Same with me. Catholic school for 8 yrs. I remember one day a kid in class asking the teacher how we could have evolved and still believe that God created us. Her response? "God's days weren't the same as ours. His days may have lasted a few thousand or even million years" I've never forgotten that. The two theoreys are not mutually exclusive.

So how many of these books with a very excellent purpose do we really need? Couldn't someone just buy one of the other dozen or so low-carb books and get exactly the same information. How many of these books do there have to be to qualify as a bandwagon? A hundred? A million?

I'm not saying there aren't noobs out there, and I'm not saying I don't love them. I'm saying that there are a dozen other, cheaper books that are going to tell you the same exact thing. Truthfully, it's all available for free, but I love books too, so I'm not going to deny them something tangible to fetish.



I spent three years researching native diets and NIH and NIMH data before I stumbled upon Atkins. Atkins didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but I think I might have saved myself a year or two of research if I had started with low-carb diets first. I came to know about low-carb diets from the other way around, and ENDED with Atkins.

And as far as my weight is concerned, I wouldn't have the slighest idea how much I weighed, weigh, or want to weigh. I could guess, 350, 220, 180. My only measure is belt notches: 16 lost.

I wasn't around, so I wouldn't know, but if I were a cave girl and had just roasted a chicken in the coals of my fire, I'd eat the fat and dark meat, and throw that damn dry breast-meat to the dogs!

In honesty, I expect the fat and lean meat and everything that was possibly palateable was eaten, and the bones left for pets. If you look at the way people eat, the indigenous people in the Americas, for example, where agriculture is less common, very little on the animal goes to waste. It's so damn much trouble to chase them down and kill them, I'd expect that cavemen ate everything that the body recognized as food, and left the newly domesticated dogs to their own devices for food.

Ok, fine, yes, I'm sure that's what I'm doing, little heathen creep that I am. Now let's get back to talking about nutrition.

I definitely believe that the overeating of processed foods is one of the factors that leads to unhealthy weight gain. Living much less physically active lives, as time has marched on past the dawn, plays a huge part in this as well.

The thing is, Wildcard, it seems pretty clear that a diet that consists of what has been recommended to us for some time now, with the old food pyramid recommendations; significant amounts of processed foods along with small servings of fat and protein, seems to have led a lot of people toward unhealthy weight gains.

If I eat like this
Even if I stay under what is recommended daily I'm going to gain weight.

So what do you suggest? Eat another plain baked potato and cut out more of the fats and protein to keep the calories down? I've done that. More than once. And it led me to becoming fatter after each time I tried it.

And I'm not even touching on food addictions and how difficult it is for some to stop at just the recommended amounts of processed foods per day.

Again, I'm compelled to ask you, Wildcard. Why did you not stick with your baked potato and sugar cereal way of eating if it was really working out so well for you?

*edited to fix a typo

Again, this food pyramid has not worked in America, where everything is supersized. People all over the world adhere to the food pyramid and stay slim.

what do I suggest? Activity. I read it in a book and it helped change my life. Not only does it help maintain ideal weight, it also helps improve the quality of life.

I did not stick with my baked potatoes regimen because I wanted to see results faster. Trust me, I am back to that good old regimen, and even though the results are not as dramatic as on LC, I have experienced a slow and steady weight loss on my reduced carb diet and I feel very energized.

Well, Wildcard, I hate to tell you, but I never overate. I obviously didn't eat like a bird, but ate a very normal amount. But I ate all the wrong foods. And it was all refined, processed CRAP. And THAT is what got me where I am today. I rarely went for a 2nd helping of anything and can't stand my food to touch each other, so I never had a heaping plate. So explain that one to me? And when I dieted lc before, I lost all of the weight. I fell off the wagon, and gained some back. Hmmmm, I think I see a pattern there!?!?!

Umkay, well, it's hard to keep up with you. You shift gears pretty fast. Three days ago you were on a lowcarb plan that had you complaining of not having any energy. And of course when folks pointed out to you that it appears as though you've never properly started a lowcarb weight loss regimen, nor have you been eating lowcarb in a way that's healthy, you abandoned the thread.

