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Slashback: Bugfixed, Attribution, Atkins

Slashback brings you another flurry of updates (below) on the recently reported Mozilla security leak, the Greek gaming ban (you'll never guess), the mega-hour TiVO mod mentioned earlier today, the long-term healthiness of the Atkins Diet, and more. Read on for the details.

Go ahead and get this one out of the way. Seth Scali writes: "The decision last week that ruled the Greek ban on video games as unconstitutional has been overturned, and a new trial has been ordered. Story from TheRegister is here. Don't take your GBA on that trip to Athens just yet ..."

It takes a strong man. Reader edrock200 submitted the story about a TiVO mod which could expand system capacity to more than 1000 hours of recording. The story as shown says that 9thTee is the card's developer; edrock200 corrects this "'The QuadCard, like the AirNet and TurboNet adapters also sold through 9thTee, were developed by a TiVo user named Nick Kelsey (known as 'jafa' on the TiVo Community Forum.) 9thTee is the distributor - though I don't want to take anything away from them, they have been remarkably supportive of the TiVo community and they deserve kudos for taking the financial risks of selling these add-ons.'

'It is truly amazing what Nick has been able to do with his electronics expertise.'"

Thanks for the clarification!

The Lizard sleeps with one eye open. An anonymous reader writes "MozillaZine have updated their article on the recently reported minor security bug in Mozilla [Note Slashdot posting]with the news that a fix has been completed. The bug allowed the webmaster of a site to find out where a user went after their site. The fix means that there are again no known security bugs in Mozilla. Presumably, updates to Mozilla-based browsers (Netscape, Galeon, Chimera etc.) will follow."

What about the all-shrimp-and-chili-paste diet? Schlemphfer writes "A few months back, Slashdot featured a NY Times story that talked about the Atkins diet in glowing terms. This week, the Times has published a Jane Brody article raising serious questions about whether Atkins-style diets are dangerous and unsustainable. Brody is one of the most prominent and respected nutrition journalists, so it's worthwhile to read her take on the matter. Brody's article, which cites some important new research, may be an eye-opening read for Slashdot readers who took the plunge with Atkins back in July." (The NYT requires free registration.)

Suddenly everyone is in deadly earnest. Ian Cumming was one of several people to write with evidence of smileys predating the smileys unearthed by Mike Jones of Microsoft Research. He forwarded an informative message from Brian Dear of Birdrock Ventures, which reads in part:

"On the PLATO system, emoticons were much richer -- made using multiple characters displayed on top of each other. It was possible to type, say, a single character, then press SHIFT-space (which moved the cursor exactly one space backwards), then type another character. The second would display on top of the first. You could keep doing this for multiple characters and create many different faces, beer glasses, martini glasses, all kinds of things. And people peppered their emails and notesfile (PLATO's newsgroups) postings with them all the time."

And what is the PLATO system? The short version is this: PLATO was (is) an education-centered computer system developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Luckily for you, Dear is writing a book about PLATO. His site is fascinating, and the book promises to be as well. Here is a page showing the richness of PLATO emoticons.

Reader Grant Barrett also writes: "The earliest (not first: you can never precisely say which was first) recorded smiley in print discovered so far was found by etymologist and word researcher Barry Popik who posted this message to the email list of the American Dialect Society. He discusses the yellow smiley face which everyone knows, but this particular smiley is the familiar punctuation-based emoticon. (On a side note, he has uncovered some evidence that Harvey Ball *did not* invent the familiar yellow-faced smiley.)"

That reference puts the typographic smiley all the way back to 1953, and as Barrett mentions, was in print rather than online. He also points out that "ESR's Jargon File cites a 'rival claim by Kevin McKenzie, who seems to have proposed the smiley on the MsgGroup mailing list, April 12 1979.'"

But there's only one groove per side ... To all those who thought that the optical-scanning method for playing vinyl was an elaborate joke, note that you can download the creator's code if you'd like. This is not the easy way to do things, but is one way.

420 comments

  1. Charting progress by DarthVeda · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've been keeping track of my progress since July 13th on Atkins and as of today I am 41 pounds lighter. How about that? Nutritionalists be damned...

    1. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn, me too. Except I just quit eating for since July 13th and I have lost over 80lbs. Must be healthy too.

    2. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you contract scurvey or a degenerative bone disease from long term malnutrition next month, don't come crying to /. about it!

    3. Re:Charting progress by ceejayoz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The article asks about the long term effects and sustainablity of the diet. No one denies that it works - they just wonder how safe it is in the long run.

      RTFA plz.

    4. Re:Charting progress by DarthVeda · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      hahaha, you're very funny. Make me laugh some more. :)

    5. Re:Charting progress by bellings · · Score: 2

      Do you guys have a bowl of frogs for snacking next to your computer when you post?

      Hell no. I eat blind albino squids dipped in chocolate.

      They're lower in sodium, and not nearly as crunchy!!

      --
      Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
    6. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey! I'm 185 lbs, 5' 11", and I wouldn't mind losing 41 lbs. Seriously. Most 6 foot, 175 lbs. guys have absolutely no idea how fat they really are.

      "But, it's all muscle mass!" Yeah, sure -- whatever. You just keep telling yourself that, Krispy Kreme boy...

    7. Re:Charting progress by zaffir · · Score: 2, Informative

      Atkins himself says that staying on the diet for a long period of time is bad. It is very hard on your kidneys, and he recommends slowly easing back onto a low-carb (not no-carb) diet after you've been no-carbing it for a while.

      --
      "Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
    8. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sigh. You do not "no-carb" ever. You really can't, anyway. In the beginning of his diet (first 2-6 weeks), you eat pretty low-carb, ie 20-30 grams a day. After that, depending on your goals, you can move that up to 50-100 based on your own body and your own caloric needs.

    9. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm 5'11", 205, and it IS all muscle mass. Get off your ass and get to the gym and eat right. I'm less round and much stronger than most people that are taller and weigh less than me. AND i'm a computer nerd. How bout that?

    10. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yikes! That'd make you 5'11" 144. That's just downright scrawny. No need to get anorexic just because you need to drop some body fat. ;)

      Anyway, different people have different muscle masses. I'm 6'0" 184. I have a 32"/33" waistline, but I could stand to lose about 15 lbs of body fat (guestimation). That's probably another inch-and a half off the waistline and nearing six-pack territory.

      On the other hand, I know guys (as I'm sure we all do) who are my height and way 5 - 10 lbs more than I do who really *are* all lean muscle. That's the place that I want to get to, but first the fat must come off. I don't do the whole Atkins thing though. I like carbs too much. I just moderate what I eat and avoid eating outside of designated meals and snacks, though I do occassionally lapse.

    11. Re:Charting progress by the+way,+what're+you · · Score: 1
      How big is the biggest slasdot user anyway?

      Why don't you just email him and ask?

      --
      example.org - powered by Linux!
    12. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's something you might have tried instead of a fad diet from a medical quack: eat less, and exercise more.

      How about that? It works, and unlike the "Atkins diet", it is actually healthy for you.

      Idiot fat fad dieters be damned....

    13. Re:Charting progress by worldthinker · · Score: 0

      The Atkins Diet is not a fad as it has been around for in excess of 40 years. And Dr. Atkins is eminently qualified in his field. So who are you calling a quack? Further, if you've read any of his writings on the subject, it isn't a simple matter of eating less because if your body doesn't process carbohydrates efficiently, then it will try to store what little you eat as fat. (Insulin resistance) There are poor saps that eat like a bird, and exercise and still gain or maintain more weight than they want. I can honestly say that an Atkins style diet in combination with increased activity has helped me significantly both in weight loss and in diabetes control (I was able to stop taking medicine for that!) and blood pressure reduction.

    14. Re:Charting progress by SunCrushr · · Score: 2, Informative

      Starving people in third world countries sometimes loose 20 or more pounds a month.
      That doesn't mean that they are healthy.

      There are many diets you can go on which will help you loose weight, but many of them, most likely including the Atkins diet are not healthy for one's body. Sure, if you cut out carbs you will take in a lot less calories, but you will be missing many things your body needs from carbs. Also, a diet high in fats may not be bad, but if they are the wrong types a fats, you may loose weight, but that just means that the paramedics will be doing CPR on a thin person and won't have to strain their backs as much when they lift your lifeless body onto the gurnee after you die of a heart attack caused by the buildup in your arteries. Any diet that tells you to cut out all of any particular type of food is usually bad. Some losses your body experiences on these diets can be made up for with nutritional supplements (pills, shakes, etc.) but for the most part, a lot of what you crave to eat is based on what your body needs. I have seen people do the exact opposite of the Atkins diet, cutting out most fats and sticking to mostly carbs. They loose weight, but they aren't healthy either. One guy I know cut all meat out of his diet and he lost a lot of weight. He later found out that he had low levels of many amino acids that the body requires and that he was also anemic. He started eating meat again and became much healthier.

      The best diet is to cut down on calories in general, taking in a proper amount of calories from carbs, fats, and sugars. Any excess calories can and should be burned off by regular exercise. Moderation and exercise are the keys to weight loss. Atkins presents one way to loose weight, but his method is extreme, and when it comes to one's body and health, extremes are usually a bad thing.

    15. Re:Charting progress by Dudio · · Score: 2, Funny

      I just moderate what I eat

      Jelly doughnut = -1 Overweighted?

    16. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow.....

      Im 5'6" 170 and about 10% body fat (I have a 6 pack).

      I guess it just depends on your frame.

    17. Re:Charting progress by trud · · Score: 0

      Since March I've lost 45 lbs....

      Adkins works - I like Steak - I like Eggs

      I don't ever feel deprived or like I'm on a diet.

      If this is going to kill me, it can take a number and get in line.

    18. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Atkins himself says that staying on the diet for a long period of time is bad.

      No he doesn't.

      It is very hard on your kidneys,

      No it isn't.

      and he recommends slowly easing back onto a low-carb (not no-carb) diet after you've been no-carbing it for a while.

      You've never read Atkins, have you? The diet isn't no-carb. There is a brief (1 to 2 week) period were carbohydrates are reduced to 20 grams or less called "induction", whose sole purpose is to get the body used to burning ketone bodies instead of glucose for some functions. After that, carbohydrates are slowly increased until the threshhold at which this state can be maintained is found. Once this is found (and it is THIS stage that is the "Atkins diet"), it can be maintained indefinitely.

      The Atkins diet isn't a "meat diet" or "protein diet"; it is essentially just eating normally with the exception of not eating high carb, sugary foods. And since there is nothing magical about sugar or bread that makes kidneys function properly, the idea that such a diet is "hard on the kidneys" is self-evidently a myth.

    19. Re:Charting progress by slashmo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well... since I don't know how much you weigh(ed) and what kind of general shape you were in, I don't really have enough information, but I wonder whether you know enough about your "progress." For instance, of the 41 pounds you lost, how much was water, muscle, and fat? How much and what kind of exercise have you been doing daily? For how long do you intend to follow this way of eating? What will happen if/when you begin eating carbohydrates again? You can damn as many nutritionists as you'd like, but unless you protect your lean body mass (muscle) by exercising strenuously and regularly, anything like the amount of loss you reported will result in a terrible, catastrophic dive in your metabolic rate which will result in a fatter body than you had when you began, and future efforts to lose fat will be much more difficult. Be careful.

    20. Re:Charting progress by jheinen · · Score: 2

      If it's so bad, why do I feel so damn good? I've lost 54 lbs since July, and I feel like I'm 20 again (I'm 35). I now exercise 1-2 hours every day, six days a week. I have more energy and more stamina than ever.

      -Jeff

      --
      -Vercingetorix
      "Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
    21. Re:Charting progress by theFlux · · Score: 1

      I'd like to read a comment here that contained some accurate information... sugars ARE carbs! "low levels of amino acids that the body needs..." Which ones? What do they do? I am really tired of listening to people who don't know anything about what they are speaking of! Read a book, the net, or take a class

    22. Re:Charting progress by theFlux · · Score: 1

      Ooopsss..... Here is a well written, detailed post! Sorry, my bad

    23. Re:Charting progress by scrote-ma-hote · · Score: 1

      The amino acids that the body needs are known as essential amino acids. These are one the body cannot make. They are tryptophan, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, theronine, valine leucine and isoleucine.

    24. Re:Charting progress by dubl-u · · Score: 2

      Since you're an expert, could you tell us how much weight you've lost on your recommended diet?

      It's funny, but since I started on a low-carb diet, a lot of people who have never lost weight have been giving me an awful lot of tips on thoretically better ways to lose weight.

      Let's be frank, here. The same nutritionists who shrink in horror at Atkins and his ilk have been warning us for years of the huge health dangers of obesity. And they are the same ones pushing the same eating and diet regimens that have worked so well that obesity is way up. I'll listen respectfully to them, but their track record is so far pretty poor, and their unwillingness to investigate low-carb diets and steal their good parts doesn't impress me either.

      The short- and long-term dangers of obesity are well-known. The short-term risks of low-carb diets seem minimal. The long-term effects are unknown. I'm not telling anybody else what to do, but it's working for me where a number of other things haven't.

    25. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For instance, of the 41 pounds you lost, how much was water, muscle, and fat?

      This is another advantage of the Atkins (low-carbohydrate) diet over other (low-fat) diets. In the Atkins diet, the "starvation reflex" (metabolic rate crash) isn't activated, and the body doesn't burn lean body tissue like it does with a fast or with a low-fat, low calorie diet. In fact, if it is combined with moderate exercise, the typical Atkins dieter will actually gain lean body mass (and ironically, lower trigliceride levels at the same time they are eating more saturated fats).

    26. Re:Charting progress by sethdelackner · · Score: 1

      Yikes! That'd make you 5'11" 144. That's just downright scrawny.

      So what does that make 6' and 130? The only weight I ever seem to gain is muscle when I try really hard to focus on bulk at the gym. What's this weight gaining secret you all share? I just eat three meals a day of whatever I feel like (mostly pasta, soy, vegetables, and seafood).

    27. Re:Charting progress by fluffy666 · · Score: 1

      Please explain to me - what are all these things that the body need from bulk-carbohydrate foods - you know, the ones that humans didn't even eat until 8000 or so years ago?

    28. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keep having those six packs and you will be 5'6 270 and about 60% body fat in no time :)

    29. Re:Charting progress by smatthew · · Score: 1

      Actually when someone is talking about carbs they usually mean complex carbs. Eventually complex carbs get broken down into sugar, but not immediately. So eating a slice of bread is not the same as downing a cup of sugar.

      That's why nutritional labels break out simple sugars from the listing of how many carbs are in something.

      --
      slashdot username - at - email.domain.name
    30. Re:Charting progress by gfxguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't recall that Atkins ever calls for a NO carb diet at all, even during induction, which is one of my big complaints with people skeptical of the diet - they hear a few choice things that make it sound really bad and harp on them as if they are gospel.

      The other thing is that Atkins is not the only low-carb advocate. There are plenty of other more moderate plans.

      Point 1: None of them, AFAIK, advocate NO carbs.

      Point 2: None of them, AFAIK, advocate high fat (while they may claim it's not as bad as people may think, none of them tell participants to eat lots of saturated fats). In fact, most go into detail about which fats are OK and which are not.

      In other words, contrary to what even the article advocating Atkins said, Atkins never advocated eating a pound of bacon with a stick of butter melted on top. And when people give such examples it only shows their closed mind to the subject, where the gub-ment, and it's low fat crusade, can't be questioned because we've been doing it for so long.

      When my nutritionist actually explained the low-carb theory to me, it made more sense then the low-fat theory, and I'd been a low-carb skeptic for a long time.

      BTW, for me - it's 60 pounds in six months. I have more muscle mass then when I started. Yes, it's because I've been exercising, too, but any idiot can tell you working out is better than not working out, diet aside. Having lost all the weight helps me be able to work out.

      And finally, anyone who thinks low-carb is unhealthy can answer me this: it's the only way I've been able to lose weight, so would I have been healthier 60 pounds ago and with the acid reflux disorder that I had back then?

      There is also the case for cholesterol. Yes, it's a problem, but the truth is that long term effects of low-carb often include lower cholesterol. Why? Because your body produces 80% of the cholesterol in your blood stream, it's not ingested. How does it create it? The liver. What prompts the creation? Carbs.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    31. Re:Charting progress by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      What you describe is certainly more common in low fat diets than low carb ones.

      Second, exercise is important, but how strenuous it has to be is debatable - I work out strenuously because more muscle mass means faster weight loss, but there are lot's of low-carbers who have gone to an ideal weight without exercise.

      Also, no one advocates no-carb. It's low-carb, and Atkins has several stages, each gradually increasing carbs to a more healthy level. Basically, the gub-ment says 300 carbs a day is OK, and that's just plain wrong.

      I work out strenuously on less than 100, and I've lost weight - more over, I've lost fat. I haven't seen my nutritionist in over a month, but last we measured, out of my 60 lost pounds (in six months), over 50 was fat. Some was naturally water, since my body was so much smaller. Some was muscle mass, but only because I'm not carrying around so much fat.

      The other thing about this "diet" is that it's a "way of life", not a temporary thing. It's a way to discover how many carbs you can consume without gaining weight, and then living on that.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    32. Re:Charting progress by fbjnjh · · Score: 1

      Anyone who makes a comment such as this obviously NO knowledge of the diet. Heresay is NOT fact, my friend - try reading the book. If you don't agree after you have your facts straight, then you're only out 8 bucks and you can make and educated argument, rather than an assinine comment that benefits no one.

    33. Re:Charting progress by Casualposter · · Score: 1

      Not 8000 years ago, more like a few hundred, if that.

      The prevailent view of nutrition was not based in reality or even on good science, but on poor science. That's why we've got a huge number of fat people with and horrific increase in adult onset diabetes.

      In defense of the idiots that came up with "fat is bad" as a nutritional and public policy, there was little knowlege 40 years ago or more about how the human body actually processes food and what it really needs to be healthy. What knowlege that existed was ignored.

      --
      Creative Spelling Copyright (2002). May use without Persimmons
    34. Re:Charting progress by fbjnjh · · Score: 1

      You're right in that you CAN lose weight from cutting out all meat and eating only carbs, because as you said, you would be cutting out calories. However, the reason that the people you know who cut out all meat and ate only carbs weren't any healthier is becuase they were probably experiencing tremendous spikes in their blood sugar followed by equally tremendous dips - this is what happens when one consumes carbohydrates. You know that tired feeling you get in the afternoon after you've eaten your "healthy" turkey sandwich with no mayo, or your low fat cookies, etc.?? It's all due to the simple carbs. The Atkins diet doesn't suggest that you cut out ALL carbohydrates from your diet. It suggests that you cut out your consumption of SIMPLE carbs - rice, white flour, sugar, potatoes, etc. Most people consume more than 300 grams of carbs a day while eating these things. The diet suggests that you cut your consumtion down to 20 grams a day, TEMPORARILY, and eat only certain complex carbs - those that you'd find in certain vegetables, for instance. After two weeks, your intake can increase to the point at which your body is still losing weight, and when you've accomplished your goal, it increases AGAIN to the amount at which you can maintain. Most people are able to eat limited amounts of wheat bread, can drink milk, and can increase their intake of veggies. They are just leaving out the aforementioned white flour and sugar. Does that sound so bad? Not to me. Especially since I no longer have that tired afternoon feeling. Especially since I sleep better than ever. Especially since I've lost 15 pounds. And btw, my blood pressure and cholesterol are both down. No heart attacks yet...

    35. Re:Charting progress by ab762 · · Score: 1

      My wife and I have been using the Zone diet. There's an excellent online "open source" of Zone info at Zone Home.

      The Zone is a balanced 40-30-30 diet - 40% of calories from carbs, 30 from fat, 30 from protein. Turns out that still involves reducing simple carbs and increasing the intake of veggies.

      And one piece of easy to follow advice for fellow geeks with fast-food lunch options: Subway will make any sub as a salad, basically without the bread, in a plastic bowl. Hot sauce chicken salad, yum yum!

      I'm down 15 pounds since January, and my wife has lost over 40.

    36. Re:Charting progress by Beliskner · · Score: 2
      Another Government agency spreading FUD, well what a surprise. Government agency is funded by Government which is funded by taxes which is paid by workers who work in the complex carbohydrates food manufacturing industry. Protein foods on the other hand need to be subsidised by Government, so of course the Government will push carbs over protein. Is this the same genetically engineered Sky? grain that the corporations are testing out on Africans?

      Eternal vigilance - I was asleep, but now I'm awake.

      --
      A caveman dreams of being us, the incalculable power and riches. We dream of being Q, then what?
    37. Re:Charting progress by schon · · Score: 2

      Anyone who makes a comment such as this obviously NO knowledge of the diet.

      Take a pill - the poster was saying that losing weight != being healthy, which is true.

      Note that he did NOT say that the Atkins diet is unhealthy, just that using the sole metric of weight loss as an indicator of being healthy is, well, stupid.

      Bulimia isn't healthy, neither is anorexia - both tend to make you lose weight. If the logic is "I lost weight, therefore I am healthy", then both bulimia and anorexia are both healthy.

    38. Re:Charting progress by fluffy666 · · Score: 1

      Well, I was talking about grains and potatoes (basically, dawn-of-agriculture stuff). The start of agriculture coincides with a decrease in average height and an increase in deficiiency diseases...

      Of course, sugars, white flours, refined starches, trans-fatty acids and soft drinks are only a hundred or so years old in dietry terms.

    39. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since everyone else is throwing in their weight loss stories, I'll add mine:

      I started Atkins 14 months ago, and I've gone from 307 to 185...

      The change in the quality of life is dramatic. Who really cares if it kills me 5 years earlier than normal? At least I'll enjoy life from now on...

    40. Re:Charting progress by Eil · · Score: 2

      I could do double that on a diet of pure water and the occasional breadstick. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to be anywhere near healthy afterwards.

      I haven't heard much about this Atkins diet, but from what little I have, it sounds like every single other fad diet that was popular in the 80's and 90's. Just the name "Atkins" sounds more like a disease than a diet.

      Okay, I'm going to toss out a free clue to some of the generally unclueful around here: The most effective diet has only two ingredients:

      Balanced, regular meals

      Plenty of exercise

      That's really it. This, according to decades of actual scientific research, is the only kind of diet that allows you to lose weight, stay healthy, and not spend thousands of dollars all at the same time. I find it utterly humourous that 98% of the dieting methods they sell on TV are actually far more difficult (and of course, much more costly) than the prescription above. It's no wonder everyone wants an easy way to lose weight. Corporate America has them convinced that there is no way to get thinner without buying expensive pills or expensive equipment.

      If anecdotal evidence is in order: My fiancee started eating right and exercising in July and she has lost 25 pounds (perhaps 30) to date. She feels good, eats way less than she used to, and her metabolism has sky-rocketed.

      "Balanced, regular meals" means exactly that. Do not be one of those idiots whining to their friends that they weigh too much while they're walking through the front door of McDonald's or reaching for the bag of cookies. But also do not think that "balanced" is nutrituion-speak for "I can eat only cantaloupe on days that end in -y." You should eat meat. You should eat fruits. You can even have dessert in the evening. Just keep it all balanced.

      "Plenty of exercise" does not mean purchase the Stairmaster 3000XL for 15,000 easy installments of $19.95. Nor does it mean sprint from one side of town to the other. Nor does it mean Sweatin' to the Oldies. It means at least a half-hour of medium-intensity exercise such as jogging or biking or 45 minutes of low-intensity exercise such as walking. (Note that there are a few basic rules to follow when exercising, such as staying hydrated and proper stretching, but those are beyond the scope of this post.)

      Just doing one or the other will not cut it. Diets don't work in the long run unless combined with exercise. (And even then, the fad diets still won't.)

    41. Re:Charting progress by zaffir · · Score: 1

      Poor choice of words describes my post well. I would consider the 20 grams of carbs/day almost no carb. But, i was being too vague - bad idea on my part - and should have said "very low carb". The ketosis part of the diet is hard on the kidneys.

      All of you points on low-carb diets are correct. I myself follow one, and it has worked wonders (20lbs in a month and a half). While i didn't bother to RTFA (stupid NYTimes reg), i know people who have encountered problems on the diet - both during and after the super-low-carb part.

      --
      "Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
    42. Re:Charting progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may be confusing ketosis with the bad kind which accompanies type II diabetes. They are not related.

      Just as an anecdote, I got a kidney stone after several years of an unintentionally high carb diet. During this time I also started putting on weight, whereas before I have always been thin. Afterwards I would get pains in my lower back and drink a ton of water to keep it from happening again. The cause: A long term contract where I was constantly exposed to high-carb conference room food.

      Then I went on the Atkins diet, and the occasional pain decreased. Now I never feel pain anymore, and I am back to my old weight. I'm still at the client site, but I don't partake of the food like I used to.

    43. Re:Charting progress by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      But even Atkins doesn't recommend staying in ketosis for too long. Still, the drinking of a lot of water is supposed to help.

      Anyway, I've never met anyone who had problems. On the contrary, I had GERD for two years until I started low carb (who knows what it was I cut out that help), and I know type II diabetics that were able to stop taking their medication because their insulin levels came under control.

      Still, anectdotal evidence doesn't prove anything, and everyone is different, I would never try to shoehorn one way of eating on anybody, same as I wouldn't recommend Linux to everybody. But the way a lot of people shoot it down without really understanding it really bothers me - same as Linux, you know what I mean?

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    44. Re:Charting progress by Casualposter · · Score: 1

      It's hard to get a good grip on the diet of humans before the dawn of recorded history. Not very much information survives the ravages of time, and food debris is very attractive to most of the other living organisms on the planet.

      As to the start of agriculture leading to a decrease in height, I like to see the citation. Never heard of that one...I've read a lot of other anthropological articles that indicate that the rise of agriculture brought many benefits to man, including better health. I'm not sure that good nutrition is directly linked to height. (Hey I am not overweight and not in poor health and do not have a bad diet and I am SHORT)

      I don't think that with the rise of maize production in the Americas that the natives got smaller. They did develop a vast civilization and were more or less the same height as every one else.

      We do know from studies of indigenous people that poor nutrition and starvation will lead to smaller people over generations. It has been suggested that humans have the ability to reduce their final body mass (or size) based upon the intake of food during the growing years, and that consistent lack of food will lead to a population of smaller people. People of food - poor areas tend to be smaller that those of food - rich areas. However, once the food poverty is eliminated, the formerly diminutive people produce children who grow taller. As I recall, this is not a case of feed the kids and they grow tall, but a gradual thing spread out over several generations. It was used as an example of human evolutionary response to a particular geography.

      I've never read the Atkins diet and have always been suspicious of the whole health industry. It seems to me that common sense was tossed out the window long ago and a series of fads was fosted upon people to benefit certain political groups, and certain industries. After all of the arguments about whose right and whose wrong about which diet, the bottom line is this: If you all weren't fat or scared of being fat, billions of dollars wouldn't be spent on health products. Funny how after running like gerbils on speed at the gym and following the nutritionists most folks are dangerously overweight. Who's got no clothes on?

      Forgive grammer and spelling, my coffee isn't done yet.

      --
      Creative Spelling Copyright (2002). May use without Persimmons
    45. Re:Charting progress by fluffy666 · · Score: 1

      A very good site on paleonutrition..

      http://www.beyondveg.com/index.shtml

  2. Call me lazy... by angst7 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But I was a little happy when I heard about the Mozilla security bug. Not because I want to see anything bad happen to the lizard (after all I'm using it now), but because I knew it meant that soon Ximian would release a Mandrake 8.2 build of the most recent version taking care of a few of the other 1.0 bugs I wanted to see fixed. :)

    ---
    Jedimom.com, picking out a thermos, for you.

    --
    StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums
  3. Atkins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The mainstream doesn't want anyone to move away from their high-carb diet they've been preaching for years, and so of course, they go out there and try to badmouth the Atkins diet any chance they get. It's nothing new. All the author of the original NY Times piece wanted was for scientists to actually take a look at the diet, which most have been reluctant to do for years.

    They're scientists. Their job is test things out and see if they're right or wrong. Too often, though, we see scientists hide behind what is already "fact" and they refuse to look at anything that might mean changing that.

    1. Re:Atkins... by NineNine · · Score: 3, Funny

      So instead of listening to science, you believe the marketing/"news" crap that's spouted from the "mainstream" media. Brilliant. I can't wait until all of the Atkins diet people start needing some new kidneys. They ain't gettin' mine.

    2. Re:Atkins... by NineNine · · Score: 0, Troll

      First off, yes, Americans are fucking huge. True. See any correlation between McDonald's and Wendys on every corner and their fat asses. And yes, low-fat diets have been preached forever, but you see anybody following them? As a proud owner of McDonald's stock, I'm very happy to see people *not* following those low-fat diets. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see this. Stand outside any fast food restaurant for 5 minutes. Where are all of those Atkins wonder-people? Generally, all I see are fat people, and even fatter people.

      As far as diabetes, I have no clue as to what you're talking about. You must be working for Atkins, and you probably just copied and pasted the wrong paragraph here. That's all right. You're an obvious troll.

    3. Re:Atkins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      low-fat diets have been preached forever, but you see anybody following them?

      Yes, all those people buying "Snack-Wells" because they're low-fat and eating the entire box.

      Where are all of those Atkins wonder-people?

      Not at McDonalds perhaps?

      As far as diabetics, I'm pointing out a CLEAR example of the negative effects of the high-carb diet they preach. "You must be working for Atkins" No, and that just shows how close minded you are. I'm not even on Atkin's diet.

    4. Re:Atkins... by Fugly · · Score: 1

      I can't fathom why this post was modded down to -1.

    5. Re:Atkins... by pocra · · Score: 1

      Hey! Obesity and diabetes are at an all-time high because of Moore's law; more computing power = more alluring computers = more time spent in front of the VDU = more cola + crisps + less exercise = more obesity and diabetes.

