> What do you think, Sami? Is the Atkins diet healthy or
> unhealthy? Is the high carb diet healthy, or unhealthy?

Atkins is unhealthy. I am a believer in high fibre, low sugar and low
fat diet. I only eat high fibre bread (mostly rye like german
pumpernickel), whole wheat pasta, potatoes and other products high in
fibre.

[Didn't you just say, the sentence before: "I am a believer in high
fibre, "LOW SUGAR" and low fat diet..." ? What's with the "low
sugar" part? You are making the same mistake I made for 56 years,
to think that "high fibre bread" and "whole wheat pasta" and
"potatoes" are LOW SUGAR... They're not. You don't believe it,
but they are not... they are VERY HIGH SUGAR... Again, "Don't
Believe ME..." Get out your glucose meter and MEASURE YOUR
BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVEL before and after you eat a big plate of these
foods.

Who made you "a believer" in high fibre, low sugar, low fat diet?

It was probably the same "experts" that made ME a believer in the
same high fibre, low "sugar," low fat diet... I was very anti-
Atkins, UNTIL I BOUGHT A GLUCOSE METER and started to test my
blood glucose. Even then, I THOUGHT what I now think is "horribly
high" blood glucose (160's and 170's mg/dl) must be "good"
because if POTATOES AND SPAGHETTI AND BREAKFAST CEREAL AND BREAD
IS "GOOD," then the resulting blood glucose levels must also be
"good".

It isn't. When I started to learn more about diabetes so I could
interpret the glucose levels better... when I began to try to keep
my glucose levels where Dr. Bernstein says he tries to keep them,
(about where non-diabetics have fasting glucose levels) I simply
couldn't do it eating all those high carb foods.

So I started to make lists of foods that did, and foods that
didn't raise my glucose levels, and ... everything was UPSIDE
DOWN! What I thought was "good" was bad, and what I thought was
bad was good... it was like Ellis in Wonderland, all over again.

So... I then started to study the carbohydrate content of hundreds
of foods on my list of YES and NO, and... the foods began to
fall into seven neat little groups...

So... I was explaining carbohydrates and glucose levels and
heat and cold to a doctor who was visiting me from Bolivia when
suddenly a flash went off in my head, and I drew the Carbohydrate
Thermometer for him on a napkin in a restaurant... I rushed home
to see if it was correct, and it sure was!

http://www.rajeun.net/carbotherm.html

Today, the carbohydrate thermometer is ALL I NEED TO KNOW to be
able to predict how my glucose levels will react to the food I eat,
or want to eat, or leave on the plate. Before this, of course,
I have already tested my blood glucose more than 4500 times... I
have tested and I know by heart what is my reaction to various
amounts of sugar, cereals, sweets, bread, fruits, and vegetables
to bread and to fruits and vegetables. I know what my glucose
levels will be if I eat the foods that I thought were so unhealthy
before, and guess what, it is the best reaction of all... almost
no change.

The gist of what I am saying is that if I know the carbohydrate
content of what I am about to eat, I can predict what glucose
levels I will have 30 and 60 minutes later, and I do this entirely
by using what it says on the carbohydrate thermometer: Animal
Origin (beef, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, yogurt, non-sugar
gelatin, no-sugar yogurt, no sugar ice cream... these are all
very good IF high glucose levels are bad. If they aren't, well
then I am wrong, and I will find out I am wrong, someday.

In the meantime, I try to keep my blood glucose levels from rising
above 90 mg/dl. Of course I can't do it, but I TRY my best to
do it...

I ask you to PLEASE test yourself with a glucose meter after you
eat the foods you say are good for you, and PLEASE write to us
and tell us what you find. It is the ONLY way you can know
what is happening... you can't read books or study pyramids or
listen to "experts" of any kind, the "experts" are saying conflicting
things to us, the only impartial "Judge" is the glucose meter....
- Ellis]




I always have made them my primary source of carbs, not white
bread or enriched rice. Do you think oatmeal made anyone fat?

[Yessir, I sure do! - Ellis]

Abandoning fruits and berries because they have sugar is just
madness.

[I never said to "abandon" fruits and berries... But you have to
learn how YOU react to them. Don't trust what you have read,
don't trust your instincts about how good and natural these foods
are, don't trust anybody... EAT a large plate of fruits and
berries, and TEST YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE and see what happens. If
you do NOT get a high glucose response, then you are able to eat
large plates of fruits and berries, for now. I am not so lucky.
- Ellis]

I don't monitor my blood sugar levels because I'm not diabetic (or
use HGH). Have you monitored your levels after you have eaten
complex carbs?

[Of course! But you see... "complex carbs" are all on the LOW
END OF the Carbohydrate thermometer, and I eat on the low end of
the Carbohydrate Thermometer.

Please forget the term "complex" and "simple" carbs... just look
at the percentages of carbs:

Vegetables have 6.25% carbs (on the Carb Thermometer)
Fruits have 12.50 % carbs (on the Carb Thermometer)
Starches have 25% carbs (on the Carb Thermometer)...

BREADS (any kind, white, black, whole wheat, etc.) has 50%
SWEETS and Breakfast CEREALS have about 75% carbs

And SUGAR is 100% carbs. (Doesn't this tell you something about
the term "carbohydrates"?)

See the tables below the Carbohydrate Thermometer, so you can
see how I put the thermometer together, so you can decide if I
am mistaken or correct, then write to us and tell us... - Ellis]



I'm 33, 180-185lb, 5'10" with a BF between 11-12% so I think I
have been doing pretty good with my diet. High fibre, low fat,
minimal sugar and high protein.



[The whole key to what you wrote above is "I'm 33"...

Congratulations. Enjoy it while you can, but you won't be
33 years old forever... I am SIXTY years old, 167 lb. and 6' 0"
tall... that's 19% body fat, according to my Tanita BF scale,
or about 22% according to the body fat tables...

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/#table

(Note: the Tanita is probably correct, since I think I am
slightly more muscular than the average 6'0" male that
weighs 167 lbs...)

And by the way... You are DREAMING if you think you have a body
fat index of 11-12%...

UNLESS you are very muscular (a body builder) you have a body fat
index of about 26% or 27%, which is a dimension or two different
than 11 to 12%. Don't fool yourself, or, don't be fooled by
"experts" who have told you how well you are... in my opinion,
you are not doing so well as you think you are (but I wish you
would be...).

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you the truth, but that is your
body fat index, if that is your height and weight (unless you are
a body builder, in which case you might really have 11-12% Body
fat.) So... if you are not a body builder, you are NOT doing so
well with your diet.

See the body fat tables, above, or a body fat calculator, here,
for example:

http://www.wvda.org/calcs/bmi.htm

- Ellis]




If I don't eat (complex) carbs before workouts or games I simply
can't do anything, so I firmly believe carbs are very good for
me.

NO carbs = NO energy.

- Sami


[Baloney. You've probably heard that all your life from "experts"
as I heard it too, so you believe it firmly, as I did too. Try
eating only chicken and vegetables and no potatoes or spaghetti or
bread or rice, etc. before a workout or games, and you will see
you lack absolutely nothing. Do it, then write to us and
tell us if it is true or false.

Three stars for this post, it looks like we are having a
good debate. - Ellis]