I'm personally of the opinion that different diets work better for different people. Veggie and macro work well for people who are constitutionally able to thrive with that, and limiting carbs works well for people who get addicted to sugars or who balloon if they eat pasta, and for whom meat is unequivocally A Good Thing. I see several problems with Atkins: Not everyone who's on it is going to be one of those people. It works by shocking the system-- you have to shock your system a little to make the switch from running on carbs to running on fat. It can put lots of strain on the kidneys, even to a fatal degree if one is not careful. And it's taken as a license to eat lots of crap and no nutrients.
Long before Atkins formulated it, this was the basic nutrition of lots of bodybuilders-- 0 carb, tons of protein, drop fat and build muscle. Unfortunately, and this might be at the center of a lot of dumb muscle-bound guy stereotypes, many of them couldn't tie their shoelaces or find their own way to the gym after a month or so, because protein is not what fuels nerve tissue, i.e. the brain.
I used to work for a chiropractor who did well with it. He was of Germanic and Lombardi descent, which I think is a contributing factor for his success. He also didn't eat crap-- he ate lots of chicken, fish, and steak, and made sure to get as many vegetables as allowable under the diet, supplemented, and did a lot of cardio training. His office manager went on it too, and though she was doing more or less the same things, she did well at first and then not so well after a few weeks.
I like the paleo diet, but even there you're making adjustments for the food that's available in your region (which if you're lucky is in the same part of the world as you grew up, and as your ancestors lived), and you can tailor it to take into account personal constitution. When I went on the hunter gatherer diet I took as part of the diet the fact that foraging people walk a lot, and eat as they walk, so I carried a lot of dried food and snacked constantly as I walked from class to class. That really suited my constitution, because I have a tendency to not eat until I'm ready to collapse, then eat tons of whatever is readily available (like cheezburgers!)
Of course, I wasn't trying to lose weight, just eat more healthily. Hm. I need to get back to that. *glares at cinnamon bun with grave suspicion* Thanks for this thread, guys. You're putting me back on track. |
