Rating Consumers Report

The June, 2007 issue of Consumers Report again disses low carb diets. They point out that the diets were not tested (Isn’t that the whole point of Consumers Report? To actually test things?), but rated by a panel of nutritionists as to how they compare to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

As long as diet plans continue to be ranked based on the U.S. Guidelines, we will get bad advice and will likely continue to get fatter and sicker. Just look at the food pyramid; it has sugar at the top and sugar at the bottom. Sweets are placed at the point, which means eat just a little, BUT all that bread and pasta at the bottom is also sugar. (The latest version of the pyramid uses vertical stripes but depicts the same proportions.)

The only part of your body that can tell the difference between sugar and starch is your mouth. Starches are just chains of glucose molecules and glucose is sugar. Starches don’t trigger the sweet receptors on the tongue, but they are sugars all the same. Sugars provoke the release of insulin, the fat-storage hormone. Excess insulin leads to obesity, diabetes, and all the other health problems that have gotten worse in the last 30 years since our government first told us to cut out fat and it was replaced with sugar.

I recently returned from a trip to Europe and it was sad to see how easy it was to pick out the Americans at the airports. And those were just the ones who would fit on the planes! Perhaps that is part of the reason that so many people in other countries have such low opinions of us. They think we are lazy gluttons, when in reality we are the ones starving ourselves and working out till we drop.

Losing weight is not hard. Trans fats, toxins, pollutants, or other factors may have contributed to our epidemic of obesity and diabetes, but whatever the cause, insulin resistance is the result, and when you reduce your need for insulin by cutting down on carbohydrates, the problem is solved.

Many people reject low-carb diets based on hearsay. If you actually read a book, like Protein Power or The New Diet Revolution, you will discover that the system is based on sound science and its nutrition is the best match for human metabolism. Try it yourself and you will be convinced. Have a checkup with medical tests done before you start and again after six months on the diet. All your risk factors for disease go down, your blood lipid profile improves, your blood pressure normalizes, and, contrary to popular opinion, you will find that you are eating two or three times as many vegetables and fruits as the average American.

The last argument we always hear is that nobody likes a low-carb diet and it’s too hard to stick to. Not so. My husband and I have been doing it for almost eight years now and although we had to make some changes, I honestly think we eat better now than we did before.

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Judy Barnes Baker

The working title for my first book was, “You’ll Never Know What You Are Missing.” It summed up my goal: to make eating for health synonymous with eating for pleasure. Once you discover the secret, you will find that the very best food for weight management, longevity, the treatment and prevention of disease, and over-all health and happiness is also the most sumptuous, satisfying, and indulgent way of eating the world has to offer. You are invited to the feast. Enjoy!
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