
* Depression, Insomnia
* Drowsiness (after meals and in afternoon)
* Headaches
* Digestive disturbances with no obvious cause
* Forgetfulness, Mental confusion
* Rapid pulse after eating certain foods
* Muscle pains, Leg cramps
* Antisocial behavior, Over-emotion, crying spells
* Lack of sex drive
* Blurred vision
* Shortness of breath
* Signing and excess yawning, cravings for starch and sugar rich foods

Razzle,
Thank you that is a wonderful explanation. I have copied and pasted so that I can take it to my doctor.He believes in it but the other doctor in the clinic think he has lost his mind.
Donna

I have recently had several acquaintances that noticed a major transformation in me and my appearance (loosing just over 100 lbs since Nov 2002) those who ask, I tell them that I am doing a modified Atkins WOE for diabetics. Sometimes, I just tell them I’ve been sick!!! but, I'm lighter now!

As often as not I get the "It’s not healthy to eat… that way or …all those eggs, …all that fat or ...how do you eat all that meat? I just smile and say ; The scale doesn’t lie! It works for me! Those who want more info I tell them that despite being a diabetic, I am off all diabetic medications and I have normal range blood sugar 95 to 140, a hypertensive for 40 years, I now take no meds. for high blood pressure, my pressure is 125/80, my HDL/LDL complex cholesterol is 80!!! (with all the egg’s I eat, I sure have a shiny coat though!!! LOL). My endocrinologist is very impressed and understands that each person is an individual and what works for one might not work for another, he has been a real blessing to me and a genuine encourager.

I especially like the question "...how do you eat all that meat?" I thell them if God had intended us to not eat meat, He's have made the animals out of processed flower and grains! That is sometime just too much for the them to take and they walk away muttering to themselves. I just love doing that.

Miracles do happen, why expect less?

I actually haven't had any negative responses from people - about the worst is a few neutral responses.

Since most of my acquaintances tend to be techie, they respond well to a technical explanation. Many people don't. But the few non-techie people that I have had discussions with I generally start off by telling them that I have discovered that I am hyperinsulinemic (practice that word until it rolls of your tongue - that helps a lot) and that my body simply can't process a significant amount of carbohydrates in a healthy way.

sometimes I feel like everyone has an anti low carb story to tell

this weekend i was excited that I met my goal and after I finish telling my story someone says how they know someone who got really sick from low carbing and they were happy for me because now i could stop the diet

some people don't understand that it's a way of life and not a short term thing

thanks for letting me vent...i feel better now

A BIG serious whopping congratulations on hitting your goal.

YEEEEEEE HAAAAAAA !!!!!!

Congrats buddy, very cool.

I know what you mean, I hear the horror stories too. I just say "I am sorry it didn't work for them", then I tell them my story and they usually just stand there with their mouths hanging agape, in stunned silence. Usually, they can just muster a... Oh.

It's hard to argue with success!

wbahn; For my techie friend's I just tell them... you wouldn't understand and I bring them another cup of coffee, they forget about what they were talking about and go back to work!

Just kidding April fool's. Actually, I enjoy working with my techie friends, I run "circular logic" on them in meetings and it drives them crazy.

I run the "circular logic" on my "blindly religious zealot-type" acquaintances. But for some reason those seem to be becoming fewer and fewer. Can't imagine what might be causing that.

I'm not surprised that everyone seems to know so many people that "tried Atkins and got so sick they had to quit." We see it here all the time. It's called INDUCTION! Look at all the people that come in, complain about how they feel and then we never hear from them again. One will get you five that those people quit and now tell everyone how sick Atkins makes people.

wbahn;

I'll just bet... your right! I also know that those of us who stick it through, feel so-o-o much better w/o all the carbs.

I also like the "flour, grain and complex carbohydrate… intolerance" explanation, the people who are asking often are really caring folks, they seem to "get" that explanation and I can tell them about it without making them feel dumb, unless they already are... then nothing I say is gonna matter anyway.

When sweets are brought into work and the 'food pushers' come out of the woodwork, I just tell them simply, "I don't eat sugar."

I usually get blank stares, but it works.

Who can honestly defend eating sugar?