Requesting BASIC diet/weightloss advice and support

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:My advice is first to make sure your thyroid is ok. Get a TSH test. Read up on thyroid and optimal levels. If your TSH is running too high it will be very difficul to lose weight.

Second piece of advice: Don't follow a low carb diet. Carbs are veges and fruits and (for me) whole grains. Just about anything that is not animal is a carb. My brother was on a high protein low carb diet for 10 years. He was thin. He had great cholesterol #s. At age 60 he had a heart attack (after telling me for years how I was going to die from eating carrots and other veges) and now he has two stents. He still won't give up the (lean) meat. He is a scientist and says science proves he is right, but his heart attack speaks for itself as far as I am concerned. Being thin is no good if you are going to die from it. Frankly, I think he is nuts.

Well most likely he might have died many years earlier if he hadn't been on it. Diet can't change genetics but it can help. Do a little research and you will find out he is right.

No. He's not right.

My mother wanted to lose weight. So my brother suggested she go on it. She mentioned it to me. (She is in her 80s.) I told her, not a good idea. I could not stop he (stubborn runs in the family). A few weeks later after she starts it I get the call. She is in the hospital. Other brother is there saying it is her digestion, maybe a blockage, probably cancer. Says she is probably going to die.

I ask, has anyone told the doctors about the diet? Hmmmm. No. I drive up to hospital. Tell them about her diet (high protein, low carb). Of course, she is dehydrated and blocked up to the top of her stomach. Hooked up with blood coming out of her stomach (the diet had irritated her existing ulcers and her diverticulitis). In horrible pain.

Once i said doc, she was trying a high protein diet, the doctor immediately stopped the exploration (tests, etc.) and took her to enema land. Told her "you have to have 25 to 30 gms of fiber each day, every day." She was severely constipated and dehydrated. She was dying--from a diet. After she was cleared out, she made sure to get her fiber and stopped with the high protein diet and she's still here, no cancer and she can do things like OH move her bowels. Not dehydrated any more. Of course, someone in his or her 80s is going to be more sensitive to dietary changes, but the fiber rule applies to everyone.

I have told both brothers that any further advice along those lines will be reported to the health "authorities."

And indeed my brother has stopped telling people to eat a high protein diet (it took our mother's near death to stop that). Had my brother not been eating high protein for 10 years, I doubt he would have had that heart attack. Since he is continuing on the diet, I expect he only has a few more years to live, but I can't seem to stop him.

I'll stick with my veges, fruits, and whole grains, thanks.

genetics?

no one else in our entire family on either side has had a heart attack at the age of 60.

everyone else, if they had a problem, it manifested in their late 70s or 80s. or not at all.

the only one who had a heart attack at 60 is the one on the high protein diet.

so how can you argue that it is genetics?

two anecdotes do not invalidate several huge studies.
Stupidity is not relieved by diet either. You don't have to cut fiber when you go low carb.

My brother has tried that approach. What studies? What peer-reviewed studies say one should scarf down large amounts of animal protein to be healthy?

Junk science. I say if people want to do that to themselves fine, but leave the rest of us out of it.

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:...her diet (high protein, low carb). Of course, she is dehydrated and blocked up to the top of her stomach....

A low-carb eating plan is supposed to be full of protein, fibery veggies, water, and fat! I eat more fiber now on an ultra low-carb plan than I ever did. What the heck was she eating that she was so constipated? Sure not any plan I've heard of. Oh, I eat more veggies than any of my vegan friends...it confuses them when I repeat that I eat ultra-low carbs, they think that means I only eat protein, boy are they shocked when we eat out and they see what I eat!

which high protein diet are you talking about? atkins? south beach?

atkins is now called "eco-Atkins" consisting of mostly vegetable protein. because they kept getting sued. i wonder why.

some people are very sensitive to changes in diet--slight changes in amount of fiber can do a lot of damage.

i have no gripe with moderation. i do have a gripe with those who try to impose the "regimen" of low carb or high protein or whatever you want to call it on others, so that they can feel better about being on it themselves.

i try not to make myself a vegan pest.

btw everything you eat that is not animal is CARB. so all those veges and fruits and grains are carbs. so if you are eating plenty of that how are you on a low carb diet?

do you mean a diet low on unrefined flours and low on sugar and such?

Stock emergency office food: small cans of tuna, salmon, chicken, container of lemon-pepper seasoning, a jar or 2 of roasted red peppers.

Office meals:

• Cook eggs at home (scrambled, omelettes, quiches, etc) & nuke on low power to re-heat
• Dice hard-boiled eggs and top with a 50:50 mix of coconut oil & butter, nuke on low power to heat, top with a few drops of hot sauce or a little low-carb salsa
• Bring dinner leftovers and re-heat
• Marinate chicken (in olive oil, chopped fresh cilantro, lime juice, cumin, garlic ovenight), then grill or saute, slice to top a salad or re-heat gently & add some low-carb veggies

ALL vegetables are CARBOHYDRATES!

please name a low carb vegetable

do you mean a non-starchy vegetable??

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:btw everything you eat that is not animal is CARB. so all those veges and fruits and grains are carbs. so if you are eating plenty of that how are you on a low carb diet?

do you mean a diet low on unrefined flours and low on sugar and such?

I eat less than 10 grams of carb at a meal, many times closer to 5; I eat 0-5 gms of carb per snack. Mostly 3 meals, 3-4 snacks (max 15-30 for meals, max 15-20 for snacks, total max for a day = 30-50)...that's a whole lot less than the typical American diet of 300 grms of carb/day.

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:ALL vegetables are CARBOHYDRATES!

An ultra-low carb diet means ultra low carbs.

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:please name a low carb vegetable

The crucifers, celery, bell peppers, radishes, asparagus, green beans, yellow squash, green squash, dark lettuces, artichoke hearts..in the amts I eat them, onions, green onions, red onions, leeks, scallions, spaghetti squash. Tomatoes are the only moderate carb that I eat a lot of, so I am careful to measure them.

"An ultra-low carb diet means ultra low carbs."

that is meaningless, define carbs. oy!! circular reasoning....ultra low carbs are ultra low carbs? eh?????

BTW I have a lot more than 2 "anecdotes."

Something about seeing relatives and friends (who have been on these diets) in the cath lab does this to me. I am going to get off this thread because it's obviously not a good place for me to be.

Good luck with the saturated fats. oy!

Back to cpap land.

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:"An ultra-low carb diet means ultra low carbs."

that is meaningless, define carbs. oy!! circular reasoning....ultra low carbs are ultra low carbs? eh?????

.

How about bothering to read the links in the thread. Why should we repeat ourselves endlessly for someone who can't be bother read?

SnoresLikeWalrus wrote:ALL vegetables are CARBOHYDRATES!

please name a low carb vegetable

do you mean a non-starchy vegetable??

Beans!!! Well, I know, I know it depends who are you asking. They can be fruits, vegetable,etc.

I have controlled my blood sugar, lost pounds and never be hungry with the no-grain diet, which is not a diet. You eat meat, milk, vegetables, fish, fruits, but no grains and try to limit sugar intake.

It is really healthy, good for regularity, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, etc.