Originally Posted by Shobha

One thing we all probably agree on is that we should not overdo processed food. The less processed food we eat, the better our health would be.

Thats far more sustainable than sticking to strict ratios or grams of ingredients.

Originally Posted by Nancy LC

Look up "skinny fat". Skinny people probably aren't any healthier, and might be less healthy, than overweight people.

Originally Posted by AimeeJoi

Well I am pretty sure I am addicted to sugar As much as it hurts to admit that. I have been trying to rationalize why I should continue eating carbs and as much as I hate hearing it I think everyone who said it is better to be fatter and eat less carbs is right. I feel pretty awful on traditional lc but maybe it is just withdrawal. I am thinking of trying Schwarzbien now because it seems balanced, the carbs aren't that low and supposedly it helps regulate a messed up metabolism (I'm positive I have one of those) The forum seems kinda dead though.

Originally Posted by M Levac

That question has two assumptions. First, eating low carb keeps us fat or even makes us fat. That would be really hard to prove since most of us here cut out carbs to lose fat. Second, eating high carb keeps us thin or even makes us thin (do you mean lean?). Again, everybody here grew fat by eating high carb.

The question of thin. We can be thin two ways: Lean or emaciated. It's obvious which one is healthy. As Ancel Keys showed us in his semi-starvation experiment, we know that a high carb diet is what causes us to become emaciated. And neurotic but you didn't ask about that part.

The question of being fat. We can be fat two ways. Naturally like when a woman becomes pregnant and puts on more fat for example. Or artificially when somebody eats carbs, like fructose for example, which disrupts fat metabolism and produces obesity.

As you can see, there's a common theme with one way to be thin and one way to be fat: The high carb diet. It seems paradoxical until you realize that to be thin on a high carb diet, you must eat a semi-starvation diet (not enough food) and this means you must remain hungry continuously and suffer the neurosis that comes with this continuous hunger. Is that healthy?

You said you don't really stick to it for any length of time. Well, there's your problem right there. It's not low carb if you don't stick to it. Further, a woman's weight (not just body fat %) fluctuates with her menstrual cycle. If you stick to it for a month, then don't see any progress for a week, that might be why. Stick to it for 6 months, then see if you really stay fat on low carb. You said you can't see yourself eating this way for the rest of your life. Well that's your choice and I don't see how I can convince you otherwise. But there's the rub, low carb is not a permanent solution. The only way to benefit from it all the time is to eat like that all the time. But look at the flip side, the only way to grow fat from high carb is if you eat like that all the time. So maybe you could eat low carb during the week and high carb in the weekend. Of course, it all depends on how low carb you gonna eat and how high carb you gonna eat, and how much total carbs you gonna eat on average. If it comes out to more than about 100g per day on average (could be lower for you, I don't know, you gotta test), you probably won't lose much fat.

In my mind, there is no question that low carb is healthy, and high carb is toxic. If you want to really learn why this is so, then pick up the book Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Another good book is Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price, it's free if you look a bit or you can order it from some online book store or something. Yet another book on the subject is Not By Bread Alone by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, you can get that one free if you look hard enough.

Anyway, even if you don't read the books, stick around and you might just pick up some good advice here.