|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Home > Healthy People > April 2004 |
|
|
|
Spring 2004
Are we waging war on carbs?
Atkins-friendly. Net carbs. Body for Life. Sugar Busters. Glycemic load.
South Beach.
 In the last year, the American public has gone low-carb crazy and these
once-foreign terms have become part of our vocabulary. Most Ozarkers know
at least one person who has “gone on Atkins” and shed pounds seemingly
overnight by rejecting bread and pasta for turkey roll-ups and bunless
burgers. Restaurants such as Village Inn, TGI Friday’s and Subway are even
conforming to the craze by offering low-carb options or even entire
Atkins-friendly menus.
St. John’s, the premier provider of cardiovascular care in the Ozarks
region, offers two lifestyle and weight-loss programs, New Images and LEAN
(Learning, Exercise And Nutrition). Both programs follow the American
Heart Association’s philosophy for weight loss, which is “a healthy diet
rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products,
smart proteins, smart carbs and smart fats, along with regular physical
activity, can help most people manage and maintain weight loss for both
cardiovascular health and appearance.”
The Atkins diet, introduced in the 1970s by the late cardiologist Robert
Atkins, M.D., may be the most high-profile low-carb diet, but it isn’t the
only one to declare war on carbohydrates, or at least simple
carbohydrates. South Beach, Body for Life and the Sugar Busters diets all
focus on eating “smart carbs” – complex carbs such as beans, brown rice,
and whole-wheat breads and pastas – and avoiding foods with a high
glycemic index, such as white bread, white rice, potatoes and sweets.
The glycemic index measures how fast a particular food is likely to raise
your blood sugar. The higher the glycemic index of a food, the greater
demand the food puts on your insulin system. Another measurement, glycemic
load, takes into account both a food’s glycemic index and how much
carbohydrate the food delivers in a single serving. Most fruits,
vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains (smart carbs) have low glycemic
loads, which means their sugars enter the bloodstream gradually, placing
lower demand on the insulin system. An increase in insulin makes you store
more fat.
Eating meals and snacks comprised of foods with high glycemic loads causes
a roller-coaster effect. Blood-sugar levels rise higher and faster, then
fall, sending out hunger signals long before it’s time to eat again. You
feel tired, shaky and can’t concentrate well. If you respond to the hunger
pangs with another high-glycemic snack, say a candy bar, the cycle repeats
itself. Eating a diet comprised of foods with a high glycemic load not
only leads to obesity, but ultimately to diabetes, St. John’s experts say.
How do you decide which diet will work best for you?
“No one diet fits all people. The most important goal is to not do your
body any harm and choose a healthy eating plan for life by eating good
protein and smart carbs,” says Susan Blackard, R.N., vice president of St.
John’s Corporate Health Services and creator of “The Low-Carb vs. Low-Fat
Dilemma,” a St. John’s educational program. “Above all, the key to
reaching and maintaining your target weight is to choose healthy eating
for life and exercise to deactivate your fat cells. Diets make you store
more fat.”
Healthy eating for life or St. John’s Smart Carb Program
• Eat breakfast, preferably one with protein and complex carbs such as
oatmeal, oat grain bread or high-fiber cereal such as All-Bran, Kashi or
Grape Nuts. Breakfast starts your metabolism and feeds your brain.
• Buy, prepare and eat lean protein foods such as turkey, sirloin and
chicken breast and low-fat milk products.
• Eat complex, smart carbs such as whole grains, fresh fruits, nuts and
vegetables.
• Eat five times a day, incorporating protein and smart carbs each time,
to keep your blood sugar up and hunger down.
• Go nuts – on nuts, that is. Eating 1 to 2 oz. of nuts – even peanut
butter – can improve your health. Women who eat a handful of nuts at last
five times per week have a 27 percent lower risk for type 2 diabetes.
• Go easy on the portions, especially when eating out. Order a salad and
share meals when possible or eat half of what’s on your plate and save the
rest for lunch or dinner the next day.
• Avoid fried foods and choose extra vegetables or a salad instead of
bread or potatoes.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Plan your snacks.
• Eliminate white sugar, soda, white rice and white bread.
• Learn to read nutrition labels.
• Exercise 50 minutes, five times a week.
Atkins Diet
• Developed in the 1970s by the late Dr. Robert Atkins.
• Sufficiently control carbohydrate consumption and your body will switch
from burning glucose to burning primarily fat.
• Sugar, refined white flour and junk foods are bad for your health, your
energy level, your mental state and your figure.
• Obesity is the result of metabolic disturbances, not overconsumption of
fat.
• Low-fat diets are in effect high-carbohydrate diets and bring on the
very problems they were intended to protect us from.
• Diet is comprised of protein and fat, plus controlled quantities of the
most nutrient-dense carbs, primarily in the form of vegetables.
South Beach
• Groups carbs into “good” and “bad” based on glycemic response. “Bad”
carbs (white bread and sugar) make you want to eat more which leads to
overeating and weight gain which leads to diabetes and heart disease.
• Stresses more fiber and water.
• Low-calorie, low-carb, higher protein, moderate to high fat –
1,250-1,440 calories per day.
Sugar Busters
• Uses the glycemic index.
• No meals after 8 p.m.
• Eat fruits by themselves, either 30 minutes before a meal or two hours
after a meal.
• Avoid potatoes, corn, white rice, white flour, breads from refined
flours and enriched wheat, white sugars, beets, carrots, corn syrup,
molasses, cola and beer.
• Eat complex carbs such as beans, brown rice, whole-wheat flour and
whole-wheat pastas.
Body for Life
• Three meals and three snacks a day.
• Complex carbs, low-fat proteins and dairy products.
• Limits fruits.
• Incorporates exercise: recommends walking on a treadmill for 20 minutes,
three times per week and strength training three times a week but not on
the same days as the walking.
|
|
|