    6. Re:Atkins... by let_freedom_ring · · Score: 1

      science? According to the article ... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/health/nutrition /10BROD.html?8vd the 'mainstream' scientists won't even peer review any long term study on the Atkins dieat. They just intuitively think it's bad; great scientists
      About the kidneys, the article sites one two week study suggesting that a low carb diet may cause kidney stones (this doesn't require amputation in case you don't know). In any case they only measured acid levels not actual kidney stone development. Too bad there will never be any long term studies.

  4. Greek Gaming by T-Kir · · Score: 2

    The decision last week that ruled the Greek ban on video games as unconstitutional has been overturned

    Wouldn't that be in violation of the EU Human Rights directive that came in force, or does a basic human rights charter not cover entertainment?

    --
    Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
    1. Re:Greek Gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Human rights only apply to humans, while this is obvious to me, it evidently doesn't quite fit into the category of 'common sense'.

    2. Re:Greek Gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Meh, people don't come at things from the point of view of UN Human Rights. They just think of the short-term "what's best for our community" and then push through whatever they want. Human rights be screwed.

      For example, many collages and universities have compulsary unionism, or by default you're enrolled in a union. This is against the UN Human Rights, not that anyone cares.

      People pick and choose laws to suit them.

    3. Re:Greek Gaming by moertle · · Score: 1

      Life, liberty, and the pursuit of gold coins?

      --
      I hold a patent on sigs...
  5. Same story you read? by Otter · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm not an Atkins partisan (snacking on carrots right now, in fact), but the NYT article is far less negative than the write-up suggests. It acknowledges it's a very effective way to lose weight, warns that it hasn't been studied comprehensively by independent researchers and that it has been linked to kidney stones, warns that it's low in some vitamins (you can buy them in pill form, you know) and then goes on an accurate but point-missing bit about how Americans aren't gaining weight because of too high a percentage of carbs in their diet.

    And closes with Brody saying she thought of it first.

    1. Re:Same story you read? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Americans ARE getting fat because of too many carbs. Try both a high-carb and low fat diet, and a low-carb high protein diet and see which one gives better results.

      Oh, wait, you're a slashdot user - you need your 60oz of bawls and Mountain Dew every day just to survive.

    2. Re:Same story you read? by cicatrix1 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You could just make millions by writing a book to get Americans to stop eating Twinkies and McDonalds. On my college campus, every day I see fat people and skinny people. I swear to god the fat ones are always carring some horrible "food" like McDonalds or a candy bar or a shake. People are fat because they want to be, and then they go and cry about it.

      --

      I know more than you drink.
    3. Re:Same story you read? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not "high carbs bad" so much as it is the source of the carbs. Refined sugars and empty calorie foods like junk foods and soda are "bad" sources of carbs. Pasta, whole grain breads, veggies, fruits, etc are all "good" sources of carbs when eaten in moderation. I eat a fairly high carb, low fat diet and have never been overweight even though weight problems run on both sides of my family. But I also eat healthy and avoid empty calories. I especially avoid sodas like the plague and drink only a moderate amount of juice. Good old H2O is much better for the body and calorie free.

      Let's not forget that the whole avoid carbs philosophy has one major flaw: fiber intake is also lowered. American eating habits already take in much less fiber than they should. This can lead to minor and major intestional problems as time wears on. People should be encouraged to eat healthy, not chase after every fad diet that comes around.

    4. Re:Same story you read? by jjo · · Score: 2

      I am awed by your rigorous, scientific analysis of the question. After reading your comment, I see that I must be a figment of my own imagination. I exercise over an hour a day, and don't eat any of the disgusting "foods" you mention, yet the gov't guidelines label me quite conclusively as "obese".

      But don't let that stop you from your sweeping generalizations. It's so much easier than actually thinking.

    5. Re:Same story you read? by mgblst · · Score: 2

      (you can buy them in pill form, you know)

      You should be very wary of supplementing vitamins in pill form. Pills do not always provide the best form of vitamins, and are no way comparable to getting your vitamins from non-processed foods.

    6. Re:Same story you read? by TomRC · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would recommend that anyone going on any diet start off with at least 2 weeks on Atkins. It really brings home how pervasive "junk carbs" have become in your personal diet. So much food is made of or coated or stuffed with starch and sugar.

      Until I went on Atkins, I didn't think I was eating all that bad, blamed my "metabolism" for my weight problem, and so on - but now I know better. I could probably even stick to a "rabbit food diet" now - though it would not be as easy as low-carb.

      It is bogus that "they" won't study Atkins properly. It isn't like they would have trouble finding volunteers. I only know it has to be better for me than being massively overweight - even with the risk of kidney stones.

    7. Re:Same story you read? by cicatrix1 · · Score: 1

      I will still stick to my point. If you wanted to lose weight, you would. An hour a day? That's decent, but not much. Is it truly excercise? Are you really eating as healthily as you could be?

      --

      I know more than you drink.
    8. Re:Same story you read? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have deep fried Twinkies now. I gotta try one...

    9. Re:Same story you read? by dubl-u · · Score: 2

      I would recommend that anyone going on any diet start off with at least 2 weeks on Atkins. It really brings home how pervasive "junk carbs" have become in your personal diet. So much food is made of or coated or stuffed with starch and sugar.

      Amen. When I heard the term "sugar addict" before, I always took it as hyperbole. But starting on the diet let me kick the habit. Now I recognize that I met the DSM IV criteria for addiction. That's spooky! Now I can sit next to an open candy jar and not touch it. I no longer have to run out and get a candy bar. And my moods are much, much more even.

      It is bogus that "they" won't study Atkins properly. It isn't like they would have trouble finding volunteers. I only know it has to be better for me than being massively overweight - even with the risk of kidney stones.

      No shit. I'd love to read a good anti-Atkins article, but this one wasn't it. It's the same warmed-over collection of stuff. Did it address any of Taubes "Endocrinology 101" stuff? Nope. Did it have any serious evidence that the risks of the Atkins diet even come close to the risks of staying obese? Nope.

      Now I rarely talk about it with my friends. They just say, "Hey, you're losing weight!" And I just say, "Yep! I feel much better, too!"

    10. Re:Same story you read? by stephanruby · · Score: 1
      I've been following a similar kind of no sugar/lo carb/ high protein diet for three months now. I've lost 34 pounds (by the way, I am currently a 200 pound, 6 foot 1, 27 years old Male). My overall cholesterol has gone down to 188 (normal levels) and my good cholesterol has gone up to 32 (it should be higher I believe). I can't find my previous results right now, but overall this diet has greatly improved my chances of not getting heart disease. Aside from that, I've also been a lot more energetic. My energy levels are up consistently from the time I wake to the time I go to sleep. Before, even before I became overweight, I needed a bagel and a coffee to give me a kick start in the morning and my energy would go back down after just an hour or two.

      The diet I tried is called The Fat Flush Plan by Ann Louise Gittleman. It's an horrible title for a book, but it's worth checking out. At the time it was the most highly reader-rated diet book on Amazon.

    11. Re:Same story you read? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just remember - lots of anecdotes dont make scientific evidence.

      Now for mine...
      Ive lost over 12kg ( 27 pounds for the metricly challenged ) doing Atkins since the NYT article.

      Using unscientific self analysis, Iam insulin resistant ( due to 15 years of bad eating ), and just not eating sugar has not been enough to help me loose weight.

      On top of that, I craved carbs, I found it next to impossible to eat a good meal, and not be hungry 2 hours later.

      On Atkins, I no longer have never ending hunger, and I feel really good. Staying in Atkins inductin phase is not a realistic way to eat for the rest of your life ( but I can see people becoming adicted to it, just like anorexia ). Once I get close to my target weight ( 80kg ) I will examine other low card diets which arent as centered around ketosis. Staying in ketosis, or on the verge seems as unrealistic as being carb bloated. It is important to find a balanced way to eat.

      But a balanced diet is aimed at maintaining weight, and without atkins and ketosis I would still be 12kg heavier, just no getting lighter.

    12. Re:Same story you read? by fluffy666 · · Score: 1

      Funny thing is, I've never seen a good, accurate, well referenced anti-atkins article.

      Every attack I've seen seems makes some set of these assumptions:

      1) Cholesterol *intake* is an independant risk factor for heart disease. This has not been demonstrated by any study.

      2) Saturated fat intake is a strong independant risk factor for heart disease. The evidence is not clear cut; only a small number of saturated fats have much influence at all.

      3) Grains, sugar, potatoes and modern fruit varieties are an integral part of the human diet. This is false; bulk-carbohydrate foods were only introduced between 8000 years ago and present day, which is an evolutanary blink of the eye. Animal fats have been a major dietary component for > 2 million years. Modern fruit varieties have been bred for a much higher sugar content than the wild originals.

      4) The Atkins diet is presented as if you were going to be on induction for the rest of your life. Thus allowing people to claim that it's heavily unbalanced.

    13. Re:Same story you read? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been on a low-carb diet since spring. It's not Atkins, but I keep my carb levels low. People think of a low-carb diet as "all-meat". I used to, myself. I eat lots of very healthy vegetables: spinach, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, some tomato, salad vegetables, (to name a few) and 1-2 servings of fruit.

      I don't care for fatty meats, so I dress my meals with a bit of olive oil - a very healthy form of fat .
      My meals are very rich and I am losing weight. I am satisfied for *hours*. Sometimes I forget it's time for the next meal, whereas I used to sit on my hands and count the minutes before.

      I've lost nearly 50 pounds.

    14. Re:Same story you read? by jafuser · · Score: 2
      I'll second this. I combined a low-carb diet with the Hacker's Diet (to keep myself enteratined with the numbers), also keeping my calories under 1200/day. I lost 45 pounds in a little under two months.

      I started on this diet plan when I found out my triglycerides were over 1000. I went back to the doctor three weeks afterwards and my triglycerides were down to around 300.

      I have since raised my calories and increased my sugars and carbs a bit, and I have definitely seen a slowdown in my weight loss, but also an increase in my energy level. I thinhk I cut my calories too much in the beginning becuase all I wanted to do was sleep.

      Now I'm losing about 1-2 pounds per week just by keeping my carbs under about 100g/day, and my calories under 1,800.

      I don't imagine too many people can tell the long-term effects of anything until it's been tried for 75 years, but I think a low-carb diet is a good way to get started on losing weight, and getting educated about just how bad our food selection is.

      One good rule that I learned was to "shop the perimeter" when going to the grocery store. You can entirely skip the asiles in the middle, as they're mostly just filled with high profit, low quality carb-loaded junk.

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
  6. plato story by rvr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back in the 80s I was going to UofAlberta and I stumbled upon the plato system. I tired it out a few times and it seemed pretty neat. I remember wondering why I had not heard of it before.

    One time I was doing some medical simulation. I remember that I had a patient and no matter what I did he didn't seem to be doing better. I recognized all the medical terms except one so I tried it. I selected Lumbar Puncture and man did his vitals ever drop fast! He was the only patient that died under my care. Actually the correct procedure was to immediately transfer him to a hospital at a major centre.

    1. Re:plato story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As I recall, the PLATO terminals were fairly expensive to run. You needed a pricy dedicated connection and the vector graphics equipment wasn't cheap either. I encountered one while in college (Valparaiso) back in the mid-70s. There was a really neat dungeon-type game (Empire?) available on it that some of fellow students were fairly addicted to.

    2. Re:plato story by Chester+K · · Score: 4, Funny

      I remember that I had a patient and no matter what I did he didn't seem to be doing better. I recognized all the medical terms except one so I tried it. I selected Lumbar Puncture and man did his vitals ever drop fast! He was the only patient that died under my care.

      If I had a dime for every time that happened...

      --
      Dr. Chester J. Karma, M.D.

      --

      NO CARRIER
    3. Re:plato story by volts · · Score: 1

      I was a Plato fiend when I was in high school in Halifax. Dalhousie U had a terminal in the library connected to U of Quebec. It was an amazing environment for the day. The terminal combined vector graphics with character mapping (s/w reprogramming of character bitmaps) to do things like animate liquid pouring into a beaker.

      The educational programs were excellent. The game (simulation?) rvr is talking about was called Emergency. It was a simulation of a small town emergency room written for students of a US med school.

      However it was the multiplayer games that really got me hooked. There was Airfight which used realistic flight models. You could fly an F-16 against other students on the network. The simulation ran in real-time and you had to hammer the refresh key on your terminal to have an even vaguely up to date picture of everyone's position. My handle was "Ace McCool" for anyone else with memories.

      Empire was a Federation versus Klingon battle to conquer the universe that pitted teams of players against each other over a period of days. The sense of community was amazing for the day.

      Plato required the dedicated resources of a high end Control Data (CDC) Cyber mainframe to run. Moores law eventually enabled CDC release release a single user version on an expensive PC, but by that time the content had come to look pretty dated. Eventually CDC killed the product completely.

      I had a guy apply to me for a job who had worked for CDC exclusively on Plato courseware for his whole career, fourteen years as I recall, and found himself on the street.

  7. duh by DarthVeda · · Score: 1

    Thats why I take a multivitamin and calcium supplements. Anybody who has ever read more than a dribbling about the diet will tell you the diet works in conjunction with exercise and a steady intake of vitamins.

    1. Re:duh by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You'd probably be far healthier just eating normally and getting some exercise. Fsck knows what's in those vitamin supplements...

    2. Re:duh by Rader · · Score: 2

      vitamin supplements?
      Well, vitamins of course.

      Why raise suspicions on that, when one trip to mcdonalds is what a person should really worry about.

    3. Re:duh by Deosyne · · Score: 1

      "Fsck knows what's in those vitamin supplements..."

      I'd venture that just about anyone who is literate can know what's in them, since it says right on the label. Hell, with a vitamin supplement, you know exactly how much of what in in each pill, unlike most products which just give you a general list of ingredients and touch on the highlights of the particulars.

    4. Re:duh by shatteredpottery · · Score: 3, Informative
      Vitamins are not all equal. For example, vitamin C is well known as an anti-oxidant, and it is in fact, when gotten the usual way: veggies, fruits and (blech) liver.

      But the artificially produced vitamin C is subtly different, and, in fact has measurable oxidizing and mutagenic effects (sorry, it's PDF. There are also newer and better studies if you search hard enough).

      Similar results have been noted with artificial beta-carotene. The manufacturers are modifying the supplements now, but it gives an idea of how little we understand the nutrition processes.

      Incidentally, artificial vitamin C first came under scrutiny in the mid-80's, when it was discovered that it did not prevent scurvy, but fruit-derived vitamin C did.

      Lastly, it's pretty well known now that, while vitamins and minerals are very important, there are a lot of phytochemicals in the plant-based foods that are extremely important to health, and we only know what a fraction of them are. They can only load the supplements with what we already know about.

      --

      A witty saying is worth nothing - Voltaire

    5. Re:duh by balthan · · Score: 1

      Gee, it's a good thing that vegetables such a broccoli exist. Broccoli is a good source of vitamin C, among other things, and is a relatively low-carb veggie.

    6. Re:duh by Velox_SwiftFox · · Score: 2
      Despite the obvious need for vitamins in the diet, I don't see any reason to assume that the possible oxidizing effect of Vitamin C noted in the study you link to - or the slightly increased levels of cancer measured among people taking beta carotine supplements - wouldn't be caused by natural as well as artifical sources of the chemicals. In the .pdf I see no mention of the source of the ascorbic acid at all.

      It would be ironic, wouldn't it, if it turned out that rapidly dividing cancer cells simply have a higher need for certain nutrients, and grow even more successfully when encouraged with more effective natural vitamins supplements including trace phytochemicals?

      Your last paragraph, btw, applies to the natural as well as synthetic pills sold in stores... and in relevance to the topic at hand, to attempts to use beta carotene to replace natural sources of Vitamin A - eggs, butter and other dairy products in proportion to milkfat, liver, shellfish, cod liver oil. The liver inefficiently uses up 5 units of it to make one unit of Vitamin A (retinol). Which, presumably, when found in those natural sources, would include other vital carnichemicals not found in plant-derived replacements.

  8. Gaming Ban. by TheDefunctMunky · · Score: 1

    I don't understand why Greece would put a ban on gaming. It is understandable for gambaling purposes, but ALL forms of gaming, I think thats just wrong

    1. Re:Gaming Ban. by pyrros · · Score: 1

      Yes it is wrong. and stupid, and unfair.

      But that's not the funny part: the DMCA is wrong and stupid and unfair too, but at least it got passed because of lobbying. This law got passed out of sheer idiocity and ignorance. I shiver at the thought of what would come out if our polititians (i'm greek) where actually bribbed.

    2. Re:Gaming Ban. by susano_otter · · Score: 3, Funny
      As I recall, the Greek government wisely recognized its own technical ignorance. Realizing they could not tell the difference between illegal electronic gambling and other forms of electronic games, they chose the only rational solution.

      You! Yeah, you! That was irony, fuckwit. You know who you are.

      --

      Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

    3. Re:Gaming Ban. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least they stopped parading around naked oiled up boys for their 'olympics'.

    4. Re:Gaming Ban. by TheBeast99 · · Score: 1

      It is because a lot of cafe's have coin-op and computer games in them which can be remote operated to turn into slot machines. Therefore, if the police come sniffing, a quick click of the remote and voila, the person playing the slot machine is now playing pac-man, or somesuch old-style game (I've not seen it with modern coin-op games, but undoubtedly it goes on).
      The procedure is, you go into the cafe, tell the barman that you want to play slots, give him some money and he credits a machine for you. When you have finished, you go to him, and he reimburses you the credits you have remaining.
      The Greek Government cannot get a handle on this type of tax evasion, so they made a blanket law that prohibits all computer games!

    5. Re:Gaming Ban. by GutBomb · · Score: 2

      yeah because they were too busy gambling over street fighter 2. just you wait, those days are headed for a comeback my friend.

  9. No Known Security Bugs by alanjstr · · Score: 2

    Just because there are no publicly known security bugs, that doesn't mean Mozilla is security bug free. There could still be some undiscovered or some that are still marked as eyes only. Look how quickly they fixed it once it was public. Look how long it took before they went public. But that won't stop me from using Mozilla.

    1. Re:No Known Security Bugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because Mozilla is not publicly known to call 911 and then format your hard drive, that doesn't mean it won't. This "feature" could be undiscovered, or marked as eyes only. But that won't stop me from using Mozilla.

    2. Re:No Known Security Bugs by NineNine · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Also, Mozilla is relatively new. More importantly, Mozilla has about 1/100 of the users that IE has, meaning that that's also 1/100 fewer people seeing any potential bugs.

    3. Re:No Known Security Bugs by mmol_6453 · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's why they said "No known security bugs"

      Which is still an enviable record.

      I can think of thou--er...several bugs in IE, starting with the first by--er...starting with Microsoft's unwillingness to deal with the issue unless it was getting bad press.

      --
      What's this Submit thingy do?
    4. Re:No Known Security Bugs by Moloch666 · · Score: 1

      Good point, but out of the few Mozilla users most are probally developers and would be the ones most likely to catch such bugs.

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
    5. Re:No Known Security Bugs by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

      You mean less likely to catch bugs right? Developers use software the "right" way. Its non-developers who do the stuff that cause bugs to crop up.

      --
      Why not fork?
    6. Re:No Known Security Bugs by Moloch666 · · Score: 1

      A little late for me to reply, but that struck me. You are absolutely correct. I do perl web developement and the web designer who doesn't do any programming is my beta tester and the best at it. I can't believe that slipped my mind.

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
  10. I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by goingware · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A similar diet to Atkins, but probably not so radical, is Protein Power. I've been on this for a few months, but haven't been completely faithful to it.

    I've lost fifteen pounds, and am still losing weight. I also have stopped having attacks of hypoglycemia, which used to happen almost every day.

    The diet emphasizes low carbohydrate (max 30 grams a day - I can eat half an english muffin a day, and that's about it), and moderately high protein, but really emphasizes eating lots more vegetables.

    They don't pretend that it's balanced nutrition, and explicitly say that one must take vitamin and mineral supplements, which I do.

    Once I lose all the weight I want, I can increase the amount of carbo I eat, but I don't think I ever want to go back to the level of carbohydrate intake I used to have - a couple of cans of Coca Cola Classic a day along with a heaping plate of spaghetti.

    I've tried low-fat diets before and never had any luck with them. Neither have I been able to lose weight purely from exercising since I've been in my 30's (worked in my early 20's though). But I feel better enough with the Protein Power diet that I have started bicycling again for the first time in several years (but I haven't bicycled so much that my weight loss can be attributed to exercise yet).

    I weigh 235 pounds, down from 250. My aim is to weigh 180. I'm 5'11".

    --
    -- Could you use my software consulting serv
    1. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 3, Informative

      Low fat diets are not always the answer. I tried them too, and I just made it up by overeating carbs.

      There is also some evidence that moderate increased protein consumption can help control appetite, but it should take the form of very low fat sources (ie/ soy or egg whites).

      However, if you are on less than 100g of carbohydrates everyday, you are only losing water. You need to regularly get your bodyfat measured to ensure that you are losing fat and not water/muscle. I would wager you have lost a lot of lean tissue+water as well as fat.

      Here is a quote from a Registered Dietitian regarding low-carb diets (link):

      "A 25+-year-old female needs 50 grams of protein per day. Protein is used to build and repair lean muscle tissue. This would not provide enough glucose to prevent ketosis. A diet of 500 grams of protein per day would be equal to 71.4 ounces (4.5 pounds) of meat, fish or poultry. Do you really think you wife can eat that much? (Did you mean 50 grams?) Also, since most sources of protein also have fat, I would guess that a diet that included 500 grams of protein would also inherently contain at least 214 grams of fat. (One ounce of lean meat, fish or poultry has 7 grams of protein and 3 grams of fat.) A diet high in protein usually turns off the appetite (as do the ketones being produced) and puts a strain on the kidneys. Proteins are large molecules and you blood is constantly filtered by your kidneys.

      Twenty grams of carbohydrate is only 80 calories. If the remaining calories are protein and fat, she could be eating 35 ounces (2.2 pounds) of lean meat. Could this be possible?

      I would bet that a lot of the weight your wife has lost is water because each gram of glycogen in muscles and lean tissue holds 3 grams of water. When you deplete glycogen, you lose water. Muscles and lean tissue are 70% water; fat is only 15% water. Usually these low carbohydrate diets encourage 8 glasses of water per day. This is to help flush the ketones out of the body through the kidneys and to prevent dehydration. One method of determining if you are dehydrated is to grab a pinch of skin on the back of your hand and let go. If you skin snaps back flat, you probably are not dehydrated. Also, look at the color of your urine. During the day it should be colorless and odorless unless you take Vitamin C supplements which will turn your urine yellow."

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    2. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by stuffman64 · · Score: 2

      Although the Protein Power diet is nice, Weightloss For You has a much more comprehensive diet plan. We (yes, I am affiliated with company) offer a complete system, which includes everything from snacks and vitamins to a comprehensive online management program to track your results. The diet is inspired by the Atkin's diet, but is much more refined and easier to follow. We don't use dangerous weightloss drugs like ephedra, which can cause more harm than good, and eventually lead to regaining any lost weight. Check out the site if interested.

      --
      --- At my sig, unleash hell.
    3. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by danamania · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just to add in my few cents worth...

      I was on the atkins diet during 1991/1992, and worked down to my goal weight at the time. It worked well for me when it came to the ability to lose, but the big downfall (and this is a personal preference thing) was the lack of carbs - I just love my carbs :)

      Fast forward to 1997, and I weighed 376lbs (no it's not a typo), and this time did Weightwatchers. That worked just as well for me, and I hit goal weight (195lbs - right for my height) again a few years ago. It's curious about the comments on kidney stones, as I've had gallstone problems since - which my current doc puts down to the process of rather quickly losing the incredible amounts of weight from 1997-2000.

      Either way, throwing the exercise thing into the mix is a major MAJOR part of losing, if you're over where you should be.

      a grrl & her server

    4. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm 38. When I was in my early thirties I quit smoking and blew up to 240lbs. Two years ago I went on an "eat less crap and excercise" diet. No gimmicks, no games. I avoid the vending machines, get excercise three times a week, skip most (but not all) deserts and got rid of the sodas. I'm now 191 lbs and working towards 180. It has taken a long time and it won't be soon that I meet my goal, but I know I =will= meet it and, most importantly, I'll be able to maintain it. The reason is that I focused on =lifestyle change=.

      The problem with diets is that people think of them as crash programs to fix a problem and that they can then go back to their ways. That's why people go up and down.

      The point is, don't go on a diet. Just eat less crap, get smaller servings and excercise more. It's far less painful and more healthy than some nutty diet.

    5. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 2
      I also have stopped having attacks of hypoglycemia, which used to happen almost every day.

      You do realize that hypoglycemia is caused by a shortage of carbohydrates, right?


      Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is actually a condition, not a disease. Between meals, blood sugar levels naturally drop - but remain fairly constant between 60 and 110 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). A signal for hypoglycemia is when levels drop below about 40 mg/dL. When blood sugars fall below normal levels, there's not enough glucose immediately available for cells to produce energy. That can cause several symptoms, including sweating, rapid heartbeat, and hunger.

      [...]

      Also be cautious of so-called health clinics that diagnose "sugar-induced hypoglycemia" and offer treatment with costly remedies.

      (The American Dietic Association's Complete Food and Nutrition Guide, publish date 1998, page 130)


      I don't know what you had, but it probably wasn't hypoglycemia. You may have had reactive hypoglycemia (which is extremely rare) and results from your body oversecreting insulin. That might explain why your attacks went away after you cut the carbs. In any case, you really should see a doctor with a background in diabetes and hypoglycemia.
      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    6. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by dpu · · Score: 1

      congrats to you :) i've lost 10 pounds in the last 2 weeks simply by cutting cola out of my diet. yes cola - coke, sprite, etc. i was drinking about 2 litres a day (sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes much more when camping and drinking) for the past 7 or 8 years. no ulcers, no gaping cavities, but not too energetic either. stopped drinking coke 2 weeks ago, stepped on the scale this morning and found i'm down to 210 from 220 :) spiffy :) now i can quit smoking and have a 10 pound buffer :)

      --
      Dammit, I meant to post that anonymously!
    7. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by Reziac · · Score: 2

      By the time your skin sticks to itself from dehydration, you're in fairly serious trouble. At that point, animals will usually refuse to drink and must be rehydrated by IV or SQ. And even if you're a human and smart enough to drink [g] by that point plain water will not be absorbed very well -- rather, you need a light saline or electrolyte solution. The magic formula used in Africa, to rehydrate kids who are dying from dehydration, is one cup of water with a three-finger pinch of salt (about 1/4 tsp) plus a palm of sugar (about two teaspoons).

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    8. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by TheLink · · Score: 2

      I think there's a chance goingware knows that (e.g. Hypoglycemia= low blood sugar levels).

      What he's probably talking about is the situation when you take lots of carbohydrates (esp the easily converted to glucose sort, some people could be v'good at the conversion) and your blood sugar jumps. Then your body starts pumping the insulin out.

      It often overshoots in such cases. So your blood sugar crashes and you get low blood sugar, and then you feel like munching something even though you have had enough nutrition and calories, and your tummy might actually still feel full.

      Keep this sort of thing up and you could get fat, and/or you could get Type 2 diabetes (insulin resistance).

      This sugar rush and crash thingy doesn't happen with low carbo diets which is one definite plus.

      Y'know, someone should compare the size increases of the US people with the growth of their drink (soda-pop)servings.

      I think if most people would just swap their soda/cola with water (or other unsweetened low carb drinks) they'd lose significant weight over a few weeks/months. You might not want to use artificial sweetened drinks, coz your body (I don't know how your body responds, know yourself) might have been trained/primed to expect sugars given sweetness and pump more insulin and then you _really_ want those carbos.

      The other thing is, you US folk really consume too much, your servings are huge, enough for two or three. The Atkins and other similar diets are probably "lesser evil" diets given the quantities you guys eat.

      --
    9. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by dubl-u · · Score: 2

      The point is, don't go on a diet. Just eat less crap, get smaller servings and excercise more. It's far less painful and more healthy than some nutty diet.

      That's swell in theory. When I've tried it, I coudln't get it to work so well. The main obstacle was being hungry all the time; when I'm hungry, my concentration goes to hell, which means I can't code. I'm also much more irritable.

      The thing I like about the low-carb diets is that I get hungry like normal (or perhaps a little less often) but I'm still losing weight as if I were eating circa 1400 calories a day.

      But I agree that looking at it as a lifestyle change is important. Even when I reach my target weight, I'll never go off a diet; I'll just shift the composition of it to be more balanced.

    10. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by GutBomb · · Score: 2

      195 pounds right for your height? how tall are you, 7 feet?

      just curious, not being mean or anything.

    11. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by evilviper · · Score: 2

      Well that's absolutely great, but I think I can top you!

      By eating nothing but pure lard, I've lost 300 pound in 2 days.

      No, I'm not a troll... Just trying to point out something that everyone should know, but seems not to... DON'T BELIEVE IT JUST BECAUSE YOU READ IT ONLINE. Even if there doesn't seem to be an alterior motive (although the Protein Power link sure seems to be a good reason to make up a story on slashdot), it doesn't mean there is any truth to it at all.

      Now go read The Onion. They always have the best weight-loss tips!

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    12. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by danamania · · Score: 2

      Not quite 7 feet :) - I'm 6'5".

      195 is a bit over the top of my weight range, but it's where I feel the most comfortable.

      a grrl & her server

    13. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by forkboy · · Score: 2

      Don't buy that crap doctors feed you about a "healthy" weight. I'm 5'7" and the last time I was in good shape (10% body fat) I weighed about 200 lbs. It all depends on muscle mass, bone density, and frame size.

      Of course, I'm pushing 275 now, that's what 7 years of drinking beer and sitting my ass in front of a computer all day will do.

      --
      This message brought to you by the Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People.
    14. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by LetterJ · · Score: 1

      Exactly. I am 6'4" and a slowly declining 255. I just bought a body fat analyzer to track that more closely and my LEAN mass is 185 pounds. 10% body fat would put me at 205.

