Do carbs really cause excessive weight gain and what are the long term effects of the Atkins diet?
It all depends on lots of things like what carbs you eat, how much you eat them, what time of the day your eating them, and exercise
Rather than Atkins, you might consider trying a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD). They are used by large numbers of natural bodybuilders who want to lose fat while not catabolizing muscle, which the Atkins diet will do. A great site is www.c-k-d.com, especially the forums. I'm doing the Natural Hormonal Enhancement diet which is a CKD created by Rob Faigin. There are several other books on CKD's I would recommend including the one by Lyle McDonald.
As Scorpion implied, timing is everything with respect to carb intake. CKDs generally have you go into a state of ketosis by keeping carb intake under 20g a day. Periodically however you do a carb load to replinish glycogen supplies in your muscles and liver. The time between, and lengths of the carb loads differ depending on which version of CKD you are doing. NHE does a twice a week, 6 hour carb up, whereas many of the others do a two day carb up every week. HTH.
Only if you eat too much over what your activity level is.
If your very active (Tour De France cyclist for example - extreme but they eat A LOT or rather take a lot of carbs) you can get away with eating huge amounts and not gain weight. But hey man you'd be lean if you could cycle anywhere near like them.
Also if you eat some fibre with your simple carbs that will help the absorption down. So some fruit or veg or bread that has other bits in it and that is less refined (can't remember the name)
Koing
bringiton is correct with regard to Atkins & CKD.
Carbohydrates stimulate insulin release, which is a potent anabolic hormone with many repercussions. We like the anabolic part, because it results in muscle growth & recovery. Additionally, insulin is needed for maintenance of certain hormones such as T3 which play a large role in metabolism. We don't like the repercussions, some of which include rapid conversion of carbohydrate to fat in most individuals and the yo-yo cycle of fluctuating blood sugar levels that insulin can give rise to.
At the same time, always staying low-carb is a terribly poor diet for athletes to follow. However, the philosophy of 65-70% of calories from carbohydrates is equally bad for most athletes. While some individuals can function and even thrive at this level, it is my belief that most people need to consume far less carbohydrate for optimum performance...and the timing of carb intake is very crucial as well.
There are very few long-term scientific studies of CKD- and Atkins-type diets; however, one interesting note is that paleolithic man almost certainly followed a variation of the CKD. However, his lifespan was not limited by his diet; trauma and the elements were the primary threats to his longevity.
One thing is clear: there IS a great deal of research that has been done on the low-fat, high-carb mentality currently espoused by the food industry and the media, and you don't need to seek scientific articles or medical journals...just look at the obese, diabetic, and heart-diseased people around you for this data. These problems weren't around until the advent of processed grains and sugars.
"One thing is clear: there IS a great deal of research that has been done on the low-fat, high-carb mentality currently espoused by the food industry and the media, and you don't need to seek scientific articles or medical journals...just look at the obese, diabetic, and heart-diseased people around you for this data. These problems weren't around until the advent of processed grains and sugars. "
I couldn't agree more. Does anyone think Kellogs and General Mills are going to sit idly by and watch their sugary breakfast cereal market deteriorate before their eyes without setting loose their marketing/lobbying power?
i try not to eat anything that comes out of a box or can....i do eat outmeal and raisin bran though.....