Question by hello153: What are the side effects of popular diets?
I am doing a group presentation and wanted to know what types of nutrient and other things your neglect yourself when doing diets such as the grapefruit diet and Atkins Diet. I need three diets, though I only need to talk for 4 minutes.
Best answer:
Answer by Cindy in Texas
The main effect on health of the Standard American Diet is that with their direct effects on insulin & blood sugar, refined carbohydrates are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease & diabetes.
U.S. government guidelines were changed 35 years ago to suggest we lower our fat intake & increase our carb intake. American society followed these recommendations & lowered their fat intake by 11% & increased their carb consumption. In this same time frame obesity, diabetes, heart disease are all at epidemic levels.
There is no better way to bring the body to the state of optimal health than with a low carb way of eating. Low carb doesn’t cause high blood pressure, high blood sugar or high cholesterol, it cures it. It is actually dangerous to take meds that lower these levels and do low carb at the same time because the levels will become dangerously low. Carbohydrates trigger insulin. High insulin levels unbalance other hormones. Anything less that 9 grams of carbs per hour controls insulin and is considered low carb (up to 144 grams per day).
A low carbohydrate diet is a high fat diet. The protein should only be a little higher than adequate. Although it is completely possible to live on a fat/protein only diet for long term (as proven by research done in a hospital setting) it becomes boring fairly quickly. Luckily many vegetables & some fruits, nuts & seeds are low in carbs & greatly expand the diet. Most long term low carbers eat as many, if not more non starchy vegetables than vegetarians.
Glucose is the bodies preferred fuel (if you want to get technical, it actually burns alcohol most efficiently, but that doesn’t make it any healthier for the body than carbs), the body can convert 100% of carbs, 58% of protein & 10% of dietary fat into glucose. The body can also be fueled by fat (dietary fat & fat cells) but only in the absence of carbs. The brain actually prefers* to be fueled by ketones (part of the fat burning process), it does require glucose also, but glucose can be easily converted from excess protein if needed or dietary fat. Fatty acids are the preferred substrate for the heart muscle.
Plaque build up in the arteries is more attributable to carb consumption than dietary fats, which seems to be the conclusion of the following study. Carb consumption raises triglycerides & VLDL (bad cholesterol). Fats raise the HDL (good cholesterol). High triglyceride levels & low HDL levels are an indicator of plaque & glycation – the precursors to a heart attack & heart disease.
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/after-eating-effects-carbohydrates-vs.html
study from the Oxford group examining the postprandial (after-eating) effects of a low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diet. (Roberts R et al, 2008)
Postprandial lipoproteins, you’d think, would be plentiful after ingesting a large quantity of fat, since fat must be absorbed via chylomicrons into the bloodstream. But it’s carbohydrates that figure most prominently in determining the pattern and magnitude of postprandial triglycerides and lipoproteins. Much of this effect develops by way of de novo lipogenesis, the generation of new lipoproteins like VLDL after carbohydrate ingestion.
Gary Taubes who wrote “Good Calories, Bad Calories” spent 7 years going through all the studies over the last century & dividing up the real science from the faulty science & concluded that low carb was the best way to control insulin levels which balances out other hormones & allows the body to function properly.
His main points are:
1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease or any other chronic disease.
2. The problem is refined carbs in diet, their effect on insulin secretion & the hormonal regulation of homeostasis.
3. Sugars – sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup specifically – are particularly harmful, the combination of fructose & glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels & overload liver with carbs.
4. Through their direct effects on insulin & blood sugar, refined carbs, starches, sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease & diabetes. They are likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s & other diseases.
5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating.
6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter.
7. Fattening & obesity are caused by an imbalance in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue & fat metabolism.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from fat tissue.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbs make us fat.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbs also increase hunger & decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism & physical activity.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The two most popular diets are:
- Calorie restricted diet
- Atkins diet
Neither diet is effective over a period of one year or more (Gina Kolata “Rethinking Thin”). The human body is architected to prevent starvation and was not designed to handle the amount of fat, oil, sugars, and additives in the standard American diet today. When you eat too few calories, your body automatically reduces metabolizm and stores fat. Calorie restricted diets go against the hard wiring of the human brain.
Atkins is down right dangerous according to Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. Dean Ornish (among many experts in human nutrition). The risk of heart disease, obesity, stroke, some cancers, and diabetes can be expected to increase in this diet. The diet is high in cholesterol and fat and will cause cardiovascular disease
The one diet that seems to work universally when a person follows it for life is a pure vegetarian diet. According to the experts listed before and Dr Calwell Esselstyn, Jr. this is an ideal diet. I lost 50 pounds by changing my eating habits in this way. Vegetarians must be careful to get enough vitamin B12, vitamin D, and Omega-3 fatty acids. These can be added with supplements.
Keep it simple. One minute 20 second per diet. That means 30 seconds to define the diet, then the con side, easy to locate on the internet. do it for each selected diet, like lack of nutrients, lack of variety, leeching of calcium, tedium, failure to maintain. then a conclusion: one doesn’t need a diet per se, but a plan for a healthy life which includes proper nutrition and exercise. A few seconds for questions, and a thank you, and off the floor.