This is the one about carbs (again).
After that last post, I received a few messages on Twitter and an email with mixed messages. Some were supportive. Some were hesitant. And some were supportive, but hesitant that they could be healthy on fewer carbohydrates.
Even though the messages were varied, I think they all had a common thought: I crave carbohydrates too much to make a change like this.
To which I have one reply: craving is a symptom of addiction, and the surefire cure for addiction is abstinence.
I don’t know that I have any room to speak on the subject yet–I’m just four days into this new treatment plan–but I have noticed many of the withdraw symptoms starting to subside. I don’t have feelings of hunger any longer (which I attribute to either cravings for carbohydrates, or REAL hunger because I was struggling to figure out exactly what to eat). I’m in a good mood. And my favorite side-effect so far is this intense feeling of optimism. I’ve finally found a doctor that is speaking to my numbers and giving me specific tasks that have immediate effects on my blood glucose levels.
September 16th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Craving is not necessarily a sign of addiction, especially when it comes to nutrition. It is also a way of your body saying “Hey dumb dumb! You need to eat that because it keeps me healthy.” You should never cast off a craving as a simple symptom of addiction. It is the very reason some former vegetarians start eating meat again. Their cravings for meat are not a sign of addiction. It is their body telling them that they are doing a bad job of feeding it and that a lot of the things it is lacking are in, you guessed it, meat.
I am not attacking your new regiment – I need to read some more research before I can form a conclusive opinion – all I am suggesting is that you ought be very aware of the signals your body sends to you and evaluate them objectively.
September 16th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I’d agree that craving isn’t always a sign of addiction…but I don’t follow you and the vegetarians-craving-meat argument. So humans need the nutrients found in meat (all of which can actually be found in other healthier sources…with the exception of b12). But how do we benefit from simple carbohydrates? Perhaps I could re-write that sentence as “craving SIMPLE CABRS is a symptom of addiction, and the surefire cure for addiction is abstinence.”
mike´s last blog ..This is the one about carbs (again).
September 18th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I have to diverge from the vegetarian example for the time being to illustrate a broader principle in nutrition that will hopefully add more clarity to the issue and my view point.
To say that any food item is healthier than another is such a broad and misleading generalization that it should be avoided. Good nutrition is as much about how much and with what frequency you consume an item as it is about what the item is. For example, most people would reply in the affirmative when asked if arsenic is a toxin that should not be consumed. But most people are also unaware that arsenic is considered an essential micronutrient. It is not unhealthy per se, but it is toxic when consumed in excessive frequent quantities relative to the body’s need. To make a less extreme example, the popular media has done a fantastic job of labeling trans fats as bad fat. This broad generalization assumes all trans fats are the same in make and function, and that they have the same consequences when consumed. This is false and misleading. For example, the trans fat commonly know as CLA which is often found in animal fats, such as dairy products, has anti-cancer properties. In particular evidence shows that aside from it’s nutritional value, it can help prevent women’s incidence of breast cancer when consumed.
What I am attempting to point out is that a statement like the one that the nutrients one finds in meat can be found in healthier foods is as logically false as the argument that the corn lobby makes when saying that high fructose corn syrup consumption cannot have negative effects from its consumption because it comes from corn, a common vegetable. As I have said, it is as much about frequency and amount, as it is about what is being consumed. After all a ‘healthy’ plant based diet does not ensure weight loss or stifle weight gain. In fact, pigs raised grazing lush pasture will grow to be as fat and big as their counterparts raised on soy and corn.
To come back to the vegetarian argument, (and I just had a discussion with a knowledgeable vegetarian who concurred) a vegetarian who is not approaching that nutrition regime from a healthy standpoint will have cravings for meat because their body knows that what it is lacking can be found in animal products. So the meat craving is not on its face simply a symptom of addiction, but the body sending a message that it is not getting what it ought to.
This argument is not meant to be misinterpreted as me saying that cravings are never a sign of addiction. If I thought that, I could not reasonably or logically make my argument. My hope is more to get across that many of those broad maxims should be avoided. Regrettably our society does a bad job of explaining good healthy eating regimes and misses many of the basic tenants that underly good nutrition; and instead they replace them with misleading and often false maxims that do not help people improve their health at all.
I did not reach your question about simple carbs and I have only addressed the first part of your claim. I also think that the “surefire cure for addiction is abstinence” is also a dangerous overgeneralization that should be avoided. Because, however, my laptop battery is near dead, I will address these topics later.
I think this discussion highlights the ever present need to analyze an issue critically and objectively before one can hope to understand and apply a subjective viewpoint. I hope I have left you with some food for thought – pun intended.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:16 pm
There are a gazillion studies saying that the low carb high fat diet leads to more heart disease.
It seems to me that there are many diabetics, particularly those whose bodies produce significant insulin, who find diabetes easier to manage when they eat lower carb, and in those instances it may be worth the difficulties of eating low carb and the heart risk.
However, as a person who doesn’t get better blood sugar when eating low carb, and as a vegetarian, and as an underweight person, I see absolutely no benefit to eating low carb.
What reading of the research I have done, as well as my personal experiences over the last three years, strongly suggest to me that I will get better blood sugar control when I eat more carbs, and that I will be overall more healthy.
I agree with the above posters that craving doesn’t mean addiction in a bad way. I mean, I’ll crave water if I don’t drink it! I craved carbs like crazy when I was in DKA- because my body needed them, although eating them didn’t do me much good since I had no insulin to use them!
Good luck!
Jonah´s last blog ..Ketosis
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Grr….damn you Adam. You made me second guess myself. I met with a diabetes educator on Monday and expressed some of the concerns that you brought up.
The concerns she had with this ultra-low-carb diet wasn’t exactly the same as what you’re saying. She assured me that while there are essential amino acids and essential fatty acids, there are no essential carbohydrates for normal development.
Relief.
But there are many constituents of vegetables (like vitamins, minerals, and other novitamin chemicals…like phytochemicals) that are crucial to diet and can’t be contained through conventional vitamin supplements.
And to Jonah, the “gazillion studies” can be countered by a gazillion more. In fact, this study says that after-meal blood sugars are more likely than fasting blood sugars to cause cardiovascular damage. Low carb and low insulin dosage equals little “mistakes.” Large carb intake and large insulin dosage equals larger mistakes.
mike´s last blog ..This is the one about carbs (again).
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Saw your tweet about your puggle. Puggles rock. Hang with the posse sometime. http://www.mrpuggle.com
Mr. Puggle®´s last blog ..Mr. Puggle® Zoomies
September 24th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Well hopefully I did not throw you into too much of a whirlpool of doubt. (ooo I like that imagery, lol) But one ought to always be reasonably critical. It ensures accountability and leads to better decision making, I think.
I disagree about the doctor’s belief in non-essentiality of carbs. I will not drag folks through that argument here though, but remind me to explicate it when I see you next. I will also eventually follow up on the addiction-absitnence argument. An unfortunate side effect of law school though, is not having as much time to engage in these fun discussions, let alone have the time to type them out.