A Paradigm Shift with Atkins?
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A Paradigm Shift with Atkins?
I was sitting in the sauna last evening and reading a copy of The New Atkins for a New You when on page 67 I came across the following (paraphrase): "(it is suggested) That you eat 3 meals a day...with 1-2 snacks...however, if you are not feeling hungry, and have energy there is no need to snack..."
There was a time when indiscriminant snacking was good to go in Atkins as long as the snacks were low carb.
There does seem to be an overall paradigm shift in some of "these" diet plans.
*Disclaimer: This is not an attempt to promote low carb dieting. This is a post to demosntrate the apparent changing attitudes in appraoches to eating.
There was a time when indiscriminant snacking was good to go in Atkins as long as the snacks were low carb.
There does seem to be an overall paradigm shift in some of "these" diet plans.
*Disclaimer: This is not an attempt to promote low carb dieting. This is a post to demosntrate the apparent changing attitudes in appraoches to eating.
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
I think more and more people, especially diet gurus, are realizing how easy it is to jam so much food into the day with a lifestyle of unlimited snacking. Even if that is healthy snacking (healthy food is still food, still has calories, and can still make you fat).
And when you are spreading it out over the course of the day, it just doesn't seem like you've eaten "that much". As such, even if you don't eliminate snacking entirely, but limit the number of snacks to a set number of "mini-meals", I think there is a huge advantage. Sure, it is still completely possible to go way overboard - but I think it is a least a bit harder psychologically to look at all that food at once and still eat all of it.
And when you are spreading it out over the course of the day, it just doesn't seem like you've eaten "that much". As such, even if you don't eliminate snacking entirely, but limit the number of snacks to a set number of "mini-meals", I think there is a huge advantage. Sure, it is still completely possible to go way overboard - but I think it is a least a bit harder psychologically to look at all that food at once and still eat all of it.
Finally a diet that I can make a lifestyle!
Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)
Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)
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I have met people who are dieting - and what they seem to concentrate on the most is their snacks! They discuss them a lot and plan them carefully. They make sure that they are never without "healthy snacks" and spend a lot of the day consuming said snacks. Sometimes it seems as if snacking (healthy snacking they point out!) becomes the point of the diet. Lots of almonds, baby carrots (always dipped in something or other), apples with peanut butter, the inevitable snack bars etc.
I know that when I don't snack, I don't change my other meals - they are the same amount. So if I don't snack I eat less. Every day that really adds up after a while. It would not seem to be that hard to understand. However one dieter I know assured me that by not snacking I was slowing down my metabolism, sending it into "starvation mode". This seemed unlikely to me - my body thinks it is starving when I eat three meals a day?
I know that when I don't snack, I don't change my other meals - they are the same amount. So if I don't snack I eat less. Every day that really adds up after a while. It would not seem to be that hard to understand. However one dieter I know assured me that by not snacking I was slowing down my metabolism, sending it into "starvation mode". This seemed unlikely to me - my body thinks it is starving when I eat three meals a day?
You could write a book just on diet mythology. Starvation mode is one of those myths. There is a grain of truth in it - on *severely* restricted calorie intake (like, 800 calories a day), sustained over a period of some days, people do tend to become lethargic, which in itself means that their metabolism falls. But on a more typical dieter's regime of, say, 1500 calories, any effect is very small. And 1500 calories a day, for most people, is nowhere near "starving".
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- Posts: 137
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:57 pm
The biggest issue for me in snacking was the burden of having the right foods available. I never felt good about having a bag of chips as a snack or just an apple. I just don't worry about it. If I really have to, I can get to a cup of coffee.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
At lunch I was perusing the Google groups and it lead me to a link at 3 Fat Ckicks on a Diet forum, where someone had posted the link to No S. I was amused (again) by the seeming need to have snacks (healthy though) and the vehemency shown toward No S because of the No Snack rule. "Snacking is good it boosts your metabolism!"
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
- BrightAngel
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- Location: Central California
- Contact:
I started snacking yesterday, without realizing it, and the whole day got shot to poo, there is more truth to "once you pop you can't stop" than we really know.
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
That is one of the premises of Fat Head. Tom Naughton is discussing Super Size Me and makes the statement: If a person ate 5000 calories of any food (even healthy) he/she would get fat. Which seems obvious, but I think some people think they will eat 5000 calories of fast food and get fat, eat 5000 calories of watermelon and not get fat.Sienna wrote:I think more and more people, especially diet gurus, are realizing how easy it is to jam so much food into the day with a lifestyle of unlimited snacking. Even if that is healthy snacking (healthy food is still food, still has calories, and can still make you fat).
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
- BrightAngel
- Posts: 2093
- Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 4:22 pm
- Location: Central California
- Contact:
Oh yea, 5000 calories of watermelon would be stretching it, but hyperbole goes a long way.BrightAngel wrote: Over 43.......Good Point!
Although, of course it would be very difficult
to eat 5000 calories of watermelon...
There are many "real" unproccessed foods that
can quickly and easily add up to 5000 calories.
Bacon is the gateway meat. - Anthony Bourdain
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
You pale in comparison to Fox Mulder. - The Smoking Man
I made myself be hungry, then I would get hungrier. - Frank Zane Mr. Olympia '77, '78, '79
But while 5000 calories of watermelon might be hard to get (a quick online search suggested 37 calories for 10 melon balls, so you'd need to eat over 1300 melon balls!), 5000 calories of something like mixed nuts would be pretty easy - and I know a TON of people who grab "just a handful" of mixed nuts as a "healthy" afternoon snack. And a few who also grab a handful as a midmorning snack.Over43 wrote:
Oh yea, 5000 calories of watermelon would be stretching it, but hyperbole goes a long way.
A 1/2 cup of mixed nuts is about 440 calories. A double cheeseburger from McDs is 440 calories. If I'm going to consume 440 calories, I'd rather have the burger. And I'd never call a double cheeseburger "a snack".
Finally a diet that I can make a lifestyle!
Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)
Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)