I heard somewhere that a whopping 70% of us Americans will go on a diet this year. And with all the choices in miracle weight loss plans available just in he supermarket check-out alone it's no wonder we get confused as to what will actually work. After all the goal is to lose weight healthfully and still satisfy our hunger, isn't it? So it isn't really surprising that most of us find it hard to stick to any of these plans, small portions, low-cal, low-fat, ow-carb, prepared foods, etc, and when we fail we take it hard. (we gain back what we lost and add a few more pounds for good measure)

I Did It My Way

This website advocates losing weight by cutting back on bad carbs and the research backs us up, however, how YOU do it is up to you. I combined elements of the South Beach Diet and the Adkins Diet to lose weight and at the same time tried to watch my fat intake. It worked! The point is, I made up this diet myself. I used proven weight loss tricks but I personalized my own plan where I adapted each diet plan to fit my life, not the other way around. Check out ome of these proven strategies and choose ways to make them work for you.

Cutting Carbohydrates = Success

And by that I mean the bad ones, refined flour in the form of white bread, pasta and especially refined sugar. Did you ever stop to think how much sugar there is in all of our so-called low-fat foods? Just look at the labels and it becomes obvious, when a product removes the fat they have to add sugar to get the taste back - otherwise, no sale! All of these foods may taste good but they provide zero nutrition and empty calories. Learn to eat your way around them. Just avoiding one 20-ounce soda per day could translate into savings of 25 pounds or more over a year! Try the ones with Splenda, like RC Zero or my personal favorite, Diet Ocean Spray Cranberry Grape Juice with Splenda. Both have zero calories and zero carbs and they taste very good.

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Men Concerned About Their Wives and Risk of Diabetes

I was speaking with some fellow veterans at the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Hospital in Phoenix the other day while I sat in the waiting room of the Agent Orange Registry. I was there for an examination that would tell me if I had or, were at risk for, type 2 diabetes, a disease now on the the list of associated nasty things that you can get as a result of exposure to high concentrates of Agent Orange (DDT- a defoliant) in Viet Nam. Anyway, as vets will do, we got to talking about our wives and what they were doing to lower their risk of diabetes and how a certain diet might help. All of the wives that were discussed were women ranging in age from 50 to 60 years old, having weight problems, and were on diets of some kind. It's a well-known fact that being overweight is the single largest contributor in causing the onset of type 2 diabetes. And, believe me, you do not want to get this disease!

Low-Carb or low-fat?

The discussion with my Viet Nam comrades resulted in a split decision, some were in favor of the low-carb diet and some were on the side of low-fat, with the consensus leaning (ha!) toward a low-fat approach. My wife cringes when she sees me eat a steak or bacon or cream cheese, regardless of my weight loss results because she has been conditioned to think that way by a multi-zillion dollar campaign to keep king sugar posting record profits. This includes glossy ads in magazines and TV commercials that promote low-fat foods or diets while showcasing the thin bodies and beautiful faces of those (18 year old) ladies among us, who represent less than 1% of the entire female population, paid to say they got that way by consuming a certain low-fat food. Pullease! 

Up on my Low-Carb Soapbox

Among my veteran colleagues there were advocates for both low-carb and low-fat approaches but before I could get up on my low-carb soapbox and enlighten them with all that I have learned about the low-carb nutritional approach to weight loss, I was called in to the doctor. When I came out my new friends had dispersed to examination rooms where the news was either good or bad. (in my case, I came out ok, whew!). I thought about it on the way home and got on the computer first thing. And voila!, right there in Healthday News was an article about those same concerns. Very illuminating, especially for woman who feel the need to reduce the amount of meat in their diet, and their concern they might be at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Low-Carb Wins!

