low-Carb curbs appetite

Another report on the same study:

Low-Carb Diets Eliminate Urge to Overeat, Study Finds
Contributed by Ron Gara | 15 March, 2005 14:19 GMT

In addition to the calorie reduction and weight loss, subjects
experienced markedly improved glucose levels and insulin sensitivity,
as well as lower triglycerides and cholesterol.
Carbohydrates in the diet act as an appetite stimulant, fueling
excessive overeating, new research suggests. A low-carbohydrate diet,
such as the Atkins diet, has the opposite effect -- dulling the
appetite and leading to weight loss.
Temple University School of Medicine researchers conducted the study,
which is published in the March 15 issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine, with a group of obese patients who had type 2 diabetes and
followed the Atkins diet.

It is the only study of the Atkins diet to have been conducted in the
strictly controlled environment of a clinical research center where
every calorie eaten and spent was measured.

Popular Explanations Debunked

"When carbohydrates were restricted, study subjects spontaneously
reduced their caloric intake to a level appropriate for their height,
did not compensate by eating more protein or fat, and lost weight,"
says lead researcher Guenther Boden, M.D. We concluded that excessive
overeating had been fueled by carbohydrates."

Almost 80 percent of diabetics are overweight or obese, compounding
health risks, such as heart disease and stroke. Boden wanted to examine
how low-carbohydrate diets, which have been shown to produce rapid
weight loss, affected weight, appetite and blood sugar in obese
diabetics.

He discovered that study subjects did not eat less because they were
bored with the food selection, and their weight loss was not
attributable to water loss, two common speculations about low-carb
diets. Further, weight loss could not be explained by a change in
metabolism, another popular misconception.

Every Calorie Counted

After a week of typical eating, ten obese patients with type 2 diabetes
followed the Atkins diet for two weeks, with carbohydrates limited to
20 grams per day and unlimited protein and fat.

"When we took away the carbohydrates, the patients spontaneously
reduced their daily energy consumption by 1,000 calories a day.
Although they could have, they did not compensate by eating more
proteins and fats, and they weren't bored with the food choices. In
fact, they loved the diet. The carbohydrates were clearly stimulating
their excessive appetites," said Boden.

All patients stayed in the hospital for the length of the study to
insure exact measurements of calorie intake and expenditure. In other
studies of the Atkins diet, subjects were at home and reported their
own diet and exercise, making it difficult to ensure accuracy.

Improved Glucose, Insulin, Triglycerides, Cholesterol

In addition to the calorie reduction and weight loss, subjects
experienced markedly improved glucose levels and insulin sensitivity,
as well as lower triglycerides and cholesterol.

Treatment for diabetes centers on closely monitoring sugar levels, diet
and medication. Weight loss can often reduce or eliminate the need for
medication, including insulin.

Boden warns that the long term effects of low-carbohydrate diets are
not known. Whether other types of diets would have a similar impact
also remains to be investigated.

This study was funding by grants from the National Institutes of Health
and the American Diabetes Association.

*******

TC

TC said:

http://www.rocklintoday.com/news/templates/health_news.asp?articleid=1819&zoneid=7

Quoted message said:

Carbs fuel appetite, study concludes
LEE BOWMAN (Scripps Howard News Service)

A new study of obese diabetics shows why the pounds melt so quickly
with low-carbohydrate diets _ carbs fuel appetite.

"We proved that people lose weight on the Atkins diet because they

eat

Quoted message said:

less (consume fewer calories), not because they get bored with the

diet

Quoted message said:

or lose body water or because the carbohydrate calories are treated
differently by the body than fat or protein calories," said Dr.
Guenther Boden, a professor of medicine who specializes in diabetes

and

Quoted message said:

metabolism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

The study, published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, used
10 volunteers who spent three weeks in hospital rooms, the first on
their regular diet, the last two on the restricted-carbs diet.

All the subjects had mild type 2 diabetes (in which the body either
doesn't produce enough insulin or doesn't efficiently use what it
produces to break down sugar). Almost 80 percent of diabetics are
overweight or obese, compounding health risks such as heart disease

and

Quoted message said:

stroke. Boden wanted to examine how a low-carb diet, which has been
shown to produce rapid weight loss, would affect weight, appetite and
blood-sugar levels in obese diabetics.

Most other recent studies of the Atkins diet have allowed patients to
stay at home and self-report their diet and exercise. But in the new
study, the patients stayed in the hospital to ensure exact

measurements

Quoted message said:

of calorie intake and expenditure.

During the first week, the patients could eat anything and as much as
they wanted, and they ate an average of 3,111 calories a day, and

about

Quoted message said:

300 grams of carbohydrates a day.

