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Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:00 am
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Low-Carb Plan: Atkins-Protein Power-Me
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 The Insulin-Resistance Diet: How to Turn Off Your Body's Fat-Making Machine by Cheryle R. Hart M.D., Mary Kay Grossman R.D. 07-01-2003 This book advertises itself as a way to discover if "insulin resistance is the culprit for those extra pounds" and to enjoy "good health without fad dieting”. That line in particular, along with the fact that one of the authors is a registered dietitian, made me feel a little apprehensive about this plan before I even started reading it. I tried hard not to allow any personal prejudice to influence my opinion, but I can't be sure that I succeeded.
The book starts out, as so many low carbohydrate plans do, with an overview of the many dangers of insulin resistance, and a mention of hyperinsulinemia, and Syndrome X. They discuss the prevalence of obesity and diabetes, and say that insulin resistance can cause the following: premature aging, liver spots, age spots, and also "skin tags", which are small, benign dark colored skin flaps that tend to grow on the neck, under arms, chest, and groin. (My husband used to suffer from this particular malady, and we had never connected its current absence with our low carbohydrate diet until now.) People who suffer from insulin resistance, they say, are also at increased risk for cancer of the breast, colon, and ovaries, and insulin has been shown to promote the growth of malignant cells. Here's where it gets really interesting – “high insulin levels also interfere with the kidneys ability to clear uric acid from the body.” They go on to say that high levels of uric acid result in gout and kidney stones, as well as coronary heart disease. Now that's refreshing - someone claiming that a high-carbohydrate diet can result in gout and kidney stones - my husband also used to suffer greatly from gout, and you've just heard about my own experience with kidney stones.
I found the next section, discussing factors that can make insulin resistance worse, particularly interesting. Some common medications that increase the amount of insulin the pancreas secretes are diuretics and beta-blockers commonly prescribed for high blood pressure. Steroids commonly prescribed for allergies can also exacerbate insulin resistance, as can caffeine, artificial sweeteners, and nicotine. They also say that high levels of stress can worsen insulin resistance and go on to say that many really stressed people cannot lose weight despite doing everything right. If you are following your low carbohydrate diet faithfully with no weight loss, perhaps you should look into some relaxation techniques. Massage, hypnotherapy, meditation, prayer, hydrotherapy, and aromatherapy are just a few methods that may combat excess stress. Supplements they also say are useful, in agreement with almost every other author I have read, include chromium, magnesium, potassium, vanadium, and garcinia cambogia. So far, so good.
The book then gets into the mechanics of the insulin resistance diet, which hinges on linking all consumption of food, fat or carbohydrate, with adequate amounts of protein, to control/limit excess insulin production. In their own words, "linking is the simple method of including a food with protein every time you eat, whether or not you also have a food with fats or carbohydrates. Linking works because mixing of protein with other foods counteracts and lowers insulin's reaction to those other foods. Other benefits to eating enough protein have to do with fullness and maintaining muscle."
There is a strong emphasis on low-fat eating, in combination with “adequate protein,” an amount which they claim is 40-70 grams per day for most people and will not exceed 90 grams per day even in an extreme athlete. There are no forbidden foods on this plan (except fatty ones). The maximum amount of allowable carbohydrate at any one meal or snack is 30 grams, though, and that means some of their so-called portions are ridiculous, (for me the food might as well be forbidden if I can only have a mouthful.) For each 15 grams of carbohydrate consumed, you must also consume a minimum of 7 grams of protein. That's it, in a nutshell. As long as you follow that rule, you can eat anything you want – well, anything you want that is also low in fat. They recommend limiting all sources of fat and particularly saturated. So… they want you to eat all this protein, but say you may not eat more than 3 egg yolks per week to get it, have no meat servings bigger than a deck of cards, and stick to very small infrequent amounts of red meat. All the egg substitutes you want, and all the whites, too. (Oh, boy!) They encourage the consumption of legumes and say you may eat “as many as necessary to satisfy your hunger”. While you are allowed almost unlimited dairy products on this plan, said dairy products must also all be low-fat, or better yet, no-fat versions, as well as sugar-free ones. (Have you read the ingredient lists of the fat free dairy products, compared to the "real" ones? Ewwww!!! Case closed!) They do discuss the benefits of mono and polyunsatured fats rather intelligibly, versus the dangers of free radicals and trans-fatty acids, but nevertheless limit nuts and other acknowledged “good oils” to a total of 4 Tb. per day… in an effort to make this lower carb plan still fit the standard current food pyramid.
