Will you change the amount of Saturated Fat you eat?
 

Will you change your diet due to the changes announced by Atkins nutritionals?

I for one will not unless a conclusive study comes out saying that saturated fats are dangerous. Though I don't always eat a lot of red meat I don't plan on having it be a concern while eating low carb.

January 18, 2004--The New York Times
Make That Steak a Bit Smaller, Atkins Advises Today's Dieters
By MARIAN BURROS

After advising dieters for years to satisfy their hunger with liberal amounts of steak, eggs and other saturated fats, the promoters of the Atkins diet now say that people on their plan should limit the amount of red meat and saturated fat they eat....

For more info see this link:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=160227

No, I'm not planning any changes at all - beef, pork, butter and cream remain on my menu plan. Having read "cholesterol myths" and "the soft science of dietary fat" I am convinced the "fat kills" hypothesis is a myth. I'm sorry to see the current Atkins people trying to mainstream the plan. Bill

I wonder why Dr. Atkin's heirs are changing his proven diet. Weight Watchers and others thrive because people lose then gain and return to spend their money on their products because it worked for awhile. They don't provide for a continuing WOE that one can follow and keep the wt. off because they want you to come back and spend more money. I don't think that this was ever Dr. Atkins business plan though it may be his heirs. jeri

I hesitated between "no" and "not sure yet".

But the burden of proof should be on those saying eating naturally existing fats is unhealthy.

So "no" it is, unless proven otherwise.

Wa'il

I am sure like every other study done - 6 months down the road - it will all change again!

I try not too eat too much anyway...and outside of breakfast most of my food is low in SAT

Absolutely not. I like my red meat and plan to continue eating whatever I feel like I need. And I LOVE my heavy cream.

I'm going to do some more reading up on fats before I decide.

No, I'm not. The people running Atkins are now in the business of marketing. The good doctor wrote and revised his plan over a period of 30+ years using knowledge gained in his medical practice.

After reading the article about how the Atkins people are now changing the things they are saying go back and read DANDR. Dr. Atkins clearly stated to eat until satisfied - not stuff your face with steak. He also gave guidelines for estimating the size of a serving of protien. Also remember that the Atkins people are now marketing low carb frankenfoods as suitable for induction instead of stressing doing a clean induction with whole natural foods.

They should be ashamed of themselves. All they are trying to do is grab more of the market share of dieters without taking into consideration the health benefits of following the Atkins eating plan as written by Dr. Atkins. Yes, Dr. Atkins did make some low carb items available, but did not advertise them as suitable for induction. They were simply items like the baking mix that were suitable for ongoing weight loss.

shortstuff

I'm going to continue to try to keep my sat fat intake relatively low. I never did trust the advice to ignore the findings of 20 years of research. And since I'm terrified of anything that will harden my brain arteries, lol, I think being prudent is the right idea for me.

And on the topic of marketing--the Atkins Advantage bars are all fairly high in sat fat. So how is the company going to continue to market those?

No, I'm not. The studies that show that saturated fats are dangerous were done using a relatively high-carb diet. Studies of sat fats with a low-carb diet show no health risks. It's as simple as that. (However, I do try to eat a variety of fats except for the uber-bad trans fats.)

Also, I believe I read somewhere (can't recall where) that when researchers looked at the makeup of blood vessel plaque, most of it consisted of UNsaturated fat.

I would love to see some research as to WHY higher carbs (or refined carbs?) cause the plaques to build up, but I don't know if it's been done. Course, with the Atkins people caving in to marketing pressure, that study may never be done.

I intend to continue having a variety of natural fats in my diet, including highly saturated types like butter and unrefined coconut oil. I've kept track at Fitday for nearly 3 years and average daily intake of 23% saturates - some days higher, sometimes lower. In that time, my lipid panel has improved and blood pressure has come way down. I have however made a conscious effort to eliminate processed fats and trans fats, and avoid vegetable oils which are mostly omega-6 polyunsaturates, such as soybean and corn oil.

From all the reading I've done, I'm confident that as long as I'm not eating a lot of carbohydrate foods, in particular grains and starches, then dietary fat composition isn't a health issue. If you think about it .. grains and corn are fed to animals before slaughter to fatten them up, and it changes the ratios of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, especially the omega-6 to 3 ratio. It stands to reason grains will do the same thing in our bodies too.

:idea:


Doreen

I am in a somewhat different place than a lot of posters here - I have to have bloodwork every 3 months to check cholesterol levels, because I am a (very well managed, thank you) type II diabetic.

I can honestly say that my numbers have NEVER been better (even in my twenties, when I only sporadically had cholesterol checks done). Obviously, if something changes in that department, I will re-evaluate but I don't plan to change a thing unless something drastic happens.

My own physician didn't recommend Atkins to me, but after seeing my success (both weight-wise and cholesterol wise) I think he is encouraging others of his patients to try it. He aggravates me on some things, but he is a PEACH on this.

