BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Alternative Medicine Atkins Diet vs. Mercola (No Grain) Diet

I just received this irate message from a reader and I thought that some dear forum members would be interested in commenting.....

Here's the link to the book review of Dr. Mercola's excellent book:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art9836.asp
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dear bella,
i am trying very hard to not patronize you in this mail. but please, if you are going to critique certain people or diets please be more informed. i am sick and tired of so called experts putting down the ''atkins regimen'' out of hearsay. the ketogenic diet has been around for decades as a cure for epilepsy with great results. the ''mercola diet'' is not much different at all. Dr.Mercola is a proponent of the paleo diet which is even higher in fat and less carbs than atkins. the info is on the web! as for your alternative program you epsouse seems to be the same junk as the establishment.low fat, calorie restriction, blame the patient, vegetarianism.
I somehow believe i am wasting my time e-mailing this.you probably have your mind made up and are in a paradigm that is Tough to break out of but if i said anything that might stick in your craw, good...but i doubt it. thanks for the opportunity to purge GREG (slightly edited)


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Hi Greg,

I have no idea which article you're referring to, but one of my latest articles is a book review of Dr. Mercola's book "The No Grain Diet"
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art9836.asp
where I mention that protein is more important than carbs. This is the basic Atkins premise as well although I don't agree that one can eat all the animal fat we want. Indeed we can't live without fat. We just need to stay away from saturated fat, white flour, white sugar and anything processed.

My main philosophy is everything in moderation with a strong leaning towards organic, healthy and fresh. Sugar and trans-fats, once in a while, won't kill us. It's just the constant eating of junk food that I'm totally against...but cravings can be as harmful as indulging although most cravings are a result of nutrient deficiencies as I've learned by trial and error. It's the fats in sweets that are most damaging.

I don't purport to be an "expert" on nutrition or health and my articles are mostly on the issues of the day as I see them from a healthy point of view. I have lived a healthy low-fat life for over half a century and look (other people's commentss) and feel better than I did when I was 21! Sometimes we have to go by gut instinct and what we read can be construed any way we want to.

Take care,

Monika
Bella Altmedhost

p.s. Here's an article by Dr. Andrew Weil, the world-famous Integrative Medicine MD from Arizona. It's very interesting:

(Published 5/19/99) Dr. Robert Atkins, author of "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution," (December, 1996) has been remarkably successful in promoting a diet that is appalling to proponents of low-fat diets as well as to most nutritionists. However, millions have lost weight on the Atkins Diet and its spin-offs, including the Montignac Diet, which has been extremely popular in Western Europe since the early 1990s. Even Barry Sears' "The Zone" can be considered an offshoot of the Atkins "diet revolution."

The theory underlying all these plans is that consumption of carbohydrates, especially refined sugars and starches, exaggerates insulin production in the body, which in turn promotes fat storage and has harmful effects on cardiovascular function. At its most extreme this phenomenon leads to insulin resistance (your cells resist the efforts of insulin to deliver glucose), which, in turn, can lead to adult- onset diabetes.

The fact is that after 48 hours on a very low carbohydrate diet, the body exhausts its reserves of glycogen (stored carbohydrates) and begins burning fat for fuel. Conventional physicians regard this change as unhealthy, but Atkins and his supporters don't see a problem. My view is that some version of this diet may be useful for people with insulin resistance (those with high serum triglycerides, low HDL -- a.k.a "good cholesterol" -- and a tendency to gain weight around the middle).

While Dr. Atkins may be right in theory, in practice his diet is not what I regard as healthy. In return for giving up bread, pasta and (most) sweets he gives dieters license to gorge on high-fat foods like lobster soup or bacon and eggs -- OK to splurge on for your birthday or other special occasions but certainly not sensible as a daily regimen.

If you're tempted to try the Atkins diet, I advise passing up the high-fat menus he recommends and keeping your fat consumption to no more than 30 percent of your daily calories. Especially, keep your saturated fat intake low, meaning easy on the meat, butter, cream, and cheese. You also could include some healthy carbohydrates -- starchy vegetables, whole wheat pasta and chewy whole grain bread. If you exercise some nutritional common sense while on the Atkins Diet, you'll probably do very well. And no, losing weight quickly isn't a good idea. The faster you lose, the faster you're likely to regain.

Dr. Andrew Weil, MD

A reply from Greg.......

i know of andrew weil m.d. hes mostly wrong. his abdominal obesity proves it. greg

Greg,
I believe Dr. Weil's philosophy, information and writing is sound and he's one of the best-known alternative doctors in North America. Maybe he doesn't practice what he preaches????

I certainly refer to him a lot and when I get a question I don't have the answer to I look for it in his or Dr. Mercola's website before I branch out to other research sites.

