Atkins diet/low carb eating
#10042 - 05/27/03 03:08 AM
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Zaftig1
Reged: 03/12/03
Posts: 92
Loc: USA
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I wanted to express a concern I have, and I'm sure most IBS sufferers can relate.
As you know, one major thing IBS sufferers need to avoid is high fat food. For most of us this is easy because many companies sell low fat versions of our favorite foods, or have cookbooks with low fat recipes. Whereas the easy availability of low fat foods, cookbooks, restaurant choices, etc is primarily due to people wanting to lose weight, it benefits us too.
However I fear that may change as the low carb diets become more popular. I don't want to see manufacturers switching from pushing low fat foods, to low carb foods. As you know, with IBS a high fat/low carb diet would be one of the worst things we could do. I have a friend with IBS who is obsessed with losing weight, and she endured endless IBS attacks because she is on the Atkins diet...I guess losing weight means more to her than being IBS free. To me it just proves my saying, A waist is a terrible thing to mind!
A local Italian restaurant used to carry a number of low fat dishes...now they have switched to low carb instead which means my food choices there are lessened. I wonder if this is indicative of a trend that may be good for Atkins dieters but bad for IBS sufferers and everyone else?
Any thoughts?
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"A waist is a terrible thing to mind".
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Gosh, I hope that doesn't happen! I too have friends on the Atkins diet telling me how good it is for you and how high carb diets are not. My whole diet is based on carbs because of the SF and I weigh a healthy 54kg (I think that's about 119lbs) so I can't see a problem with it.
I feel sick when I think of all that fat being consumed and I just can't see how it can be good for you. I hope it's just a "fad diet"!
Kerrie 
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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
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i WISH SOMEONE WOULD SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON THIS ATKINS CONTROVERSY ONCE ANDFOR ALL.
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I think the Atkins diet attracts people who care more about losijg weight than being healthy. Thats why its so popular. A lot of ppl out there would rather lose a few yrs off their life than be fat. Crazy IMO but theres no law against being crazy! (lol)
I do know someone with IBS-D like I have would be insane to go on any high fat/low carb diet. I just hope this fad doesnt get so popular that restaurants and food companies switch from focusing on low fat foods to low carb. If they do I'm sunk, and so are many of you. 
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"A waist is a terrible thing to mind".
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I think that restaurants, which are worth going to, i.e. those whose cooks love and are passionate about the food they serve, will not fall prey to Atkins based diets. I believe the Atkins Diet to be potentially dangerous to peoples health.
Can I just say that this is my first post on the boards and I'm really glad to have found people to share this with.
Thanx. In love and light namesJen xx
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Welcome to the forum! I too feel 'safe" being able to say that here. I admit to having a selfish motive in being against Atkins...as one who must eat low fat, I benefit from the low fat belief that most dieters have. Weight loss is not an interest of mine but because it is for so many others, I and most IBS sufferers benefit.
What if the switch were to go from low fat to low carb for dieters? Companies would switch too, from making low fat foods to low carb and then I'd be royally screwed. So would most of you!
But in addition to that, I have studied the low carb diet thing, partly because my husband is a diabetic (they need to moderate carbs) and because my best friend is an Atkins junkie. What I have learned has really scared me. Those on Atkins can end up with ketosis which is an ailment brought on by eating too low in carbs.
And as someone who works out daily, aerobically and with weight lifting, I know that the body needs carbs esp. if you are active. Its the body's energy source. Thats's probably why so many who are on Atkins have low energy and are fatigued.
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"A waist is a terrible thing to mind".
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PS: Just noticed you are from Belfast! I spent a summer there in 1982 and have many many friends in Ulster!
Maybe we could email or something? I'm always interested in mneeting new ppl from NI.
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"A waist is a terrible thing to mind".
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I've noticed a lot more low carb products in supermarkets, and there is even a local "restaurant" (I hesitate to call it that) in Seattle called Protein Power that serves all Atkins meals. Example: the "naked sandwich", which is simply cooked meat in a bowl.
I think the only thing to do here is simply speak up - to the supermarket manager, the companies making food products, your local restaurants - and tell them that you as a consumer aren't interested in low carb items, but you will buy the low fat versions. Money does talk, and so many people are spending millions each year on Atkins stuff it's not going to disappear until the low carb craze does. And eventually, I think it will, because as you say this is a really unhealthy diet in so many ways, particularly given the extremes people seem to take it to.
I'm not ever buying my lunch at Protein Power, and I always ask my local grocery store to stock low fat items they might not carry (baked Tostitos and baked Lays weren't carried until I reqested them). Baked Bugles seem to have disappeared from the market altogether, but other than that my favorite fat free items are still there, and I make sure to buy them.
Keep speaking out - your voice counts!
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Thanks Heather  ....like you I keep hoping this thing goes away. I even went so far as to register with the Weight Control Registry, something I normally would not bother doing since weight loss and diets are not my focus in life.
The Weight Control Registry, I learned, is a national scientific registry for anyone who has lost 30 lbs or more and kept it off for a year at least. They take detailed stats on each person, to find out HOW they did it. I registered since I have lost 100 lbs and have not gained any back in 3 years. I am making sure to let them know I did it via LOW FAT and exercise, NOT low carb! This will; go into the research and so far their stats say something like 99% of their registered people lost it and kept it off with low fat/exercise, not low carb.
But as you suggested, I'm going to SPEAK OUT every chance I get, maybe even enlist the help of the Nutrition Actionletter folks in DC.
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"A waist is a terrible thing to mind".
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