In the following two weeks, when restricted to 20 grams of carbs a

day,

Quoted message said:

and despite readily available protein and high-fat foods, the

patients

Quoted message said:

ate about 1,000 fewer calories a day, a calorie intake considered
appropriate to their height and weight. And they lost an average of
about 3.6 pounds each.

Along with the calorie reduction and weight loss, the patients
experienced substantial improvement in blood glucose levels and

insulin

Quoted message said:

sensitivity, as well as lower triglycerides and cholesterol.

"Although they could have, they did not compensate by eating more
proteins and fats, and they weren't bored by the food choices. In

fact,

Quoted message said:

they loved the diet. This indicates to me that it was the

carbohydrates

Quoted message said:

(they had been eating) that stimulated the excess appetite," Boden
said.

"They spontaneously reduced their calories by about 1,000 calories a
day. One gram of fat equals nine calories, so doing the math, you can
determine how much fat will be lost by cutting 1,000 calories," Boden
said.

He cautioned that the long-term health effects of low-carb diets are
not known, and that it's uncertain whether other types of diets might
have a similar impact on obese diabetics, something he hopes will be
investigated.

People seeking to lose weight don't have to cut carbs as drastically

as

Quoted message said:

the Atkins diet calls for, Boden said, but "the message is: calories
count. If you want to lose weight, you have to decrease your food
intake or increase your physical activity. But it helps to know that
carbohydrates make it more difficult to reduce your caloric intake,

so

Quoted message said:

with fewer carbs, you're going to eat fewer total calories a day."

On the Net: http://www.annals.org

********

TC

TC said:

"We proved that people lose weight on the Atkins diet because they eat
less (consume fewer calories), not because they get bored with the diet
or lose body water or because the carbohydrate calories are treated
differently by the body than fat or protein calories," said Dr.
Guenther Boden, a professor of medicine who specializes in diabetes and
metabolism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Isn't the problem one of staying on a diet? We have studies showing any
diet can get people to lose weight. Then we get bored and fall off.

"Isn't the problem one of staying on a diet? We have studies showing
any
diet can get people to lose weight. Then we get bored and fall off."

That is part of the problem. Carbs (refined carbs that is) are
addictive.

Many people are so attached to refined carbs that they cannot stand to
do without. People talk about white bread as if it is an indispensible
part of their diet, they remind me of addicts and their drugs. They
cannot even begin to imagine a meal without several slices of white
bread or a large helping of soda or some other refined carb.

Children are so attached to their rte cereals covered in sugar, their
half-gallon sodas, their donuts, cookies, chocolate milk.

The problem isn't so much staying on low-carb foods as it is staying
away from addictive refined carb foods.

People believe that food is supposed to give them that tingly weird
head buzz and manic feeling that comes from refined carbs and sugars,
instead of a mildly-satiated sensation, increased energy, and feeling
of general well-being that one gets from a nutrient-packed real-food
low-carb meal.

The other part of the problem is that we've gotten away from preparing
our own meals from scratch, from fresh produce, from fresh meats. We
want instant gratification and the food industry is more than willing
to process any cheap carb into vaguely edible nutrient-deficient
semblance of a food product that we are willing to stuff down our
gullet as quickly as possible.

When you are prepared to create your own meals from scratch, the food
can easily be head-and-shoulders above anything you can get in a box or
a can. The variety is infinite and so, so good.

We need to stop depending on food processors for our basic food needs
and start eating the way people used to eat. Real food, the freshest
foods, prepared just before being served. And no refined carbs.

TC

greg said:

TC said:

"We proved that people lose weight on the Atkins diet because they

eat

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

less (consume fewer calories), not because they get bored with the

diet

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

or lose body water or because the carbohydrate calories are treated
differently by the body than fat or protein calories," said Dr.
Guenther Boden, a professor of medicine who specializes in diabetes

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

metabolism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Isn't the problem one of staying on a diet? We have studies showing

any

Quoted message said:

diet can get people to lose weight. Then we get bored and fall off.

TC said:

That is part of the problem. Carbs (refined carbs that is) are
addictive.

I agree completely, but the solution of following a diet is one that
doesn't seem to work for the majority.

I isn't a matter of "following a diet" diet, it is a matter or
reverting to a healthy diet, as in a "way of eating" diet.

For those who fail to see the importance of this, they will suffer with
obesity and disease. And they will pass it on to their children.

They have to make it work if they want to be healthy, and if they want
their children to be healthy.

TC

greg said:

TC said:

That is part of the problem. Carbs (refined carbs that is) are
addictive.

I agree completely, but the solution of following a diet is one that
doesn't seem to work for the majority.

TC said:

I isn't a matter of "following a diet" diet, it is a matter or
reverting to a healthy diet, as in a "way of eating" diet.

