The low carb fad and how it can impact us

I wonder if I'm the only cyclist worried about the low carb fad trend?

I suffer from a GI condition called IBS. Two years ago, I learned its easily treated with a lower fat, higher fiber diet, coupled with exercise. I made that permanent lifestyle switch in my life, and not only did my IBS attacks entirely stop, but I lost 130 lbs (so far!)

I had been a cyclist when I was younger, and in addition to my daily 75 mins on a recumbent exercise bike, I returned to cycling which I do often, to run errands, ride for enjoyment, etc.

But more and more, I am noticing the low carb trend is impacting me when I shop and go out to eat. Some of my formerly favorite places to eat have gotten rid of their lowfat menus and replaced with lowcarb/highfat. I am really worried that eventually, if this trend continues, I might not be able to get lowfat cheese, lowfat sour cream, low fat margarine, and other things I need to cook at home. Already I am finding it harder and harder to find my Powerbars...many stores have stopped carrying them and are replacing them with Atkins crap, which is totally useless to me.

Call me paranoid, but I see the Atkins cultists doing what the militant gays did in the 1970s to the American Psychiatric Assn. For many decades, homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness. But due to strongarm tactics, they changed as a result of the gay rights mvmt. I am not anti-gay rights, but I remember when this all happened and I recognize what went on.

I fear Atkins devotees are doing the same...strongarming the diet industry, fun ding studies that (surprise, surprise) find the Atkins diet is healthier than lowfat/high fiber.

Here is something I posted to a debate forum on this subject:

For health reasons (IBS), for the past 2 years I have limited my fat intake to no more than 25% of my daily food consumption. I have not limited carbs at all, in fact I have INCREASED my intake due to the fact that I have returned to my former hobby of cycling, and cyclists need carbs for energy and better performance. In addition to outdoors cycling, I also aerobically exercise on an indoor stataionary bike for 75 mins 6 days a week.

When I first started this, I weighed 305 lbs. I now weigh 175 lbs., which is 130 lbs less. If carbs are so terrible for you, why did cutting fat but NOT carbs (actually increasing them for cycling performance reasons) cause me to lose 130 lbs?

And I was not even trying to lose weight, I was just trying to treat my IBS. In fact, my IBS attacks totally stopped once I switched to a lower fat, higher fiber diet, and began exercising.

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''Senza il pane tutto diventa orfano.''
(''Without bread everyone's an orphan.'')

http://www.nal.usda.gov:8001/py/pmap.htm



Any comments or ideas? Food companies need to hear from those of us who are not on the low carb bandwagon, and those of us who need carbs for optimal sport performance. If not the lowcarbers will be the only voices heard.

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We humans may be "designed to eat fat" but maybe I'm not human then (or anyone else suffering from IBS).

When we eat too much fat, we get violently ill--vomiting, diahhrea, severe (and I do mean severe) stomach pains. And it goes on for hours sometimes.

I find by keeping my daily fat intake to 25% I do not get any attacks. For me, this isnt about losing weight (even though by eating lowfat I lost a lot of weight)...its about staying sane and not having IBS attakcs that had confined me to the house.

Ted B,

IBS is not connected to weight issues at all. In fact I was first diagnosed with it at age 16 when I weighed about 103 lbs. Its caused by highfat foods, stress and other factors, but weight is not one of them. Pregnancy can also trigger it. It also often goes into remission, sometimes for a few years. No one knows why.

I was diagnosed at age 16 after a very stressful relationship I was involved in. I kept having it for a year, then suddenly it went into remission. It came back during my first pregnancy at age 32. It was during those inbetween years that I gained the weight. I
And it wasnt until 2 yrs ago that I found out highfat foods are a number trigger of IBS, as is a diet too low in fiber. Once I switched to a lowfat, high fiber diet coupled with exercise (exercise reportedly helps IBS too), the attacks entirely stopped.

Re: Re: The low carb fad and how it can impact us

Frankly, I don't care what other ppl do with their lives and bodies, as long it doesn't impact my life or my body.

I don't really care if ppl smoke, just dont do it around me. I dont care if ppl drink, just dont drive a car and hit me while I'm on my bike. I dont care if ppl want to go low carb, just dont make it so that restaurateurs and stores stop carrying the lowfat high carb stuff I need, to make room for you.

You may say it would be best if they carried everything, but more and more restaurants near me are ELIMINATING the former lowfat high fiber menus they had, and subbing with high fat low carb. That greatly limits where I can eat.

Manufacturers go by consumer trends. They don't carry things unless many people want them. Restaurateurs are in a worse bind...as a friend who runs an eatery told me, restaurants only have limited menu space, and its not economically feasible for them to carry foods that might not sell as well as others. So as the diet trend moves from lowfat to low carb, to put it bluntly, people with heart disease (who must eat lowfat high fiber), people with IBS, and others, will be screwed.

I think ppl should be FAR more concerned with being healthy than with losing weight. Yes, you can be heavy and be healthy, studies from the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas have proven that a heavy person who is physically active stands to live longer than a thin person who is sedentary. Unfortunately IMO many ppl care more about losing weight than being healthy for the longterm.