Bad Diet Advise?

 I think that what is bad diet advise (lowering carbs for example) for some people or maybe even the majority of people is not bad diet advise for others. I am diabetic and controlled with what I eat so I don't have to use insulin and stuff, but it means I have to be careful how many carbs I eat. So my diet looks a lot like the Atkins diet, and he never claimed that you could skip veggies! I eat more veggies now (but low carb veggies like leafy greens and cabbage and cucumber) than I did before. I do eat more carbs because I like fruit and my blood sugars don't react to fruit as badly as to processed foods (I measure to see how things react) so I use extra carbs just for fruit.

What I notice is that reading through the mentions of bad diets, that most people mention diets they've heard about from others but that were not meant in the way that they have become known. People oversimplify. Atkins is not just meat and bacon and cheese. THe large amount of carbs that are advised are not 'necessary', smaller amounts works just fine and there are quite a few people who feel very good on a moderate carb diet, because it works for them. But others have higher carb needs and feel cranky on it. The 'hour a day' diet and the rest of the day low carb is the 'Carboydrate Addict's Diet' and they were very clear in the book that you were not supposed to just have an hour-long binge, you are supposed to eat one third of your plate protein, one third veggies, and one third carbs you really wanted that day, and not overeat on the carbs. I tried that and I know it works great for some, because you limit the insulin spike that way to one a day. For me it caused bad cravings if I eat chocolate, candy or bread, even as dessert, so sticking with fruit is the best for me. The six meals a day is from a diet that started as body building diet, and it is supposed to be small meals, and works for some and not others. I think that though doctors seem to think there is one metabolism (with exceptions for diabetes and stuff), really there are many variations out there, and what will work for some is not a 'fits all' for everyone.

The only thing that I think is unwise is to eat only one or a few foods throughout the day and week, so cabbage soup, or just oranges, or just cookies would probably lose you weight because you'd be sick and tired of the food soon, but it's not healthy. And anything that adds substances that are not naturally found in the body at your stage in life (or gender, so any added hormones, amphetamines, anything like that) I would have to say I think would probably be unhealthy, unless you were missing the substance and then it becomes a medical thing. 

 Written on Thu, Aug 22, 2013