But that is a diet. Call it what you will.

Quoted message said:

For those who fail to see the importance of this, they will suffer with
obesity and disease. And they will pass it on to their children.

They have to make it work if they want to be healthy, and if they want
their children to be healthy.

Problem is this a long term risk calculation and people are really bad
at this. We are short term thinkers.

I suspect that humans imprint on their foods at an early age. Parents feed
the children refined carbs and thus as adults they expect them.

It is remarkable how many people that regain health with low carb, then go
back to eating carbs.

I've been low carbing for 16 months, and plan to stay at it for life, but my
low carb friends seem to cheat.

"TC" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Isn't the problem one of staying on a diet? We have studies showing
any
diet can get people to lose weight. Then we get bored and fall off."

That is part of the problem. Carbs (refined carbs that is) are
addictive.

Many people are so attached to refined carbs that they cannot stand to
do without. People talk about white bread as if it is an indispensible
part of their diet, they remind me of addicts and their drugs. They
cannot even begin to imagine a meal without several slices of white
bread or a large helping of soda or some other refined carb.

Children are so attached to their rte cereals covered in sugar, their
half-gallon sodas, their donuts, cookies, chocolate milk.

The problem isn't so much staying on low-carb foods as it is staying
away from addictive refined carb foods.

People believe that food is supposed to give them that tingly weird
head buzz and manic feeling that comes from refined carbs and sugars,
instead of a mildly-satiated sensation, increased energy, and feeling
of general well-being that one gets from a nutrient-packed real-food
low-carb meal.

The other part of the problem is that we've gotten away from preparing
our own meals from scratch, from fresh produce, from fresh meats. We
want instant gratification and the food industry is more than willing
to process any cheap carb into vaguely edible nutrient-deficient
semblance of a food product that we are willing to stuff down our
gullet as quickly as possible.

When you are prepared to create your own meals from scratch, the food
can easily be head-and-shoulders above anything you can get in a box or
a can. The variety is infinite and so, so good.

We need to stop depending on food processors for our basic food needs
and start eating the way people used to eat. Real food, the freshest
foods, prepared just before being served. And no refined carbs.

TC

greg said:

TC said:

"We proved that people lose weight on the Atkins diet because they

eat

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

less (consume fewer calories), not because they get bored with the

diet

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

or lose body water or because the carbohydrate calories are treated
differently by the body than fat or protein calories," said Dr.
Guenther Boden, a professor of medicine who specializes in diabetes

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

metabolism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Isn't the problem one of staying on a diet? We have studies showing

any

Quoted message said:

diet can get people to lose weight. Then we get bored and fall off.

Cubit said:

I suspect that humans imprint on their foods at an early age.

Parents feed

Quoted message said:

the children refined carbs and thus as adults they expect them.

Children learn what to eat and how to prepare the food from their
parents, usually the mother. In most cases, when the mother is very
obese the children will be chunky at an early age. The sad thing is
that often the mother will have been trying to lose weight forever by
eating low-fat low-cal high-carb and getting fatter and fatter because
of it. And the rest of the family then follow the pattern of creeping
obesity.

Quoted message said:

It is remarkable how many people that regain health with low carb,

then go

Quoted message said:

back to eating carbs.

I don't understand that at all. If I go back to high-carb I feel like
[censored]. It feels so much better to eat real foods like a chicken soup
made from scratch.

Quoted message said:

I've been low carbing for 16 months, and plan to stay at it for life,

but my

Quoted message said:

low carb friends seem to cheat.

Refined carbs are addicting and not everyone has the will-power I
guess.

Unfortunately people feel that not eating refined carbs is somehow
restricting. I see it as empowering, I have 100% control over my weight
and my health.

TC

High carb diets are not very satisfying, unless they are contain quite
a bit of fat. My blood glucose went from 94 top 75 after I switched
from a very low fat diet to a diet fairly high in saturated fatty acids
(high in butter and coconut). And I was never hungry between meals or
overnight, as I was on the high carb/low fat diet (which was very high
in "complex" carbs). All I got from the high carb diet was digestive
and malasorption problems. But I now eat all the carbs I want. The
key is not to eat much polyunsaturated fatty acids or oxidized
cholesterol and to eat antioxidant rich foods. When sugar and fat are
eaten together, satisfaction is maximized (I cited an experiment done
on this exact situation in my 2002 book). Notice that they did the
study on obese diabetic people, which does not mean I, I thin person
with no signs of diabetes, should eat what they eat. Too many studies
neglect basic biochemistry and tell us what helped people who were on
death's doorway. This has been especially egregious with women, that
is, women were told what to do based upon studies of middle-aged, very
ill men.