Are carbs the enemy for dieters?
Are carbs the enemy for dieters?
posted: April 22, 2004
As new diet craze sweeps nation, physicians and trainers question its worth
By Stacy De Fino
Staff Writer
To some, they are a comfort food or a form of gourmet delicacy that when properly mixed with fat and protein, provide you with the building blocks for healthy growth, maintenance and activity. To many others, they are the enemy that is believed to add love handles to your waist and unwanted pounds to your thighs.
Carbohydrates are the center of a new diet craze -— a low-carb craze — that is sweeping the nation. Books and programs such as Atkins, The South Beach Diet and The Zone are influencing people to change their lifestyles and eating habits by minimizing the intake of carbohydrates during meals. Restaurants and food companies are also jumping on the bandwagon, recreating their menus and product formulas to satisfy the carb-conscious consumers. Open-faced hamburgers, juicy red steaks and Caesar salads topped with chicken are only a few of these options.
However, truth remains that there are several types of carbohydrates, and not all of them are bad for you. There are two basic carbohydrates: complex, which includes pastas, breads and fruits and vegetables, and simple, which includes sweets. While simple sugars tend to be higher in calories, complex carbohydrates are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Believe it or not, complex carbs often provide certain nutrients the body needs to operate healthily and properly. But if these complex carbohydrates are such a necessity for the up-keep of the human body, why has it become a ravishing trend to greatly minimize their intake?
“I think the low-carb craze has been sparked by the fact that people can lose weight without exercising,” said Randall Rocha, director of sports medicine and certified fitness trainer at Metro Orthopedics and Sports Therapy in Silver Spring, Md. “A lot of people do not enjoy exercising and this is an alternative to appearing fit. Although someone looks thinner does not necessarily mean that they are in better shape.”
The Atkins nutritional approach, created by Robert Atkins, M.D., is currently the world's No. 1 weight-control program. The Atkins company website states that by controlling the amount of carbohydrates you consume, you burn primarily fat for energy. The company claims this not only helps you lose weight, but also reduces risk factors associated with serious diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“It should be understood that the Atkins diet does not pertain to athletes,” Rocha said. “Athletes require more energy for exercise, therefore their bodies demand carbohydrates. The Atkins diet is good for people who exercise minimally, but someone who exercises more will need more energy. So based on Atkins’ theory they would need to eat much more fat if that's the body's primary source of energy. Now that just doesn't seem right, does it?”
Since the body uses carbohydrates as a primary source of energy, and fat as a secondary source, when you drastically reduce your intake, your body will begin to not only burn fat, but go into a state of lactic acidosis and failure, added Rocha.
Contradictory to Rocha’s beliefs, Justin Belcher, a senior computer science major at Virginia Tech, has used the diet and swears by the results.
After losing 25 pounds on the diet in addition to exercising 3-4 days each week, Belcher attests that the Atkins structure and strict rules helped discipline him for long enough to see results and improve his lifestyle.
“I think some people think that it might be a quick fix, but that's incorrect logic,” Belcher added. “The diet only realigns your metabolism, so if you don't supplement some sort of exercise to fire your metabolism and burn fat then you probably will never go much past a few vanity pounds or water weight lost. Nothing I have ever done has been more effective, and I have been health-conscious and active for many years.”
Each of these statements proves contradictory, so whom should people believe?
“I do think that people can benefit from the low-carb diet in the long run even if they don't exercise, because it can reduce the risk of heart disease as they get older, through keeping their weight down. However, they still need to get cholesterol levels checked and body fat percentages measured,” Rocha said.
TGI Friday’s is just one of the many restaurants changing its menus to the low-carb option. Friday’s partnered with Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. to ensure that its newest Atkins-approved menu items met the criteria of the Atkins nutritional approach.
“The reason for the addition to the menu is to better serve the
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©2004 by the Collegiate Times. All stories, photos, etc. produced by the Collegiate Times are property of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech. No information may be republished or used without the expressed written consent of the editor of the Collegiate Times.
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