First - I believe in low carb, but I think the carb count varies from individual to individual, just as the type of carb also varies. But I absolutely do believe the "Standard American Diet" - - or the food pyramid being taught in schools - - is deadly.
For myself, I just recently learned that induction level carbs don't work very well for me, even when giving up caffeine, zero calorie sweeteners, drinking plenty of water, limiting cheese and nuts, etc. But, I have thyroid disease and only just read that the liver has to have "readily available sugar" to convert T4 to T3. This wasn't permission to go on a carb binge, this just meant that I needed to proceed to OWL.
Finally, I just left my FIL's hospital bedside. He was diagnosed with Type II diabetes in the '80's. His doctor never told him to cut-out white bread, potatoes, pasta, etc. He was put on Glucophage and told to eat low-fat and replace sugar with zero calorie alternative. He also smoked heavily and never told to quit (until recently, by the cardiologist who did his open heart surgery and placed two stents). Now, he has heart disease, stage III kidney disease, and is now in the hospital with cancer (biopsy is tomorrow). While he doesn't eat all that well at home, he's now eating the hospital's "diabetic plate." His lunch today was a small portion of lean turkey with a dribble of gravy, fried apples, a white roll, fat-free bouillon, sugar-free banana pudding with fat-free whipped topping and vanilla wafers, iced tea with splenda and butter buds (that powdery stuff). Afterwards, the nurse seemed perplexed about why his blood sugar was 350. Also, I imagine all those carbs are making his blood quite "sticky" and causing a good deal of clumping, creating lots of "bad" cholesterol, with no "good" cholesterol from the right kind of dietary fats to repair the damage.
Yes, I believe a proper diet consists of relatively low carbs made-up of as many unprocessed foods as possible with as much variety as possible.
ETA: At one time, I thought a vegan diet was healthy, until my health declined steadily (and I was taking all the supplements and eating only whole grains and unprocessed, whole foods, etc.). As soon as I began eating meat again, my health improved and I've been low-carbing "for my health" on my doctor's recommendation since 2004.
Last edited by MoonDansyr : Sun, Dec-05-10 at 16:36.
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