      My diet ideas are online at: http://www.phpgeek.com/articles.php?content_id=11

    15. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 2

      I got food poisoning working in Mexico and became really dehydrated. Dehydration is not a fun experience. I had to drink pedialyte (to restore lost electrolytes) for a day and then gatorade for a few more.

      I lost several pounds of water in 12 hours. But of course, I gained it all back within 4 days. I wouldn't recommend the "get food poisoning and become unable to hold food and water" diet to anyone. You'll go off of it and gain all that water weight back :)

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    16. Re:I've lost fifteen pounds with Protein Power by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Now you know why they call it "Montezuma's Revenge" :)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  11. Clining to the Sinking Ship by DarthVeda · · Score: 1

    I don't know how long that nutritionalists are going to cling to 80's dogma about fat making you fat, but apparently they are intent on taking one in five Americans with them.

  12. Diets suck by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 5, Informative

    I like to call the Atkins diet the "make yourself sick diet" (someone elses quote, can't remember who - some registered dietitian) - If I remember correct, you survive off of ketones instead of glucose, which makes you somewhat ill and accordingly, you lose your appetite, eat less, and lose weight.

    The best diet is one that you can stick to. I have lost ten pounds over 8 weeks without ever feeling hungry or giving up junk food. I did it by following the food guide, walking/cycling, and lifting weights.
    Keep in mind, this is a net of ten pounds lost - I have gained muscle mass.

    To anyone that wishes to lose weight or just eat healthy, check out the book "The American Dietetic Association's Complete Food and Nutrition Guide" - it dispels a lot of common myths (ie/ you must increase protein consumption to build muscle but not carbohydrate consumption) and is very informative.

    If you just want the basics, check out Food Guide Canada or The USDA Food Pyramid for more info.

    There are alternatives to these as well. I don't have any links handy, but there are pyramids for a Meditaranian (sp?) and vegetarian diets as well. A lot of vegetarians are actually in terrible health because they don't eat enough protein or are missing vitamins - if you wish to give up animal products, do make sure you read up on a healthy vegetarian diet!

    A really good website is also at Ask a Dietitian - lots of good questions answered there. (Check out the icon if you bookmark it - a little penguin :)

    Lastly, if you are interested in weightlifting, do it right! Use an abbreviated routine (no more than three lifting days per week) and stay away from the muscle comics and expensive supplements. I personally will eat an energy bar if I'm on the go, but wasting money on Myoplex is pointless when a chicken sandwich will work just as well.
    Check out the misc.fitness.weights faq or the iron page at stumptuous.com for some good tips.

    --
    Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    1. Re:Diets suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, ketones are a by product of breaking down fat.

    2. Re:Diets suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Atkin's has nothing to do with less of an appettite. I have several close friends on the Atkins diet, one of which eat huge ammounts of bacon and close to 6 eggs per breajfast. And yet he is LOSING WEIGHT.

      Why don't you do a little better research instead of whoring for karma with false facts and weak opinions.

    3. Re:Diets suck by pao93 · · Score: 1

      You're absolutely right. There's one sure fire method of losing weight (and getting in shape): burn more calories than you intake. It's such a simple formula, but you know what, it works. And it doesn't mean you have to stop eating good and healthy foods (and junk food too sometimes, though you find the more you exercise the less you desire it). Just make sure you burn more kCal on the treadmill, lifting weights, rowing, whatever if you enjoy eating. as i do! c

    4. Re:Diets suck by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 1

      The best diet is one that you can stick to. I have lost ten pounds over 8 weeks without ever feeling hungry or giving up junk food. I did it by following the food guide, walking/cycling, and lifting weights. Keep in mind, this is a net of ten pounds lost - I have gained muscle mass.
      I agree. While I must admit I am lucky to have better than average metabolism, I've never understood why people go for all these fancy diets rather than trying to eat decently healthy and do a good workout (about an hour) each day. If I get lazy and lax for a while, I'll put on a few pounds, But I'll be damned that if I start working out and eating right I'm not in decent or better shape within a month. Too many people look for the quick fix.

    5. Re:Diets suck by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Atkin's has nothing to do with less of an appettite. I have several close friends on the Atkins diet, one of which eat huge ammounts of bacon and close to 6 eggs per breajfast. And yet he is LOSING WEIGHT.

      Why don't you do a little better research instead of whoring for karma with false facts and weak opinions.


      Who is Karma whoring? If I was a karma whore, I would probably not flame so many people...

      Anyhow, your friend is probably losing just as much lean tissue and water as fat. See my message above.

      What you are professing is called anecdotal evidence (look it up). Maybe your friend is losing only fat. Maybe your friend is a freak of nature. Not likely though - likely your friend is losing mostly water.

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    6. Re:Diets suck by rc27 · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the fact that it is damn near impossible to do a real weightlifting regimine while intaking little to no carbs.

    7. Re:Diets suck by jjo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The real key to all of this is that people are different. Something that works for you may not work for me. (In fact, you realize this when you comment on your own metabolism.)

      Myself, I exercise over an hour a day, and eat a healthy diet, but I'm still fat (less fat than I would be otherwise, but still fat). Yet some writers treat fat people as if they were filthy scum with zero willpower and no motivation to better themselves.

      It's REALLY annoying when someone assumes that if something's trivially easy for them, it should be trivially easy for anyone else.

    8. Re:Diets suck by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You are absolutely right - losing weight is not trivial for some people. I would never make fun of an overweight person (and not just because I recently lost my overweight status myself).

      If people hate looking at/dealing with obese people, why make fun of them and send them right back to eating ho-ho's and twinkies?

      What really pisses me off is that people think that if you aren't less than 20% bodyfat, you are lazy, lack willpower, and are unhealthy.

      There is no reason for everyone to be able to see their abs and be model-thin. It took me three years to remove the brainwashing from my formerly "fat" girlfriend and everytime I see a model with her ribs sticking out it just disgusts me - check out Stumptuous for perspectives of a very intelligent view on these issues (and some damn fine tips on weightlifting too).

      Also, there is no silver bullet for weight loss, but there are some general guidelines. If you honestly follow those guidelines and are still unable to get down to a healthy bodyfat, I would consider talking to a bariatric physician, even if you aren't necessarily obese. You could be insulin resistant, for example - this can cause weight loss plateau's and may actually constitute a temporary need for a low carb diet - I AM NOT A DOCTOR THOUGH :)

      Also, make sure that you are not just packed with lean tissue and a nice layer of fat (think of powerlifters) - you could be in much better health than you think as a lot of healthy muscle will make you healthy and hungry (hence an inability to stick to lower cal diets) - yet another reason to see a registered dietitian or bariatric physician.

      In fact, you may be better off bulking up than trying to lose weight - eat the same as you do now, cut the cardio a bit, and hit the iron three times per week :) Once you bulk up, you may find it easier to lose the fat as more muscle = higher basal metabolic rate

      Sorry for all the advice, I'm a know-it-all :)

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    9. Re:Diets suck by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Whoa whoa whoa - I did not say vegetarianism is unhealthy, just that a significant number of people practice it improperly!

      I am actually referring to a study I read (which, unfortunately, I cannot find right now, but I swear this isn't FUD). The study stated that something like 3/4 of the vegetarians/vegans they studied were dangerously low on a number of important nutrients (including, but not exclusively, protein). It was especially bad for teenagers, who were poorly educated in what a vegan/vegetarian teen should eat - a lot of them actually avoided nuts because they didn't want to consume fatty foods at all and they lacked protein because of it.

      B12 is only found in meat products IIRC, but that is only a small part of the problem. Many vegetarians do not know that they have to eat a lot of soy, nuts, and legumes to get enough protein, and they don't eat enough variety to get all of their needed nutrients and vitamins.

      Please, read my post again - all I said was that a lot of vegetarians are in terrible health. I did not imply that vegetarianism/veganism is unhealthy by itself (ie, I said do make sure you read up on a healthy vegetarian diet) or that an animal based diet is healthier (it isn't - it's just easier for most of us).

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    10. Re:Diets suck by shatteredpottery · · Score: 1
      Well, you're both right - sort of. Adequate quality protein is simply not an issue for veggies, except perhaps with some of the really radical vegans who only eat non-root vegetable and nothing else. Most N. Americans eat too much protein - there is a well studied and strong linkage between excess protein and osteoporosis. Excess protein intake leaches calcium from bones. This is well-studied and well-documented (3 non-web references at the end here).

      Plant protein is plenty good enough, provided one has a decently varied diet. It is not necessary to consume high quality (i.e. all essential amino acids) protein at one sitting. Spreading it out over a week or so is more than adequate, especially given the abundance of food in N. America.

      On the other hand, many vegetarians have inadequate intake of vitamin B-12 and may suffer from out of balance homocystine levels. Thus some are at greater risk for heart attack than one might think. Most soy products, and many breakfast cereals now have added B-12; any type of dairy product also has high levels of B-12 (higher than meat products, in fact) and is a complete protein as well.

      Re protein osteoporosis:

      1. Zemel MB. Calcium utilization: effect of varying level and source of dietary
        protein. Am J Clin Nutr, 1988;48:880-3.
      2. Hegsted DM. Calcium and osteoporosis. J Nutr, 1986;116:2316-2319.
      3. Robertson PJ, et al. The effect of high animal protein intake on the risk of
        calcium stone-formation in the urinary tract. Clinical Science,
        1979;57:285-288.

      Note that those are fairly old references, but newer studies have simply shown the same thing even more conclusively.

      As an aside, there is some evidence that athletes (i.e. Olympic-level, not weekend warrior types) may improve their strength slightly faster when they include some meat, preferably fish, in their diet.

      --

      A witty saying is worth nothing - Voltaire

    11. Re:Diets suck by Bishop · · Score: 2

      I'm pleased to know better - it's a myth.

      I haven't read much on this issue.[vitamin B defficiency]

      You claim that the issue of poor vegetarian diets is a myth. Then you admit that you have read much on the issue of vitamin B defficiency. I think you have some reading to do.

      Vegetarian diets are more complicated then omnivorous diets. There are some key nutritional requires that are easy satisfied by eating some meat. Lack of Vitamin B is just one problem. One of the symtoms of vitamin B defficiency is pale, pasty white skin. A feature that is all too common with vegetarians. It takes about 6 months to deplete your vitamin B reserves, and about the same ammount of time to rebuild them. I had a crash course in vegetarian diets and the risks when a friend of mine became quite sick. They have since changed their diet, are still vegetarian, and are now quite healthy.

    12. Re:Diets suck by Loligo · · Score: 1

      >burn more calories than you intake

      Or, as one guy I know simplified it:

      EAT LESS. MOVE MORE.

      Guaranteed to work for anyone.

      If you eat less, and move more, you WILL lose weight.

      Granted, this doesn't mean "have 11 twinkies instead of 12" and "walk an extra lap around the couch", but the formula is sound if you aren't trying to be ridiculous.

      -l

    13. Re:Diets suck by broody · · Score: 2, Informative

      You have some good info there.

      Weight loss is fairly simple. Burn more calories than you consume. Protien and Carbs are your friend, they are easier to burn than fat. By maximizing both of them and minimizing fat, your on the fast track to losing weight. Couple this with a huge glass of water when you get hungry and waiting half an hour before eating and you'll lose some serious weight fast.

      Don't buy into too much of the vegitarian diet bad bullshit. Sure if your a junk food vegitarian your going to have problems but that is a product of any junk food. Meat or not. Eat balanced, give soy and lentils a chance, and don't let the bastards get you down. Viva Veg!

      I've tried a few different lifting programs with varying results. The second best came from good old Arnold's yellow book mixed with the stock Gold's gym program. The best came from using a life fitness machine five drop sets on each exorcise and three days of rest. I find it amzaing less than three hours a week with this method beats six the other way in terms of gains. I'm too early in the later process to see if it maintains the gains that required moving to a five day with the former.

      Here's my diet if I want to drop weight fast. Breakfast, one cup of oats and two huge glasses of water. Lunch egg whites on wheat with all the veggies I can cram on it. Remember bunches of water before meals. Snack on fruit towards the end of the office day. Dinner is either bean/lentil soup or massive plate of rice depedning on if I am craving carbs or protien.

      This site, while I admit it looks terrible, has some good advice.

      --
      ~~ What's stopping you?
    14. Re:Diets suck by HeghmoH · · Score: 1

      I would never make fun of an overweight person ...
      everytime I see a model with her ribs sticking out it just disgusts me

      So, it's bad to make fun of overweight people, but ok to be disgusted by underweight people? Most models probably aren't like this, but do you realize that there are some people who find it nearly impossible to gain weight, just as some people find it nearly impossible to lose? Super-thinness and showing ribs isn't necessarily a personal choice any more than flab is.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    15. Re:Diets suck by BlackHawk · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I like to call the Atkins diet the "make yourself sick diet" (someone elses quote, can't remember who - some registered dietitian) - If I remember correct, you survive off of ketones instead of glucose, which makes you somewhat ill and accordingly, you lose your appetite, eat less, and lose weight.

      Sorry. It's not true. I've been on the Atkins for almost 2 months, my wife's been on it for three. We have not had the 40+ pound weight loss, but we didn't want that to happen so quickly anyway. I've lost slightly over 20 pounds. I have kept my carb consumption to under 20 grams per day, as the diet specifies, and here's a big one: there actually are no forbidden foods! If I want to chow on a candy bar, I can... but that will use up all of my carb allotment for the day. I just decide where I want to spend my carbs, and eat that.

      Two weeks ago, Jen had her bloodwork done, just like she'd planned to do when she started. The results? ALL indicators improved. Her BP was normal, iron up in the healthy range (it was low before the diet), triglycerides, LDL, HDL... everything was improved. We both have more energy, we're lighter, and we've both gained muscle mass. Your body has to do something with all that protein, after all.

      Oh, and the nausea? It doesn't happen. Ever. Not even a smidgen. I have no idea where the common belief that it causes nausea came from, but it wasn't from anyone I know on the diet.

      I strongly recommend that you read Atkin's book, or visit his web site (http://www.atkinscenter.com/) and read the data. There's a perfectly good explanation of why the program works, but it's too lengthy for me to spew on about here.

      As for the long term effects fears, and the article's pointed reference to the fact that there's been no long-term study of the safety and efficacy, try this: find the long-term safety and efficacy studies for rBGH, Viagra, and most importantly, the DPT vaccine. Good luck, and think on the implications of those.

      --

      Believe nothing, not even if I say it, if it violates your sense of reason -- Buddha

    16. Re:Diets suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find it amzaing less than three hours a week with this method beats six the other way in terms of gains.

      This is true for most weight lifting. For most people, less is usually more. Most people train too much or too frequently.

    17. Re:Diets suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lunch egg whites on wheat

      Egg whites? I can't imagine how anyone, let alone a vegetarian can eat eggs. If you're up for consuming the unfertilized menstrual waste of a hen, how bout having a rooster jack off on a cracker?

      Seriously. You're almost there. Drop the animal waste from your diet.

    18. Re:Diets suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyhow, your friend is probably losing just as much lean tissue and water as fat

      If you consume adequet ammounts of protein, loss of LBM is not much of a problem on a low carb diet, for less so than a "typical" low-calorie diet.

      likely your friend is losing mostly water

      So what, his fat is just dehydrated now? He only lost water and now has fat powder left is his body? I find it amazing that people lose large amounts of weight on low-carb diets, yet people still claim it's mostly water weight. Do people really have > 50 lbs of excess water?

    19. Re:Diets suck by elflord · · Score: 2
      Many vegetarians do not know that they have to eat a lot of soy, nuts, and legumes to get enough protein,

      This is not true. Protein-deficiency is an enormous non-issue. Unless you're on a vegan diet, dairy products can still supply protein, but in any case, it's difficult to run short enough of protein for it to cause health problems. Or rather, it's relatively difficult. For vegetarians who are training (endurance or weights), protein is more of an issue, but most people who train seriously also take nutrition seriously.

      The biggest two health issues in vegetarian diets are iron and B12. You will become anemic from iron or B12 deficiency long before protein becomes an issue.

    20. Re:Diets suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyhow, your friend is probably losing just as much lean tissue and water as fat

      Note I'm not the original poster, and not an Atkins dieter. But nearly every study I've seen has shown an INCREASE in lean body tissue for those following the Atkins diet.

      And the idea that someone can lose 40, 50, or even 100 pounds (results that aren't that unusual for Atkins dieters) of "mostly water" weight is nonsense. Granted, the first 5-10 pounds or so is likely glycogen fixed with water in the liver, etc., but that's only a tiny fraction of the weight most Atkins dieters lose.

    21. Re:Diets suck by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 1

      I never assumed it's trivially easy for other people to get into a stereotypical "good" body. Hell, I know I am of better metabolism than most and I must still work my ass off and do tons of situps to get rid of my gut. What I do assume (and I don't think that this is a big assumption) is that if people eat healthy and do some sort of regular exercise they will get into better shape. Due to genetics, some people may not achieve this ideal society has set forth, but I'm sure as hell they will be better off than without such a diet/exercise plan. What I really have no sympathy for is the people who try 20 different diets, pills, etc. and complain because they can't keep weight off.

    22. Re:Diets suck by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 2

      You caught me :)

      What disgusts me is that our society places a premium on an artificial and unhealthy ideal of over thin-ness - read some of the stuff here to see some interesting stuff related to this topic (and about women bodybuilding and our perceptions there as well).

      Being to thin is just as unhealthy as being too fat. The book I keep pimping, "The ADA Complete Food & Nutrition Guide" has some great tips for weight gain too. That's what separates it from every other "diet" book out there - it's concerned with health through eating, not just weight loss.

      Anyhow, the reason it disgusts me is that models are hardly average and hardly an ideal to try to emulate. Everytime I hear my 5'7" 135 lb, 24% bodyfat girlfriend say she's fat after seeing someone like that, it just gets me riled up

      No offense was or is meant to those that struggle with weight gain or those who are naturally thin (people with a small frame, ie 2" elbow breadth, simply can't carry a lot of weight)

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    23. Re:Diets suck by Kintanon · · Score: 2

      OK, great, so you have a good plan for losing weight, well I weigh 125lbs, soaking wet, with rocks in my pockets. My current workout involves benching 160 as many times as I can, then 130 as many times as I can, then 100 as many times as I can. Then doing lat pulls with 120, fingertip latpulls with 90, and fingertip chindowns with 90. (Those last two are for rock climbing practice) I'm trying to GAIN weight and nothing works. I eat tons, I supplement my normal 2000ish calorie diet with slimfast drinks for breakfast and those slimfast bars as a snack during the day. The heaviest I have ever been was 129lbs, and that was when I first started drinking the slimfasts (The first two weeks I gained 6lbs, then I dropped the next week, and the next, until I as back down around 124/125). So WTF can I do to GAIN weight? I've always been good at figuring out how to lose weight, and helping other people loe weight, but everything I've read about gaining weight says to start chugging Protein shakes, and I already consume about 50 grams of protein a day, which is more than enough for someone my size.

      How about it folks? How can I gain some weight?
      That doesn't involve being totally sedentary and pigging out on icecream....

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    24. Re:Diets suck by Kintanon · · Score: 2

      Teenagers who become vegan/vegetarian without knowing enough about it WILL become unhealthy from lack of protein. When you're a teen your body is growing the same way it grows when you are excersising heavily and it needs more protein than normal for muscle growth. I've known many vegetarian and vegan teens who eat nothing but lettuce, broccoli, and carrots, and drink nothing but water. That is NOT a healthy diet. No vitamin supplements, no nuts or legumes, nothing at all. These people were barely getting enough calories to survive, and they thought that being a vegetarian was GREAT because they lost 20lbs doing it. But they weren't healthy.
      The original poster is right, especially with teens a lot of people have no idea what a healthy vegetarian diet is and can make themselves sick because of it.

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    25. Re:Diets suck by elflord · · Score: 2
      When you're a teen your body is growing the same way it grows when you are excersising heavily and it needs more protein than normal for muscle growth.

      Teens also have substantial calcium and iron requirements. They'll end up anemic long before protein becomes an issue.

      I've known many vegetarian and vegan teens who eat nothing but lettuce, broccoli, and carrots, and drink nothing but water.

      That's a vegan diet, as opposed to a non-vegan vegetarian diet. A vegan diet is quite hard to manage (calcium, B12, and iron are big issues), while a non-vegan vegetarian can still fall back on yoghurt and milk.

    26. Re:Diets suck by RobbieW · · Score: 1

      You know the answer...

      Steroids

      Just be real careful and don't hurt yourself, but they work amazingly well for someone with your genetics.

    27. Re:Diets suck by Raptor+CK · · Score: 2

      Welcome to the club, buddy...

      First off, I assume you're alternating workouts. Upper body one day, lower body the next, and so on.

      Next, SLEEP! Your muscles repair themselves when you sleep, and getting more than 8 hours is actually normal when you're bulking up.

      Now, as for that workout, you're pushing yourself the wrong way. You'll be strong from it, but you're not going to really pack on much mass. Is that a bad thing? Not really.

      More weight, less reps, is the general rule. Don't drop 30 pounds off the bar when you're tired. If you can lift more than 160, then do maybe 3 sets of 8 to 10 at the higher weight.

      You're also going to need carbs. Lots of them. While your body can convert damned near anything into energy, carbs are the easiest to use. Add some protein so that your muscles can recover, and you'll be fine. You need more than the recommended value to bulk up properly, otherwise where is the muscle mass going to come from?

      The workout you're doing probably keeps you in better shape than most people, so I don't really see why you're worried about it. Less weight for more reps is a tradeoff for fitness that won't ever get you the results you're looking for, but then again, how important is that?

      Trust me on the protein intake, though. A friend of mine was in the same boat as you, and then he enlisted. He's climbing up in weight now, and all he's dealt with is the general abuse of Basic and military food. A balanced diet, sure, but it's balanced for people who are working *hard* all day.

      --
      Raptor
      "Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
    28. Re:Diets suck by Kintanon · · Score: 2

      I only want to put on 10lbs, I want to weigh 135lbs, all of it muscle. But the extra 10lbs of muscle is what I feel I need to break the 200lb mark on my benchpress. My lower body workout is all plyometrics, and trunk strength training (Situps, crunches, pilates style stuff as well) no lifting.
      I don't want to super bulkup, just pack on 10lbs or so. My current diet involves, breakfast, Slimfast Drink (220 calories, 15gr Protein, about 35g of Carbs), Snack at work, usually a granola bar (180 calories, 29g Carb, 4g protein), lunch a Cheese sandwhich (No clue how many calories this is, I would guess around 240) and 2 servings of Pasta (Another 200 or so calories, all carbs), afternoon snack (usually some potato chips or a snickers bar, around 300 calories worth), Dinner of Pasta, about 8 servings (with sauce and textured vegetable protein, approx 1500 calories. Almost all carbs, about 300 calories from protein), evening snack either a slimfast bar (8g protein, 220 calories, the rest carbs) or another cheese sandwhich. My primary drink is water, supplemented by the occasional Mt. Dew and Kool-Aid. So I'm eatting about 3000 calories a day.
      I get on average 8 hours of sleep per night, sometimes more, sometimes less. I wish I could get more, but I can't. I might make an effort to add another hour to my sleep schedule, but that usually means I just wake up an hour earlier.
      I guess I could try to cram on some more protein... I can only bench 160x 8 reps right now, I won't move up to 170 until I can do it 10 reps. Right now I end up at 160x8. 130x15, 100x20.

      So what do you think? Is my only recourse to trade out my beloved pasta for steak or something?

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    29. Re:Diets suck by Raptor+CK · · Score: 2

      From the looks of it, you're a lacto-ovo vegetarian, or you've just been avoiding meat. I eat a lot of red meat, so I'm not sure how helpful I can be.

      Go for a bit more veg. protein if you can do it without making yourself sick of the taste (too much of any food eventually bores me, at any rate) or if you're okay with eating meat, then there's always *adding* steak to your beloved pasta. Veal works well with pasta, again, if you're not morally opposed to it, as do shrimp, or chicken. My top ways of adding protein to my diet (including the tricks I picked up from 4 months of unemployment) include about 4oz. of ground meat, browned and added to maybe 10oz. of sauce. Beef protein is actually quite useful for bulking up, or at least it's always felt that way to me.

      Shrimp works great (the spicier the sauce the better) and chicken is good in cacciatore (sp?) so it should be fine for you.

      Honestly, I stopped calorie counting ages ago, since I have the same metabolism issues. I spent a long time at about 130, and have slowly made it up to 170 of mostly muscle mass. Sure, I've gotten a tiny bit of extra fat from my carelessness, but it's maybe 5lbs., and it goes away only to come back due to my own irresponsibility. However, I know that I'm probably at about 3500 calories a day, consisting of a small breakfast (I tend to be rushed in the mornings,) a large sized lunch, and a tendency for family-sized portions at dinner. Add on random snacks, and I'm fully aware why I'm always fidgeting and running a high temperature. I'm one of those people who will chug down a snack and immediately start to overheat. I think the main trick that got me to bulk up (mostly lower body, though, which is an annoyance) was that I just had no choice but to use the energy I was getting! I walked more, I started rollerblading to work, etc.

      Also, this is tremendously important, you need to get your vitamins and minerals. Switch off of the Kool-Aid and drink some fruit juice. If you need caffeinated drinks, go for it, but I really don't see the point in the colored sugar water. Milk is also a good idea, of course, but then again, milk is *always* a good idea, as long as you're not lactose intolerant.

      --
      Raptor
      "Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
    30. Re:Diets suck by broody · · Score: 1
      Okay here is my take on the other way around. At one point I lived in Sri Lanka and eventually I picked up a parasite. It dropped me to 90 pounds and I am 5' 11". In a little over six months, I had built myself up to the low 200s, in a muscular way not chubby. I did it with a 5500 calorie diet and a doctor checking up on me so YMMV. Over the years I have ranged from 90-230 lbs, with 150-225 lbs probably being healthy for my frame.

      Find out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) for your target weight, add the number of calories you burn through exorcise, and add another 300-500 calories to find your target intake. You may have to go higher or lower which you'll grok as you get know your body's reactions to diet.

      As insane as it sounds 2000ish calories is probably not enough. I wouldn't go much over 5000 without checking with a doctor but you need more. Think dense foods rich in protien and carbs. The healthier nuts (particularly curried/salted soy nuts) are good, homemade protien bars, gluten heavy, whole grain breads, etc. Veggie alernatives, which often have the virtue of being low in fat, include TVP, Setian, Veggie "meat" subsitutes, and soy. Find a cookbook suiting your taste and if you have to make pie or dip out of tofu. For a meat eater, add tuna and chicken.

      Try this shake reciepe. Make sure you follow it with a lot of water. The massive protien influx will be hard on the system.
      • 4 Cups of Soy Milk (Pick yer flavor)
      • 1/4 Cup of Whey Protien
      • 1/4 Cup of Egg Beaters (raw, yeah I know dangerous)
      • 2/3 Cup of soy ice cream of matching or complimentary flavor to soy milk
      • Flavoring if you must

      If you fear raw eggs, omit them.

      Some aspects of healthy eating stay the same. Water is very important but instead of drinking before meals do so afterwards, it will keep it from curbing your appeitite.

      Some tips for gaining. High density foods are the friend of the gainer, just watch out for your overall fat intake. You can afford a greater fat intake than someone most, I'd say keep the percentages the same as USDA for fat in your case, just adjust for the higher intake. Make sure your diet is balanced, add in a generic equivilent to Centrum silver if your not taking it. Be certain you get plenty of sleep. Do not over train. It sounds like that is exactly what you are doing now. Ditch the isolation exorcises and focus on these. Don't lift more than three times a week.
      --
      ~~ What's stopping you?
    31. Re:Diets suck by Kintanon · · Score: 2

      Beef has always been too heavy for me. My primary meat source is Turkey. I love turkey subs and sandwhiches. I'm ovo-lacto for the most part because I just don't like beef. I'm not hardcore ovo-lacto though, probably once a week I have a turkey breast sub for lunch instead of pasta. And once a month I probably have fish for dinner.
      The texturned veggie protein is GREAT if you mix it into your pasta sauce, it gives it the same kind of texture as having ground beef, and it doesn't alter the taste any. I hate drinking anything heavier than 1% milk. And I really don't like milk that much at all. I'm seriously considering starting to bike to work, if I weren't terrified by the way students drive here and the complete lack of bikelanes/sidewalks between my side of town and the side work is on. I probably do need to push my calorie intake up another 500 or so calories... I overheat after I eat very much as well, I never realized those things were related. I always was just thinking, "Eat hot food, start sweating."
      I grew up drinking kool-aid, so it's kind of a habit. One thing my wife used to do for me was take a packet of kool-aid, some orange juice, a couple of bananas, some ice, and maybe some other fruit and blend them together with I think some honey and a little sugar.... That made me a really yummy smoothie, I might ask her to start doing that again, then I can drink those instead of kool-aid.... My wife is trying to lose weight, she's on the Pritikin diet, she's doing well so far.

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    32. Re:Diets suck by Fjord · · Score: 1

      Wait 5-10 years.

      I'm not kidding. I used to weigh 105ish, and had a more extensive workout program than yours (arms, legs, chest, shoulders, and back with at least different 3 excercises for each group plus cardio) and didn't gain (no weight, no muscle, nothing). Even when I stopped because of life changes, I didn't gain or lose or anything. About 5 years later (when I was 21) I started gaining weight pretty uncontrollably to 150. I cut back on what I ate and dropped back to 130. Now I'm doing the work out again (for about 7 months) and I'm at 140 and there is a noticable difference in my physique.

      --
      -no broken link
    33. Re:Diets suck by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 2

      Well. We aren't going to see anything about rBGH... they already covered up the *short* term effects. I don't see why they'd let the long term effects get researched.

