Chris

It’s always my pleasure, Chris!

–Jimmy

As an ex-pharmacologist interested in nutrition, I did an experiment on myself a few years ago. I decided to compare the effects of a low carb diet with those of a low fat diet on blood cholesterol and other relevant measures. I spent two weeks on my normal varied diet(Calories = 2410/day: Protein15%, Carb 40%, Fat 38%, Alcohol 7%, Fiber 34g. ). My Total Cholesterol(TC), LDL, HDL and TG were 215,146, 49, and 97 mg/dL, HDL/TG Ratio =0.50. After 5 days at around 20g carb and 9 days at around 50g(unrestricted fat and protein) the figures were: Calories=1706/day: Protein 24%, Carb 9%, Fat 61%, Alcohol 6%, Fiber 18g. TC =230, LDL144, HDL 74, TG 62, HDL/TG Ratio=1.19. After a further 4 weeks at 50g to100g carb, the figures were: Calories= 1961/day: Protein 19%, Carb 15%, Fat 59%, Alcohol 7%, Fiber 29g. TC= 199, LDL 133, HDL 55, TG 68, HDL/TG Ratio=0.80. Then I spent the last 4 weeks on a low fat diet: Calories=1869/day: Protein 20%, Carb 58%, Fat 11%, Alcohol 11%. TC= 195, LDL 133, HDL 43, TG 101, HDL/TG Ratio=0.42. Blood glucose was stable in all diets at around 90 mg/dL. As regards weight loss, there was a rapid loss of weight in the initial phase of the low carb regime(around 8lb in two weeks) but no similar effect in the low carb diet, only stabilisation.

So you can see that there are definite benefits for the low carb diet, as others including Atkins noted years ago. Some doctors believe the HDL/TG ratio is the most relevant marker for CVD, and this was dramatically improved on the low carb diet. A drawback is the lack of fiber on the low carb diet.

Atkins never expected people to be on the severe low carb phase for life. He expected and recommended that some legumes, grains, root vegetables and fruit should be added back to the diet in a controlled fashion after weight loss was achieved. As I remember, I think he allowed at least 100g per day on long term carb maintenance. He was very aware of all the health benefits of fruit and vegetables and showed tables with all the vitamins and minerals they contain. I don’t think he would have recommended less than 50g of carbs for a long term low carb diet. I think this is perhaps not remembered by some ultra low carbists these days. Carb has for them become like the devil incarnate. This is too extreme for me…I like balance in life.
In your menus for the boat cruises, I found it difficult to find any fruit at all. The only veg I saw were some green peppers and onions, even though you say in a video that people can eat some non starchy veg and berries, melons etc. Well, if the attempt is to keep the carbs below 50g per day it is not surprising that these foods are in short supply.

I cut out all added sugar and all processed foods and especially things with salt added. You cannot say that cavemen and women ate anywhere near the amount of salt we do today. Salt has been shown to raise blood pressure. Cheese is amazingly high in salt and copious amounts are often eaten by low carbists just because it contains virtually no carbs and a lot of protein. I differ very much there. I avoid any food with added sugar or salt and that of course includes all shop bought buns, cakes, cookies and bread, and salty snacks, just as it does with most low carb diets. In fact if you follow a low salt regime it cuts out many of the same things as low carb.

Thanks again for allowing me to put my thoughts on paper. Good luck to you and all the people who you are helping to lose weight. I use a strict low carb diet whenever I feel I need to lose some weight and it has always worked for me. The rest of the time I avoid any sugar(including fruit juices), control carb portions, but enjoy lots of variation in home prepared whole foods including wholegrains and home grown vegetables. Nuts and seed/nut butters(no salt or sugar!) are my favorite low carb snacks.

All the best to you.

Chris Aylmer

Chris, thanks for your comments. And GREAT JOB on finding what works for you. That’s what I’m doing right now and am excited about what the future holds as I continue to figure out what plan will keep me healthy for the rest of my life.

–Jimmy

I’ve had my sister here with me 24/7 for the past
3 weeks. WHY?? To ensure I only ate what I
was supposed to……..during the induction phase,
which I decided to extend for 3 weeks.

Jimmy, I haven’t cheated ONCE……………….in 3
weeks, and I’ve only lost 1 1/2 pounds. I have kept
my carbs to BELOW 25 carbs a day, I’m drinking
10-12 glasses of water……….I’m eating about
1500 calories……….and I’m walking 30 minutes
5 days a week. I have heard of METABOLICALLY
CHALLENGED people……..but, this is the most
true I’ve stayed to myself and my diet, and this is
the result I’m getting. I’m extremely disappointed,
and wondering if this LOW CARB thing will eventually
kick in for me. I was so excited when read Dr. Atkins
book, and after seeing a friend who lost 63 pounds
by low carb dieting. Please let me know what I’m
doing WRONG……….I want to say inspired and I do
know in my heart that continuing to eat this way
will lead to a very healthy life, and definitely WEIGHT
LOSS………….BUT, WHEN????? Thanks so much.

