Fat

[EdnBama]

I read that fat metabolizes more completely than sugar and most carbohydrates.

Is this why people can eat all sorts of fatty things on the Atkins diet and still lose weight?

I don't really understand the connection between "fat" in food and being fat.

[HeatherP]

I think fat has more calories. I don't know about metabolizing more completely. In American today, we eat a lot of processed foods that are fatty and have more calories, so we end up eating more than our bodies need, so the extra gets stored as fat.

My understanding of the Atkins diet/theory is that all the carbs in our diet, such as breads, pasta, grains, etc., causes the body to produce more insulin, which causes our bodies to store extra food as fat. I think we've all been told that the better our b/s control is, the more likely we are to gain weight. So anyway, the less carbs eaten, the less insulin produced, and the less weight gained.

At least I think that's how it works. I may be wrong. Andrea might have a more accurate understanding.

[EdnBama]

I'll see if I still have the article I read and post it here for you to read.

[Andrea]

Heather is right. Fat has more calories per gram than any other macronutrient (carb, protein or even alcohol). Eating fat does not make us fat. Eating more calories than we burn DOES cause us to gain weight. So adding more fat to our diets is a very easy way to increase calories quickly.

I am not a huge fat of low carb diets and i have to admit that it has been a while since i have read much about them. The theory that Heather posted is accurate as i understand it. It is true that insulin is the hormone that allows us to store calories that we don't use immediately. But it is not the full story in terms of weight loss and weight gain.

At the beginning of any of the low carb plans, the induction period is usually next to no carb. Carbohydrates help us to retain water to keep our cells hydrated. Our bodies don't like to get too much protein so the extra is processed out through the kidneys. To do this processing, the kidneys need lots of water. So it is easy to lose a remarkable amount of weight in a couple of weeks by just cutting out carbs. However, much of that weight at the beginning is water loss, so you have to be really careful to drink lots.

That said, low carb diets do work for many people in the long run. What is unfortunate these days is that many people think low carb is the only way to lose or maintain weight. Diets like the Zone, Atikins, Bernstein etc... are all fairly low in calories as well as carbs.

This isn't meant to be an anti-Atkins post or anything. I have nothing against low carb diets if it works for the people who follow them.

Andrea

[rzrbks]

I remember hearing several experts discuss "Fad Diets" and they agreed that the "Glazed Donut Diet" would work simply because after a while you'd get so tired of glazed donuts that you'd cut down on those. Everyone I know that had tried the Atkins diet went (to quote Bill the Cat) OOP ACK THPPPT!!!

[Jon]

The other reason the Atkins diet works is that the body burns carbs before burning fat. If you keep eating carbs, it never gets around to burning the fat. Atkins sounds dangerous to me though. As most type 1 diabetics know, ketosis is something we don't want. It is where the body has no carbs to burn and burns only fat. This is how the Atkins diet works. I have even seen urine test strips similar to the ketone test strips used by diabetics. If you are spilling ketones into your urine, then the Atkins diet is working.

[EdnBama]

Not to be misunderstood ... I wasn't advocating Atkins or any other low-carb diet ... nor am I particularly interested in going on a diet like that. I was just curious about the interaction of fat and weight gain given the article I read. If I can find the article, I'll post it later.

Thanks!

[HeatherP]

I didn't think you were doing either, Ed. I think it's a great subject to discuss and consider, though, for us Diabetics. If you find the article, I'd love to read it!

In the meantime, I hope your holidays are filled w/ pleasant surprises, joy, and good friends and loved ones!

HeatherP

[Andrea]

Jon,

Ketosis itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Ketones are produced any time fat is broken down for energy use. For anyone that is trying to lose weight (whether they have diabetes or not), they WANT to burn fat and therefore see some ketones. Ketosis is only dangerous in combination with a relative or absolute lack of insulin - where it becomes diabetic ketoacidosis.

If a person with type 1 diabetes has moderate ketones but blood glucose levels are fine (indicating that insulin levels are fine), there is rarely any danger. The only other time that ketones are unwanted is during pregnancy since they can have a negative effect on the developing fetus.

Andrea

[am1977]

This is soley my opinion, but I don't think it's a good thing whenever you eliminate or restrict a food group to the extent that Atkins does. I think carbs are a food group for a reason.

Also, I think it would be very difficult to stay on a diet like that. Some may be able to do it, but I think the majority would eventually tire of such a restrictive diet. Once that happens, more than likely all that weight will be gained and maybe more.

-Andrea C.

[EdnBama]

Okay ... I went back and re-read that article. What it said was the body is able to more completely metabolize fat, so that a larger percentage of its calories are converted for use by the body ... whereas, it claims, carbohydrates are not metabolized as completely and more of its calories just pass through the body as compared to fat calories.

If that's the case, then I don't understand why the Atkins diet works so well when it supposedly says you can eat all you want of fatty foods. It seems if you compare excess fat to excell carbs, you'd gain more weight from excess fat.

Granted, I have not read the Atkins books or any othe resource on the matter. I'm just thinking out loud.

I have known people who have done the Atkins diet and many of them, like people I've know who've done other diets, have fallen prey to the common problem associated with dieting -- not modifying one's eating habits/attitudes so that when you come off the diet you don't rebound with weight gain.

I'm thankful that I've been able to modify my eating behaviors in a more healthy direction as I have lost weight. I've had very good success with the weight loss and keeping it off.

--Ed

[Harold]

In general FATS are probably the tastiest food we eat. Our taste buds are geared for it and we can probably eat five times as much of it in combination with protien at a setting than we can vegetables. Not sure why, maybe it's because we can break it down a lot easier than the green stuff. I do know when I was in my twenties the Atkin diet worked, but that was before diabetes. Now days I do better at losing weight eating a low fat diet. Don't know why, just an observation.