      Of course, there aren't necessarily any adverse health effects to drinking milk that's high in puss. So maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  13. Greeks better perfect that record ripping code... by Error-404NotFound · · Score: 0

    cuz they arn't doing much else with their computers anymore (like my witty into that combines two stories :) )

    I seriously LOVE the idea of converting a record image into a real song, i'll have to try it out... too bad he doesn't have binarys included...

    As for the Greece gaming ban, they will pretty much have to ban the whole internet because any ol' Joe Greek can go to www.shockwave.com or a similar site and game away...

    --
    -=Errors always defy logic.=-
  14. Two grooves on one side! by Fluid+Truth · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The album "The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief" is supposed to be the first three-sided record. One of the sides has two grooves. I wonder what that would do to the optical scanner....

    --
    Apparently, of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
  15. Let's look at the look at Atkins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Title: "High-Fat Diet: Count Calories and Think Twice"

    Count calories? Everyone realizes that if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. However, on an Atkins diets, one of the common effects is a loss of appetite, which results in fewer calories in. Ever eat a high fat meal and feel really full? Yup, that's the fat at work. Ever suck a whole bag of chips or a box of cookies down? That's those speedy carbs at work.

    "But in a major report last week, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies emphasized the importance of balance of nutrients, with carbohydrates -- starches and sugars -- making up 45 percent to and 65 percent of daily calories"

    And this is different from the current party line how exactly? It's not. It's the same thing they've been preaching for 30 years as American obesity has gone through the roof.

    One question I'd like to see answered is how long anyone can stay on such a scheme and what happens when you start adding back some of the wholesome foods limited or forbidden on this diet, like sweet corn, grapes, watermelons, potatoes, carrots, beets or oatmeal.

    You don't go adding those things back. It's not just a "weight loss" diet, it's a "way of life" diet. It's like saying "How long until a vegetarian starts adding on the bacon, hot dogs, hamburgers", etc. When they do that, they're no longer in that group, and the benefits they see start dropping off.

    Why hasn't the government tested it? One possible reason is that it is unlikely to be approved by any review committee, given what is known about the effects of animal fats and cholesterol on the risk of heart disease, strokes and some cancers, as well as accumulating evidence that diets rich in fruits and vegetables and moderate in protein and fat can prevent diseases like high blood pressure, prostate cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

    Excuse me? It's think a chicken and egg problem? We can't test the effects of that because we think the effects are bad? If they won't test it, how do we really know what the affects are? The Atkins side says its the high carbs, not the fats, in the diet that are causing the health problems. The western diet has been shown to have a severe negative affect on many non-westerns. Look at Native Americans. Their rates of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes are huge thanks to this "healthy" high-carb diet.

    The Atkins diet is shy on several vital nutrients, including the B vitamins and vitamins A, C and D, antioxidants that slow the effects of aging, and calcium. And, a diet rich in animal protein can draw calcium from the bones, increasing the risk of osteoporosis and hip fractures.

    Sigh. Atkins himself tells people to take multivitamins and calcium supplements. There are certain types of foods we simply don't eat often in modern society (organ meats anyone?) so that we miss out on some crucial vitamins.

    First, Americans are simply eating more -- an average of 400 calories a day more than they did decades ago.

    And why is that? Could it be the fact that with less fat to make them feel full, and they eat more carbs, which leads to them eating even more carbs?

    What it all comes down to is the fact we need to test these things rather than repeating the same thing for the past 30 years that IS NOT working. Yes, change hurts, but sometimes it is necessary.

    1. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by spoco2 · · Score: 1

      Urgh... more damn 'get thin quick' diets... And more people saying that the increase in obesity is due to people cutting out fat too much...

      Crud.

      There are more fat people about because the vast majority of people do NOT eat healthily, relying far too much on junk food which have high levels of fat and sugar (Which becomes fat if you don't use it) and low levels of anything actually useful for the body.

      They don't execise enough... Most people's lifestyles are becoming more and more sedatory... we work at computers or desks, we get our entertainment from sitting in front of a TV... it used to be that work was primarily composed of manual labour jobs, and recreation was from DOING things rather than watching them on TV.

      No food is bad, just the amounts that people choose to eat of one sort of food is.

      The amount of f&*king Coke and Mountain Dew etc that some people drink is absolutely ridiculous! How can people not expect to put on weight when they guzzle litres of the stuff every day... mmmm, sugar... mmmm, not using it while I sit at this computer, mmmmm... I'm putting on weight! That's not fair.

      Oh bah and humbug... eat a more balanced diet, try actually cooking some healthy food yourself, and excercise a bit... even if it's just some walking each day... hell, I choose to walk to the train station, and from that to work everyday just to keep a bit of excersise in my daily routine, and it works... I feel fitter and more alert for it...

      The same people who look for the 'get thin quick' diets are the same people who go for the 'get rich quick' schemes.

    2. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by rbeattie · · Score: 3

      Nice job.

      I just wanted to add that I've lost 8 kilos (17.6lbs) on this diet in the past 5 weeks. It's the only thing I've ever tried that I've lasted more than 3 days doing... Now I'm eating less (less cravings), I've got more energy, sleep better, I'm exercising again and more. Basically, I've reversed the vicious cycle that was causing me to become a big bloated mess.

      The naysayers are just that. For us geeks that spend 15 hours a day sitting at a desk, this diet is the really the only solution to that poundage you're adding to your gut.

      -Russ

      --
      Me
    3. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by second+class+skygod · · Score: 1

      > Everyone realizes that if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight

      No. Actually this is not a universally accepted truth. One of the main premises behind the Atkins approach is that the calorie theory is wrong (80 years of dogmatic assertions notwithstanding). The caloric content of food is determined by burning it in a pure oxygen environment and measuring the heat output. The human body is nowhere near that simple. As a trivial example, imagine that you ate 5000 calories a day of wood chips. By the calorie theory, most people would be expected to gain a lot of weight on such a diet. Not all foods are treated equally by the body. Carbohydrates, in particular, have a catalytic effect (namely by causing insulin production). So eating an ounce of carbs my cause you to store (or fail to burn) two ounces of fat.

      Scientific theorems are often taken as absolute laws. This is doubly true in the lay public. When new discoveries are made, there is great resistance until, possibly, the new discovery is accepted as the new "law". Even then, many will cling to the old paradigm. Perhaps the Atkins "Revolution" is an example of this. Time will tell.

      BTW, I've lost 40 lb in 5 months on the diet with very little exercise. Probably, most of those who say "just eat less" have never had a serious weight/overeating problem. Believe it or not, it can be very difficult or impossible to do so. Atkins explains the reasons for this in his writings.

    4. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by JoeBuck · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You write: " And why is that? Could it be the fact that with less fat to make them feel full, and they eat more carbs, which leads to them eating even more carbs?"

      Guess what? Americans aren't eating less fat, they are eating more fat, more carbs, more everything. Supersize it!

    5. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Credentials first: I am a professional dog breeder/trainer with 33 years and about 2000 dogs worth of experience.

      If you feed a dog a high-carb, low-protein, low-fat diet (such as the atrocious lamb-and-rice or turkey-and-barley diets some companies hawk), it will act hungry ALL the time even if it's obese. It will suck down every bit of food it can get and still rob the trash. (Also, if it has any tendency to fight or act hyper, it'll be much worse about that.)

      If you feed the same dog a high-protein, high-fat diet (especially if the protein is from meat, not chicken, and especially if the fat is from animal sources, not chicken) it will to some degree lose interest in food and will tend to eat only when it's really hungry (even if it has access to food all the time). AND it will stop robbing the trash, and will be generally more relaxed-acting.

      Humans and dogs aren't all that different.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    6. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by gosand · · Score: 2
      What it all comes down to is the fact we need to test these things rather than repeating the same thing for the past 30 years that IS NOT working. Yes, change hurts, but sometimes it is necessary.

      Sorry, but this is BS. You can't say that the advice given by health professionals for the last 30 years isn't working, if NOBODY LISTENS TO THEM. I am not talking about the "breaking" studies you hear about on the stupid nightly news that says "eggs are bad" one week, and "eggs are good" the next. I am talking about a balanced diet.

      You know what the problem is? Americans are lazy. American companies know this, and cater to it. (I am a born and raised American, BTW). Why do you think we have every conceivable convenience food in the store? Even things like chicken comes pre-cooked and cut up (complete with simulated grill marks on it). Everything is pre-packaged so you can just "heat and eat". It used to be just that way for kids, but now they are gearing it towards the family. It is pathetic.

      I recently talked to a coworker who had been trying to lose weight. He was on an Atkins-like diet as prescribed by his doctor. He went off of it after a few weeks, and resumed smoking. Then he told me he had come up with his own diet - a gallon of water, and one meal a day. (atrocious idea of a diet) As he was telling me about this, at around 10:00 AM, he was buying a bag of chips out of the vending machine. I had nothing to say.

      Now if people have been following the widely accepted recommended diet for the last 30 years, and it hasn't been working, then I would agree it is time to reevaluate it. But the FACT is, people don't follow the recommended diet. How many servings of fruits and vegetables did you have yesterday? Do you know how many are recommended? When I hear strong arguments for something, I always go back to the root of the argument and check the underlying assumption. Yours is that everyone has been eating a balanced diet for the last 30 years, and are still becoming obese. I think that argument is flawed.

      I am 5'11", 175 and I work out at least 2 times a week. When there is a birthday at work, people will say "Come on, have a piece of cake, you're skinny". So I may have a small piece, as they sit there and eat one 3x the size of mine, joking "this is low fat, right? ha ha ha". People are lazy and in denial. I seriously wonder what the hell has happened to common sense.

      Have you ever seen people from other countries? They lead different lifestyles. They don't have obesity problems like we do in the US. And I have observed that people who move here and stick to their way of life and diet don't fall into our obesity trap. Others do. And now the Western influence is creeping (or charging, rather) into other countries, and they are starting to see some weight problems emerge in their countries. What irks me is that we have no excuse. We have every advantage in the US, and we still can't seem to get it right. We are run by corporations who greedily feed on our laziness and apathy. But we let them.

      --

      My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    7. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by elflord · · Score: 2
      Ever suck a whole bag of chips or a box of cookies down? That's those speedy carbs at work.

      Just a nit -- the bag of chips is actually full of fat. A large bag of chips can contain up to 1400 calroies, and they are not all carbs.

    8. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by elflord · · Score: 2
      Guess what? Americans aren't eating less fat, they are eating more fat, more carbs, more everything.

      Unfortunately, they get too many junk-carbs: sugar, starch, highly refined products, and no-where near enough dietary fiber. Lots of empty calories. A moderate amount of fat and some quality carbs with some fiber (vegetables, fruit, oats) would be as filling and contain considerably less calories.

    9. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is there really such a strong similarity between dog physiology and human physiology? Do you have citations? I'm interested in reading more.

    10. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by SlightlyMadman · · Score: 1

      For us geeks that spend 15 hours a day sitting at a desk, this diet is the really the only solution to that poundage you're adding to your gut.

      That's completely untrue. Over the past year, I've gone from 195 to 165 (-30 lbs), by lowering my overall calorie intake and exercising for 5 minutes every morning. Sure, I never lost 18 lbs in 5 weeks, so I had to persevere and just keep doing it every day, even if I couldn't see the results. The fact that it's taken longer means that I've developed this routine as habit, now, and am likely to continue it, and stay at my current weight (which is actually beyond my target weight).

      I've also put on muscle, which gimmick diets will do nothing for.

      --

      Money I owe, money-iy-ay
    11. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by Pihkal · · Score: 1

      You're only half right, I'm afraid. Your credentials really only apply to dog nutrition, not human nutrition.

      Dog and human diets are very different. Dogs are carnivores, while humans are (evolutionary) herbivores. Dogs have strong pointed jaws, with many sharp teeth for biting through flesh. Humans have jaws flush with the face, making it difficult to bite flesh. We have molar teeth and side-to-side jaw movement, designed for grinding tough vegetables and fruits. Our so-called "canine" teeth and other sharp frontal teeth have nothing to do with consuming meat and everything to do with devouring tough-skinned fruits and vegetables. (Think about biting through an apple with just back teeth.) Humans also produce ptyalin in the saliva for predigestion of fruits and veggies, which dogs and other carnivores do not.

      Dogs have extremely short carnivore digestive tracts. (Meat must be digested before decomposition sets in too much, as some of the byproducts of decomposition are toxic.) This is one reason dogs do less well on low-meat diets. Shorter length affords less time to absorb nutrients from plant-based foods. In contrast, humans have a very long digestive tract, associated with herbivores, about 12 times the length of our entire body. For comparison, consider the diets of primates, our nearest evolutionary ancestors. Their digestive system very closely resembles ours, and their diet consists of lots and lots of fruit.

      Which is not to say that there isn't some overlap. Dogs will consume vegetables occasionally. In the wild, dogs would get their minimal plant requirements from eating the digestive tracts of their prey. Also, dogs have been bred to be highly obedient, giving humans great leeway in controlling their diets, which is the only reason it's even possible to feed a dog a high-carb diet. (Try that with a cat, and see how far you get!) And while humans are, evolutionarily-speaking, primarily herbivores, it is quite likely that meat was a supplement to their diet (but only a supplement, and not the main course). I know many primates will occasionally use sticks to eat ants from an anthill. They probably consume small amounts of meat in other ways, too. This may technically classify them as omnivores, but saying so downplays the fact that over 95% of their diet is plant-based, and should be for us too, evolutionarily-speaking.

      --
      "I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered! My life is my own." - The Prisoner
    12. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by abischof · · Score: 2

      They may not be all carbs, but chips still have plenty of carbs. For instance, the chips listed there generally have x grams of fat, and 1.5x grams of carbs :-/.

      --

      Alex Bischoff
      HTML/CSS coder for hire

    13. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by elflord · · Score: 2
      For instance, the chips listed there generally have x grams of fat, and 1.5x grams of carbs :-/.

      Which means 9 cal fat to 8 cal carbs.

      Cheers,

    14. Re:Let's look at the look at Atkins by fuzdout · · Score: 1

      Actually, he's right.. I grew up "vegetarian" and when I moved out, I started eating meat..
      As a teenager, I often found myself at work all but eyeing the trash with a little more than casual interest (I never partook, thank you :) without any real thought about it. Raided the snack box a lot (craving particulary sugary cookis and such)
      and had this annoying nervous pacing in circles crap even though my job was physically demanding and so was plenty excersized..I moved out while still a teen, and after I moved out I started eating meat..The pacing is no longer there UNLESS I eat a high carbohydrate breakfast and also get hungry within 2 hours. I now almost NEVER desire any type of sugar cookie and snack foods. Also, I can go 4-5 hours between meals ESPECIALLY if I eat protien in the morning.
      As growing up a vegetarian, I oviously ate plenty of veggies, carbohydrates, fruits, soy, dairy..So the only missing vitamins from my diet could have come only from MEAT and MEAT protien.

      Also, as far as dogs go, he's ALSO right. I grew up with a dog who picked at her dog food but was in good weight..My mother decided to switch her to a homemade vegetarian diet with soy..Now the dog ONLY thinks about FOOD and how to get some more.
      (you have to feed an HUGE amount to keep weight on a dog with this diet)

      Also, as far as humans go: -meat doesn't make you fat, in fact, if anything you LOOSE weight.
      I don't avoid carbohydrates, or anything else, though I DO eat a high protien diet.

      --
      Fuzdout
      ..My sig ran away. Has anyone seen my sig?
  16. optical playback of vinyl not new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember reading about a record player that read the LP not with a needle but a laser. It was listed in the now defunct DAK catalog. Anyone else remeber this or can find info? It had to be almost 15 years ago I saw this.

    However the ability to "play" LPs now with a COTS scanner is cool, even if the general idea has been around for a while.

  17. How about the "Eat less, exercise more" diet? by Hobart · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Golly, instead of using some crazy protein diet, I just quit eating so much (Most restaurant meals are 2x the food , so I would take some home, and cook for myself) and exercising. Now I have half the body fat percentage and 30 pounds less fat. :-)
    http://www.jb.org/fat/
    --
    o/~ Join us now and share the software ...
    1. Re:How about the "Eat less, exercise more" diet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Atkins diet does generally result in eating people less. It does it through ketosis, and the associated appetite loss. And, plenty of people on Atkins exercise, too.

    2. Re:How about the "Eat less, exercise more" diet? by NineNine · · Score: 1

      Yeah, of course that's the best way to do it, but the Atkins diet is popular because most people are such goddamned lazy, fat slobs (especially in the US). They're so desperate for an easy way that they can look decent and still eat like a pig at a trough, so they're gonna defend it to the death, even though it does god knows what to your kidneys, and clogs up those oh-so-unimportant arteries faster than you can say "lard ass".

      I agree. Eat less. Exercise. Works great for me too.

    3. Re:How about the "Eat less, exercise more" diet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      even though it does god knows what

      You'd think scientists would want to figure that out, wouldn't you? They're quite lazy themselves it seems. Quite easy for them to point at one study and one particular "negative" and say the whole thing is bad.

      clogs up those oh-so-unimportant arteries faster than you can say "lard ass".

      Yeah, I guess those people that have gone on the diet, lost weight, and ended up with lower ldl cholesterol, triglyceride counts and blood pressure are all just crazy! And the type-2 diabetics that have gone on the diet and gotten off medicine for the disease are crazy too!

    4. Re:How about the "Eat less, exercise more" diet? by NineNine · · Score: 0, Troll

      Look Dr. Atkins: We're on to you. Now quit trolling. Go away. None of these poor, fat, computer geeks need your bullshit miracle cures. Life's a bitch. Everything that tastes good is bad for you, and everything that tastes like shit is good for you. That's life. Go sell your snake oil elsewhere.

    5. Re:How about the "Eat less, exercise more" diet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The king of trolls saying someone else is trolling?

  18. Mozilla bugfixed. rah rah. Where's the DEB? by Robotech_Master · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Well, it's nice that they've fixed a security hole in Mozilla, but when are they going to come out with a new Debian package release? I've never had very good luck with trying to compile Mozilla myself, and I prefer to have as many as possible of the programs running on my system managed automatically by dpkg--and as of this moment, the newest Debian Mozilla even in Unstable is still 1.00-3. (I've tried the snapshot version, and found it too buggy to use.)

    I've emailed the package maintainer asking when a new version would be out; I've posted about it to the Mozilla newsgroups; I have yet to get a satisfactory answer as to why the Debian release is one and a half versions behind the times. During the pre-1.0 phase, they could usually be counted on to update to the most recent build within a few days of its release; 1.1 has been out for weeks now and still no sign of improvement!

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  19. Be very careful with this diet!!! by Critical_ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Make sure you drink a lot of water since your kidneys will need it. High protien diets eventually lead to kidney stone formation. Have you ever tried to pass a stone? Trust me, its not a walk in the park. As much as you are trying to lose weight based on the type of food you consume, you must also excercise. I run about 3 miles a day which takes me about 30 minutes to complete. I make sure that I eat whatever I want, but I am capping my calorie intake at 1500 cal/day. That 3 miles of running is about equal to 500 calories burned so in essence i take in only 1000 cal/day. Once I reach the desired weight, I can increase calorie consumption to 2000 cal/day and run every other day to maintain it. I weight 215 at the begining of July. I weight 184 as of this morning.

    Whatever you do, just remember... high protien diet MUST MUST MUST be accompanied by lots of water and frequent trips to the bathroom! Good luck.

    1. Re:Be very careful with this diet!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You *must* eat protein if you want to lose weight. Look, you have fat, carbs, protein. Fat you should limit. Duh. Carbs you should limit. Duh. What else does that leave you?! Protein. I'm fed up with these idiots you think you should have a low protein, low fat, low carb diet. What the fuck is left?

      The Atkins diet OBVIOUSLY works because millions of people have had success with it and most people pick it up by word of mouth. And while it's not something *I* would choose, if you're in incredibly poor health and you're living off pizza, mountain dew and kit-kats, you can't do much worse than your CURRENT diet. The Atkins diet could be 10 times worse than it is and it's still going to be better for that person - especially if it helps them reduce their weight.

    2. Re:Be very careful with this diet!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you ever tried to pass a stone?
      Honestly no. Have you ever tried weighing 300 pounds. Forget about the f*&king park. Stairs = chest pains and total exhaustion. Atkins is cake, (or bacon) I still eat all-i-can-eat at Furrs twice a week and have lost thirty pounds. My blood pressure is almost normal. And i get a butt load of vegatables. I eat heaping plates of green vegatables and salads, everyonce in a while I have a half a grapefruit. I feel great. I have no urge to quit this diet. It's easy to pass over a donut...when you just ate a 6 egg cheese and spinach omelet.

    3. Re:Be very careful with this diet!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Make sure you drink a lot of water since your kidneys will need it. High protien diets eventually lead to kidney stone formation

      Sorry, but this is a myth (and FWIW, Atkins isn't a high-protein diet; it is a low-carbohydrate diet).

  20. Re:Mozilla bugfixed. rah rah. Where's the DEB? by krmt · · Score: 2

    Update now. 1.1 is is in unstable as of yesterday, although I don't know about the bugfix.

    --

    "I may not have morals, but I have standards."

  21. This article on Atkins is just wrong. by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Does it help people lose weight? Of course it does. If you cannot eat bread, bagels, cake, cookies, ice cream, candy, crackers, muffins, sugary soft drinks, pasta, rice, most fruits and many vegetables, you will almost certainly consume fewer calories. Any diet will result in weight loss if it eliminates calories that previously were overconsumed.

    I eat just as much on the atkins diet as I did before it, if not more. Now instead of consuming calories from carbohydrates, I get them from fat and protein. Fat is much denser in calories than carbohydrates are, unless you're talking about pure sugar.

    And hey, what the hell does this paragraph say?

    But in a major report last week, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies emphasized the importance of balance of nutrients, with carbohydrates -- starches and sugars -- making up 45 percent to and 65 percent of daily calories and fats, 20 percent to 35 percent. The panel of 21 scientists also urged Americans to keep as low as possible their consumption of saturated fats, the foods Dr. Atkins recommends as his diet's main components.

    "...with carbohydrates -- starches and sugars -- making up 45 percent to and 65 percent of daily calories and fats, 20 percent to 35 percent." Nice ringrish there, sister. I've tried and tried to decipher what this is supposed to say. Does this mean that carbs make up 45 to 65 percent of your ideal diet, and fats should be 20 to 35 percent? Why the spurious "and"? For that matter, the first occurence of "percent" is unnecessary.

    That's not an inaccuracy of fact, it's just an occurrect of stupidity.

    One question I'd like to see answered is how long anyone can stay on such a scheme and what happens when you start adding back some of the wholesome foods limited or forbidden on this diet, like sweet corn, grapes, watermelons, potatoes, carrots, beets or oatmeal.

    The answer: Forever. Some people have been on this diet all their lives, healthily. It's used to control seizures. Do some research before you write an article for the New York Times.

    Second, what makes you say those foods are so wholesome? Sweet corn is laden with sugar, hence the sweetness. Watermelons are little more than water and sugar. Potatoes are a ton of ready carbs, they're white starch; All of those carbs hit your bloodstream at the same time and get turned into glucose very rapidly.

    What is surprising is that after three decades of simmering and soaring popularity, the Atkins diet has yet to be tested for long-term safety and effectiveness.

    What's surprising is that people in countries who ate this way in the first place didn't convince you. A dramatically better article (and not coincidentally one I agree with), What if it's all been a big fat lie? (Also in the NYT, free reg. req. etc) points out that people in Italy and the Carribean who ate a lot of starch (classically) tended towards obesity, and other people (who generally ate meat and veggies) did not. Seems simple to me. Being fat is unhealthy.

    Dr. Abby Block, nutritionist at the foundation, said studies of the Atkins diet lasting six months to a year and extensive clinical experience, have shown consistent improvements in blood lipids and glucose levels, suggesting that the diet can improve health despite its high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol, long associated with heart disease risks.

    Why hasn't the government tested it? One possible reason is that it is unlikely to be approved by any review committee, given what is known about the effects of animal fats and cholesterol on the risk of heart disease, strokes and some cancers, as well as accumulating evidence that diets rich in fruits and vegetables and moderate in protein and fat can prevent diseases like high blood pressure, prostate cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

    "high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol, long associated with heart disease risks."? Let's talk about how high levels of saturated fat and cholesterol became associated with heart disease risks. As per the NYT article I cite above, the last time the government spent our money studying fat, they spend several hundred million dollars trying to prove a link between fat/cholesterol intake and heart disease. They managed to prove only that treating cholesterol with drugs lowered the risk of heart failure. THAT'S IT. From that we got the food pyramid, which puts carbohydrates at the base. Eating tons of ready carbs means your insulin level spikes, and that's hard on the pancreas. And any time insulin levels are above a certain point, you store unused carbohydrates as FAT. You don't have to eat any fat whatsoever to get fat, which I think we all agree is unhealthy.

    So in other words, the US government is the last group I'd trust to do a study like that. Last time they tried to prove a link between cholesterol and heart disease, they pushed a bunch of carbs on us and may very well be responsible for early onset diabetes and the american obesity epidemic.

    The Atkins diet is shy on several vital nutrients, including the B vitamins and vitamins A, C and D, antioxidants that slow the effects of aging, and calcium. And, a diet rich in animal protein can draw calcium from the bones, increasing the risk of osteoporosis and hip fractures.

    Wow, it sure is a good thing that "they" invented vitamin supplements. Otherwise that might be a real problem, eh?

    When nutrition experts began urging Americans to cut back on fats, many filled in by eating more carbohydrates -- a lot more than anyone recommended. Food producers jumped on the bandwagon to produce low-fat snacks and desserts, and Americans went hog wild, eating as much of them as they wanted.

    You know, that's what we were told to do. The government as much as told us that it was fat that made you fat, and we responded by eating carbs. Anything with "low fat" on it sold like, er, hotcakes. Which are made out of refined flour, which is the same as sugar once you have digested it.

    Dr. Denke concurred: "No matter what anyone tells you, it's calories that count. Carefully controlled metabolic studies show that it doesn't matter where extra calories come from. Eat more calories than you expend and you'll gain weight."

    This is horseshit too. While you are in ketosis, you do not store fat. When you have unburned fat, you remove it from your body by an ancient process known today (medically) as a bowel movement. You don't gain it as weight.

    Hence the Atkins diet makes it completely unimportant to count your calories, except to make sure you have enough. As long as you don't eat carbs, your insulin level stays low, which means you don't leave the state of ketosis. Ketosis also has benefits to health, including slowing the rate of lean muscle loss. Furthermore, as I alluded to above, the reduced glucose levels inhibit stroke activity, and the reduced load on the pancreas dramatically reduces the risk of diabetes.

    Mankind did not evolve to eat carbohydrates in any significant quantity. We grew up eating meat, vegetable-type plants which are not generally high in carbs (Except from fiber, which is indigestible), and limited quantities of carbohydrates.

    I want to know which cracker and chip company commissioned this FUD.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by Herkum01 · · Score: 1

      So in other words, the US government is the last group I'd trust to do a study like that. Last time they tried to prove a link between cholesterol and heart disease, they pushed a bunch of carbs on us and may very well be responsible for early onset diabetes and the american obesity epidemic.

      I agree with alot of your statements but I think you went over board here. Despite the governments attempts to determine what is a good or bad diets, people rarely followed their guidelines. The things that make Americans fat, is the access to cheap, high calorie, high quantity food.

      Take a look at a soda, 8 fluid oz. is 100~ calories, some people will not drink anything but soda, so they drink 4 or 5 cans a day. Those cans are 12 fluid oz. with means that they are consuming 600 calories a day from basically sugar water. Through in a cheap vending machine snack, 1 oz, that is another 100 calories, so you get the munches you eat 2 bags of chips you are not at 800 calories without even eating a breakfast, lunch or diner!

      You want to take a look at access to fast food, that is another big calorie boost. My reference is Here

      1. Big Mac, 570 calories
      2. French Fries, 540 calories

      So you go to McDonalds, for lunch because it quick, and now with your soda you have consumed 1900 calories, without even eating diner. A rough estimate of how many calories you need each day is weight x10, x15, or x20 depending on how active you are. So lets say you start out as a moderate size guy of 180 lbs who gets no real excercise. you have already consumed more calories than you are going to use, you have little to nutrition in your diet and you probably will eat at least one if not two more meals that day.

      Now that you know this, now ask yourself why is that Americans are fat. It is not simply because we are eating "A lot of Fats" or "A lot of Carbs", it is because we are just straight up eating like a pig at a trough.

    2. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by phriedom · · Score: 2

      "While you are in ketosis, you do not store fat. When you have unburned fat, you remove it from your body by an ancient process known today (medically) as a bowel movement. You don't gain it as weight."

      IIRC, the unburned calories that your body sluffs off during ketosis pass out in the urine, not the feces. I could be wrong though.

      The part that really bothered me about the article was this: "Carefully controlled metabolic studies show that it doesn't matter where extra calories come from."

      Which, as you said, is horseshit. Those carefully controlled metabolic studies DO NOT include the study of very low carb diets. They compare moderate carbs to high carbs and see no difference because ketosis isn't a factor. To take a few data points and extrapolate the extremes is not solid science.

      I did Adkins for a year. I lost 30 pounds and kept it off. We went back to a "normal" diet when my son was born and I gained 10 back. I ate a lot more good vegetables on Adkins than I do off, and naturally I felt better.

      --
      Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
    3. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by nostriluu · · Score: 1

      Why do you (and so many others) take it or granted that vitamins and suppletments work? They're an industry too.

    4. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2
      Well I agree with you on the soda thing for sure. And if you're not regularly physically active then you shouldn't be eating fast food, or most of what people eat at home. Especially how I ate. I just really enjoy eating.

      All I really need to do is come up with a good low-carb breading, though. *cough* Then maybe I'll patent it somehow... It's the american way.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by cduffy · · Score: 1

      Why do you (and so many others) take it or granted that vitamins and suppletments work? They're an industry too.

      Why do you (and so many others) take it for granted that automobiles work? They're an industry too.

