Natrushka,
I certainly don't think the Dr. Bernstein "diet" phase is a maintenance phase or a way of life, certainly the doctors at the clinic don’t and neither does my regular doctor. Who in their right mind could think they can sustain a diet at 900 calories? No one advocated that to me either and I’m certainly not advocating it to anyone else. At first the “diet” is drastic yes, but I do think certain facets of it are very similar to the Protein Power Plan after you’ve reached your desired weight. Being careful about sugar and drinking alcohol, and moderating your intake of starchy foods like bread and potatoes, excercising more, is something I’ve had a discussion about with my regular doctor and the doctors at the Bernstein clinic – they both recommended restricting my carbohydrate intake based on my previous inclination to eat food with high sugar content. I went through the impact and role of insulin in the body for quite some time with them. I have moved onto a way of eating for life that seems quite similar to the Protein Power Plan. You don’t go to the clinic for $100 a week and play cards.
Anyways, as I’ve reiterated previously, I wasn’t trying to make any comment about a low carb “diet” per se. I don’t want to read anymore about how to diet and moderate my intake of carbohydrates. I’ve discussed it with my doctors – I understand the implications. My real point, as has been reinforced by your post and Karen’s is that the “defensive” arguments come up every time I try to get to the heart of the matter, which is being honest with ourselves and doing something about it. Actually, I think these posts are almost comical now. I write about how many Americans are overweight and Karen writes that our North American diet, heavy in carbohydrates, is a “disease”. More double speak. What disease? Eating poorly may cause disease, but it’s a lack of education and yes, (dare I say it) will power that’s contributing to disease. Eating too many french fries is not analogous to leukemia. You talk about a way of life that heals and nurtures and try to imply I’m advocating living on 900 calories. I’m talking about getting off our asses, stop making excuses, exercising more, caring about how we look so we can help ourselves get healthier, and stop wasting time explaining why there are real reasons you can’t trust a weigh scale. Who do we think we’re kidding? I kidded myself for years.
Rather than pick every sentence apart, why not take the discussion into something more positive? That is really, for once and for all, what the post is all about. It’s not about wading into “low-carb” parlance and getting shot at. I don’t want to do that anymore. I never intended to do it. How do you find ways to exercise? How do you deal with the cravings you have, for food you should moderate? How do you motivate yourself? How do you help yourself?
I think caring about how you look and being thinner can help some people get healthy. That’s all, nothing more than that.
Last edited by Pete : Sun, Feb-10-02 at 02:17.
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