From: Pat Fallon (pfallon@ptd.net)
Date: Sun Apr 27 2003 - 13:59:05 MDT
>> Subject: RE: Experiences with Atkins diet
>> So what are the results? Well, there's good news and bad news.
>> The good news is that I've lost a lot of weight.
>> Today I was 187, down about 8 pounds in 12 days.
>> I think much of that is water weight; the diet acts
>> as a diuretic and I'm going through a lot of water.
>> I lost half the weight in the first three days!
> Yes, the Atkins diet is very dehydrating.
> A lot of water weight is lost immediately.
When you lose a lot of water weight quickly, I think your body dumps salts also, in order to maintain the propper sodium levels. However, you also lose potasium in that process. and I found that I would get muscle cramps [especially calf, while in bed] while on the low carb initial phase of The Zone diet.[1]
I started using no-salt which is potasium chloride salt subsititue in place of sodium chloride. Or you could take potasium supplements. You don't want to get the potasium salts out of kilter, that can lead to trouble. Rapid water weight loss can do that.
>
> > I also want to get my cholesterol tested in a few weeks. You're supposed
> > to get it done before beginning the diet, but I was too impatient.
> > I did have it tested a couple of years ago so that would be my basis for
> > comparison. Eating two or three eggs a day plus a lot of fatty foods,
> > I'm worried about what is happening to my blood. However Atkins claims
> > that the diet won't hurt, or at least that it will raise the "good"
> > cholesterol enough to compensate for any rise in the "bad". We'll see.
I got mine tested both before starting phase 1 of the Zone diet [I'll have to look it up, but IIRC, in phase 1 you shoot for less than 30 grams of carbs per day]. After 84 days I got tested again. My triglycerides dropped 184 units. After another 70 days I got tested again. My trigs had dropped another 16 units, my HDL had gone up slightly, my total chol had dropped 24 units, my LDL had remained about the same.
I then drifted out of very low carb initial Zone phase to regular Zone diet [40 % of calories from low glycemic index carbs, 30% protein, 30% fats], after 10 months I was tested again... HDL ["good cholesterol"] had gone up another 10 units, LDL had dropped 50 units, total chol had dropped another 4 units. But trigs had gone back up.
But overall, the LDL/HDL ratio had improved dramatically from 6.6 to 3.44; and the total chol/HDL ratio had also
improved.
My mother had very high triglycerides and I recommended going very low carbs, her trigs dropped 200 units, her LDL dropped, her HDL went up.
Just some anecdotal evidence...but I would guess that if you had high triglycerides to begin with, and went on a low carb diet; the first noticible cholesterol effect would be that your high trigs would plummet. Over time, HDL will go up. Total chol will go down, and LDL/HDL and total chol/HDL ratios will improve [go down].
>
> This is my problem with the Atkins diet. I agree with the fact that
> low-carbs will cause more fats to burn. But I think it is wishful thinking
> to assume that eating all the bad fats and then burning them off will avoid
> their bad side-effects. However, I fear that merely having the fats pass
> through the bloodstream can contribute to cholesterol build-up.
>
> Atkins doesn't /require/ high fat for any purpose. I think people can get
> the benefit of Atkins by avoiding carbs, but not increasing fats. That is,
> a high protein, moderate fat (or good oils), low carb diet.
We all tend to be fat phobic but, in fact, fat is an important part of a healthy diet. Dietary fat serves two important purposes. First, it significantly slows down your body's absorption of the meal you just ate. Second, fat signals your brain when to stop eating. All fat, of course, is not alike; the specific type of fat you eat plays a critical role in your overall health. To get and stay in the Zone, you need to eat the right kinds of dietary fats. The best kind of fat is monounsaturated, which is the kind of fat found in olive oil. The key is to eat fewer unfavorable fats, and to switch to favorable ones.
Just my opinions and anecdotes, your mileage may vary.
Pat Fallon
[1] The Zone diet: [from http://www.zoneperfect.com/]
The principle premise of the Zone Diet is a simple one: Your genes have changed very little during the past 100,000 years.
Your body is a biochemical machine. Like any machine, it needs the right fuel to operate properly. Over hundreds of thousands of years, Mother Nature has designed your digestive system to operate correctly when eating just two food groups: (1) lean protein and (2) natural carbohydrates like fruits and fiber-rich vegetables.
What about grains? Well, 8,000 years ago, there were no grains, bread or pasta. Agriculture is a very recent (by evolutionary standards) invention.
Evolution works very slowly. As far as our genes are concerned, we're still a bunch of hunter/gatherers foraging for food. The problem, of course, is that our genes may be programmed that way, but that's not the way we actually live. We regularly eat large quantities of dense, highly processed carbohydrates such as grains and grain based products such as pasta. Because we haven't evolved to a stage where we can eat excessive amounts of these high density carbohydrates without adverse biochemical consequences, our bodies aren't able to operate properly. We gain excess weight, suffer from diabetes, heart disease and a host of other ills, feel sluggish, and generally perform at a sub-par level. The Zone Diet is designed to feed our actual genetic makeup - to give us the fuel we need, when we need it.
Eating carbohydrates stimulates insulin secretion. Since your body has a limited capacity to store carbohydrates, doesn't know when it's next meal might be, and has an unlimited ability to store food as fat, insulin does just that. Insulin turns the excess carbohydrates into fat! Dietary fat, on the other hand, does not stimulate insulin secretion.
By eating the proper ratio of low-density carbohydrates, dietary fat, and protein, you can control your insulin production. Maintaining your insulin level within a therapeutic zone, makes it possible for you to burn excess body fat (and keep it off permanently) and enjoy increased energy.
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