Monika
Bella Altmedhost

Also from Greg......
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dear miss Bella, thank you for your reply and concern. sorry for being so curt.its also nice to know you're a real person.the medical establishment and certain industries have tried for years to dismiss and dishonor dr. atkins, that i distrust anyone who misrepresents the atkins diet. i am a devoted follower of dr.atkins. as far as i am concerned if dr.atkins hadn't been steadfast in his ideals and fought back against the establishment i might not be here to write this mail...suffering from morbid depression and acute anxiety i was very close to suicide.

once i stablized my blood glucose levels and my hyperinsulinism i became stable and as far as vegetable consumption goes i believe i consume more and better organic produce than my vegetarian friends who seem to consume large amounts of wheat propducts whole and processed,large amounts of sugar products in baking etc. and gallons of high sugar fruit juices plus the higher glycemic fruits. some of these vegetarian friends of mine are also type two diabetics my blood sugar levels are at a stable 90. it seems one does have a tougher row to hoe than the good dr atkins, bless his soul.

however the good dr mercola has more than filled his shoes. dr.mercola is a truly a renaissance man . the mercola.com site is incredible more so. he is a strong believer of juicing but revolutionary in the importance of large amounts of good fats.i never understood these concepts myself until i put them into practice. proper satiation levels are critical to good health and in particular to eliminating sugar cravings and hunger pains.

by the way, the mercola site is where i read your critique of his book and i must tell youi he seems like an admirer of yours. once again thank you for caring. greg

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Hi Greg,

I agree that Dr. Mercola is a great example for us all to copy. I like his style and what he says. I haven't even checked out the link to my article. Thanks for mentioning that. I'll go have a look. I always read is newsletters but only click on them when there's something new or innovative happening in the news. I do refer to him a lot in my articles as you've probably noticed in my related links and references.

I also agree that people who are even slightly overweight are not in excellent health and that part of it is a lack of dopamine in the brain where cravings take over common sense. I didn't realize that Dr. Weil has a big belly, to tell you the truth. My husband has always had a fat problem...only on the abdomen...but he's French and he's always lived to eat rather than eat to live because of the great tasting food and that becomes a vicious cycle...the high blood sugar syndrome. That's much more dangerous for diabetics, of which he's one. As he's aging though, he's become less craving oriented and more fitness and healthy food oriented (small amounts of good protein, fresh fruits and vegetables and almost no refined products. Thank goodness, because that's the reverse of how things usually work when one reaches the 50s. And his tummy is slowly going down...people with abdominal fat have a far earler morbidity rate than people who carry fat evenly distributed on the body since that's a sign that fat encircles and encumbers the internal organs causing them to gradually decrease in function....as I'm sure you know.

All the best...and thanks for passing on your views. Your near suicide is a good lesson for everyone to learn. It's amazing that more people don't realize what an effect nutrition has on the brain and the whole body.

Monika
Bella Altmedhost

There are a number of ways a person can live healthy. what we eat is very important and nutrition is 75% of our weight gain/loss and 25% exercise routine.

The book Eating for your Blood type, by Peter D'Adamo has a good scientific basis, like Dr. Atkins.
I am an atkins believer, and I intergrated some of Dr. D'Adamo' concepts into my healthly eating.
But what Dr. Merceola states seems to me pretty much and atkins diet. I feel I need to address the misconception that it is unhealthy to eat pounds of butter on atkins. It isn't.
As long as you do not eat carbs with it.
if you look into Guyton's Medical Physiology text, used in medical schools across the world, you can look up the pathway for metabolism. Carbs + fats equal cholesterol produced, basically.
the cholesterol in the fat you eat is minmimally absorbed in the digestive tract, and will not cause you to have more blood cholesterol.
there is a complex mechanism that most people are not aware of.
Also, yes that pound of butter might not be bad, but you want certain nutrients in your life, not to become malnuourished. Balance is the key.

Grains a not great for other reasons as well.
www.paleodiet.com has more info.

I have to agree that as with many other things in life, balance is key. I can't imagine many people would argue with the idea that we eat way too many processed sugars, processed grains and simply "bad food" in our current way of life. We get way too little exercise and we drink way too much soda and sugary juice. And on top of it all we supersize everything.

If we would just go back to eating healthy foods - fresh chicken and fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, exercising regularly, drinking lots of water and taking our vitamins - we'd probably be all set. But so many people have gotten truly addicted to their sedentary high-sugar lifestyle that they die from that excess.

You only have to look to the pudgy Romans in the glory days of the Roman Empire to see what sedentary lifestyles with too much sugary food can do to you ... and here we are <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I concur, Lisa. I wonder if the tide will every actually turn and if we'll see people who are eating poorly becoming healthy with new lifestyles. I don't see it happening. Here in Canada schools are starting to catch on and are banning soda and junk food from schools completely and to compensate, the soda companies like coke who won't give up their contracts there are providing real juice and water.