      Now, do I assert vitamins or suppliments work to make the user healthy? No, they don't necessarily do so. However, vitamin C (for instance) really does have a genuine function, and there really are genuine problems that are caused by not having enough -- if you don't believe this, go ask a sailor back in the 1700s about scurvy. Likewise, other vitimins have at least some genuine purpose. Does that mean that adding more is always a good thing? Of course not. But if someone has a diet that deprives them of a certain vitamin, the deficiency needs to be made up somehow. It could be made up by (in the case of vitamin C) eating limes, or it could be made up via a suppliment. Vitamins weren't just made up by the companies that sell them -- they were found via medical research, frequently in trying to determine why a particular (natural) food managed to cure or prevent some condition. Unless you're going to say that the entire medical profession is in on a big conspiracy, I don't think you can really sustain your skeptical position.

    6. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by fermion · · Score: 2
      OK, once again, the Atkins diet works because in America we eat a highly processed diet consisting mostly of protein and simple carbohydrates. This diet, which is devoid of whole grains, whole fruits, and fresh vegetables, tend to provide calories without proportional nutrition. Therefore, we have to eat excessive calories to achieve the proper nutrition.

      For instance, Burger King(McDonalds does not seem to have full nutritional information on the web), serves a Whopper, Big Drink, and Big Fries, at about 1400 calories, or about 70% and of a 2000 calories diet, while it only provides 50% protein, 14% of vitamin A, 30% of Vitamin C, and 25% calcium. If we get rid of the excess simple carbohydrates, i.e. sugar and fries, we have a much more balanced situation.

      I honestly believe that Atkins is no worse than a diet of fast food and TV dinners, and may in fact be better. My worry is that people who eat a balanced diet, but are overweight, will switch to Atkins in the belief that it is a better diet. As I said before, the best diet I have seen, and the best results I have seen, is the diabetes diet, which is based on a balanced diet of protien, compelx carbohydrates, and excersise.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    7. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by 2short · · Score: 1

      But is getting the vitamins from suplements as good as getting them from regular food? You have unwittingly picked the perfect example. Studies have shown that Vitamin C derived from non-plant sources (most supliments) has little effect on scurvey, whereas eating limes (or seeking out the supliments that are plant-derived) does the trick nicely. We figure out that a certain vitamin is good for something, and comapnies produce it. But is that vitamin the whole story for everything it seems to help? Better question, do you think the companies selling them spend a lot of money to find out?

    8. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by Reziac · · Score: 2

      One of the reasons we were all supposed to "lower our cholesterol" is so we won't develop arterial plaque and clogged arteries.

      When someone finally got around to really looking at these arterial plaques, turns out that the root cause is bacteria colonies causing a rough spot in the artery wall, that becomes an obstruction where crud builds up. Now, the blood is SUPPOSED to be sterile. Bacteria get into it from an open sore, often in the mouth.

      Also turns out that high cholesterol inherits along with high blood pressure, and it looks like most cases are due to this gene (which per the pedigree evidence I know of, is apparently a simple dominant). That's why you get the two together. IOW, this kinda nixes the notion of the two being cause and effect.

      Similarly, turns out gum disease leading to bacteria in the bloodstream is a MAJOR cause (perhaps the ONLY cause) of heart disease.

      IOW, after all the hoorah, it seems diet has little to do with either as a health issue.

      There is published research on all this; someone who cares can probably look it up.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    9. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by cduffy · · Score: 1

      The companies may not spend much money on determining the effectiveness of their products, but the determination still gets made -- witness the studies you refer to. If real data exists regarding the effetiveness (or ineffectiveness, in some cases) of said products, one can hardly proceed to tar the entire field with one brush without looking at the individual cases in depth.

      One of the implications that bothered me most in the original post was that there exists a lack of objective data due to research being performed and/or funded by the companies selling the product. Your objection to my specific example also happens to neatly demonstrate this not to be the case. :)

    10. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Which, as you said, is horseshit. Those carefully controlled metabolic studies DO NOT include the study of very low carb diets. They compare moderate carbs to high carbs and see no difference because ketosis isn't a factor.

      Ketosis is known to be a factor (if not a magic bullet), and contrary to what you may think, there is some research on ketogenic diets.

    11. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by elflord · · Score: 2
      I eat just as much on the atkins diet as I did before it, if not more. Now instead of consuming calories from carbohydrates, I get them from fat and protein.

      That's called an "anecdote". It's not hard evidence that the Atkins diet outperforms any other diet with a comparable amount of calories. But I find it very hard to believe that you consume a few thousand calories in fat and protein alone (which is what the average American gets in their diet)

      The answer: Forever. Some people have been on this diet all their lives, healthily.

      Some people. Most people who "go on a diet" don't stay on it forever. The problem is that people want to "fix" their weight problem, but they need a lifestyle change. It's a classic cure-the-symptom approach.

      What's surprising is that people in countries who ate this way in the first place didn't convince you.

      I saw the article. Full of questionable assertions, like the one about the "exercise rate not changing", or the complete failure to notice that the countries with high incidence of obesity were all from the same ethnic group. (Italian food, btw, is full of fat as well as starch. Again, beware of cherry-picked data points.). On the other hand, the article does make some good points about the "fat-is'bad" myth.

      Eating tons of ready carbs means your insulin level spikes, and that's hard on the pancreas.

      The main fallacy that keeps recurring in your post as well as the shoddy argument you cite is the false dichotomy between the Atkins diet, and binging on high glycemic index carbs. I don't think anyone in their right mind recommends consuming enormous amounts of sugar and refined carbs.

      You know, that's what we were told to do.

      Horseshit. No-one ever recommended binging on sugar, and consuming enormous amounts of empty calories.

      This is horseshit too. While you are in ketosis, you do not store fat. When you have unburned fat, you remove it from your body by an ancient process known today (medically) as a bowel movement.

      On what basis do you assume that ketosis magically prevents all dietary fat from being stored ? Ketones are a by-product of a metabolic process, it's not some sort of infinitely large tapeworm.

      I want to know which cracker and chip company commissioned this FUD.

      Hate to break it to you, but this is a controversial topic. Not everyone who disagrees with you is in on saome sort of conspiracy.

    12. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by Kintanon · · Score: 2

      And any time insulin levels are above a certain point, you store unused carbohydrates as FAT. You don't have to eat any fat whatsoever to get fat, which I think we all agree is unhealthy.

      So why am I not ballooned up like a giant michelin man mascot? I eat a high carb, medium proteon, low fat diet, 50,40,10 or 60/30/10 depending on what I have that day. I excersise 2-3 times a week, but I do barely any aerobic excersise any more because I'm trying to gain weight. I'm stuck at 125lbs, as I have been for the last 4 years. My body fat is less than 4%, and I benchpress 180lbs (or 160lbs 6 times). I can run a mile at a steady 7mph. I've been training in the Martial Arts for the last 8 years. So is it the excersise that keeps me from gaining weight? Do I need to include more fat? more protein? Losing weight is easy, gaining weight is hard...

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    13. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by Darlock · · Score: 1

      On what basis do you assume that ketosis magically prevents all dietary fat from being stored ? Ketones are a by-product of a metabolic process, it's not some sort of infinitely large tapeworm.

      You are correct. It isn't ketosis that is the magical tapeworm. Ketosis and the production of ketones is just an indicator of your body using fat for energy. The big thing that makes people lose weight on the Atkins diet is insulin.

      Insulin is a double-edged sword. It is one of the hormones that is required to build muscle (hence why some bodybuilders inject it) but it also has the side effect of telling the body to store fat.

      For the "average" North American that doesn't exercise or put major strain on their muscles insulin causes them to store fat. It basically goes something like this.

      - Eat sugary food
      - Insulin goes up
      - No energy is required to repair muscles
      - Store energy as fat
      - Rinse and Repeat

      Now, because the the body is an efficient machine our bodies have an easier time handling carbs that are digested. Thus our insulin response gets stronger because the body is used to converting carbs->sugar->fat. So when you eat carbs, TOO much insulin is released, sugar gets converted into fat quickly and your blood sugar levels drop. Ever notice that after a high-carb lunch you want to have a nap afterwards? That's because your blood sugar levels dropped and you have no energy in the system.

      Also it should be noted that low-carb diets are better at preserving lean muscle mass than other diets because of the increased protien intake. Your body will break down fat for energy and break down protein to provide the essential amino acids your body required to function. If you have a lower protein intake your body will break down muscle mass to get the amino acids it needs.

    14. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by lubricated · · Score: 1

      If you really want to gain weight and don't care how, just go into a suplement store and buy some weight gainer, drink it as a suplement. You will get fat. BTW those weight gainer drinks are mostly sugar, and I can attest that they do work.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    15. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2
      So why am I not ballooned up like a giant michelin man mascot? I eat a high carb, medium proteon, low fat diet, 50,40,10 or 60/30/10 depending on what I have that day. I excersise 2-3 times a week, but I do barely any aerobic excersise any more because I'm trying to gain weight. I'm stuck at 125lbs, as I have been for the last 4 years.

      Well, my first instinct is to tell you to stop whining about being thin :) But actually, you are not the first person I have heard this complaint from. I know other people who can't seem to gain weight no matter what they do.

      As I see it, you have two choices. You can follow the "plan" I used to get fat in the first place, which is to say you can sit on your ass as much as possible (cut out that exercise 2-3 times a week) and eat as much food which combines fat and carbohydrates as you can manage to take in. Excellent foods for accomplishing this include ruffles and soft cream cheese or onion dip, chicken fried steak, and the sampler basket at denny's. Actually, that one's not as bad as the others, but if you eat enough of them with the food dipped in ranch... And you want to eat a lot of processed carbohydrates. That means white sugar (though any kind will do) and white flour, and lots of it. In conjunction with that you will want to eat a lot of fat as well, because your insulin level is highest after eating those kinds of carbohydrates and when your insulin level is high, you store fat as, well, fat. You should also be storing unused carbs as fat, but if you have a high metabolic rate (and some people naturally do) then you're going to burn those carbs whether you actively exercise or not.

      The other option is to spend more time doing weight training for strength; Do multiple low-rep sets (say three sets of six reps) of perhaps 75% of your max weight in any given exercise. Work on your whole body. This way you may be able to gain mass through muscle. Take gainers while you do this, and eat more protein, too.

      Now, IANAD (Dietician) though obviously I do try to keep up with this stuff; I'm on the Atkins diet now (though without giving them any money) and I work out twice a week for an hour. I do bench press, bicep curls, tricep press, leg press, knee extension, vertical chest (more or less the decline bench press), knee-ups, and sit-ups. I was doing lat pulls and the military (sitting) press but a muscle under my scapula was giving me problems, so I'm going to have to work around that for a while. And don't ask what my max press is, it's embarrassing. I just started working out like a month ago. Prior to that I mostly did the beer can curl and the office chair adjustment squat.

      Now, here's another revelation; Fit people are able to be 'overweight' without being overfat, and fat people can be over the suggested line of fatness without being over weight. When fit people exercise, it is usually aerobic; when fat people exercise, it is usually anaerobic. In other words, once you are fit (As you are now) your body will want to remain so, especially if you exercise frequently.

      So I personally suggest you spend more time in the gym, and work specifically on building muscle. That'll add weight, anyway. But again, I don't know what's going on inside your body in particular.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2
      Eating tons of ready carbs means your insulin level spikes, and that's hard on the pancreas.
      The main fallacy that keeps recurring in your post as well as the shoddy argument you cite is the false dichotomy between the Atkins diet, and binging on high glycemic index carbs. I don't think anyone in their right mind recommends consuming enormous amounts of sugar and refined carbs.
      You know, that's what we were told to do.
      Horseshit. No-one ever recommended binging on sugar, and consuming enormous amounts of empty calories.

      Sugar and white flour become the same thing very shortly after entering your body. Eating a muffin is the same thing as drinking a soda, from the body's standpoint. The only difference is, the muffin is actually worse for you because it also contains fat, and what do we know about fat consumed while insulin levels are high because of carbo intake?

      Complex carbohydrates break down slower, but they still break down, and it takes some time for insulin levels to drop. So a small amount of brown rice is unlikely to raise your insulin level much because it takes longer to break down and you're not eating so much to begin with, but a large amount of brown rice will have the same effect as eating white rice, for example. In the end you're still bombarding your body with carbohydrates, which all do the same thing, no matter what the source.

      In the end, I do believe that it is healthiest to get most of your food mass from protein and fiber, but I don't think removing fat from one's diet is the right call either, and I think carbohydrate intake should definitely be kept to a minimum. This is a shame because I *love* foods which involve a lot of carbs. I miss beans and rice terribly. I look forward to, once I reach my target weight, being able to eat a burrito now and again. Just got to find some place to make one with brown rice and black beans to minimize the negative impact.

      But fat is useful, you see. Carbs provide immediate energy, and fat provides long-term energy. Protein provides amino acids you will need to build muscle. Fiber lets you poop properly, which is of inestimable value. :) All of it has a use, but the one that's least useful (and most harmful) is the carbohydrates. I'm hardly eating any of them (maybe 30 or 35g per day maximum) and I am not having problems with my energy level. I get up around 0730 and go to bed (tired, but what do you expect) at about midnight. In the middle of this I either attend school (with weight training in the morning) or paint apartments. So I'd say that my energy level at the end of the day is about the same as when I ate lots of carbs.

      Now if only carbs

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    17. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by elflord · · Score: 2
      Also it should be noted that low-carb diets

      I think that should read protein-rich diets. A diet that is high in protein will be good at preserving lean mass regardless of whether or not it's low-carb.

      are better at preserving lean muscle mass than other diets because of the increased protien intake.

      The diet results in increased protein metabolism, so you need more protein on that diet. The high protein intake is there for a reason, it is important on that diet. It is important on any diet, but more so on the Atkins diet.

      Cheers,

    18. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by elflord · · Score: 1
      Sugar and white flour become the same thing very shortly after entering your body. Eating a muffin is the same thing as drinking a soda, from the body's standpoint.

      I agree. I think refined high GI foods are a greater source of diet problems in modern society than sugar.

      Complex carbohydrates break down slower, but they still break down, and it takes some time for insulin levels to drop.

      White flour is a complex carbohydrate. Complex vs simple carb doesn't have a lot to do with the insulin response. (GI measures this)

      So a small amount of brown rice is unlikely to raise your insulin level much because it takes longer to break down and you're not eating so much to begin with, but a large amount of brown rice will have the same effect as eating white rice, for example.

      Yes, but there's no reason why you'll eat more brown rice. Actually, you'll usually end up eating less of most high fiber foods.

      I miss beans and rice terribly.

      Beans and rice are very healthy, if you emphasise the beans and have a moderate serve of brown rice. Beans have a very low GI, and are full of nutrients.

      but the one that's least useful (and most harmful) is the carbohydrates.

      Sorry, that's not true. Carbohydrates are useful for replenishing glycogen stores. They don't necessarily provide immediate energy (though glucose and some glucose polymers come close), release time for carbs varies greatly, and depends on the type of carb, and what you eat with it. Again, you don't need to consume enormous amounts of processed food to consume carbs, and dieters should shoot primarily for unrefined carb sources that are high in fiber. There is nothing "evil" about carbs (just like there is nothing evil about fat), what is harmful is indiscriminate eating. If low-carb works for you, that's fine, but it's just not true that carbs are some sort of bogey-man.

    19. Re:This article on Atkins is just wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "This diet, which is devoid of whole grains, whole fruits, and fresh vegetables, tend to provide calories without proportional nutrition. Therefore, we have to eat excessive calories to achieve the proper nutrition."

      Have you read the Atkins book? Yes, you don't eat any grains at first, but you do get plenty of vegetables (there is a long, recommended list of vegetables), and after a couple of weeks you can add fruits which are lower on the glycemic index. As you get closer to maintenance phase you can even add some grains.

      I am low carbing and I eat more rich vegetables than I did when I was a vegan (back then I was more concerned with putting the protein police at ease).

      I eat no more meat than your average, non-dieting meat eater. In fact I probably eat less meat. I've seen the serving size of some of those steaks in steakhouses, yech.

  22. Atkins diet by olevy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I actually started on the Atkins diet as a result of that NYT article. I have been wondering how healthy this diet is long term so I turned to this article with interest. Unfortunately the writer apparently never bothered to actually find out the specifics of the Atkins diet.

    Some misconceptions:

    * Can't eat many vegetables such as carrots. Actually there are three different phases of the diet, and only on the first and shortest phase is this true.

    * Lacking in vitamins. Again this is mainly true of the first phase and less so in the later phases. The Atkins book *strongly* emphasizes the need for taking a wide range of vitamins. Only someone who never read the book could not have noticed this -- vitamin taking is an integral part of the diet! And at any rate now that I am on the long term maintaining part of the diet, I doubt that I am lacking in vitamin intake now.

    * The diet is boring and focused mainly on saturated fats meat (ie beef). Again, only someone who has not looked into this diet seriously could make such a claim. Ironically, as a result of this diet I have been eating much *more* vegetables than I would have otherwise. I've also been eating a wider range of foods.

    But even more important than that is that she never directly comes to terms with the first articles main theses -- it is an outright scandal that the Atkins test has never been properly tested. Her response is just the sarcastic:

    "Why hasn't the government tested it? One possible reason is that it is unlikely to be approved by any review committee, given what is known about the effects of animal fats and cholesterol on the risk of heart disease, strokes and some cancers, as well as accumulating evidence that diets rich in fruits and vegetables and moderate in protein and fat can prevent diseases like high blood pressure, prostate cancer, heart disease and diabetes."

    In other words the first NYT article was right -- the establishment already knew what was the correct answer and weren't about to let an inconvenient thing like science get in the way! The problem this poses for me is that when I try to find truly, objective scientific points of view -- they are hard to find if they exist at all in the world of nutrition!

    1. Re:Atkins diet by jheinen · · Score: 2

      Word to your mother! :)

      I also started Atkins immediately after reading the NYT article. Since I had quite a bit of weight to lose (I was right at 300 lbs.), I decided to stay on induction longer than most, since the book says that's OK, and induction hasn't caused me any problems nor has it been boring.

      Well, as of this morning I weigh 246 lbs. I've lost 54 lbs in about two months. Now that's a lot of weight, some would say maybe too much too fast, however I should point out that I also started biking ~20 miles a day, six days a week. I feel better than I have in 15 years. I'm pretty much bursting with energy. Ever since I was in the Army I've hated physical exercise. But now I look forward every morning to my ride.

      Atkins is probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

      -Jeff

      --
      -Vercingetorix
      "Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
    2. Re:Atkins diet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Watch out, people are gonna start telling you that you lost 54 pounds of water weight. You must have been awfully bloated.

  23. uhh, check again by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Informative

    The current version of Mozilla in Unstable is 1.1-1. See the package page. It's been there for a week now.

    If you'd like the packages faster, to get the maintainer's "not quite ready to check into Unstable" mozilla packages (which are still quite stable, just haven't gone through as much testing), add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
    deb http://pandora.debian.org/~kitame/mozilla/ ./

    1.1's been available from there for at least two weeks now.

    1. Re:uhh, check again by Robotech_Master · · Score: 1

      Huh. Until I forced an apt-get update, apt-get claimed that I already had the latest Mozilla. Don't I look stupid now. Oh well. At least I get the new version to play with.

      --
      Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  24. So.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slashdot is doing advertising for weight-loss programs now as well? How sleazy do you plan on getting, Malda?

    Next I suppose we'll see huge, rectangular ads in the articles for steroids and debt consolidation..I'd say you'd put on ads for penis enlargement as well, but I doubt you'd embarrass yourself that much.

  25. muscle comics? by commodoresloat · · Score: 2
    Use an abbreviated routine (no more than three lifting days per week) and stay away from the muscle comics ...

    You mean like this one?

    1. Re:muscle comics? by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hehe, no I mean like this one

      They are heavily biased (ie/ Last I heard, Muscle Media is owned by Bill Phillips, who owns EAS, a supplement company) and have some insane routines that would easily be overtraining for someone that's not on roids.

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    2. Re:muscle comics? by carlos_benj · · Score: 1

      They are heavily biased (ie/ Last I heard, Muscle Media is owned by Bill Phillips, who owns EAS, a supplement company) and have some insane routines that would easily be overtraining for someone that's not on roids.

      I'd have to disagree. The routines are far more balanced than you'll find in the likes of the other weightlifting rags. I'm not taking steroids and have no difficulty with the program (I did at first but that was because I was sedentary prior to starting). The one thing I like most about Muscle Media (which Mr. Phillips sold I believe) is the references to peer reviewed university studies for supplements and exercise routines. Overtraining just doesn't happen if you follow their routines because you limit your lifting to three hours a week and rotate between muscle groups with min. 3 days rest between workouts involving a given muscle group. They occasionally have an article on how to maximize the effect on a particular area that can be somewhat crazy (but they usually involve body weight only and are limited in duration). I guess you'd have to talk in specifics rather than generalities before I can even begin to comprehend where that statement came from.

      --

      --

      As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.

  26. Atkins diet or Diet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I have talked to several doctors, nutritionists and students of various subjects (including those) and when asked about the "Atkins Diet" many will say that at its core it is really an alternate recommendation of daily diet for everyone. One person said (and others echoed when I related this) "Atkins took the pyramid we all know and love and turned it on its head."

    I have seen many going through very a very strict regimen of dieting that following Atkin's advice they avoid starch whenever possible and eat a LOT of protein. Basically, they seem to take an extreme aspect of the Atkins diet. I hope people will not confuse the two, as in reality the theory is that as the biological creatures we are, we should take in more protein and much less complex carbohydrates. More importantly is that there is indeed a difference between a naturally occuring complex carb and one that is result of food processing. Not just to lose and not just to regulate actual weight (or fat) the diet entails a way of eating that is more in harmony of what our systems need. That means things like, more brain power, stronger bones, healthier skin, all that crap. If you are a military man (Military, not uniformed... if you don't know the difference then don't worry about it) then focus on what the warrior has known for centuries... eat that meat! If some pinko asshole tries to tell you potatoes are better, then just walk on by and eat your chicken in peace. In the event you are ever on an extended campaign and food is scarce then you will be glad you have those extra energy stores based on amino's instead of the stores of fat some others will have. (Fat ain't bad, but by itself it is not too good on your blood or cellular (esp skeletal muscle) chemistry)

    Don't be one of these freaks that makes their diet their life... I mean live a little for crying out loud.

    ok, end of memory dump... feel free to research this stuff on your own.

  27. gaming ban in greece and courts by Lalakis · · Score: 4, Informative
    The decision last week that ruled the Greek ban on video games as unconstitutional has been overturned, and a new trial has been ordered.

    Well, that is not accurate. The decision of the court hasn't been overturned! The case will just move to the appeals court and we will see what happens there.
    The only court in Greece which is allowed a final decision on a subject, which can't be overturned by someone else, is the supreme court. So, until the case comes to the supreme court, it isn't closed.

    1. Re:gaming ban in greece and courts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mh perimeneis polla ap'autous tous malakes...

  28. Optical record thing. by Lordfly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Good to know that the guy finally released the source code. It was depressing watching all the "elite" slashdotters on here blasting his idea away, debasing him with a bunch of random equations and "laws of physics". Now that it's open source, you can all move your feet to your mouth :)

    Lordfly

    --
    hookers and grits.
    1. Re:Optical record thing. by alizard · · Score: 2
      You should have read my posts, the equations I supported (translating audio bandwidth to inches per second to dots per linear inch) that what he did is possible. I also provided links to relevant content to people who want to research this themselves. I'd love to see someone do this right and provide some Open Source software which will pull decent quality stereo sound out of a high-res scan image.

      This combined with a scanner hardware hack would be a cool way to turn vinyl record collections into CDs or MP3s compatible with modern playback equipment.

  29. Record ripping confirmation? by Error-404NotFound · · Score: 0

    Has anybody out there compiled and tried the code? i don't have BC++ so i'm outta luck.. it seems that Dev-Cpp doesn't have all the libs.

    --
    -=Errors always defy logic.=-
  30. Perhaps a better option than atkins by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 2

    Caloric restriction with optimal nutrition. Currently this is the only method shown to extend the maximum lifespan of a variety of mammals. While it still can't be verified to extend maximum lifespan of humans, the current ongoing primate studies have so far shown the same effects as in mice and other animals. Humans on it have also shown the same changes in their body function as the other primates. If ones needs to improve their eating habits, might as well gain as much additional benifit from it as possible.

    --
    Everything will be taken away from you.
    1. Re:Perhaps a better option than atkins by Exito · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Strangely enough, the diet proposed above espouses the very thing that various studies have shown to be healthy: whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetable, lean protein (from lean meats and legums), and some amount of "healthy" fats such as monounsaturated oils.

      The biggest problem (in my opinion) is that people have a phobia about moderation. They want foods to be either "good" or "bad." For years people thought that fat was bad and instead pigged out on no fat desserts. I remember an episode when I was on an airplane, and the woman next to me told me that the no-fat cookie that we had been given was good. It looked disgusting to me, so I offered it to her. Instead of accepting it, she went off on a tirade about how it was perfectly okay for me to eat it because it fat-free and cholesterol-free and therefore was sin-free and guilt-free, while inwardly I was thinking that it was still full of sugar, and still looked disgusting. Those same kind of people also looked at me funny any time I ate nuts or avocados because they were bad "high-fat" foods.

      Now, instead, people have taken the opposite approach and are banning anything with carbs. My dad has seen fried pork rinds being advertised as a carb-free diet food!

      There are clearly health issues that go along with either extreme approach (e.g. diabetes and tryglicerides with simple carb diets and kidney and GI problems with high protein diets), but it seems people would rather cycle between the extremes than try to find a more sensible middle ground.

      Sorry if this is a bit lengthy, but this is an issue that has bugged me for a long time.

      --Exito

    2. Re:Perhaps a better option than atkins by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 1

      Strangely enough, the diet proposed above espouses the very thing that various studies have shown to be healthy: whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetable, lean protein (from lean meats and legums), and some amount of "healthy" fats such as monounsaturated oils.

      It's kind of a weird situation where I find myself eating more and varied foods than when I wasn't on it. I think that's the reason I've been able to stay on this. Junk food isn't a good idea with it, but pretty much anything else that isn't empty calories is fine. As long as one goes with what you mention, moderation.

      I've had a lot of the same situation you mention with nuts as well. They really seem to have gotten a very bad rap, despite being great for quite a few things including their fat content. As weird as it is coming from someone on a rather extreame diet with the caloric restriction, I really agree that moderation is the key.

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
  31. Atkins Trolls? by NineNine · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What I'm wondering, is with the overwhelming number of posts saying, "I'm on the Atkins diet! I'm thin, trim, good-looking, and healthy!", is the Slashdot audience really such a fat, lazy, gullible, stupid bunch, or are there a lot of people who work for Atkins posting here? This is very, very wierd.

    1. Re:Atkins Trolls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I'm wondering, is with the overwhelming number of your posts saying, "People on Slashdot are fat lazy bastards!" are you really this mean, do you have any friends and do you really have such a low opinion of other people? What's very very weird is the fact you don't get modded down.

    2. Re:Atkins Trolls? by dubl-u · · Score: 2

      is the Slashdot audience really such a fat, lazy, gullible, stupid bunch

      Speaking of trolls...

    3. Re:Atkins Trolls? by Tjp($)pjT · · Score: 1

      Atkins Trolls are not specifically mentioned. I'd assume they are high protein meat sources, so if your ethics and morals find "troll" appropriate meat it would probably be diet-acceptable.

      --
      - Tjp

      I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!

  32. optical turntables do exist by commodoresloat · · Score: 2
    Not cheap though. And unfortunately you can't skratch on these....
    1. Re:optical turntables do exist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah! But how well does it handle Monty Python's ``Matching Tie and Hankerchief''?

  33. Hate "and more" by maitas · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What I really hate about Slashback is the "and more" part, it forces me to read on just to be sure I'm not loosing anything... Please post the full abstract!

  34. my diet by RestiffBard · · Score: 2

    I eat two bagels in the morning with cream cheese, work like a dog all day, then I eat whatever I can find sometime around 6 or 7. Then maybe once a month I eat like a fly (as in nothing but sugar for a day). Basically the same weight I was in high school, 175 or so.

    --
    - /* dead coders leave no comments */
  35. For Sale by limekiller4 · · Score: 1

    Boy, if only they had put this much criticism into the so-called "Food Pyramid" which doesn't make one whit of distinction between a slice of white bread and a slice of whole-grain, maybe we wouldn't be in this ****ing mess.

    Of course there isn't any correlation between our governments lack of intervention in this scientific experimental disaster in which our populace played the part of the guinea pig and the fact that carbohydrates are dirt-cheap to manufacture and have the largest markup. We all know that our politicans are honest and would never, ever vote anything but their conscience no matter how much money you threw at them.

    Looked at the price of a box of cerial lately?

    If the low-carb craze wasn't pushed through (the sortid details are outlined in the original NYT article) by a lot of money provided by those who stood to gain, it sure as hell was kept there by it.

    Frankly, I know the right way to eat. Just look at any bodybuilder. No, I'm not suggesting that you should want to look like one, but Jesus, if anyone knows how to eat properly, find one and ask, it's no secret. Skinless chicken, baked potatoes with the skin still on, brown rice. Lather, rinse, repeat. Doesn't mean you have to be this extreme, but there is your foundation. Eliminate soda from your diet alone and you'll probably lose all the weight you want.

    And yes, I'm on the Atkins diet. Why?

    First, I believe that when you eliminate fats, you throw out the good as well as the bad. Actually, that's certain.

    Second, I have no gastrointestinal problems, ever. I had a pretty hard stomach to begin with, but it could be upset and to be blunt, zero gas now. None.

    Third, no sugar swings. This means I don't crash mid-day or ever, for that matter. I get hungry but it's more of an "oh, I'm hungry" sort of thing as opposed to "dear god I can't even think unless I get something to eat." I eat whenever I'm hungry and sometimes that is 2x a day (my meals are about 400 calories each) and sometimes it's 5x a day.

