Comments on: Atkins and Pollard

By: Cleve Blakemore

Cleve Blakemore — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 02:35:57 +0000

Yaawwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn …. (yes, I can see you’ve been reading widely recently. You kind of missed out on that entire sugar-insulin resistance-sleep-deprivation revolution. I do recognize your ideas from early 1970’s articles on weight loss by Richard Simmons in PEP magazine, however.) Man oh man how I wished I’d gotz me a college edumificashun! Them lefties sho is edumicated!

By: backword dave

backword dave — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 14:51:33 +0000

If Cleve is saying what I think he’s saying then he’s wrong. He could be saying something quite different, but it’s a little hard to tell what with the insults in place of substance. If he says there’s a relationship between white sugar and insulin, then duh! Obese people are much more likely to get diabetes. I think that was well known without Atkins. And not all carbohydrates are refined sugar. Dr Atkins was “a modest innovator well over a hundred years past our time”? What? he was helped by space aliens? So that’s what those experiments were about.

By: Jason McCullough

Jason McCullough — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 03:39:15 +0000

Oh great, we’ve attracted Cleve Blakemore, survivalist crank extraordinare.

By: Cleve Blakemore

Cleve Blakemore — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:36:39 +0000

Jif, I’d like to congratulate you on your circa 1940’s roundup of current scientific thinking on weight loss. I have struggled not to be exposed to anything written after 1946 but weak character has found me poring over modern medical literature at times despite my best efforts. Another reason why leftists suck – they are ALWAYS behind the intellectual power curve. They will be arguing rabidly in an empty stadium while tumbleweeds blow past, not realizing the argument has moved on some time ago. Because of Atkins, jif, modern people have begun to realize just what the relationship is between insulin and the 400 lbs of raw white sugar and corn syrup we put into our bodies each year. Calling Atkins a genius is an understatement – the guy was not just brilliant beyond description, he was a modest innovator well over a hundred years past our time. I can tell by your post you have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s the eternal sunshine of the spotless leftist mind.

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:20:18 +0000

“And time will tell what kind of long term damage Atkins followers are doing to their bodies.” Make that “whether”, and not just “what kind”, and I might agree. You seem to be presuming that we WILL find long term damage, and that’s an empirical question to be settled after the evidence is in.

By: John Kozak

John Kozak — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:45:18 +0000

Just another waffer-thin mint, Mr Pollard?

By: jif

jif — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:36:49 +0000

Uh, Cleve, your rapid and rabid response might leave the impression that being on the Atkins Diet has made you a) inordinately cranky; and b) distanced you from reality. Liberal = Communist = Junk food pusher? Oh sure. Because when I see all those folks picketing in front of McDonalds I instantly think God-fearing, Bush-loving, Republican Patriots. Or whatever. Carbohydrates are your body’s energy. If you put too much energy into your body without working your body it gets packed away. Which means you can’t sock the bread and pasta away like your ancestors who did far more physical labor than most of us do today. This does not mean that you should replace all carbohydrates with fats and proteins in the form of fried red meat. The solution for this is to a) eat fewer calories- all calories, but particularly the empty ones. Which means eat whole grain, not white; no donuts; no candy; and really, no McDonalds; b) exercise. It really is that simple. I know this because ten years ago I dropped 25 pounds by cutting not carbs but crap out of my diet. I eat vegetables and fruits that are all but banned from the Atkins diet all day long. And I go to the gym at least 5 times a week for at least an hour. I’ve kept the 25 pounds off for a decade. You really can’t dump oil and red meat into your body in great amounts and deny your body fruits and vegetables and truly expect that it won’t do harm to your body- most specifically to your heart and your colon. Yeah, most people lose weight on it- at first. Most people on the diet are also dehydrated. And most people ultimately plateau, then gain everything back and then some. In no small part this is due to the fact that the Atkins diet is not a realistic diet for life. And time will tell what kind of long term damage Atkins followers are doing to their bodies. Count calories. Go to the gym.

By: Avedon

Avedon — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:24:53 +0000

Atkins got me to stop putting sugar in my coffee, stop drinking Coke, and get more exercise. Kind of obvious, really, but it was nice having a food list and all that so I could have some structure. Lost all that weight I’d gained while I was ill, feel better, not sorry. I actually felt pretty happy during the induction phase, although I missed potatoes, bananas and pasta. It was a bit frustrating until I realized I could just put my favorite sauces on a pile of spinach instead of pasta. Bread was harder but I found out I could live without it for a few months, and I can live now eating a lot less of it than I did before. I cheat just often enough that I don’t feel like a deprived child or a sick person. And I found out that once you stop adding sugar to things, they taste fine without it. And I also found out that having weaned myself off Coca Cola, I don’t really like that fizzy stuff anymore. (And, of course, I am more liberal than ever!)

By: Jaybird

Jaybird — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:13:31 +0000

I think that the main thing that Atkins/South Beach/The Zone actually does it that it gets you to stop eating crap and start eating food that you actually cook yourself. The additional 20 minutes/meal standing up and the Bigmac-less lunches/dinners results in amazing weight loss. And people think “the diet worked!” when, really, it was the fact that you’re eating a pork chop that you grilled instead of a box of Chikin-in-a-Biskits with cheez-in-a-can.

By: jet

jet — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:33:39 +0000

bithead said “I have seldom seen anyone, on any kind of a diet restriction, that looked overly happy about it.” But you often see people who exercise often looking quite happy.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:23:02 +0000

I have seldom seen anyone, on any kind of a diet restriction, that looked overly happy about it.

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 17:12:36 +0000

Lost 30 lbs. Eventually the Atkins diet stopped working for me, but if I’m going to be honest, it’s because I stopped following it strictly. It’s not an easy diet for people who actually like instant ramen.

By: winna

winna — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 17:10:29 +0000

They recently published a study that seemed to indicate that it doesn’t matter what diet you do as long as you stick to it for at least a year. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dietandfitness/2002141088_diets05.html Congrats on losing the weight! That takes dedication, no matter which diet you choose. If only there weren’t Marxists squirting lardy-sugary chocolate icing directly into my mouth I, too, could lose weight, but alas. Oh wait, that’s what I wish were happening. Oops. ;)

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:30:18 +0000

Giblets—er, Cleve—is right! LIBERALS ARE STUFFING SUGAR DOWN OUR THROATS! Two of them are force-feeding me donuts even as I type. STOP TEMPTING ME WITH YOUR SWEET, SWEET, TRAITOROUS CALORIES, LIBERALS Your only goal is to make me so fat that I’ll no longer be able to type, and the cause of Iraqi democracy® will lose yet another valiant, patriotic keyboardist!

And, fresh from the internets, evidence that their evil scheme is working …

By: pedro

pedro — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:14:35 +0000

Giblets, is that you? :-)