My diet is working fine. It is not harming my arteries, however, moderation is important. In general, when eating meat, I try to keep it at 4-6 ozs. I have meat atleast twice a day. I cook with olive oil and butter, but I don't want to go hog wild and pig out on meat while leaving good nutritios veggies in the dust. I have always felt safe with balance. My lipid profile shows that I am on the right track.

Black57

I plan to stay on the Atkin's plan DR. Atkins made not the corporation. If I wanted lower fat low carb, there are plenty of other plans to choose from. This has worked well for me. My bgs are good, my bp is good and my lipids are good. Why change something that is working well when nothing else EVER worked for me. The ADA diet caused me to gain more than 30 pounds.

I don't plan on changing anything. I pay no attention to whether the fats I eat are saturated, unsaturated or monosaturated but avoid completely anything hydrogenated (transfats). My cardiac profile has never looked better so that tells me I'm on the right plan.

I agree with Judyr, my opinion exactly!

I'm not changing......

Alina

I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the "low fat high carb craze" of the early 80s, and I'm not about to pay much attention to this either.

My strategy has always been pretty simple. Keep carbs to 100 - 120 grams, and eat whatever I'd like irrespective of fat ratios, kind of carbs, or anything else.

Why sweat the little things, right?

Well we all know what Dr Atkin's would say... I'm sticking with him.

I've always eaten a variety of fats and I will continue to do so. In addition to red meat, I eat lots of fish, chicken, eggs, and cheese. I really like fish and I have it for dinner several times a week. I also use lots of olive oil (I dress my salads with olive oil and red wine vinegar). I cook my vegetables in butter. I think it is good practice to eat a variety of different foods and by doing that I naturally getsdifferent types of fat. Aside from not eating anything that says partially hydrogenated, which is what I have been doing all along, I'm not going to worry about the exact proportions of different types of fat I eat. However, my guess is that I am probably somewhere near the percentage the Atkins folks are pushing anyway.

Why should I change what is obviously working? My cholesterol profile improved quite a bit during my first nine months of low carbing -- total cholesterol went from 214 to 199, hdl went up, ldl went down, and triglycerides bottomed out at 52. I'm eager to go for my next check-up this spring and see if there has been further improvement in my cholesterol profile.

I eat a tremendous amount of saturated fat. I love fatty meat, cream, butter, coconut oil, bacon, eggs. After all, the person saying bad things about saturated fats is a nutritionist. Ive never heard a nutritionist say anything right about nutrition. There are experts in fats out there:
http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/skinny.html

I will try for more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

I just make sure I don't take in any transfats. I just will not go out of my way to have the skin on chicken, otherwise, nothing will change. This has been working since July 2002, so why change anything?

I won't change a thing............I don't feel like I overeat red meat.
pati

Nobody change a thing. Atkins Nutritionals has issued a rebuttal/correction.

It's posted on the atkins website.

K.

Trans fats are the one to avoid, very strictly.

Nothing wrong with saturated fats, as the Eskimos demonstrated for thousands of years.

And the only ways you can cut the fat in your daily diet are:

1. Eat more carbohydrates.

2. Starve.

It is very difficult to increase protein over what we are already eating, about 30% of daily intake, and if you were dedicated enough to do so, the added protein load would almost certainly be more harmful than eating a normal, healthy amount of saturated fats.

Most of our good, natural sources of high quality protein also has a high percentage of saturated fat, right?

I guess you could drink a lot of alcohol, and exist on that, but such a regimen has not proved to be that healthful for those trying it. YMMV

mle...do you REALLY believe that saturated fats are not bad for you? I just don't see how you can say that? We KNOW that they are bad for us! They cause hardening of the arteries and a multitude of other problems. I am confused because I read a lot of posts that state that Dr. Atkins did not want this to be a high fat diet, rather a limiting of the "bad" carbs and eatng real foods, like chicken and beef (lean), eggs, veggis and whole grains!


Which is it? Everytime someone criticizes Atkins, people on this board jump to the defense saying that if someone read the book, they would know that this diet is all about veggis, high fiber foods and lean meats. I guess I am confused that some say that they are going to continue eating high fat!

Help me understand?

ALso, my mom did this diet for six months...at the start her cholesterol was 196 (very good). She did the diet to lose weight, after six months her cholesterol was 266. If saturated fats are not bad for you, how do you explain that? She has always been an avid excercisor and has NEVER had a cholesterol problem!

I thought the ratio thing was faiirly clear in his books
 

Mybe I made this up in my own head, but I thought the books explained the importance of LDL/HDL ratios and that the amount of sat fat didn't really matter so long the amount of unsat fat in the diet was higher.

I definitely believe that the media has always portrayed Atkins as the "Bacon and Steak" diet and I wonder if the Atkins decided that perhaps if they revised the diet to have some restrictions on sat fat, they could win more endorsements from the medical community.

What also interests me is the oversimplification of fat saturation issue. Things like butter (which, sat fat aside, has a lot of vitanutrients) and the tropical oils (llike the medium chain triglyceride coconut oil) are extremely beneficial.

interesting developments to follow