    No, I don't have constipation, though I don't doubt that some do. No, I don't smell funny, or at least the girlfriend has never thought so. Anyway, I'm rambling now.

    --
    My .02,
    Limekiller
    1. Re:For Sale by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 2

      Canada Food Guide says eat whole grain foods more often

      USDA Food Pyramid says eat more whole grains.

      Seriously, where do these stories come from?

      Low fat diets do not eliminate fats - it is recommended you that 30% of your calories come from fat by the USDA and Health Canada. They call it low fat because people usually eat >40% fat and that pushes our caloric intake too high.

      Skinless chicken, baked potatoes with the skin still on, brown rice That's what both guides recommend - whole grains, lean meats - what's the problem?

      Refined grains are mostly a problem because they are more calorically dense and lack vitamins, nutrients, and protein (I get 10-15% of my needed protein from whole grain bread).

      Hell's bells man, you speak of conspiracy theories - what about the vegans that (often correctly) say we don't need milk or meat for protein - soy and peanuts would work just as well.

      So who's really pulling the strings? The dairy and beef council or the cereal council?

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    2. Re:For Sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The greatest body builder in history, the only 8 time Mr Olympia winner, Lee Haney grew-up next door to me. My wife and I cooked plenty of meals for the kid when his mother was working. I never once saw him chose to eat potatoes or rice by choice unless there wasn't enough else to eat. He did eat a ton of (expensive) chicken breasts and sweet potatoes. When he was 12, and I was in my mid-40's, he was already lifting more weight than I was. I had also been lifting since before he had been born! He'll be the first to admit that pro body builders are gifted genetically, and you shouldn't blindly emulate them. For some people (like Sergio Oliva), they can eat the worst food (McDonalds and pizza each twice a day!) and still compete. Just because you hear about a bodybuilder eating potatoes, that doesn't mean it's a good idea!

    3. Re:For Sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blindly emulate? Even the great Ahhnold make that mistake! A quote from him:

      "I was pretty inexerienced - he says - so I was observing other bodybuilders' routine and tried to imitate them. There was a famous bodybuilder who smoked cigar and drank whisky, so I thought that if I did the same I'd be winning too! God, how awful I felt! So, I learned the hard way never to do that again, backstage, before a contest."

    4. Re:For Sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A Coward (aren't they all?) wrote:
      "For some people (like Sergio Oliva), they can eat the worst food (McDonalds and pizza each twice a day!) and still compete."

      You are positively out of your fucking mind, you don't have any clue what you're talking about.

    5. Re:For Sale by limekiller4 · · Score: 2

      The sequence is quite obvious and not at all a conspiracy theory.

      The government comes out with this guideline on it's own based on shoddy science. It was a knee-jerk reaction. Fat causes heart problems therefore we have to replace it with something, and carbs seemed the most innocuous. Look at the bulk of the chart, the bottom, the part you're supposed to take in the most of; bread, cerial, rice and pasta. Processed bread, cerial, rice and pasta is terrible for you, nevermind Atkins. Not a peep about "high-fiber" in there at all.

      The industry sees this and, naturally, says, "HOLY SHIT! THIS IS GREAT! It costs nothing to make a cookie, we slap 'low fat' on it and it'll sell for 40x what it costs to produce!!" You cannot do that with beef. It just won't sell. I don't care how much you spin it, nobody is going to pay $30/lb for beef. THEN, the low-fat myth is then advertized out the pooper. Pardon the double entendre. =) The consumer public sees Jack and Crap about 'high fiber' because it costs more. Why the hell would you push something that costs more to make and sells for less? Sure, it exists now, but as a niche item. Go to your nearest local highschool supermarket teller and ask how many loaves of Sunbeam she sells vs. Colon Blow Loaf.

      So now the food industry has an extremely lucrative thing going on. You think that they forgot about their lobbyists??

      No, no conspiracy theories. Just good business, really.

      I'm not saying that Atkins is necessarily the alpha and the omega of dietary solutions, but I am suggesting that the low-fat high-carb diet was foisted upon us due to an unfortunate meeting of four events; unprecedented American "concern" with health (early 80's, think "thigh warmers" and Olivia Newton John (or maybe you'd rather not)), a knee-jerk Congress, bad science and good old-fashioned capitalism.

      I'm a biiiiiiig believer in always following the money trail. And in this case, cash didn't sing, it fscking yodeled.

      Mmmm. Yodels. =)

      --
      My .02,
      Limekiller
  36. No bugs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So I guess with the release of XP SP1, there are no known bugs in Internet Explorer either?

  37. first :-) by e40 · · Score: 2

    Has anyone just asked Scott Fahlman if he remembers seeing it before his first use? It's not like he's hard to find or anything.

    1. Re:first :-) by xenocide2 · · Score: 2

      Of course if you'd read his easily found page he outright declares invention of the smiley. But just because I tell the world I wrote the first smiley doesn't make it true...

      --
      I Browse at +4 Flamebait

      Open Source Sysadmin

    2. Re:first :-) by TheLink · · Score: 2

      He could still be the first for the typographic smiley. Timothy and Grant might be jumping to wrong conclusion).

      Why? coz the message found at:
      http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A 2=ind 0110B&L=ads-l&P=R4596

      Is dated 2001 and is talking about the origins of the pictograph smiley (typograph is not mentioned in the message). And it is describing the 1953 print ad. The message sender is using typographic representations to describe it.

      The print ad had a heart shaped face - pictograph.
      And so it probably had pictographs for the smiley and frowny.

      The way to check is probably to look the ad up for ourselves.

      Anyone can help?
      Link.

      --
    3. Re:first :-) by MoNickels · · Score: 2

      I am Grant Barrett, and I can confirm the LinguistList message.

      Barry Popik was in China, Tibet and Mongolia (and is still there, I think), but I sent him a message asking him to confirm that it *was* a punctuation-based smiley and not a yellow-faced-Harvey-Ball-type smiley. In his original message, he used ":)" to desginate a smiley that appeared in the ad--but he confirms (from the airport at Ulaan Baatar, no less) that it *was not* the emoticon. It was the Harvey Ball-type smiley, the yellow round one. Therefore, my message to Timothy was misinformed, and the 1953 advertisement should *not* be considered an early appearance of the now-familiar ":)".

      --

      Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect

    4. Re:first :-) by MoNickels · · Score: 2

      Let me make this clear: The smiley in the LinguistList post is a rendering by Barry Popik. It is *not* shown that way in the original advertisement.

      --

      Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect

  38. Forget the diets and get out and PT! by baxshep · · Score: 1

    Get up an hour earlier and run 3 miles or better yet SWIM! Swim at least a 1000 meters (20 laps) a day and eat what you like and stay in shape.

  39. Re:Why Windows Has The Edge by penginkun · · Score: 1

    Ah, the Mac Classic...that was a great little computer. For $1,000 you got a machine with an 80mb hard drive and 2mb of RAM. It was expandible to double that. Wow. I bought one and it was my machine for several years. I'd love to have one again. I'd prefer an SE/30, but I'll take what I can get. This iMac is getting too fast for me. ;)

  40. Diets.... by NetJunkie · · Score: 2

    My problem with the Atkins diet is that people treat it as a diet. I've known many people to go on this diet and I think every one has put the weight back on. Why? They treat it as a diet. Yes, you lose weight but as soon as you go back to your old habits you'll get it right back. Those habits got you there in the first place. Three months of losing weight won't make you suddenly not gain weight when you go back to your old ways.

    Good health and keeping weight off requires a lifestyle change. Don't overeat and eat the things your body needs. Get some good exercise and do it right.

    Personally, I hit the gym almost every day. I enjoy it a lot. I also eat so much better than I did 5 years ago and I don't miss it one bit. It's not hard to eat healthy and you'll save money doing it instead of eating out all the time. Since 98% of Slashdot is men I recommend you check out Men's Health magazine. It has some very good info in it....

    1. Re:Diets.... by jheinen · · Score: 3, Informative

      Read the book. Your friends did not do Atkins. It's not a diet, it's forever. You don't go on Atkins for awhile to lose some pounds. The whole point is to change the way you eat forever.

      --
      -Vercingetorix
      "Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
  41. One Phat Man by FattMattP · · Score: 2

    Here's a site about a guy's struggles to lose weight. It looks like it worked for him. He talks a bit about what he did.

    --
    Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
    1. Re: One Phat Man by mutende · · Score: 2
      It looks like it worked for him.

      And here are two LC success stories:

      LC'ing has its own newsgroup, and there's also an IRC channel: #lowcarb @ irc.starchat.net.

      --
      Unselfish actions pay back better
    2. Re: One Phat Man by mutende · · Score: 2

      Sorry, Myra's photos are at http://photos.yahoo.com/myras.

      --
      Unselfish actions pay back better
  42. Re:Mozilla bugfixed. rah rah. Where's the DEB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you trolling or what?

    If you aren't contributing, and you aren't paying... then shut the fuck up. They don't owe you anything.

  43. There's no way that can be good for you by jcsehak · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's like 20 lbs a month. IANANutritionalist, but I hear that losing more than 10 lbs a month is too much of a shock to your system.

    Think about it--you can just stop eating and lose 41 lbs in a couple weeks. It doesn't make it healthy. You should really see your doctor and make sure everything's going okay.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:There's no way that can be good for you by Kintanon · · Score: 2

      Since he just started, 20lbs a month is not dangerous at all. Half of it is almost certainly water weight, the other half is probably real weightloss. If he's still losing more than 2lbs a week after being on the diet for 3-4 months, then he should make sure he's staying hydrated and make sure that he's not losing muscle mass for some reason.

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    2. Re:There's no way that can be good for you by Zeinfeld · · Score: 2
      Think about it--you can just stop eating and lose 41 lbs in a couple weeks. It doesn't make it healthy. You should really see your doctor and make sure everything's going okay.

      Actually what the nutritionists say is that you should not lose more than about 10% of your weight in a month which for normal sized people is about 10 lbs.

      If on the other hand you are 400lbs then 40lbs is within acceptable limits.

      --
      Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
      Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
  44. Last Week by DarthVeda · · Score: 1

    I visited a doctor and had a clean bill o' health.

    1. Re:Last Week by jcsehak · · Score: 1

      Wow, good for you. Make sure to take it easy though, and good luck!

      --

      c-hack.com |
  45. Well duh. by rweir · · Score: 1

    (On a side note, he has uncovered some evidence that Harvey Ball *did not* invent the familiar yellow-faced smiley.)"

    Everyone knows who invented the yellow smiley. :-)

  46. Lifestyle not diet by Pedrito · · Score: 2

    Atkins is okay as a diet, but a diet implies temporary. Low carb is a good way to lose weight at a reasonable speed (don't lose more than 8-10 pounds a month). High protein diets can eventually cause kidney stones. Drink lots of water, take vitamins, and eat as many veggies as the diet will allow, but it's also okay to take a break from it every once in a while.

    I'm currently in a break from my low-carb, fairly high protein diet. I've lost about 15 pounds in my first 2 months. Most of my carbs came from salads, though. That's really the best way to do it, and you do need multi-vitamins on this diet.

    I'm not an expert, and Jane Brody may know a lot, but for a long time, the mainstream doctors have been slamming Atkins and his diet, and a lot of them are starting to have second thoughts about that now.

    What it comes down to is that doctors know a hell of a lot less than a lot of them think they do. I remember in the 70's hearing so much about how salt was so bad for you. A lot of people actually tried to cut all the salt out of their diet. What happened? They died of heart attacks caused by a salt deficiency.

    Moderation, moderation, moderation (not the Slashdot kind). You can diet, but diet in moderation, and when you're off your diet, eat in moderation, and eat smart.

    1. Re:Lifestyle not diet by Reziac · · Score: 2

      I read the article. Brody wins this week's clueless award, for all the reasons someone upstream pointed out. And you're right, when it comes to nutrition most doctors refuse to believe anything they didn't read in a journal, no matter how it contradicts the available evidence.

      High protein diets in themselves do NOT cause kidney stones. We know that in dogs and cats you can induce kidney problems with a diet where all protein comes from chicken, but otherwise-healthy animals never have this problem on a meat-based diet. Chicken as the primary protein tends to skew the cysteine/methionine balance, which doesn't happen with red meat.

      Also, if your primary protein comes from certain sources, in particular hide, horns, and hooves, that WILL cause outright kidney failure. Personally, I don't know any humans on such a diet. -- That's been known since the meat shortage of WW2, when you couldn't get meat for pet food for any amount of money. That lead to Dr.Morris (Morris Research Foundation) developing a soy/grain-based stopgap diet for one of the guide dog schools. It wasn't healthy either, but at least it didn't kill the dog. (The soy-based diet unfortunately is still with us today in the form of bottom-end pet foods.)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  47. Re:FYI: Farscape Chat Now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    chat about this link: http://www.petitiononline.com/slash123/

    it's about doing something about michael's frontpage antics

  48. Found a Peanut by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a pEanut just NOW!!

  49. If you think Atkins is strange.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I only eat raw food. Raw beef, raw liver, raw vegetables. Go Raw Paleo! Check out
    http://www.rawpaleodiet.org

    Grunt....

    must go hunt now...

  50. my diet by Raven42rac · · Score: 1

    i try to adhere to the, "don't eat like a fucking pig" diet, it works fairly well for me

    --
    I hate sigs.
  51. Kilo, not Mega by stuffman64 · · Score: 2

    hmm... As any geek would know, this is only a "kilo-hour TiVo," not a "mega-hour TiVo" as the blurb states. For those who forgot thier prefixes, here is a short list of the powers-of-ten prefixes:

    10^3 - kilo
    10^6 - mega
    10^9 - giga
    10^12 - tera
    10^15 - peta
    10^18 - exa
    10^21 - zetta
    10^24 - yotta

    learn 'em and use 'em properly.

    --
    --- At my sig, unleash hell.
  52. Atkins - did she bother reading the book? by HBI · · Score: 1

    Dr. Atkins spends most of his time talking about vitamins, not food. He is cognizant of the fact that the diet he offers is not fully balanced. This is why he describes in detail a vitamin regimen intended to speed metabolism and fill in the holes a high-protein diet won't.

    He doesn't encourage you to eat fat. He encourages you to not care much about it - eat it if it's a part of foods that you can eat on his diet - such as eggs. But he hardly suggests tossing lard atop your bacon.

    The article is poorly researched and a typical knee-jerk reaction of the dietary thought police.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  53. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  54. ULTRA BRAND NEW�The Gold Star Diet! by jcsehak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you overweight, and lack the motivation to get some exercise? Have you tried all the other diets out there, and none of them seem to work? Do you get jealous when you see pictures of Ethiopians and Auschwitz prisoners? Do you think to yourself "if only I was oppressed, I could finally look like a supermodel, like I've always wanted?"

    Well have I got the diet for you! It's called "The Gold Star Diet." Here's how it works: for just $2999.95/month, you get a personal trainer to follow you around all day, not allowing you to eat anything but stale bread crusts and moldy soup! He'll curse at you, strip you naked, shave your head, and call you by a number! Pretty soon, you'll lose all your self-respect! That is, if you're one of the few who starts out this diet with any. But that's not all! You also get 14 free mirrors to hang up around your house, so you'll never forget how imperfect you are!


    Sickening.

    --

    c-hack.com |
  55. No known security holes in mozilla. Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know of one. The bug is totally open and I believe it was recently fixed. I'll leave it as an exercise for people to find, but I will say the bug report is still labelled as NEW and it has a patch which has been reviewed and super reviewed (I'm not 100% sure if it has been applied to the nightlies).

    It's kind of cool to see the getters in action but the page with the exploiting code was recently taken down for some reason.

    I know, I know, people will say "This is just FUD". I am not a fuddy duddy! Believe me, the hole is there, you can find it too if you look for it. It's open source after all and I think I've given you more than enough information to find it quite easily.

  56. A possible alternative to Atkins by Shimatta1 · · Score: 1

    One diet that uses methods somewhat similar to Atkins diet is the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet (http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com). Rather than cutting out carbs entirely, you eat them only during one meal each day. Doing this cuts down on on the cravings certain people get from carbohydrate rich diets. While I haven't really lost weight on it yet (I think; I have to go to the hospital to weigh myself as I weigh ~380 lbs, so I can't do it often), I have lost all urge to snack between meals, and can be satisfied with a small breakfast and dinner and a moderate lunch...and I often skip the breakfast. Since the diet is low-fat and lets you eat carbs at one meal a day, it should answer many of the objections raised by the good doctor in the article. If interested, I encourage you to check out their website: http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com

    1. Re:A possible alternative to Atkins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, get off that shit. it sounds really dangerous. If all your carbs for the day are in one meal, you are sure to get a blood sugar spike and probably a crash.

      And like many are saying, you gotta read the Atkins book before you go around acting like you know what it is. You do eat carbs on Atkins, but mainly the ones that have the most vitamins! And he explains very clearly that you are going to cause yourself trouble if you try to do low carbs AND low fat.

      You need fat! Low fat is BS. When is anything in life ever so simple as "eat fat equals get fat"? Never. It's BS.

      Anyway, no i don't work for him, but i lost a few belt notches, all my clothes are too big, and no more afternoon doldrums, rare gas, nice even energy all day. Even if you don't need to lose weight, it's worth it for these benefits alone.

    2. Re:A possible alternative to Atkins by CuratorTom · · Score: 1

      I lost 80 pounds in 10 months on the CarboAddicts program, and have kept them off for the last year. My cholesterol dropped through the floor and my blood sugar dropped to normal levels. (For fellow Type-2s, my last HA1C was 5.1%.) It's much more balanced than other low-carb diets. (I call it a high-veggie diet masquerading as a low-carb diet.) For my money, it works. (As a side note, I gonna smack the next person that says "Just eat less and exercise more." Some people have no idea how hard exercise is when you're grossly overweight. Nor how punishing it can be on your body. Nor do they understand what real carb cravings are like. However, when you stop subsisting on sugar and starches, those craving start to go away.) (As another side note, I'm also gonna smack the next person that loses 30 pounds and thinks they know all about weight loss. You don't. You don't have a clue what someone who weighs over 300 pounds is up against.) For the insanely curious, my health info is at tom.carlson.org/health/.

    3. Re:A possible alternative to Atkins by CuratorTom · · Score: 1

      And you need to read the CarboAddict book before declaring it dangerous. That one meal with carbs combines them with proteins and fats and fiber to slow the absorption. There's also a one hour time limit on that meal, which limits your body to one sugar spike, and one resulting insulin spike. The spikes happen every time you eat carbs. Eat 'em all day, you'll have spikes all day.

  57. Yellow smiley? by The+Bungi · · Score: 1
    On a side note, he has uncovered some evidence that Harvey Ball *did not* invent the familiar yellow-faced smiley

    Well of course not. It was Forrest Gump. Everybody knows that!

    1. Re:Yellow smiley? by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 0

      dang, I get like 3 post from the end and someone beat me to this.

      Yes Forest Gump invented the smiley face. Everyone knows this. They based a whole movie on it. Though most of the film was fluff I guess it had to be done to get the real story of the smiley face out to the public.

  58. work out by asv108 · · Score: 2
    For me, I love food too much so I just work out 5x a week at about 45 mins a pop. There is no reason anyone here can't work out 45mins a day. As long a you have reasonable genes you should be able work out and eat a decent amount of while maintaining good form.

    Common Behavior

    • Some people have terrible metabolism and require strict diets.
    • Some people go to the gym and stick their thumb in their ass for an hour, don't even try to work out unless you plan on pushing yourself.
    • Other people go to the gym, and then go home and eat a large pizza by themselves.
    If if work out a a few times a week and don't eat a ridiculous amount of food, the weight will come off, but it doesn't happen overnight. Expect to see some results after four weeks, but don't expect the world. Good things take time, I managed to loose nearly 50 pounds in six months by just working out, five days a week.
    1. Re:work out by edremy · · Score: 2

      There is no reason anyone here can't work out 45mins a day.

      Don't have an infant in the house, do you? :^)

      My son was ~6 months before I was able to exercise regularly, and that was mostly because my neighbor convinced me to get up before the sun to go run once he was sleeping through the night. It's virtually impossible to get up and exercise when you've been awake at 1 and 4AM, you don't have time at work and you deal with the baby in the evening since your wife is exhausted.

      I can get in 30 minutes 3x a week right now, but I really need to add another session or two for strength work.

      --
      "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
  59. Obligitory simpsons reference by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 2

    So who's really pulling the strings? The dairy and beef council or the cereal council?

    The The Egg Council/Advisory Board of course!

    Homer: So one of those Egg Council creeps got to you too, huh?
    Lenny: Aw, you've got it all wrong, Homer. It's not like that.
    [a man in an egg costume creeps, then runs, away]
    Homer: You'd better run, egg!

    --
    Everything will be taken away from you.
    1. Re:Obligitory simpsons reference by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 2

      Heheh - eggs get a bad rap - that episode was hilarious because people are really confused about eggs.

      egg yolks are *extremely* good for you - second only to cottage cheese for an animal based protein source.

      However, the yolks are very high in cholesterol.

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
    2. Re:Obligitory simpsons reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      egg yolks are *extremely* good for you - second only to cottage cheese for an animal based protein source.

      However, the yolks are very high in cholesterol.


      Serum cholesterol doesn't usually come from consumed cholesterol; it's produced by the body.

  60. Works for me too by gidds · · Score: 2, Informative
    I'm not following Atkins exactly, just limiting myself to foods that are 10% carb or less (a friend recommended it to me after losing several stone). And in 2 months I've lost a stone and a half! (That's 21 pounds for you Yanks.) What's more, I'm eating as much as I want, and it's encouraged me to eat a lot healthier: far more fresh veg, etc.

    To answer a couple of other points: the water loss only lasts as long as your glycogen -- less than 2 days. After that, you can lose muscle along with fat (though this is true of low-fat and low-calorie diets too, even more so), but most low-carb diets recommend exercise to prevent this. (Yes, I mentioned the `E' word, but it needn't be too frightening. I'm doing 15 minutes' worth a day at home, where no-one can see, and it's working for me. Based on the programme in The Hacker's Diet, but simplified and extended.)

    And it's not just a standard low-calorie diet; for one thing, carbs give you an appetite. One of the characteristics of low-carb diets is that you don't feel as hungry.

    I'm no endocrinologist. All I know is, it's working for me, and for everyone I know who's tried it.

    --

    Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.

  61. Ketosis also has benefits to health by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Try telling that to a nurse who works in a dialysis center. After (s)he get's done laughing they'll punch you in the face. Ketosis causes kidney failure. What, do you think ketones are easy for your body to handle, harmless little buggers floating around? Take organic chemistry sometime, ketones are HIGHLY reactive and WILL fuck up pretty much anything they come in contact with. If you don't believe me soak your head in acetone (di-ethyl ketone) for a while. This is the main danger of Atkins-type diets.

    1. Re:Ketosis also has benefits to health by starman97 · · Score: 2

      That's why you drink 8 glasses of water a day, to piss them out. At the Kidney center, they have to hook people to a machine once a day to 'piss' them..

      Needless to say, if you could only take a leak once a day, you're going to have lots of nasty stuff in your system all day. And probably not gonna drink your 8 glasses of water a day either, so you concentrate all the wastes in your system.

      --
      Starman97@Gmail.com (bring it on spammers)
    2. Re:Ketosis also has benefits to health by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have normal kidney function and are adequately hydrated, ketosis has no negative effect on your body. Ketoacidosis (which type 1 diabetics get when they don't take insulin... and I've been there, and it sucks) is deadly, and many people (even those in the medical field) confuse the two. They have actually done studies on long term ketosis, and it's not a problem. Some civilizations, like Eskimos (high fish protein diet, low carb), live in never-ending ketosis.

    3. Re:Ketosis also has benefits to health by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try telling that to a nurse who works in a dialysis center. After (s)he get's done laughing they'll punch you in the face. Ketosis causes kidney failure

      Wrong. Ketoacidosis causes kidney failure. Ketosis is a completely different issue (it just means the body is burning fat for some metabolic functions instead of using glucose, resulting in the presence of ketone bodies), and is generally heathy.

      Your comment about "soak your head in acetone" to show the "dangers" of ketosis makes about as much sense as soaking your head in liquid sodium or chlorine bleach to show the dangers of eating healthy levels of salt.

  62. TAPEWORM DIET and Dieting TIMELINE! by xintegerx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Interesting STUFF
    From http://fitfat.ctvnews.com/interactive/timeline/che wycenter_timeline.html
    VERY INTERESTING:

    1997 - The American magazine Psychology Today's body image survey finds that 15 per cent of women and 11 per cent of men in the U.S. said they'd be willing to give up at least five years of their life in exchange for the ability to reach their desired weight. That same year Redux or Fen-phen is taken off the market after studies link it to heart valve disease.

    EARLIER HIGH-FAT LOW-CARBS DIETS:

    1900 to 1920 - Although unconfirmed, there is reason to believe that TAPEWORM diet pills were marketed in the U.S. during the first two decades of the 20th century. Women allegedly swallowed "magic" diet pills that were actually TAPEWORMS in capsules. After they had shed enough pounds, women would take deworming pills to rid themselves of the parasite. (!!!)

    1961 - Herman Taller's Calories Don't Count, which recommends a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates is a best seller in the U.S.

    1967 - Physician Irwin Stillman publishes The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet. He advocates a high-protein, low-carb diet, but includes a recommendation to drink 10 eight ounce glasses of water per day to combat "water loss." Twenty million people try it.

    1972 - Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest coins the terms "junk food" and "empty calories" in reference to candy, snacks and soda.

    Snapple introduces a new bottled fruit drink that is marketed as an healthier alternative to soft drinks.

    And Robert Atkins publishes Diet Revolution which advocates eating all the fat you want as part of a high protein, low-carb diet. It quickly becomes a bestseller. (In 1992, he re-issues pretty much the same exact book.)

    1982- Jane Fonda's Workout video is credited with creating the phenomenon of exercise videos. After selling millions of copies the tape was discontinued by the manufacturer after many of Jane's moves were found to be unsafe (!!!!)

    1995 - North America sees a resurgence of low-carb, high-protein diets. (Back to this again!)

    Also interesting : Bulemia first discussed in 1926, Anorexia brought to light in 1983 when a celebrities dies on stage; in 1929, Candy TV Ads say "candy is good for you."

    1. Re:TAPEWORM DIET and Dieting TIMELINE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      umm, hate to ask, but who was the unfortunate person that died on stage due to Anorexia?

    2. Re:TAPEWORM DIET and Dieting TIMELINE! by ces · · Score: 2

      Karen Carpenter.

      --
      Happy Fun Ball is for external use only.
    3. Re:TAPEWORM DIET and Dieting TIMELINE! by SmokeSerpent · · Score: 1
      From WormLearn:

      As for the dietary benefits of tapeworms, large parasites like the beef tapeworm and Ascaris certainly do compete for us for nutrients. However, like any method of starvation, they tend to rob us of micronutrients (like vitamins) before they get to the stuff we don't really need. Signs of infection with large tapeworms (especially with the broad fish tapeworm, Diphyllobothrium latum) include conditions associated with vitamin B12 deficiency (eg. megaloblastic anaemia). Just to make matters worse, one of the symptoms of have a large lump of tapeworm protein in one's guts is to generate an immune response and the resultant ascites - a collection of fluid in the abdomen resulting in a pot belly - not exactly the look that the dieters are looking for.
      --
      All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  63. I Drink Like a Fish by goingware · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I have often heard advice that one should drink lots of water, especially on diets.

    I have always thought it very odd that some people have to make an effort to drink more water.

    I don't know why, but I have been thirsty all my life. Even since I was a small child. I constantly crave water. So I drink it, gallons per day. That's where the Coca Cola I mentioned above comes in. I also pee with great frequency.

    It happens that one of the warning signs of diabetes is uncontrollable thirst. I've been tested a number of times for diabetes and have been found to be normal.

    The last time I had my blood sugar checked I brought up my hypoglycemia with the nurse who tested me, and she said to eat a good lunch and have a couple snacks in the afternoon, which helps when I remember it but never made the problem go away. The only thing that did help was to increase the amount of protein in my diet and (ironically) reducing the carbohydrates.

    I am never without a beverage at hand. Unfortunately, this is often coffee which I know is bad for me, especially in the quantity I drink it (2 or 3 pots a day). But I drink lots of pure water too. (Note that I was drinking just as much coffee before I started losing weight - I weighed 250 for about seven years.)

    Many people on diets drink artificially sweetened sodas, but I find artificial sweeteners to taste foul. Nowadays when I'm out driving or something and stop into a convenience store for something to drink, I buy a mineral water.

    I recently discovered some flavored but completely unsweetened carbonated waters from Poland Springs. They are flavored with the essential oils of various fruits and berries, like mandarin orange and raspberry.

    --
    -- Could you use my software consulting serv
    1. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by Reziac · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Firstoff, I just read the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/health/nutrition /10BROD.html?8vd, and was struck by the lack of basic *biochemical* knowledge. Stuff I learned about zero-carb diets in first year college biochem classes, fer ghu's sake!

      But in general, more protein means less appetite, even if you stay within the limits of normal nutritional balance.

      As to your thirst -- some people's systems don't conserve water well. A high-fibre *or* low-protein diet exacerbates this by keeping more water in the intestine and losing more water in stool volume. (You can QUADRUPLE how much water a dog requires per day, and how much it pees, just by stupidly switching it from a meat-based diet to a soy-based diet!!) And for some people, coffee is a diuretic. But if I were you, I'd have my kidney function checked, just in case.

      Another cause of excessive thirst is not getting enough salt. If you can't seem to get enough water no matter how much you drink, particularly if your throat feels dry and tight, try eating a very small pinch of salt (or dry gatorade mix). If that more or less cures your thirst, your salt balance was off and you really needed the salt.

