Everyday Systems

Hi!

The book Life Without Bread stated that whether you eat simple, complex, sweet or not sweet carbs, the body will metabolize them into glucose (a small portion as glycogen). Simple carbs will be absorbed faster thus inducing an insulin spike.

What is the reason that we limit sweets to S days?

Thnaks!

We limit "sweets" instead of "sugar" or "carbs" for two reasons:

1) "no sweets" (during the week) is enough to do the job.

2) going further than that (restricting all sugar or all refined carbs) is painful, complicated, historically unprecedented, unsustainable and unnecessary.

It's not a matter of one substance being good and the other evil, it's a matter of finding sustainable behaviors that will do the job.

Reinhard

Question for Johnny Quick,

I know diet books are blasting carbs. But if carbs are so bad, why do other cultures like Japan, China, Italy, France, etc. eat them and have less weight problems then us?

Hi milczar!

To answer your question, if you create a calorie deficit you will lose weight. In addition, if you are already skinny, you will maintain your weight with a calorie balance. It will not matter if you are eating sushi, white rice, pasta or French bread.

The aforementioned book stated that excess carbohydrates are detrimental to some people. They recommend 72 grams per day and provide numerous studies showing how their patients benefited.

Thanks!

Here's my take on the low/no-carb diets. It's absolutely true that you can lose weight and stay thin while eating white rice, white bread, and other refined carbs. But I think that, for people who have trouble regulating their blood sugar (due to years of messed-up eating, genetics, or whatever reason) those foods hit the blood really fast, causing a spike and then a crash that leads to more cravings.

I followed the Zone diet for years, and I lost the habit of eating bread, or much rice, with my meals. The Zone isn't as strict as Atkins in that no food is off-limits; you can portion out your carbs however you want, although you won't have enough for much more than a slice of bread at each meal. The great thing it did for me was to teach me that, when protein was a bigger part of each meal and I also had some fiber, I could be satisfied longer with much smaller portions and fewer calories overall.

The downside is, it's not really sustainable to eat so differently from the way most people eat and from the traditional foods in our culture. Even at the height of my Zone Diet adherence, I still took a cheat day once a week when I could eat whatever I wanted. It's really inconvenient to keep protein on hand for snacks; most fast food that contains protein comes with a big sugary floury bun. I don't think I'll ever be into sandwiches again and I can't see myself gorging on chips or popcorn, but I do like baking my own bread or eating oatmeal for breakfast and rice with dinner. I do still keep the Zone rules more informally: I still make sure to have some protein, some fiber and some unsaturated fat with each meal, and I find that the less refined sugar and flour I eat, the better I feel. But a strict low-carb regime is just too hard to sustain, which is why I'm really liking No-S.

Most people have a tendency to pig out on snickers bars way more than they have a tendency to pig out on plain bread.

Most people have a tendency to pig out on snickers bars way more than they have a tendency to pig out on plain bread.

No kidding!

(but not anymore after that Super Bowl commercial... )