Lee, thanks so much for writing! Without seeing exactly what you are eating, how much you weigh, what drugs you are taking, and all sorts of other “X”-factor elements that come into play when you are trying to lose weight, it’s impossible for me to tell you exactly why you’re having difficulty. But remember, livin’ la vida low-carb isn’t about weight loss primarily–it’s about improving your health. Weight loss is merely a side effect of that healthy eating. E-mail me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net with a detailed plan of what you are doing, any drugs you’re taking, and your whole regimen. I’ll see if we can figure out what’s going on with you. BE ENCOURAGED!

–Jimmy

Absolutely love the site and your tireless motivation! I just heard the segment with Nora Gedgaudas, so I looked up her site. She another person out there that thinks we should be eating meat from grassfed cows only. Just thought I’d copy what I wrote http://robbwolf.com/ (a crossfit diet guy). I originally came to this conclusion after reading this article http://www.biblelife.org/beef.htm.

Keep up the good work Jimmy! Laters,
_________________________________________
Rob,

I used to be sold on this grassfed idea until I discovered a couple of interesting things.

First, I learned about how indigenous peoples eat and how the scientists think paleolithic people ate (i.e. they supposedly went for the fattiest portions and often discarded muscle meat in favor of visceral fat, marrow, brain, organs, etc).

I then looked at the actual fatty acid profiles of different meats on the http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ site. Here I discovered that grassfed meat definitely has fewer fatty acids but the profiles paints an interesting picture.

For example, Bison (top sirloin) has 1.9g of Saturated fat, 1.7g of Monounsaturated fat, and .215 of Polyunsaturated fat (with the ratio of omega 6 to 3 being 3.4 to 1). For the same size serving, a feedlot cow has 3.6g of Saturated fat, 4g of Monounsaturated fat, and .46g of Polyunsaturated fat (with the ratio being 3 to 1). Granted, the total fat is higher on the feedlot cow, but it appears to me that both the sat/mono and 6/3 ratios are better than on the grassfed Bison.

As an aside, the total fat of tongue, marrow, brain, etc. is far higher than you’ll see on grassfed meat as well.

The only negative I see is that grainfed beef seems to have a somewhat higher proportion of palmitic acid as compared to stearic acid, but we really aren’t talking about that much total fat difference with these it seems.

I know that they test the feedlot meat frequently for hormones and it has to meet many strict standards. Plus, we appear to receive a much worse dose of hormones from plastics and other man-made sources. As far as pesticides go, it looks like vegetables and fruit are much worse offenders of that than any meat source.

So, assuming we’re designed to prefer fat over lean meat, have a good ratio of omega 6 to omega 3, and have a higher percentage of mono over sat, how can feedlot meat be bad?

Thanks for a great blog Rob!

JohnG

THANKS so much John!

–Jimmy

Kudos to you, Phil! CONGRATULATIONS!!! E-mail me your story with before and after photos to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I’d love to highlight it at my blog. THANKS!

–Jimmy

1) You mention how you lost weight on both low fat and low carb, but feel less hungry on low carb. While losing weight on both plans, did you reduce portion sizes (and thus total calorie intake)? I am currently of the opinion that calorie reduction is preferable in weight loss compared to just low fat or low carb based on my own successful experience with calorie reduction *. I feel very hungry if I don’t have fat and very weak when I don’t have carbs – but felt fine with simple moderate calorie reduction, and still lost the weight as well.

* For reference, I am a 5’2″ 115 pound female, and I lost 25 pounds in half a year on the lower calorie plan (I had gotten up to 140 pounds in grad school, technically overweight per the BMI). In the half-year since my weight loss (which itself took a half-year), I have steadily maintained my weight on an 1800 calorie per day diet (the weight loss period had me on 1200-1500 calories per day and LOTS of uphill treadmill use to burn 300 more, so kind of 900-1200 per day then taking that into account).

2) What constitutes low carb in your view? I am a 5’2″ 115 pound female who presently eats 100-150 carbs per day on average (I am the rare TYPE ONE form of diabetic caused by autoimmune response and NOT bad diet, and thus have had to count my carbs daily out of necessity for glucose reasons since the tender age of ten). From what I’ve gathered on other sites, this is lower than average, but still not low enough to be considered low carb.

3) You mention how you do treadmill exercise. How are you able to maintain the endurance while on low carb? Personally, I can no longer run an eight minute mile on the treadmill since I reduced my carb intake four months ago (I am maintaining the same calorie intake as I did then, just distributed differently among fats and carbs). In fact, not only am I unable to run an eight minute mile now on low carb, but I get winded after just a quarter of a mile. Yet if I eat rice an hour beforehand, which I did two weeks ago as a test, I can still run a mile easy!

4) It looks like you are also against the idea of the “cheese and bacon” low carb idea, which I can appreciate. I think there are some great low carb foods that offer much greater health benefits – spinach, shrimp, and almonds, to name a few (three foods I eat lots of!). Does your low carb diet include foods like those? Mine does, and while I can’t run endurance well on them, they’ve helped me build muscle nicely (I am building muscle better on a more low carb, high protein diet, which makes me feel a little less bad about my cardio drop!).

Thanks for your time!

FANTASTIC questions, Khendra, and THANK YOU for writing! I’m happy to address your very insightful remarks:

–Jimmy