      As to the hypoglycemia, that, and uncontrollable munchies, are common when people eat refined carbs before noon (typical cereals, donuts, toast, etc.) Have a peanut butter sandwich or a hamburger or leftover pizza for breakfast, and as you've discovered, the problem goes away!!

      Note: Soy protein doesn't count, as it's not well-utilized and tends to lead to amino acid imbalances (producing "cravings"). Plus it's a broad-spectrum allergin and in excess can bollux your immune system.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    2. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by shinji1911 · · Score: 1

      Many people on diets drink artificially sweetened sodas, but I find artificial sweeteners to taste foul.

      They do indeed. The surprising thing is, at least from personal experience, that with prolonged exposure, the metallic and plasticky aftertaste of artificial sweeteners has gone away. Admittedly, this is with two weeks of probably 6+ cans a day of every diet soda under the sun that you can possibly imagine, and it was fairly foul at the beginning, getting less noticable toward the end of the two weeks.

      My advice, at least if you have a sweet tooth like me, is to stick with the diet drinks -- they eventually end up tasting (subjectively at least for me) indistinguishable from the "real" sodas.

    3. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhg. Replace one substance that can be processed by the body with one you can't. If you're going to cut out sugared soft drinks, you should at least replace them with something resonably healthy. Fruit juices are often at least as sweet as most soft drinks and are a heck of a lot better for you. It would've likely been far better to get in that habit than just simply switching from sweetened to artificially sweetened.

    4. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 2

      > The only thing that did help was to increase the
      > amount of protein in my diet and (ironically)
      > reducing the carbohydrates.

      Nothing ironic about it. Atkins' books explain the effect pretty well.

      People like you (and me) have a defect in the insulin receptors on our fat cells. Eat carbs, and your body produces insulin normally -- but the receptors don't get the message very well, and the sugars aren't absorbed. Your blood sugar rises, prompting the secretion of even more insulin. Finally, you've digested and stored all the sugars -- but there's still insulin left in your system. So the cells keep absorbing sugars, converting them into lipids, causing your blood sugar to swing abnormally low.

    5. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by aolsheepdog · · Score: 1

      I too drink like a fish. I'm not sure why. I've had myself tested for diabetes with negative results. Because of my job, I get numerous full physicals and tests are always negative for anything bad. One thing that I found interesting is that my daughter (now 21/2) also drinks like a fish. She'll say she's thirsty and drink a 12 oz. sippy cup in one gulp. Must be genetic.

      As far as diet soda goes, go cold turkey from the sugar based stuff. Once you switch, you won't be able to drink regular soda because it tastes like syrup. It takes about 2 weeks to get used to the diet stuff. You can also try a couple of the "normal" tasting diet sodas. Fresca and diet root beer are drinkable according to my friends that drink sugared soda.

    6. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by LetterJ · · Score: 2

      Seek out sode that is sweetened with Splenda rather than Nutrasweet. Splenda has a much more natural (read sugary) taste than Nutrasweet. Right now it's primarily the Diet Rite products, but there's a variety of flavors.

    7. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by Fjord · · Score: 2

      The problem is that you have to drink even more water than you would to remain unthirsty. You have to force yourself to drink a lot of water. There are more reasons than then that kidney stones.

      - Animal protein makes urine more acidic, which can eventually lead to kidney failure

      - Protein leaches calcium from your body. This is one of the reasons why milk can be bad for you: if you aren't geting enough magnesium to be able to process the calcium from milk into bone, then the protein will actually remove calcium from you body. Note: it is the calcium excreted via your urine that forms the kidney stones the parent talks about.

      One thing I will say about this is that these "facts" are under debate w.r.t. humans. When dealing with other species these problems are very well documented by species (iguanas cannot have any animal protein in their diet because of kindey failure, dogs should eat mostly slightly decomposed meat with some vegetables, ferrets should only eat meat), but humans are harder to experiment with than animals. Still, IMO, the evidence falls more on this side than the "high protein is okay" side.

      --
      -no broken link
    8. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      also splenda dosnt blur your vision or fuck up your blood sugar like Nutersweet does. I know from personal experiance.

    9. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by WotanKhan · · Score: 1

      Its no surprise you are often thirsty if you try to quench your thirst with coffee and coca-cola. Caffeine is a diuretic. That is something on the order of using gasoline to put out a fire.

    10. Re:I Drink Like a Fish by TrinSF · · Score: 2

      There are actually a number of drink companies using Splenda. Hansen's soda uses it; Snapple does in *some* flavors. Mostly it's the high-end boutique beverages. I thought it was just Diet Rite until I started actually looking at labels.

  64. Same atkins results here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, I've lost over 20lbs since that original article ran, my waist is down at least 2 sizes, and better yet - NO MORE FARTING.

    I'm not kidding. I used to be a chronic gas passer, it never stopped. Chalked it up to lactose intolerance. Guess what? On Atkins, I eat cheese with no problem, and have not (hardly) fleeped since I started.

    My girlfriend is very appreciative :) And she doesn't notice a change in body or breath odor.

  65. evidently I am a karma whore by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 2

    cuz I post links to insightful articles that are completely on-topic. Sorry, I guess I should stick to flaming and offtopic rants.

    Anyhow...

    Here is another link to an article critical of the Atkins diet. Nobody denies it works but it is essentially supported by anecdotal evidence - my man Randi taught me better than that!

    As far as I am concerned, we are losing sight of the basic truths of nutrition... quit looking for a quick fix and be sceptical of everything.

    I not only researched various diets - I also talked to people that had lost a lot of weight and kept it off for years.

    Here is what I ended up doing (I won't call it a diet - it's the way I live now):

    I went to Ask a Dietitian and used the healthy body calculator to calculate my caloric needs. I was very careful not to overestimate my daily activities. I arrived at a recommended daily caloric intake.

    I referenced that against the Canadian food guide to find out approximately how much I should eat each day from each category. For me, it was 6 ounces of lean meat, 2 servings of dairy, 6-8 servings of grains, and 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. This is what I eat six days per week. If I ate this seven days per week, I would lose 2 pounds per week.

    On one day per week, I pretty much eat what I want without gorging. The first few weeks I gorged until I was sick - now I'm not so bad. This really helps me stick to eating healthy because I know that for the rest of my life, I can occasionally eat snacks and not feel guilty!

    Based on this, I should lose no more than 2 pounds per week - however, thanks to exercise, I have lost a bit more - 10 pounds net. Based on my bodyfat changes, I have actually gained a little bit of muscle, so I have actually lost more than 10 pounds fat, but I'm too lazy to do the math.

    As I mentioned, exercise is important. I exercise 20 to 60 minutes, three times per week in addition to walking for 30 minutes (to and from the train to work) each day. I also weight train three times per week. On my eat-what-i-want day, I sit on my ass and play video games.

    I keep a food and exercise journal to help me keep track of what I eat. And if I slip, I don't freak out or give up - I move on.

    Here is the main thing I learned - there is no "one size fits all diet" - you have to do some research and decide what will work for you while filtering out the crap (fat blocker pills, ab rollers, etc). Talk to a registered dietitian (beware of nutritionists though) if you need help. If you are obese, talk to a Bariatric physician. Set small, realistic goals - don't say "I'm gonna lose 20 pounds in 4 weeks" - say "I'm gonna lose 5 pounds in 4 weeks".

    I now have lots of energy, feel great, look good, and my girlfriend says I don't look so pasty anymore and I'm more of a sexual Tyranosaurus now :) Every other diet I tried left me tired, weak, and/or nauseous.

    Once I have lowered my bodyfat, I intend to increase my caloric input again and continue to weight train to build more lean tissue and increase my basal metabolic rate.

    --
    Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
  66. I'm not that impressed with Brody by jjo · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I'm afraid that Brody is slanting the case a bit. It's interesting that she says

    in a major report last week, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies emphasized the importance of balance of nutrients...


    while the report actually says


    The lower limit of dietary carbohydrate compatible with life is apparently zero, provided that adequate amounts of protein and fat are consumed. However, the amount of dietary carbohydrate that provides for optimal health in humans is unknown.


    The report goes on to develop minimum carbohydrate reccomendations explicitly based on the need to avoid ketosis. Now, that may well be a worthwhile goal, and there are clearly some problems associated with ketosis (such as kidney stones), but one can hardly use that report as another, independent reason for rejecting high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets.
    1. Re:I'm not that impressed with Brody by 3am · · Score: 1

      The report goes on to develop minimum carbohydrate reccomendations explicitly based on the need to avoid ketosis. Now, that may well be a worthwhile goal, and there are clearly some problems associated with ketosis (such as kidney stones), but one can hardly use that report as another, independent reason for rejecting high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets

      Why not? High fat, low-carb diets almost certainly lead to ketosis. Seems like a rejection of Atkins style diets to me...

      --

      A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master merely stays out of the way.
  67. My experience with Atkins by dborod · · Score: 1

    I read the NYT article mentioned here in July, and started Atkins a couple of days later.

    I bought the book (quite easy to read but highly repetitive) and a carb counter to make sure I was keeping to the Atkins plan. (Being a meat-eater I've enjoyed the guilt-free steaks, and other juicy meat things.)

    The induction phase of Atkins, wherein you're limited to 20 grams of carbs per day, is quite restrictive from a food variety perspective: limited quantities of selected vegetables (3 cups per day of salad greens), almost any kind of meat you like, some cheese, fish, and some seafood.

    I've found food shopping rather boring as there isn't much food that you can buy that is acceptable, but on the other hand it doesn't take long.

    I've lost about 16 pounds in the approximately 9 weeks since I started and I feel great: more energetic, better sleep, less grumpy. I've also been commuting to work and home by walking (1.5 hours/day).

    I had my cholesterol checked a couple of weeks after starting the diet (I should have checked it before I started), and I'll get it checked again in a few months to see if there is a change.

    I'm finding the severe lack of variety in my diet a bit difficult when dining out, going to parties and such, but I feel that the results are worth it.

  68. On high-protein diets. by nels_tomlinson · · Score: 2
    It's my understanding that the Atkins diet is a high-protein, high-fat diet. The ultimate would be to live entirely on meat and fat; say, seal, whale and walrus meat. That's what the Eskimos did all around the Arctic coast. They still eat a lot of whale today.

    Vilhjalmar Stefanson (Can't find any links!) wrote at least one book about his travels in the Alaskan and Canadian arctic. He mentioned several times that the Eskimos ate an all-meat, no-carbohydrate diet, with a very high fat content. He claimed that they maintained wonderful health on this diet, and attempted to prove it to doubters on his midwestern campus (he was an anthropology graduate student) by living on such a diet through a hot summer there while he finished his dissertation. He believed that the high-fat part was essential.

    1. Re:On high-protein diets. by TrinSF · · Score: 2

      It's my understanding that the Atkins diet is a high-protein, high-fat diet.

      It's my understanding that Atkins is a high-protein, don't-worry-so-much-about-fat diet. Early in the Atkins history there was more of an emphasis on high-fat, but that's mostly gone at this point. However, there are also several other low-carb strategies that are lower-fat.

      It's not *either* high carb *or* high fat. You can have a reasonable low carb, low glycemic index way of eating that isn't high fat.

  69. Unsustainable? by Patik · · Score: 1
    raising serious questions about whether Atkins-style diets are dangerous and unsustainable.
    Of course it's unsustainable. You'll go into kitosis (inability to process carbs) if you eat nothing but protein permanently. When you do the Atkins diet, you're only supposed to do it for 2-4 weeks, then slowly eat more carbs for a couple weeks, then do it again, and only do a few of these cycles at a time. This way you don't get kitosis, but you spend an awful lot of time not eating carbs.
    1. Re:Unsustainable? by second+class+skygod · · Score: 1

      You're not an Atkins dieter, are you? The point of the diet is to acheive ketosis and remain there. You start with a very low carb intake (the "induction" phase) and work up to as many carbs as you can handle without killing the ketosis state. If you find that you're having trouble maintaining ketosis, then you try the induction phase again.

      I've lost 40 lb on the Atkins diet in 5 months.
      It works as advertised.

    2. Re:Unsustainable? by balthan · · Score: 1

      Actually, eating nothing but protein will knock you out of ketosis, assuming you eat a "normal" amount of calories.

  70. Atkins by LRJ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I must have debates on this diet at least 3 times a week and most people that I have these debates with don't really know anything about it (hmmmm...sounds kinda like /.) The high protien, low carb part of this diet is really only for the first couple of weeks. The purpose of this 'induction' period is to train your body to start burning fat instead of carbs - like it's supposed to. After your body has relearned what to process for energy, you are supposed to gradually add carbs back into your diet.

    My wife has been heavier set most of her life and has worked VERY hard (LARGE amounts of excercise and watching everything she eats) to try and control this as long as I have known her - mostly to know avail (anybody that didn't know her would never believe she's a fitness nut). She also had reservations about this diet (for many of the same reasons stated in the above article), even after a good friend of ours started showing excellent results after being on it for a couple months (we're still wondering who stole the other half of that fat man =). Her first attempt was too try and integrate some of the ideas into her current diet but she saw no results and kinda gave up on it. After some persistance from our friend, and after I did a bunch of research on the net, we finally got her to just try it fully. Within three weeks she was definitely seeing results and not all of it was weight loss. She also has (had) problems with Rosacia (adult acne) but she hasn't had a flare-up since being on the diet. She has also had irregular periods almost all her adult life but since starting the diet she's been on time - to the day! Her energy level is also completely different. She has always been a high energy person but it was like a fake energy (just do something to be doing something), now she's has the same type of energy but she can actually focus it now - she also actually seems to make more intelligent decisions and doesn't fly off the handle over stupid things as much either (because she thinks about it first).

    My opinion is that this diet, like any diet, may not work for everybody but for some people it's exactly what they need. If you are overweight you're already unhealthy anyways so I don't think trying this diet for a few weeks is going to be any more unhealthy for you than lugging around all that extra weight.

    --
    LRJ
  71. The Umemployed StoneNT diet. by Stonent1 · · Score: 1

    This worked for me.

    Go to bed at about 4:00am after talking to your friend in China. Wake up at noonish. Make a quad espresso with about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of whole milk and 2 packets of sweet n low. And you won't be hungry. Then right before / after / or during dinner have another. I dropped weight like a Tiajuana Crack Whore. This diet also includes snacks of Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Mountain Dew. The massive caffeine intake keeps your metabolism in overdrive. I would eat and be starving at about 2 in the morning but just went to sleep.

  72. mod this guy up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He is asking the right questions and saying the right things.

    This article is just a repeat of every anti-Atkins article that has come out in the last 30 years. Nothing is new. The sad part is that Atkins addresses all these issues, but NUTRITIONALISTS CAN'T READ. If they did, they might come up with some better or original articles.

    BTW, undigested fat (notice the word undigested), comes out from the bowel. Ketones come out in the urine, and if you don't drink enough water, will come out in your breath, which is why Atkins dieters have a reputation for bad breath if you don't drink enough water (drink a gallon a day, on ANY diet). Ketones are what the body produces when fat breaks down. If you aren't in ketosis, you aren't really losing weight.

    Also, anyone who still wants more scientific proof should read Protein Power by the Eades.

  73. Atkins article in NYT by tomdarch · · Score: 2
    Read the original article closely! (You'll be one of 20 or so people who seem to have done so). The article did not actually contain evidence that the Atkins diet was good. Rather the article talked about the lack of study of the system.

    If nothing else, Atkins himself turns me off to anything he puts forth. It may be the product of years of frustration, but he comes across as being anti-scientific. He has closely honed his 'used car salesman' pitch. What I've heard him say, and the way that he propogandistically avoids commenting on real scientific research leads me to not find him trustworth, and by extension I don't find his 'product' trustworthy.

    Eat your broccolli and go for a brisk walk.

    1. Re:Atkins article in NYT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Unscientific? Hardly.

      Did you notice the pages and pages of studies cited in the book? Have you read http://atkinscenter.com fact vs. fallacy section?

      You doofus.

      What you call "unscientific" is actually the process of making this very scientific stuff accessible to everyday folks so they can actually benefit from it...

      just because he doesn't use big words all the time he's wrong? you are a doofus.

    2. Re:Atkins article in NYT by 0xA · · Score: 2

      Anti-scientific is an interesting term to use. I saw the same thing but it actually attracted me to his ideas.

      Seems to me like for every good scientist out ther there are 6 idiots / media whores. I think that a good scientist who is presented with a body of information that conflicts with thier own would suggest more reseasrch or prehaps that they should work together with the other to form a better theory.

      That isn't what is going on here, Atkins is being dismissed as a fool out of hand. He comes off as being a little bitter about it, I don't blame him.

  74. Here is a link by rnd() · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The original article on the Atkins diet from the times makes some very valid points, however I think it misleads the reader in one respect: by showing evidence that the low-fat high-carb food pyramid is flawed and then concluding that the logical alternative is to eat a high-fat low-carb diet, a la Dr. Atkins.

    In reality, studies have shown that both high-carb and high-fat diets can lead to health problems.

    Keep in mind, the original food pyramid myth was promoted because of discoveries during the Vietnam war that American 18 year olds had tons of plaque built up on their arteries and 18 year-old Vietnamese did not. The conclusion that was drawn was that the American high-fat diet was the cluprit. Hence, the food pyramid as we know it.

    However, if you think about what the research has actually shown, the ideal diet is as follows:

    Lots of vegetables, some high-fiber grains, and a small amount of meat, preferably fatty fish.

    Now think for a moment about the nutritional conditions that existed during the majority of human evolution. We were engineered by evolution to consume a diet very much like the ideal diet described above. Of course, exercise is critical to health as well, and our ancestors got plenty of that in the course of their daily lives.

    --

    Amazing magic tricks

  75. Atkins Article by Fugly · · Score: 4, Funny

    How can you write an article arguing against use of the Atkins diet and miss the obvious and deadly mental health problem it presents?

    You can't drink beer for two weeks!!!

    I'd rather be a fatass than sober...

    1. Re:Atkins Article by jedinite · · Score: 2

      You can now:

      Michelob Ultra.

      "Michelob Ultra is a smooth, refreshing lager with 96 calories, 4.1 percent alcohol by volume and 2.9 grams of carbohydrates per 12-oz. serving."

      And personal note: I've been on Atkins for two months (since the Atkins NYT Article previously discussed here) and have lost 25 pounds as of today. No ill effects. And for the first diet in my life, I haven't felt "starved" or "deprived" once.

      --

      ---------
      There is no try at jedinite.com
  76. Ditching the Coke did the most good I bet by Brian+Stretch · · Score: 2

    I cut waaaay back on the refined sugar, as in no more sugary soft drinks, candy, cakes, and all that, and dropped 1-2 pounds/week for several weeks, wound up stabilizing about 20 pounds lighter, about where I ought to be. And I stopped getting sick stomach, which used to be a big problem. Mix sugar with yeast (fresh bread, pizza crust, etc) and Bad Things happen. (My homepage is waaay out of date and somewhat inaccurate in case anyone bothers reading it.)

    Other than cutting out the refined sugar I didn't do a whole lot. I still go through most of a bad of Doritos or Sun Chips a week (not quite as fattening as potato chips but far from health food), I still eat pizza... turned out to be pretty easy to stick to. I should excercise just to build muscle mass and feel better, 10 minute brisk walks around the neighborhood help noticibly but I skip them way too much... anyhow, Refined Sugar Is Bad.

    A few rounds of UT:2003 do wonders in terms of waking me up too. Heh. Too bad games are banned at work :-).

  77. Laser Turntable by ian_po · · Score: 1


    A Japanese company makes an analog laser turntable that promises supieror sound via optical scaning of the record surface.

    Although it does not scan the entire surface of the record in one shot, that could be a viable alternative to the laser technology which is still quite expensive coming it at around $10,000.

  78. Low carbohydrate mythology, and where to real info by freerangegeek · · Score: 3, Informative
    I've been researching and using forms of ketogenic dieting for YEARS now. I highly recommend Lyle McDonald's book on the subject if you really want to understand what metabolic changes go on, and how you body adapts to the lack of carbohydrates. I have no financial interest in this book, I'm just an extremely satified customer.

    I'm not going to rehash all of the information he gives, except to say that this diet has worked wonders for me, allowing me to reach goals of weight loss without sacrificing strength.

    To rebut the article. Ketones have never made be 'nauseus'. Instead, I find that when ketogenic dieting my hunger is blunted, not removed. The swings that sugar and insulin cause in my body go away. That alone is worth the effort.

  79. Any negative experiences on the diet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Positive subjective anecdotes about this diet abound.

    Anyone have any negative or no-difference experiences?

  80. MYTH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The need for lots of water in your diet is a complete myth, according to the NIH, NAS and USDA.

    http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/diet.fitness/05/24/ cohen.water.otsc/

    As for the whole weight thing. I weigh more than 400lbs, stand just under six feet tall, never EVER excersize. I sit almost all day except at night when I lay down and sleep. I eat pizza and soda and hamburgers and fish and chips and fries and burritos and everything else that is bad. I never eat healthy food. No salad no fruit no vegetables.

    And every time I have my physical, my doctor reports the same. I have excellent cholesterol and everything else. Better than most healthy people.

  81. Let me try to state this another way by RebornData · · Score: 2

    Since so many people seem to be missing (or willfully ignoring) the point:

    1. Obesity is bad. Everyone agrees on this.
    2. Reducing the number of calories you eat or increasing the number of calories you burn is the only way to lose weight, short of liposuction. Everyone agrees on this.
    3. High protein/fat foods have a higher satiety value, and eating a diet consisting largely of them is an effective way of reducing caloric intake for many people. This is the point of the Atkins diet, and even it's critics agree that it works in this fashion.

    OK, here's where things start to differ.

    1. There are numerous studies showing that a high fat diet is bad for you. Here's the part most people are skipping over: THIS IS NOT RELATED TO OBESITY. Fat has negative effects on other parts of your body than your waistline. So you can be skinny on Atkins, but that doesn't mean you will be healthy in the long term. Studies on the effect of eating a diet high in animal protein and fat are well-established.

    2. The "obesity epidemic" in America does not automatically mean that there is some basic flaw in the science behind the diet that has been promoted in the past 30 years. What it points out is that the food pyramid and other education techniques in use have not been effective in helping people eat healthy, balanced diets. While yes, it's good to reduce fats, fat has been demonized to the point that people think avoiding fat is all they have to do. BZZZZT. Yes, carbohydrates should be the basis of a healthy, balanced diet, but that doesn't mean you can eat them with abandon.

    So not only have we been harmed by too-simple explanations of how to eat a healthy diet, the food industry has actively exploited this to sell us lots of very profitable food that has the patina of health ("Now with less fat!") but is in fact still junk food that will make you fat if you eat too much of it.

    This is all about psychology, marketing, and capitalism. It's not about biology. It's very likely that it's harder to limit calories under a high-carb diet. But that doesn't change the fact that it's better for you- remember, being skinny isn't the only goal.

    We need to chuck the food pyramid and teach people the difference between simple and complex carbohydrates, and get a more balanced message out there about fats. The health education community should be taken to task for promoting such a simpleminded, extreme approach to diet. Brody won't make that leap because she's one of the architects of that message. The key is to throw away the bad message, not the science.

    1. Re:Let me try to state this another way by leviramsey · · Score: 1
      1. There are numerous studies showing that a high fat diet is bad for you. Here's the part most people are skipping over: THIS IS NOT RELATED TO OBESITY. Fat has negative effects on other parts of your body than your waistline. So you can be skinny on Atkins, but that doesn't mean you will be healthy in the long term. Studies on the effect of eating a diet high in animal protein and fat are well-established.

      The only studies I've seen on this issue have been inconclusive.

      Do you have links?

    2. Re:Let me try to state this another way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. There are numerous studies showing that a high fat diet is bad for you. Here's the part most people are skipping over: THIS IS NOT RELATED TO OBESITY. Fat has negative effects on other parts of your body than your waistline. So you can be skinny on Atkins, but that doesn't mean you will be healthy in the long term. Studies on the effect of eating a diet high in animal protein and fat are well-established.

      They aren't, though, and this article even says it much. They won't test it because they know it's bad... But that leaves you to wonder how exactly they know it's bad in the first place. Also, a lot of the evidence says high fat + high carbs = really bad. So, many scientists decided it was fat that was the problem (after all, fat must cause fat, right?), so that's what they opposed. But animals that people want to make big are generally fed higher carb diets.

      Most people on Atkins see major reductions in all sorts of risk factors besides weight, such as LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure. Yes, many do see an overall increase in total cholesterol, but this is because their HDL cholesterol goes up, and their overall ratio is much better. Ketosis is also not bad for your kidneys if you have normal kidney function (despite what some will tell you.)

      If you eat a high fish diet, you'll have a diet high in animal protein and fat, but most scientists and doctors would agree both are quite healthy.

    3. Re:Let me try to state this another way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reducing the number of calories you eat or increasing the number of calories you burn is the only way to lose weight, short of liposuction. Everyone agrees on this

      No, not everyone agrees on this. The idea that the energy content of food burned in a caloriometer is identical to the energy released as it is metabolized in the body is nonsense. Even worse, even the most trivial experiments can show that it is wrong (compare fiber caloric values, for example).

      Cutting out fat from a diet can induce a "starvation" metabolism, resulting in a loss of muscle tissue and resulting reduction in caloric needs. Ironically, the only way some people can lose weight is to eat MORE (of the right foods), not less calories.

      Dr. Atkins has been called a quack. But if anyone truly deserves that title, it is the nutritionists who insist that "a calorie is a calorie" and that they are all the same.

      And, of course, there is the edge of the Atkins (or any other low-carbohydrate) diet. A lot of calories consumed are never used by the body, but are instead excreted (in urine, perspiration, etc) in the form of ketone bodies. Those ketones (from partially metabolized fats) ARE calories; they are just calories that the body did not need and discarded. If they had been excess carbohydrates that the body did not need, the result would have been more fat (and an associated insulin hit, probably resulting in that "tired" feeling most people get after consuming sugary foods) as the body will store, rather than discard, a higher percentage of excess carbohydrates.

      In other words, nutrition isn't as simple as you (or even the less educated nutritionists) think it is.

  82. ummmmmm how bout we exercise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i must be lucky
    not eating bad shit
    and exercising regulary
    keeps anyone very healthy

    but I guess some people are genetically fat
    oh well!

    our gene pool is most certainly fucked!

  83. more PLATO information, including games by DuctTape · · Score: 2
    I made a previous comment about PLATO here, but if you want to cut to the chase and get to the PLATO games, you can find that info here. Definitely hit the next links at the bottom of the page.

    Most of the things we take for granted now, like email, chat rooms, and MMORPGs, we were doing back in the mid-70s.

    Enjoy!

    --
    Is this thing on? Hello?
  84. w.r.t. Atkins Diet (long) by TitaniumFox · · Score: 4, Informative

    One interesting thing to note about dietary issues in general is the evolution of man vs. the evolution of our diet.

    For a moment, toss out everything any diet "expert" has ever told you. Toss out the USDA's damn pyramid. Look at biology. Add up these few, relatively simple facts.

    Step in the WayBack Machine(tm) and look at much more simple times. The human body and its metabolism is geared towards periods of relative "feast" and "famine." Seeing as the primary use for fats is fatty acid precursors, the sources of energy are protein and carbohydrates. Carbs are really effecient foods, but are usually scavenged. (fruits, berries, tubers, etc.) Sources of protein are usually hunted.

    The way the body's metabolism flips between a glucose-centric pathway to a ketone-centric pathway makes perfect sense. In times of feast (abundant carbohydrates), use the carbs, storing everything away that is in excess. In times of famine, catabolize the fats into their building blocks and get energy from them (while looking for more berries.)

    Homo sapiens and its relatives have existed for thousands of years on this metabolic model. Evolution would have it that it is the most successful model for the given environment. Things stay pretty matched while things follow the format of:
    Humans hunt the tiger.
    Humans catch the tiger.
    Tiger eats a human.
    Humans go look for smaller tigers and potatoes.
    (ie. food chain struggle, varied diet)

    Fast forward to today: Humans hunt McDonalds. A Big Mac gives little struggle (unless you try to fit the entire thing in your mouth at once).

    Our food has evolved into a carbohydrate-rich diet because that's what the USDA said was good for us. On that note, carbohydrates are also the cheapest form of food, so when the Gub'ment is handing out subsidized food to everyone (public schools, hospitals, army bases, FBI cafeterias, etc), it would make sense to hand out carbohydrates. Abundant, cheap, energy-rich? C'mon. It makes perfect economic sense. But it doesn't follow nature. Nature would have us eat fewer carbohydrates and more protein, like our ancestors did.

    The Atkins diet is simply putting things back into a biological perspective. Most criticisims of the diet focus too much on the induction part of it. Getting the person with a fistfull of twinkies back on the proper metabolic path is an awesome feat of biochemistry and cell biology, but it happens when you go low/no carbs. No one, including Dr. Atkins, says that the induction part of the diet is The Proper Diet.

    One need only look at the effect of morbid obesity on life span to say that any negative effects of the induction phase of the diet are minute in comparison to the effects of hauling an extra 100 lbs of fat. Perspective is needed. It's like worrying about whether your 8-character root password has suffecient random characters in it, when you're running the La735t 57@ck 0v3rflo\/\/ on your apache server.

    Finally, why rely on other people to digest all of this information (even me) and put their own (perhaps political) spin on it?

    For those who wish to delve into the more archane, I suggest you go to NCBI and do some literature searches on the ketogenic diet. You'll see that there are some positive neurobiological and hormonal impacts that it has.

    National Center for Biotechnology Information (Medline)

    Search for some of these keywords (each line together):
    ketosis ketogenic
    ketosis epilepsy
    ketosis protein sparing

    TiFox

    --
    -- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
    1. Re:w.r.t. Atkins Diet (long) by elflord · · Score: 2
      Our food has evolved into a carbohydrate-rich diet because that's what the USDA said was good for us.

