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Carb Dieting Secrets
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF LOW-CARB
The terminology “low-carb” wasn’t really coined until around 1992 when
the USDA announced America’s model food pyramid included six to eleven
servings daily of grains and starches. However, low-carb dieting dates
back more than 100 years before the trendy Atkins diet to 1864 with a
pamphlet titled Letter on Corpulence written by William Banting, as
close to the first commercial low-carb diet as you could get.
Banting had suffered a series of debilitating health problems due
mainly to being overweight or “corpulent”. He searched in vain for
cures to his weight problem, which many doctors at that time believed
to be a necessary side effect of old age. He also tried eating
less but he continued to gain weight and have various health
problems. He could not understand how the small amounts of food
he was eating led to his weight problem:
“Few men have led a more active life - bodily or mentally - from a
constitutional anxiety for regularity, precision, and order, during
fifty years' business career, from which I had retired, so that my
corpulence and subsequent obesity were not through neglect of necessary
bodily activity, nor from excessive eating, drinking, or self
indulgence of any kind, except that I partook of the simple aliments of
bread, milk, butter, beer, sugar, and potatoes more freely than my age
required…”
Many contemporary Americans on the go may recognize Banting’s previous
unhealthy daily diet:
“My former dietary table was bread and milk for breakfast, or a pint of
tea with plenty of milk, sugar, and buttered toast; meat, beer, much
bread (of which I was always very fond) and pastry for dinner, the meal
of tea similar to that of breakfast, and generally a fruit tart or
bread and milk for supper. I had little comfort and far less sound
sleep.”
Just substitute a Pop tart, doughnut or muffin with coffee and plenty
of cream and sugar for breakfast, a fast food burger and fries with a
super-sized soft drink for lunch and a frozen pot pie or pizza for
dinner followed by dessert and you can see how Banting’s diet was so
much like the typical fast-paced modern day Americans.
When his physician placed these items on a “forbidden foods list,”
Banting lost 50 pounds and 13 inches in one year. He kept it off,
living a long and much healthier life.
His new diet plan consisted of a number of meat dishes and he listed it
as follows:
“For breakfast, at 9.00 A.M., I take five to six ounces of either beef
mutton, kidneys, broiled fish, bacon, or cold meat of any kind except
pork or veal; a large cup of tea or coffee (without milk or sugar), a
little biscuit, or one ounce of dry toast; making together six ounces
solid, nine liquid.
For dinner, at 2.00 P.M., Five or six ounces of any fish except salmon,
herrings, or eels, any meat except pork or veal, any vegetable except
potato, parsnip, beetroot, turnip, or carrot, one ounce of dry toast,
fruit out of a pudding not sweetened any kind of poultry or game, and
two or three glasses of good claret, sherry, or Madeira- Champagne,
port, and beer forbidden; making together ten to twelve ounces solid,
and ten liquid.
For tea, at 6.00 P.M., Two or three ounces of cooked fruit, a rusk or
two, and a cup of tea without milk or sugar; making two to four ounces
solid, nine liquid.
For supper, at 9.00 P.M. Three or four ounces of meat or fish, similar
to dinner, with a glass or two of claret or sherry and water; making
four ounces solid and seven liquid.
For nightcap, if required, a tumbler of grog (gin, whisky, or brandy,
without sugar)-or a glass or two of claret or sherry.”
So great were the changes in his appearance and health that his friends
and acquaintances began to notice and just like today wanted to know
what diet he was on. Most important of all Banting could feel and
see a difference himself.
“I am told by all who know me that my personal appearance greatly
improved, and that I seem to bear the stamp of good health; this may be
a matter of opinion or friendly remark, but I can honestly assert that
I feel restored in health, "bodily and mentally," appear to have more
muscular power and vigour, eat and drink with a good appetite, and
sleep well. All symptoms of acidity, indigestion, and heartburn (with
which I was frequently tormented) have vanished. I have left off using
boot-hooks, and other such aids, which were indispensable, but being
now able to stoop with ease and freedom, are unnecessary. I have lost
the feeling of occasional faintness, and what I think a remarkable
blessing and comfort is, that I have been able safely to leave off
knee-bandages, which I had worn necessarily for many years, and given
up the umbilical truss.”
His how-to dieting book became very popular and was translated into
multiple languages. However, over time it was abandoned.
Banting noted in Letter on Corpulence that a common health paradox of
our time did not exist in his. This was the paradox of obesity,
widely believed to be a problem of excess, among the poor. The
poor of the 19th century could not afford the refined sugary foods that
cause weight gain. But poor people of the 21st century sure can
today.
In a recent Associated Press article titled, “Health Paradox: Obesity
Attacks Poor”, the reporter noted that many poor families are
stretching their food dollars by purchasing unhealthy processed and
refined foods. Of one family Barbassa wrote,
“During winter, jobs are scarce, so Caballero feeds her husband and
three children the cheapest food she can get: potatoes, bread,
tortillas… As processed foods rich in sugar and fat have become cheaper
than fruits and vegetables, the poor in particular are paying a high
price with obesity rates shooting up, followed by diabetes.”
Unfortunately for the Caballero family, these cheap staples are bad for
their health. Fresh meat, low-starch fruits and vegetables may be
more expensive and have a shorter shelf life, but they are definitely
worth the price in saved medical expenses and better health.
Throughout the years, as “calories” became known, variations of
counting them were included in dietary solutions. And a variety of
other issues were explored like how many of which foods should be eaten
and how frequently.
While Banting’s diet eventually fell out of favor, low-carb diets did
begin appearing again in the 20th century. The most famous of
these are the Atkins and Scarsdale diets that came to popularity in the
1970s. While Scarsdale has a set 14 day meal plan that must be
followed and greatly restricts calories, the Atkins diet allowed for
unlimited calorie consumption as long as those calories were from
protein, fat and vegetables and carbs intake was kept low.
Atkins and Scarsdale fell out of favor in the 1980’s as the U. S.
Department of Agriculture encouraged the consumption of grains and
grain products with the USDA food pyramid.
It was only in the 1990’s that we began to see a return to low-carb
dieting that seems to be more than a fad. It’s a
lifestyle! As more and more people realize the weight loss
and other health benefits that are available to people who eat
low-carb, the number of diets and stores that sell specialty low-carb
products continue to rise.
In a nutshell, most low-carb diets carry the same basic premise: that
too much of simple, refined carbohydrates leads to over overproduction
of insulin, which leads to the storage of too much fat in the body.
This fat storage is especially prominent around the middle.
While there are degrees of difference among the many diets, they all
agree on the negative effects that excess insulin production have on
our systems.
Click here for the next Chapter
 Did you know that 60-70% of cancers are due to dietary factors? And, that many of these may be prevented by changes in dietary habits?
Click here.
Here is today's feature Lowcarb article.
Is Low-Carb Weight Loss Really Just Water Loss?
by: Craig Whitley
Any weight loss or diet plan, including low-carb plans like the induction phase of the Atkins Diet will result in water loss during the first week or two. However, one of the real beauties of following a low carbohydrate eating plan is that most of the weight loss than extends beyond the initial induction phase of the diet is really from a drop in fat pounds.
Click here to read the whole article.
Note that the contents
here are not presented from a medical practitioner, and that any and
all dietary planning should be made under the guidance of your own
medical practitioners. This content only presents overviews of low-carb
research for educational purposes and does not replace medical advice
from a professional physician. .
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