That seems to be the pattern, near as I can tell. You start a thread by asking a question that you think will be provocative in a lowcarb forum and then abandon the thread when your lightly veiled anti-lowcarb comments are easily refuted by any number of people who know what they're talking about when it comes to eating lowcarb.

wildcard...I take exception to the statement that "people all over the world eat the food pyramid and don't gain weight"....do they? I don't think so...

there are plenty of cultures that don't use starches and grains as the main part of their diet..not to mention over processed ones....

just my 2 cents...
bob

In Australia and the UK we follow the same food pyramid, and obesity is almost as big a problem in these two countries.

There are also areas of China that are experiencing a wave of child obesity as western food becomes more popular over there.

I have been vegetarian for 6 years and I ate what everyone considered a very healthy balanced and natural diet. I gained and gained. It was only when i cut out breads, pasta, rice and other carbs did I lose weight.

I am not an overeater either.

so you are telling me that it is the processing in the BK whopper, and not the 700+ calories that are causing weight gain?

Add the 660 calories from the supersized fries and the 400+ calories from the route 44 coke and maybe it begins to make sense why eating that for one meal everyday without an increase in activity would cause weight gain.

You ASSUME that everybody that is overweight overate. That is simply not true. YES, I did eat fast food, but I did not supersize. I NEVER got a 44oz coke. I don't want a barrel of pop. And I'm sure there are many others like me. I couls see if I just stuffed myself with food, but I didn't. What I did do was make bad choices on what I ate. And that is why I lc now, to correct the mistake that I made previously. I lost a lot of weight on lc before, then went back to eating all the processes refined hi carb food, and put 40 lbs back on. Now that I'm cutting that all back out again...GUESS WHAT...I'm losing weight!!!! Coincidence?? I think not.

Cara,

LC works for you, great. LC works for a lot of people. There are also a lot of people that eat processed foods that dont become overweight

Ummm, this just got me thinking about something and actually does have to do with nutrition.

How many of you have ever read Darwin's Theory of Evolution? It absolutely does not go against the Bible. So many of us learned about it in school and that was as far as it got. Darwin's theory showed how animals could evolve over time to fit into their environment.

Okay--now on to that nutrition part. Years back in London there was a moth that fluttered about, very happily. It was white in color and since the air was clean and lovely for the most part the birds didn't get to eat too many of them so the moths thrived for years and years and years.

Then suddenly the industrial age hit London, and buildings that were previously light-colored were suddenly turning black from coal smoke. The aforementioned moths were having a really hard time surviving trying to hide on black walls and were being picked off by the birds almost to extinction. However, there was one thing that saved these moths. Occasionally, there was a sport produced, black in color. These sports started producing more black moths. Ultimately the birds ate all of the white ones that showed up against the black walls, but the black ones survived. This is evolution at its finest. AND it's nutritional info because after all the birds had to eat!

Another quick example of evolution: during the Civil War the average American male was roughly 5'6" tall. Now the average male is what, 5'8"? Possibly taller? Somehow mankind evolved into taller beings (most likely to do with better nutrition).

And yes, I believe in God and creation, but I also know that plants and animals can change over time to adapt to their various environments, and this is exactly what Charles Darwin wrote in his book which was found to be heresy.

And as for real nutrition, I wrote something in a thread sometime back about my mother. She didn't over-eat but was over-weight her whole life. In fact, she spent most of her life dieting, one diet after another and was always extremely active and exercised on top of that. She might lose 5 pounds then no more. It's sad, really. I know there are those who lose weight more easily, but for some of us, the only way weight will come off is through low-carbing. I'm just glad to have that option.

Dear fellow low-carbers.

If you read Wildcard's signature line it states: My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with facts.

1. He initiates a question.
2. He shows absolutely no interest in the answers
3. He ignores the answers if they are repeated
4. His mind is made up
5. He doesn't want to be confused with facts.