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I thought I should pass on this interesting article I saw on MSN's website, Health & Fitness section that rates the sugar substitutes, the good, the bad and the so-called unacceptable. Written by Sylvia Geiger, M.S.,R.D., Eatingwell.com

In my opinion this article is not only a review of sugar substitues but a reassuring bit of information that helps to enlighten the public as to their options when it comes to FDA approved sweetners. A quote that appears in the article by Manfred Kroger, Ph.D., professor emeritus of food science at Penn State says it all for me. "The public should feel confident that any approved sweetener is truly safe and has been closely scrutinized." And it's not just me, most food scientists agree with that statement. That's comforting news for those of us who have been subjected to the cancer scares of aspertame - even though most are aware that you would have to consume buckets of this stuff daily to maybe get the big C. The sugar industry does what it can to mis-direct and mis-inform us about other sweetners that challenge their markets but from the looks of all the low fat foods out there that depend on sugar for taste I dont think sugar has much to worry about. But when I see some of the big guns out there like Coke and RC with labels that proclaim "sweetened with Splenda," it does my heart good.

Ms. Geiger goes on to talk about the fact that sales of "diet-friendly" sugar substitutes have gone through the roof, up a factor of 50% from 2000 to 2006 primarily because health experts are now recommending the use of them to their overweight and diabetic patients. A staggerting 66% of Americans are overweight and 20.8 million have diabetes. She mentions that according to a recent survey, seven out of 10 adults say they want to reduce or avoid added sugars. And in order to do this they are forsaking regular sugar for sweeteners that deliver zero or minimal calories. 

For me Splenda is the only choice for sweetning beverages both hot and cold, especially coffee. I am a sweet freak that has to have sweet in his life and Splenda does it for me. I have to use 10 times the amount of sugar to get the same sweetness and that is just unacceptable. Bottom line is it just depends on what you get used to and what you believe the experts like Sylvia Geiger have to say. I started using Splenda when I read about it in Dr. Atkins book, The New Diet Revolution. He recommended those sweetners like sucralose, not because he thought aspertame caused cancer but because it seemed to derail his patients efforts at the Induction phase of his low carb plan. They were not able to lose as much weight as quickly. Bottom line, read the article and decide what is best for you.

If you have been away from low carb for a while or maybe even never bought into it in the first place I have good news! There are thousands of people out there that believe, like I do, that the controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach is the best way to lose weight. There are so many resources for great tasting food products out there that offer more variety, are better tasting and a heck of a lot better for you. Weight loss is about substitution, not about depriving yourself of the things you love like bread, pasta and, Heaven help me, sweets, my personal nemesis. Sugar was a staple in my life until I was able to find things that tasted just as good without it. And when I do need something sweet for my decaf coffee or low carb drink I reach for the Splenda!

The typical American diet is what makes you fat, especially if you buy into the low-fat lifestyle. The only way they can make low-fat food palatable is to add sugar. I am all for cutting out fat when I can but not by adding a ton of sugar to food. The best way to cut out fat on a low carb diet is to watch your portions, have two slices of bacon instead of four, 8 oz of meat instead of 12 or mix low-fat mayo with regular mayo for your salad dressings and dips. Read the rest of this entry »

You may remember that low- carb dieting became a fad not too long ago and a bunch of us Americans jumped on the bandwagon, thinking this was another quick fix. In restaurants around the country it became trendy to order a hamburger without the bun or to ask for Splenda for your coffee. You might have tried low -carb yourself with some success but went back to your bad habits after losing a few pounds, possibly ending up with a few extra for good measure. This "fad" fizzled because most of us just don't have the staying power and because the low-fat crowd twisted the solid research behind this plan and convinced us that it was "unhealthy." Bullcarb!

I'm here to tell you that the Low-Carb movement is alive and well and is just as active as ever in trying to convert us Americans (who get fatter every day) to a more nutritional approach to eating and losing weight. I personally believe that a combination of the Atkins Low Carbohydrate Nutritional approach combined with aspects of the South Beach Diet AND a low-fat approach are the way to go. If this sounds like an oxymoron bear with me. I know what you THINK you have heard about fat not being a consideration with either Atkins or The South Beach folks - you know those people who just can't let go of their bad habits and start the Atkins diet with a pound of bacon a day!? This is simply a mis-conception and spin from the low-fat folks who support the sugar industry. Just go into any supposedly health food store and look at the low fat stuff. Its all LOADED with sugar. And to us metabolically challenged, processed sugar is our number one enemy! NO ONE, especially Atkins, advocates eating unlimited quantities of fat-loaded foods. PLEASE, if you are going to do this, READ THE BOOKS first, then get with your doctor and see if this approach is something that is safe for you.