But, as you say, juices are full of sugar and additives as well...and then there are the protesters who say that bottled water in schools will mean that the kids don't get their daily fluoride intake...arghhh. I guess it will never be right. And I believe that healthy living can only start and be maintained in the home. If kids haven't learned what's good and what's only good for a rare treat, they'll probably grow up to become obese adults...suffering from chronic illnesses in middle age and wonder "why me?"

To my mind, any diet is o.k. for a short time, but for daily living on an ongoing basis, back to basics is my motto with minimal cooking, no processing and lots of exercise. Dr. Mercola's diet leads the reader to a healthy lifestyle where Dr. Atkins doesn't....or does he? I haven't read the book as I don't have to lose weight.

My daughter and son-in-law are on the South Beach Diet which is the latest thing, I guess. They say it's a lot of hard work in the kitchen and they're vegetarians. For them the deadliest time is when they go out for dinner at the parents where there are so many temptations like bread, rice, pasta....all those things that we seem to eat without even thinking what they're made up of.

I could go on forever on this tack, but will close now so I can see what other people think.

Monika
Bella Altmed Host

Hmmm South Beach is very similar to Atkins and neither one should involve much kitchen work. Sure, both have TONS of great recipes if you want to cook. But it's not like you have to to get fed.

I think I'm finding that more and more people just don't want to cook at ALL. They want to put a frozen dinner into the oven and have it pop out done, or order out. Even something simple like grilling a steak or chicken or fish - which takes literally 10 minutes and no skill at all - seems intimidating. I wonder if our parents are raising an entire generation that will not know how to feed themselves!

South Beachers should be able to toss a bag of veggies into a steamer pot, toss a item of meat/fish on the grill and be done in literally 10 minutes with pretty much no effort. And with a bare minimum of effort you can make really tasty dishes like egg drop soup or a grilled chicken salad or ratatoille or so on. But for people used to ordering out or using processed foods, starting with raw ingredients seems to be intimidating ... do you find that too?

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for jumping in here! I don't know a lot about either Atkins or South Beach diets as my only diet ever consists of "eat less" diet and within a few days I'm back to my normal weight. It takes discipline and Christmastime is deadly for healthy eating. I can't even throw out cookies or chocolates so I compromise by eating only one a day till they're all gone and then no more come into the house.

However, concerning the South Beach diet, my daughter's family only finds it difficult because they're used to eating a lot of brown rice and whole-grain pasta (her husband is Italian and has sfound it particularly difficult to eliminate the great breads and pasta dishes he's so used to) which are not allowed on the diet for the first couple of weeks. I really must read the book so I know what everyone's talking about. I checked a few articles and food-plans on the internet and have read that it can be quite hard for those who (as Lisa, Bella Gaming Host, mentioned) are addicted to sugars and refined carbohydrates.

Back to basics, I think, is still the key in the long run....minimal cooking, no processing, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, small portions and lots of exercise. Isn't that how man lived until just about 45 years ago after the second world war?

Monika
Bella Altmed Host

The first few weeks of pretty much any low carb diet cut you back to the basics more to test out your allergies than anything else. It's sort of the "cleansing" that many holistic systems talk about doing occasionally, to help you realize if you're allergic to anything or have developed sensitivities over the years.

I know when I did the 2 week induction in Atkins, and then added back in milk and then wheat, I realized that I am now sensitive to both of them and bloat when I eat them. I do still drink milk and eat wheat products occasionally, but now at least I know what they do to me <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I think it's probably a good exercise for anyone to go through every few years, to give your body a chance to point out to you any new problems <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You're exactly right, all this processed food is recent, if we went back to eating balanced meals in healthy amounts like we did in the past, we'd be much better off! But even if we tried that, could you even find enough 'fresh' foods any more to live on? Just about everything in the store is shipped in from China, covered with wax, grown with pesticides and genetically engineered to avoid Roundup. So half the challenge is even to FIND healthy foods nowadays <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes, we certainly do live in an altered world and it's becoming harder and harder to be healthy no matter what we do. I guess our poor bodies have to adapt to the stressor foods, etc.

I still think we have to work on our immune systems. I know someone who believes that when we're in excellent health, we can withstand any pesticides, gm organisms and whatever "nature" throws at us and that can only come when our bodies are working at peak performance.

Some years ago, I half-heartedly followed the Halleluia Diet which was back to basics as followed in biblical times. It, too, was a sort of a cleanse...but can't be followed forever...partly because of our modern lifestyles.

I sure do love my little organic garden in the summer but our growing season here in the mountains is far too short. I protect it, baby the veggies and feel a thrill when I eat peas, carrots and lettuce from a garden that I know has no pesticides or chemical fertilizers. I buy organic produce occasionally, but find it too expensive. Priorities, I guess.

How do you deal with the harsh realities of life as we know it, Lisa?

Monika
Bella Altmedhost