Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Healthy Man Diet

Question:
I am 28 pounds lighter than I was in January 1, and I could have lost my life because of it. I hopped on the low carb diet bandwagon like everyone else I know and have been real proud of myself eating bacon and eggs and cheese and shedding pounds, but this morning, I had to be rushed to the hospital with chest pains. What my doctor told me made my toes curl! The Dr. Atkins low carb diet is bad for men. He said that all of the evidence to the contrary was funded BY Atkins, all those studies that you read and so forth. He said that the diet is especially dangerous for men because while it makes you lose weight over the short term, over the long term, it can raise your cholestral and cause coronary heart disease. I want to pass this link on to anyone else out there who might be on it, but especially for other guys who are. From the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (JACN) Volume 19, Number 5, October 2000 http://www.am-coll-nutr.org/jacn/vol_19/no_5/pg578.htm. Is there any healthy man diet?

Answer:
28 pounds in three weeks is scary. I went on the Atkins diet for 6 weeks. I lost 12 pounds, my goal. But the whole time, I felt like I was tripping. My eyesight was weird, my appetite was weird, and I felt extremely weird. Eating meat and cheese all the time is weird. It's a weird, weird diet whether you are male or female.So it can also be a healthy man diet. Let's face it, eating half a pound of bacon for breakfast is not a smart way to lose weight. And my doctor almost blew a fuse when I told her - after the fact - that I had tried the diet, because I have high blood pressure and didn't check with her first. My cholesterol levels were not changed at all by this diet. I gained every ounce back within a couple of weeks of eating normally. It was a total waste of 6 weeks for me, (not to mention a bit disconcerting for my husband - who had to deal with me picking the pepperoni off my pizza and throwing the rest away,) and it could have been VERY dangerous to my health. Not to mention the email SPAM that I still get from Atkins a year and a half later, which is my reward for ordering some of their ridiculously overpriced vitamins. A better diet is: smaller portions, avoid unnecessary fats, sugar, and fried foods. Have a nice breakfast, small lunch, small dinner. Eat your vegetables. Eat sensibly, that's all there is to it. And exercise. Gotta get exercise. In fact, with the right exercise program, you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight. Safely.