Some of the things they say seem to directly contradict each other. They keep recommending margarine and liquid fat substitutes all the way through the book, even after discussing thoroughly the dangers of trans-fatty acids… it's like they've seen the benefits of low carb, and know that they need to get in on that, for their patient’s sake, but they also *had* to make the plan fit all their prior misconceptions about the benefits of low-fat somehow, at all cost. And who knows, perhaps the plan that is ultimately the healthiest for humankind is one that falls halfway between their ideas and the ones I'm currently adhering to, or maybe they have it all right and I have it all wrong…. But after reading this entire book, I can tell you right now, from my ‘gut’, that I would MUCH rather be eating the way that I am now, and/or the way I eat when doing induction...
In other words, Not sold. Uh-uh. Nope, not me.
This is a step in the right direction, without any doubt. Many of the points they make about food combining ring very true to me, much more so than the more popular plans they consistently and logically contradict (sorry, Suzanne). I think that people could lose weight on this plan, as well as improve lipids, if they stick to it, (always the toughest part of any plan, eh) and I think some of their thinking is very valid, and thus will help me in refining my own maintenance program, but I could never, ever go back to low fat - so my overall impression of this plan has to be negative. And, I gotta come right out and say this: I have a real hard time recommending any book that contains outrageous falsehoods…. yup…. I found outright lies, not just half-truths, mixed in with the rest - the same old tired lies we’ve all heard a million times before… but I’ll let you be the judge of that:
p 70 --… main concern with high-protein, high-fat, low carbohydrate diets is the danger of medical condition called ketoacidosis… .these byproducts (ketones) of fat metabolism can be very damaging to the body and can even result in the dangerous situation ketoacidosis…. life-threatening…fortunately, most people have a very difficult time following these popular ketogenic diets and fudge just enough to prevent them from attaining a ketogenic state. Still, we have seen many others who have been successful in inducing ketogenesis and have ended up in the hospital.” (Where?? Where are these people? I want names, dates, the works. I find it very hard to believe that these people exist, or don’t you just know that the media would have paraded them up and down in front of our faces for years. And I think every single one of us who’s gone on low carb diet understands why the ketones we strive so hard to produce are very different indeed from the ketones produced by a diabetic going into ketoacidosis. The very fact that they even included this particular tired old fallacy in their book makes their credentials, and the rest of their theories, suspect to me…. I mean, did they really do research? How could they, and really still believe all that stuff?)
p 80 – “The main reason high-protein, very low carbohydrate diets can be dangerous is that they may cause your body to make ketones that can be harmful….ketones can damage brain cells and cause the minerals in your blood to be unbalanced, which can be life-threatening. It is important to give your body adequate carbohydrates to run on throughout the day….
Well, that’s about all the material I would classify as outright lies, now a few things with which I just disagree less vehemently:
p 80 - we do not recommend severely restricting or eliminating carbohydrates from your diet….this could lead to deficiencies of important vitamins and minerals and could make you feel hungry or ill because you do not have enough glucose (blood sugar) in your body… p 81 – if you eat large amounts of high-fat foods, you are likely to feel an increased appetite… We recommend a diet containing 20 to 30 percent of calories from dietary fat. p 85 – … carbohydrates are essential for proper nutrition….your body needs carbohydrates for energy and to make serotonin, an important brain chemical… page 71 -- ... foods containing a high amount of carbohydrates do suppress appetite (they do? That’s definitely news to me... I could have sworn they were what made me hungry all the time before.)
Now, all that aside, this plan does go a long way towards being at least a “happy medium”. It could be a valuable tool with which to began to pry open the narrowest of low-fat, high-carb minds, at the very least. Some people who have a hard time sticking to traditional low carb diets might even prefer to go back to eating the low-fat foods to which they became accustomed (even if I personally cannot imagine doing so) and I do believe that this plan is at least healthier than the average low-fat diet, there is some emphasis on whole grains and adequate protein. I think there is some merit to their link and balance theory, at least so far as always, always including protein at the same time, and not ever eating carbohydrates all by themselves.
page 68 – “Eat frequently and think small. Pay attention to what we call of the two hour fat window. The two-hour fat window is the critical period in which your body decides if carbohydrates are to be used for energy or stored as fat… in order to observe the critical two-hour fat window, limit your total carbohydrates to 30 grams in any two hour period. Wait the two hours and then have more carbohydrates if you like. If you’re hungry within two hours, you can always have more protein. You can thus continue to enjoy any of your favorite high carbohydrate foods without overloading and getting fat on them.”
All in all, I’m glad I read this book - if nothing else it answered some questions I had about food combining, as well as a few new tidbits of information I enjoyed adding to my notes. Knowledge is power, every little bit helps, and the only way to get more is to keep looking.
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Tell me ... what fits in your schedule better: Exercising and prepping food for an average of an hour a day, or being/feeling dead 24 hours per day?
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