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USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

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Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#181
A reminder to those who demonize carbs: as Stephan Guyenet points out, restricting your consumption of any category of food--whether you're avoiding carbs, or fat, or meat, or plants--will reliably cause weight loss by removing some highly rewarding/palatable foods from your diet.

So we shouldn't be surprised that both low-carb and vegetarian diets can produce weight loss, and that many people have had success with each method.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#182
post #112

In the western world the default is a high-carb diet. Moving away from that i probably beneficial to most people. My personal journey has been from a rather normal western diet towards more vegetarian, but i still don't mind a little bit of bacon on top. The effect was OK, but not spectacular. Now in my mid-40 (25ish BMI) I started walking 2-3 times weekly about two years ago and have advanced to running about as oft…

You say Western diet but I think you’re forgetting about India. Most of the vegetarian dishes have huge amounts of carbs. I was kinda shocked at how much carbs and fried starchy foods it contains.

The one thing I do like about the Indian vegetarian diet is they arent trying to recreate meat-like foods, ex. veggie burgers and fake meat.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#183

A reminder to those who demonize carbs: as Stephan Guyenet points out, restricting your consumption of any category of food--whether you're avoiding carbs, or fat, or meat, or plants--will reliably cause weight loss by removing some highly rewarding/palatable foods from your diet. So we shouldn't be surprised that both low-carb and vegetarian diets can produce weight loss, and that many people have had success with e…

Particularly the first time when you don't know how to make low carb brownies, and other high calories things that otherwise fit into your diet.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#184
post #141
post #109

I'm not convinced by some of the common beliefs about low-carb diets either. They seem to be good for weight loss[0] but bad for all-cause mortality[1]. If you're making dietary recommendations, it's hard to justify choosing a diet that makes the people who eat it skinnier and less diabetic but also kills some of them. I'm also not convinced that "low-carb" in the literature means you can draw conclusions about ketog…

"Our meta-analysis supported long-term harm and no cardiovascular protection with low-carbohydrate diets. However, the observational studies were limited and moderately heterogeneous. Our findings underscore the imminent need for large-scale trials on the complex interactions between low-carbohydrate diets and long-term outcomes." From your second link. Also not a surprise when many research about low carb diets is r…

Not only my source, but me as well. I think it's plausible that e.g. keto (as in actually entering ketosis) could raise mortality but low carb diets could lower it, or that there's a confounding effect with dietary fibre, or that low carb diets usually involve increased processed meat intake, or [insert story here].

However, we're talking about general health advice. If you tell people to eat low carb diets, they eat less dietary fibre as a result, and some of them die, then your advice has killed them. Doesn't matter if there's some hypothetical better diet out there, until you've found it and proven it works.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#185
post #112

In the western world the default is a high-carb diet. Moving away from that i probably beneficial to most people. My personal journey has been from a rather normal western diet towards more vegetarian, but i still don't mind a little bit of bacon on top. The effect was OK, but not spectacular. Now in my mid-40 (25ish BMI) I started walking 2-3 times weekly about two years ago and have advanced to running about as oft…

>In the western world the default is a high-carb diet.

It's like this everywhere in the world. You know rice is mostly carbs, right?

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#186
post #112

In the western world the default is a high-carb diet. Moving away from that i probably beneficial to most people. My personal journey has been from a rather normal western diet towards more vegetarian, but i still don't mind a little bit of bacon on top. The effect was OK, but not spectacular. Now in my mid-40 (25ish BMI) I started walking 2-3 times weekly about two years ago and have advanced to running about as oft…

Carb is too broad of a term. Though it generally seems to mean "processed wheat with added refined sugar and oils". Yeah, processed foods aren't healthy. But fruits and vegetables are, and they have carbs (mostly simple, i.e. sugars)

Yes, I more accurately moved form "normal diet" including beer, processed food and fast carbs to eating much more vegetables with oil and spices rather than sauce. I don't like the "looks like meat" vegetarian stuff.

But the major effects for me seems to be coupled to activity rather than eating, although cutting animal fat and alcohol has been a good help on the way.

My major findings: - reduce alcohol and animal fat - start soft, walk until you are fit to run, then interval - walking is great for problem solving - running uphill and walking downhill is great if the knees hurt - interval really is much more efficient than running long distances for pretty much any meaningful measure of progress for me (weight, VO2 max). I'm not trying to win at anything specific.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, with ageing, I started having tons of small health issues + diarrhoea and blood in my faeces. I tried removing milk (I was eating milk with cereals in the morning) - which appeared to improve the situation (becoming less frequent) - but it turned out it worked only because I got rid of eating cereals in the morning and I can drink milk just fine. The doctor said nothing was wrong and that it was just stres…

Were you tested for coeliac disease? Diagnosis can be difficult, and the standard blood tests don't always pick it up. It might be a good idea to avoid wheat, barley, rye, and oats to test for gluten sensitivity.

Oats don't contain gluten (Celiac disease), though they can have trace amounts if processed on the same equipment as wheat. That's the difference between regular oats and gluten-free oats.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#188
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if this is sarcasm, but the answer is wholeheartedly the meat and dairy industry.

Imagine people still believing that veggie industry is small and not a gigantic player. Every major organization/gov wants to make people eat more veggies and less meat

What is the "veggie industry"? Industrial agriculture?

Industrial agriculture benefits a lot from animal farming given that 67% of crops are sold as livestock feed.

Or is there a secret society of leek producers controlling the world?

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#189
post #160

My main issue with low carb is that humans have been eating carbs for thousands of years. The obesity epidemic is only decades old. I've seen enough evidence that low carb is working for people, so it would seem like something in the carbs we eat in particular is causing the problem... not carbs in general. We should significantly increase the science in this area in my opinion.

IMO, a big difference is the way food is grown and processed. When I was a kid, my great aunt and uncle had a farm and grew wheat. Now most things are grown by large, profit-oriented corporations that don't give a shit about the quality of food but only how much profit they make from it. If some GMO trick kills bugs, great! They don't care if it also kills people or makes them sick.

Re: USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, with ageing, I started having tons of small health issues + diarrhoea and blood in my faeces. I tried removing milk (I was eating milk with cereals in the morning) - which appeared to improve the situation (becoming less frequent) - but it turned out it worked only because I got rid of eating cereals in the morning and I can drink milk just fine. The doctor said nothing was wrong and that it was just stres…

I had ulcerative colitis from I was 18 until 46 which is a chronic inflammation with blood in the faeces. I switched to the carnivore diet and within some months all my symptoms disappeared. This was also confirmed with a colonoscopy in a hospital. My brain fog is also gone. I used to be really strict but now I am more like 90-95% carnivore, but I try to get the carbs from potatoes, carrots and Nuts. I aim for under…

I was having the same (different age range, early 30's) symptoms, and I was able to eliminate my problems by cutting out coffee entirely. I can still drink caffeinated tea without issue. When I first quit coffee, I cut out all spicy foods and beans. Now I eat spicy foods and beans occasionally without issue.

Naturally, the doctor that did my colonoscopy didn't recommend trying any of this, just wanted to slap me on some new drug that messes with the immune system, no thanks.

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