Diet Wars
The war between the vegetarians and the Atkins people is really disgusting. I know over-weight vegetarians, so that's no sure thing. I also know people who ride the Atkins roller-coaster. I know people who do just fine of both styles of diets.
The smear on the Atkins diet because of the death of Mr. Atkins was awful. One case of heart disease does not a trend make. Most of the studies I've seen so far don't really damn Atkins more than any other diet which relies heavily on increasing or decreasing intake of particular foods. Personally I don't dig on designer diets, but I see that in some cases decreasing body weight is a "good thing" as it can reduce wear and tear on the body. Atkins in particular is very effective at shedding pounds, but with that power comes responsibility in being more vigilant about monitoring your body and how it is adjusting to your new diet. This is not me ranting at Atkins people, just a call to be careful.
What bugs me about all the designer diets is that they sell a false bill of goods. They try and say that you will get something (weight loss) for nothing but changing your eating habits. Now while you can point out that on every diet it has all the standard crap about see a doctor, exercise is good, blah blah blah, that isn't really what they are selling. They are trying to sell you on being healthy with the least amount of effort possible. Now I'm sure finding hot sauce with no sugar in it can be a lot of effort, you know what I really mean. Preying on the idea that our society can make things effortless. Look at all the 5 minute a day workout tapes or 15 minute a day home gym systems. Diet supplement pills, which are even worse than designer diets in my eyes, is what the weight loss industry is trying to sell. Something for nothing. The people that fail usually put in nothing. The people that succeed put in a lot of effort to make sure they reach their goals. That's all I'm really trying to say. It will take a lot of effort to reach your goal, whatever it is.
Weight loss, looking at it from a simple view point is burning more than you take in, or starving yourself (technically, not literally). The body most burn its stored resources to function there by you loose weight.
You know what's really great at burning those resources? Exercise. You know what else is a good idea? Checking in with a doctor. My father in-law wanted to drop a few pounds and thought Atkins would be good. He went to check with his doctor, who knew about his diabetes and said he should try a mod of the Atkins called The South Beach diet since it would fit in better with his diabetes.
Health is a balance of diet and exercise and mental state and millions of other things that aren't exactly well documented. Don't think you can get something for nothing. Don't think that not eating meat makes you healthy. Don't think that running 15 miles every day will make you healthy. Every body is different. Know your body and work with it. Me? Hacker Diet, which isn't comparable to the designer diets in that it says you should watch your intake/output and adjust them according to your goals. Oh and get off your but and exercise once in a while.