      Not true. The diet that most Americans eat has very little to do with what any nutritionist or the USDA says. It contains a lot of fat, a lot of saturated fat, and a lot of relatively un-nutritious empty calories in the form of sugar and/or highly refined carbs.

      Probably the reason that todays diet is relatively carb rich has a lot to do with the move towards sugars and/or highly processed foods with high glycemic index, and low dietary fiber. In other words, todays carb feedings are less filling, more prone to producing energy spikes, and less prone to producing a gentle, sustained release of energy.

      On that note, carbohydrates are also the cheapest form of food, so when the Gub'ment is handing out subsidized food to everyone (public schools, hospitals, army bases, FBI cafeterias, etc), it would make sense to hand out carbohydrates.

      A lot of the handed-out food is also high in saturated fat, and contains more than enough protein.

      Abundant, cheap, energy-rich? C'mon. It makes perfect economic sense. But it doesn't follow nature.

      There's nothing unnatural about carbs. We've been eating them for thousands of years, but we're fatter today than we were 100 years ago. What is unnatural is this food processing that results in these highly refined carbs.

      Getting the person with a fistfull of twinkies back on the proper metabolic path is an awesome feat of biochemistry and cell biology, but it happens when you go low/no carbs.

      Almost any sensible diet will eliminate twinkies for the simple reason that they, like most other junk food, contain a lot of fat, and a lot of sugar.

    2. Re:w.r.t. Atkins Diet (long) by TitaniumFox · · Score: 1

      Excellent comments. Thanks. This topic encompasses such a large body of knowledge that it's difficult to summarize it in a single Slashpost. Looking back, my post falls short in a few categories, but mostely due to what is left out, not what is patently incorrect. (IMO)

      I agree: Twinkies are a horrible diet. Handed out food does contain lots of everything, to include protein. The diet America eats has drifted from the USDA's recommendation. Lastly, there is absolutely nothing unnatural about carbs.

      The essence of the thought behind the post could be looked at like this: When humans had to work harder to get the nutrition they got, there was a balance between our energetic supplies and demands. The evolution of our environment and evolution of our metabolism were in sync. Now, the evolution of our diet has raced away, leaving our digestive systems without change. (the phrase "evolution of diet" not necessarilly indicating a positive change, simply a change to a great degree)

      Fats, proteins and carbs are all good for the human metabolism in the "proper" ratios. What that ratio is, from person to person is the debate at hand. I would put forth that a diet with ratios closer to what our ancestors ate, and an average amount of activity would be healthier than the carbohydrate-heavy diet most Americans eat, today.

      Why are carbs the issue? The presence of carbohydrates flips the metabolic switch between "store" and "use". In a diet that gets carbohydrates occasionally, things seem to get balanced pretty well. Most americans' diets have them permanantly in "store" mode, so every pyruvate molecule that isn't used up at the end of the day gets converted and stashed away as fats.

      Rather than subscribe to a particular diet, I simply try to eat in a way that is more physiologically correct. What that is for me is my opinion based on my studies in cell/molecular biology, biochemistry, and evolution.

      Again, it's nice to see good comments.

      --
      -- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
  85. A very useful form of exercise is.. by pedro · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dynamic Fidgeting(TM)!
    "It's what made a Man out of Mack!" (anyone else remember that one?)
    I fidget constantly, in every possible way, and I find it an
    excellent way to exercise whilst one is stuck performing boring tasks.
    I'm always amazed at how much stronger I seem to be than my peers who actually exercise normally.
    Maybe it's genetics, but this body performs brilliantly given its' 48 yr
    history, and all the abuse that I've heaped upon it.

    --
    Brak: What's THAT?
    Thundercleese: A light switch.. of TOTAL DEVASTATION!
  86. Stupid Geeks by inerte · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Stupid Geeks are trying to overthrow the system.

    They've lost every battle. Slim is nice, fat is bad.

    Guess what, Geek?

    Fat is a way of life. Not dark neither light, the system in first place, isn't right.

    Laid on /. are ways to become more accepted. Some are black and white, some, some, some.

    Where's my candy?

    Nowhere to be seen. I eat because I like. I lie not because I eat, but because I inhale other's people opinions.

    I would rather die creep then die healthy. At least I would taste life.

  87. Re:Atkins diet, Atkins diet bashers by TrinSF · · Score: 2

    I'm another person who moved towards a low-carb way of eating in July, in part because of the NYT article (and a number of friends who had suggested trying it). So far I've lost somewhere between 25-35 lbs; I don't know the exact amount because I didn't have an accurate scale for the first month. I do know that I lost about 15 lbs within the first 2 weeks -- the often reported water weight -- and I've lost between 1-2lbs a week since then.

    I'm eating in the same pattern as I did before I started -- two meals a day plus a couple of snacks. Around noonish, I have brunch: usually an omelet with lean meat and cheese in it, but sometimes a couple of turkey dogs with cheese (no bun), and some low-gycemic index fruit. For dinner, I have a meat-centric meal: things like steak, tandoori chicken, rotisserie chicken or In & Out burger done protein style -- often with green salad. For snacks I have string cheese, almonds, macadamias, or small amounts of peanut butter. I have no idea how many calories I'm eating, and I don't plan on keeping track.

    I'm less concerned about some of supposedly scary side effects, because most of them I already *have*. I've had chronic gall bladder issues for five years now -- but it seems to have improved since I started eating low carb. I think part of this is what most often triggered my attacks was a higher-fat meal after weeks of low-fat eating. Now that my gallbladder gets 'flushed' more regularly, I haven't had any problems at all.

    The bottom line for me is that I'm losing weight in a way that *I* feel comfortable doing. I have never been interested in "dieting", and I don't think of this as dieting. I have friends who do things differently, and that works for them. But for me, eating low carb is working. In some ways, losing weight is just a side effect; what I'm most impressed with is how much better I feel these days, how much my mood has stabilized, and how much *healthier* I feel.

    I will probably stay very low carb (fewer than 20 grams of carbs a day) for at least six months, with occasional breaks for higher carb stuff. I sometimes get the feeling that people aren't happy with low carbers because we don't seem to be *suffering* enough. I mean, I've got a friend who treats all food as "fuel" at this point and measures out weights and calorie counts to take a regular intervals. When he's not eating his 6 oz of lean ham or his 8 oz of apple, he's exercising his ass off. It looks boring. It looks tedious. It's netting him almost exactly the same loss rate as I have -- a little less, but about the same. What does he have that I don't? Well, injuries from a fall he sustained when a car cut him off while he was rollerblading. A complete inability to eat out -- he won't eat anything that hasn't been weighed and measured exactly.

    I'm sure we're going to see more posts from the "eat less and take up running!" /. camp. You know, that may work for them, but it's not going to work for me, or for people like me. Not everyone on the planet is physically able to exercise in traditional ways. I'd like to see low carb eating taken seriously as *one* strategy available to people who want to lose weight or reduce their dependence on high-glycemic index foods. It doesn't have to be THE way -- but it is A way.

  88. LC gave me 2 kidney stones by Proc6 · · Score: 2, Informative
    Amen.

    I am a fan of low-carb diets because I personally know they work. I don't care what the "long term effects" of low-carbing are, the long-term effects of being 100 lbs overweight are far worse.

    Anyway, Im 6'2" and after highschool years ago somehow found myself at almost 280 lbs. I read about Atkins, bought the book, did the diet. A few months later I was all the way down to 193. That's a LOT of weight. And it worked very well. Weight was practically a pound a day many days. Nothing is more motivating than seeing ACTUAL weight loss on an almost daily basis.

    But, near the last portion of my Atkins weight loss I suddenly had a kidney stone. WOW do they seriously suck. I was wary of them anyway, so I drank plenty, and almost exclusively water. But I got one, and let me tell you, to this day I can still remember the pain.

    I was at my goal weight, so I drifted on and off the diet for a year or so. Within that year (maybe 6 months later), I got another kidney stone. That one sucked too.

    I drifted completely off the diet, but have ever since just been more careful about what I eat. Within a year I was at 215, but that's where I've stayed almost to the pound for 4-5 years now. It's not ultra heatlhy, but its no 280. I also haven't had a kidney stone since.

    So, could it have been coincedence? Maybe. Probably not. If you hardcore low-carb, drink 10 gallons of water a day, that's all I can say. I'd still trade the pain of a kidney stone for the practically instant drop of almost 100 lbs, its worth it. But just be prepared.

    --

    I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!

  89. I'd agree but personal experience shows otherwise by itwerx · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a card-carrying geek from way back but I will admit, here in front of Dog and everybody online that I have never been even slightly geek-like in one critical sense.
    To wit, I have always been in fantastic shape.
    I ski, hike, dance and practice various forms of martial arts and I watch what I eat - voila' - physical perfection!
    But a couple of years ago I gained a couple extra pounds over the holiday season and couldn't lose it!!
    I mean yeah, I'm a little older now but wtf? I wasn't eating any different that I could see, exercised the same etc.
    Now don't get me wrong, ten pounds is no big deal. I'd laugh my ass off if somebody were obsessing over that, but after all these years of martial arts and dance I can feel a difference as little as 5 pounds and damn it, I wanted it gone!
    So I ate less and worked out harder.
    To no avail.
    To tell you the truth it's been driving me nuts until I happened to talk to my mother and the conversation turned to my grandmother who was diagnosed w/diabetes awhile back.
    Her doctor put her on an "experimental diet" and she lost about 30# and all indicators of diabetes disappeared!! She's been on it for a couple of years now and is in great shape. I should tell you my grandmother has been fat since she was a teen and has never lost more than about 15 pounds and it's always come back as soon as she blinked. So her losing 30 and keeping it off is a minor miracle!
    Turns out that diet was Atkins (and yes, you do eat carbs, read the damn book!).
    So I laughed and figured what the heck, I'd try it. I've only been on it for about 3 weeks so far but I've lost 5 of the pounds that wouldn't go away and I have an energy level I haven't had for years (like, um, since not too long before I gained those 10 pounds, actually).
    So don't knock it 'till you try it!
    Fat boy... :)

  90. Did you know by doc+modulo · · Score: 1

    Your weight is determined by your genes.

    Identical twins are always equally fat/thin.

    It's not your metabolism that's influenced (although that does play a small role). It's the amount of hunger that is determined by your genes and that influences your build.

    So, in order to be thinner than you naturally are, you will have to go against your nature somewhat. Trick your body or change your shape by willpower.

    Going against your nature is difficult (men of god can't keep their hands to themselves) but some people can do it.

    So the people at opposite sides of the fence:
    - I am fat because of my genes.
    and
    - No, you are fat because you just eat too much.

    are both righ.

    I do think it's worth a try for fat people to become slimmer. Thinner people do get treated better.

    So, good luck. Or better yet "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try." -- Yoda

    --
    - -- Truth addict for life.
    1. Re:Did you know by dagnabit · · Score: 1

      Identical twins are always equally fat/thin.

      Not true. My wife has identical twin brothers; one is about 50-60 pounds heavier than the other. Granted, the thinner one exercises more, etc., but a blanket statement like "are always" needs some qualifiers to be correct... :)

  91. It's not the First N weeks! by jfmiller · · Score: 1

    Please, everybody remember that any diet can get you to drop from two to seven percent of your body weight in a short span. The true measure of any diet is how much weight you loose between month 6 and 18. For most people this is where equilibrium is reached.

    I could take off 20 lbs (1 stone, ~8 kg) by just going on the "you have to cook for your self" diet. That doesn't mean that having to cook your own meals should be the next dietary fad.

    JFMILLER

    --
    Strive to make your client happy, not necessarly give them what they ask for
  92. The Drop Dead Diet by MAXOMENOS · · Score: 4, Funny

    I personally think we'd be better off trying the Drop Dead Diet .. same results as Atkins, only a lot quicker.

  93. Funny you should say that about salt by goingware · · Score: 2
    I stopped salting my food right about the time that my grandfather was told to eliminate sodium because of his high blood pressure. That was when I was a teenager.



    I noticed then that he had a real hard time with it, and used lots of salt substitues and so on, but never seemed satisfied by them. I had the idea that I would do a lot better if I cut out salt when I was young rather than waiting to get old and already having high blood pressure.



    For a long time food seemed tasteless to me but now my taste is much more sensitive. My wife likes lots of salt and the food she cooks often seems excessively salty to me. On the otherhand she complains that I don't put any salt in the food I cook!



    I don't make much of a conscious effort to avoid salt, for example I still like pickles and eat a lot of canned tomato products, which have a lot of salt. I just don't ever salt my food.



    I will try as you suggest and see how it works.



    As for getting my kidneys tested, I plan to get a full physical sometime soon, my wife has been urging me to do so as I haven't had a physical in almost ten years.

    --
    -- Could you use my software consulting serv
    1. Re:Funny you should say that about salt by crisco · · Score: 2

      Hmm, that somewhat echos my own attitude toward salt. My grandfather had his first heart attack when I was about 5 years old. My grandmother learned to cook without salt and I developed a taste for unsalted or lightly salted food. I started drinking lots of water in my early 20s. Not excessive amounts, but probably somewhere around 6 litres or a gallon and a half a day. Some soda and coffee but the soda is almost completely out of my diet and the coffee is down to a cup a day. I've occasionally tested my blood sugar (in-laws have lots of blood sugar problems) before and after meals and never have seen anything out of the ordinary. I do get a general slump in energy between 4-8pm but adding small healthy snacks hasn't seemed to help that. I get a burst of mental activity after 9 pm even when physically tired, that plays havoc with a normal sleep schedule. Anyway, I'll be trying this salt thing as well. I feel like I get enough through the generally pathetic diet I have but who knows, maybe I've eliminated too much salt from my diet.

      --

      Bleh!

    2. Re:Funny you should say that about salt by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Argh, I was reading your comment and missed the news on whatever burned up in the atmosphere tonight (I saw it from start to finish). It's all your fault. :)

      Anyway.. the average adult needs about a gallon of water per day, so you're not terribly out of line. The time to try salt is when your mouth or throat FEELS dry or when you just can't seem to get enough water. In hot weather or with lots of exercise, it's possible to get low on salt even with a completely "average" diet, since you lose salt when you sweat.

      Lots of people get a mental second wind at the most ridiculous times of day.. if I'm still up at, gods forbid, 3am, I suffer one then. Most days I also need a nap around 2pm. But I can blame old age for that :)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    3. Re:Funny you should say that about salt by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Turns out most cases of high blood pressure are hereditary, and it appears to inherit as a simple dominant. If you don't have it by age 30 or so, or if neither immediate parent does, chances are you never will. (It's in my pedigree, but I didn't get the gene.)

      As you've noticed, salt in food is largely an acquired or lost taste depending on exposure -- anything you don't eat much of, you become more senstive to the flavour of. And smokers as a rule can't taste stuff very well, so tend to pour on the salt. But most people get enough salt even if they don't salt their food per se, and only become temporarily deficient due to not replenishing what's lost in sweat. If you are indeed chronically deficient, that suggests something else may be going on. Do you ever notice a difference after eating bananas or oranges? That could indicate a potassium imbalance, which is sortof in the same realm (potassium also being critical to maintaining water balance).

      I once had a neighbour who had some sort of potassium deficiency, don't recall her symptoms but it was partially held in check by eating 6 bananas every day. She grew very tired of bananas. (Cue Harry Chapin.. :)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  94. you need to apt-get update to see new stuff by Trepidity · · Score: 3, Informative

    Unless you have some sort of cron-job auto-running apt-get update for you periodically, apt won't automatically update its list of packages until you tell it to.

  95. Atkins, or any other high protien, low carb diet. by Vladinator · · Score: 1, Troll
    • What about the all-shrimp-and-chili-paste diet? Schlemphfer writes "A few months back, Slashdot featured a NY Times story that talked about the Atkins diet in glowing terms. This week, the Times has published a Jane Brody article raising serious questions about whether Atkins-style diets are dangerous and unsustainable. Brody is one of the most prominent and respected nutrition journalists, so it's worthwhile to read her take on the matter. Brody's article, which cites some important new research, may be an eye-opening read for Slashdot readers who took the plunge with Atkins back in July." (The NYT requires free registration.)

    This article is absolute garbage.

    FACT: The foods that you are often encouraged to eat the most of, are the foods that are the easiest and the cheepest to produce. They are also the ones that MAXIMIZE profit for that industry.

    FACT: Fat in your diet, or protien does not put fat on your body - carbohydrates do. Period. End of discussion.

    FACT: Anyone who says otherwise has either bought the industry hype, or has outright been bought by them.

    FACT: Benign dietary ketosis (NOT the same thing as ketoacidosis) is the ONLY WAY your body removes fat stores.

    FACT: You will learn more about this if you read Dr. Atkin's book, or contact me.

    --

    "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Jed Babbin

  96. Re:Low carbohydrate mythology, and where to real i by TitaniumFox · · Score: 1

    Right on!

    An interesting thing to note is that the actual "blood sugar level" of the hormonally normal person stays within a pretty tight range. It's regulated by insulin and glucogon. When levels start to drop a tad, a little epinephrine (adrenaline) is squeezed out to promote glucose uptake into the cells. The jittery, faint feeling that people feel when they haven't eaten is a direct result of the epinephrine. Would this account for any so-called "nausea" caused by ketones?

    The exception is if one is diabetic and blood glucose levels really *are* out of range.

    That's an excellent book link, thanks!

    --
    -- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
  97. Diet tests by TheLink · · Score: 2

    Why hasn't the gov tested the atkins diet? Doh.

    Well correct me if I'm wrong but it seems the US gov didn't properly test the high carbo diet (aka food pyramid) in clinical trials before launching the test on the US public.

    The results of the high carbo diet test on the US public is now coming in, and this recent NYT writer is just in denial.

    Sure they've been eating more, that's probably partially coz of the high carbo diets causing fluctuating blood sugar levels - spike crash spike crash.

    That said, eating TONS on an Atkins or similar diet is still going to be bad, so no more US sized servings (you guys really eat a lot y'know). But maybe most people won't feel the urge to eat tons once on those diets.

    --
  98. Yes, I knew that by goingware · · Score: 2
    Actually, hypoglycemia is often not caused so much by a lack of carbs, but by being overweight.



    And the right thing to do to fight it is to eat more protein, not eat more carbs.



    I found this explanation in the book "Fit or Fat" a few years ago, which emphasizes weight loss through aerobic exercises. It works well, if one is disciplined enough. I just was never able to be disciplined enough.



    One of the reasons I took up the Protein Power diet is that a friend of my wife's was advised be her physician to keep beef jerky on hand to quell her hypoglycemia.



    If one is going to eat carbs to quell hypoglycemia, it is best to consume complex carbohydrates. I found that if I ate a big plate of pasta in the mid-afternoon I did OK - but if I forgot, I would have an attack. And it's really devastating, I got worse than a smack junkie who's missed his fix until I can have some fruit juice.



    The advantage to me of the low-carb, high protein diet is that I just don't have to remember much of anything. I don't really feel that I am dieting, I really feel that I have permanently changed my eating habits. The hypoglycemia just don't happen.



    I think I was well on my way to insulin resistance, mainly as a result of being so overweight.

    --
    -- Could you use my software consulting serv
  99. Pyramid history by itwerx · · Score: 2

    Here's a snippet from something unrelated which describes a little of the forces behind what we think we need to eat.
    (Please note that they only go back to 1800's - as opposed to cave-man days when we ate a VERY different diet - and that the average Joe worked a heck of a lot harder back in "the good old days".)
    On another tack, as we examine diets from different times, remember that on evolutionary terms changes only take place if something is sufficiently detrimental to affect the reproductive cycle. I.e. we could make our diets so horribly bad that we all died by the age of 40, but s'long as we kept having the same number of kids first nothing would change.
    This lack of insight colors many "studies" of historical diets and health issues.
    But I digress:

    "...The diet of the average American has changed substantially in the last hundred years. In the 1800s, the average American ate in a similar fashion to many people in less developed countries today. The historic American diet consisted primarily of grain-based starches. Meat, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables were consumed in lesser quantities than they are today. As the economy grew, wealth increased, and transportation improved, Americans in the early part of this century began to consume more meat and dairy products, as well as more fruits and vegetables.(3)

    American food habits are intimately linked with the productivity of our agricultural system. Like so many aspects of industrial society, matching production with consumption has been a chronic historic problem. Beginning immediately after the Civil War, farmers began to increase production faster than the market for food products was growing. Agricultural production grew as a result of land expansion, improved transportation, and the Homestead Act that pushed farmers westward onto new land. Consumption grew with population, but not nearly as fast as farm productivity. This circumstance put farmers of the period into dire economic straights.(4) These problems were exacerbated by the economic policies of the 1800s. Prevailing powers enforced "tight money" policies -- limiting the money supply in order to limit inflation. The wealthier classes favored tight money policies, but these policies served to limit income and consumption for the population at large.

    The agricultural depression of the late 1800s continued for decades as farmers rose in protest movements including the Grange, the Farmers Alliance, Greenbackers, and Populists. These movements sought more expansionistic economic policies that would benefit farmers. Toward the close of the 1800s, farmers were at various times allied with workers' movements. Although they never succeeded in creating a viable third party, many of the reforms that these movements sought were enacted within a few years of the issues being raised. Such reforms included the regulation of railroads, popular election of U.S. senators, the graduated income tax, and rural free mail.(5)

    There was to be no direct relief for farmers though. The philosophy, law, and scale of government in the 1800s was less interventionist than it is today. This is true of many aspects of social welfare and public policy. As applied to farm policy, the government let the farmers fend for themselves.

    After the turn of the century, the economy grew more quickly. Combined with immigration, this caused consumption of agricultural products to grow more rapidly. Farmers experienced a period of prosperity that lasted from the turn of the century until the 1920s. There was little change in public policy toward agriculture and food in this period.

    Beginning in 1920, farm prices started falling as the U.S. ended its involvement in World War I relief efforts. Prices and farm income did not recover until World War II. For the farmer, the Great Depression began early.(6) With farmers left out of the national prosperity of the 1920s, there was again pressure for government intervention. As a result, support for cooperatives was increased and farm credit was extended. By 1933, the government started offering direct price supports by purchasing agricultural surpluses. These surpluses were dispersed through school lunch and food stamp programs. By the late 1930s, policies were put into place that attempted to limit the amount of land planted, thereby limiting production.(7)

    In the progressive period in the early twentieth century, government started to become more active in many social spheres. An optimism prevailed that problems could and should be solved by public intervention. In this climate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began giving nutritional advice. Their first food chart was published in 1917 and consisted of five food groups that were thought to provide essential nutrients. Scientists were discovering the role of vitamins and other nutrients. By 1933, concern that everyone should receive an adequate supply of nutrients led the USDA to expand their food chart to twelve food groups. By World War II, they had paired it down to the "Basic Seven."(8)

    From the beginning, the USDA's role was primarily to help farmers. Giving nutritional advice was secondary. Given the prevalence of diseases resulting from nutritional deficiencies in that time period, ranging from scurvy to rickets, it was in everyone's interest for the public to consume a better diet. Farmers helped fund nutritional research because, as scientists discovered the nutritional value of the food they were producing, such research proved a valuable marketing tool.(9) Thus, it seemed that everyone's interest was served by nutritional advice and research. The public could learn how to avoid diseases of malnutrition, and farmers received government support for marketing their products.

    World War II solved the problem of agricultural overproduction by creating a huge need for exports. Agricultural production soared during the war.(10) Food was rationed domestically and farmers were given financial and technical support by the government to increase production. Farmers were again prosperous.

    By the 1950s, the "green revolution" was in full swing. After the war, farmers had sufficient money to invest in mechanization as never before. Improved seeds, fertilizers and other modern technologies were causing production to grow rapidly. Thus began a long, uninterrupted period of overproduction in American agriculture. The collective effect of rising production was falling prices. The more the individual farmers produced, the more they could sell. But the more they collectively produced, the more they overloaded the market.(11)

    From its inception, the USDA and other organizations involved with nutritional research and education were inextricably intertwined with agricultural interests. In 1958, a funny thing happened. (Remember 1952-1958 was a conservative period under Eisenhower.) In the midst of a sustained crisis of agricultural overproduction, the USDA altered the "Basic Seven" food groups to the "Basic Four" food group chart that was to last for decades. Half of that chart was made up of animal-based foods. The timing is unmistakable. Even mainstream historians cannot help but notice that "[the] relationship between food guides and their assumptions and the food supply is particularly interesting ... [T]he Basic Four was constructed considering U.S. food supplies."(12)

    Why was the Basic Four so important to farmers? Half of the Basic Four food groups are animal-based foods: meat/eggs and dairy. Animal foods effectively concentrate agricultural overproduction. It takes a lot of grain to make a hamburger or a bowl of ice cream.(13) If American farmers tried to dispose of their surplus production by convincing people to eat more pancakes and corn muffins, they would not get too far. But condense that grain by feeding it to a cow, and it becomes meat and ice cream. Then people will consume, and pay for, a lot more grain. Some people who have studied the history of nutritional education are more blunt about the connection between agricultural over-productivity and dietary advice. According to some, the lobby made up of "meat, dairy, and egg industries and their academic and political allies [has] not only influenced our nation's food and nutrition policies, it has determined those policies" (emphasis in original).(14)

    What about the health effects of a diet that is centered on animal foods? Over-nutrition, rather than malnutrition, has become the devil of American health. We know now that the elevated fat intake of the American diet is directly linked to the two leading causes of death in the U.S., heart disease and cancer.(15) Nothing in America kills more people than fat. Were the people who promulgated the Basic Four aware of the negative health effects of a high-fat diet?

    It was discovered in 1908 -- more than eight decades ago -- that high fat intake induces arteriosclerosis. The "discovery" has been made repeatedly over the decades since that time. But these discoveries "went virtually unnoticed by nutritionists" for decades.(16) As we discussed in the section on technological change, demand drives change much more than invention. As the steam engine was invented over and over again before it was used, so the knowledge concerning the health effects of a high-fat diet were suppressed because of the economic desirability of disposing of American agricultural overproduction.

    Could it be that people are simply naturally drawn to high-fat diets if such food is available? To some extent, it is probably true that human beings have a biological predisposition to eat sweet and fatty foods. This would have a clear evolutionary advantage. Gatherers who have been studied tend to be healthy, but there is not a lot of rich food in their environment. By seeking out rich food, they could maximize their chances of survival. They ran little risk of arteriosclerosis; there was simply not that much fat available. It may be true that, given our predisposition to like rich food, the average person would tend to overeat when provided with an abundant supply of ice cream and other such things. But what has happened in Western culture is something quite different. Rich foods, which are almost exclusively animal-based, are idealized in American culture to a great extent. Protein in particular is believed to be needed in large quantities for good health. High protein diets are thought to be healthy, important for bodybuilding and general well-being. This idealizing of protein is a cultural practice, not a biological reality. The favored foods among gathering cultures are meat and honey. Likewise, we Americans consume sugar readily because we like the taste. But we have not idealized sugar as we have protein. Why? Because protein, traditionally at least, comes from animals. Animal-based foods concentrate agricultural overproduction, thus feeding the inferno effect in our industrial economy. Sugar has no such economic impact.

    The meat and dairy industries lobbied successfully for the four food groups chart and dietary education that emphasized the importance of consumingrich animal foods. But to say that the meat and dairy industry simply asserted their own vested interest is to miss a deeper truth about culture. Cultural selection is powerfully influenced by employment, by how different social changes affect the level of employment. The Basic Four served to dispose of agricultural overproduction, thus alleviating a serious economic problem. Vested interests had their way, but only because they had economy on their side, and some degree of biology. It is difficult to say exactly how information travels throughout a large culture, but there is no doubting that the economic effects of the Basic Four were pivotal in causing Americans to believe that they needed large amounts of animal protein to stay healthy. Cultural selection was thus pivotal in creating the protein myth as well as causing the suppression of information concerning the health effects of high-fat diets.

    The creation of the protein myth occurred in a period in American history when there were a lot more farmers. Recently, the Basic Four has been replaced by a pyramid that emphasizes grains and de-emphasizes rich, animal-based foods. The Food Pyramid was stalled by protests from the meat and dairy industries, but finally its proponents prevailed.(17) Why did the Food Pyramid have to wait so long? Just as tobacco regulation and a fuller recognition of the health effects of cigarettes had to wait until the middle class stopped smoking, the pyramid had to wait until the number of farmers in this country had decreased to below 3 percent of the population.(18) Corporate agriculture is still a powerful force, but not nearly as powerful as was the agricultural lobby when farmers were much more numerous.

    As a result of American accelerated consumption of agricultural products, the U.S. consumes seven times as much grain per-capita as some poorer countries...."

  100. Re:I'd agree but personal experience shows otherwi by MattFlower · · Score: 1

    Boy, aren't we all happy that Jane Brody piped in with her two cents? Like many before her, she gives the impression that:

    1. Anyone who is fat is eating too much.
    2. We are all mindless morons that never bothered to learn squat about nutrition.

    After almost 4 years about being 50+ pounds overweight I can tell you more about nutrition labels, fat, and personal training than most people. I might not have a degree, but I've certainly worked hard at finding "the right" information.

    I'm tired of people telling me that I eat too many calories (1300 sure seemed low enough to me) and that I don't exercise (5 nights a week sure seems like enough to me) so I decided to try Atkins.

    Since July I have lost 36 pounds and 5 inches around my waist. Yes, I am eating fewer calories a day -- it is the only way that anyone loses weight (duh!) but I am not hungry all the time either so I don't feel absolutely punished. Even so, I am only eating about 150 calories less a day. There is no way that calories alone can account for those 36 pounds.

    Am I screwing up my body? Well, I haven't done a new cholesterol workup yet, which is soon, but I have been watching my blood pressure. I've dropped from 137/110 to 118/78.

    I have more energy than I ever had. The days that I "screw up" and eat far too many carbohydrates are the days I feel down and irritable. I just lay on the couch and don't really want to do anything. Jane Brody asks how we will all do when we add potatoes back into our diets -- why would I want them?

    The Atkins diet is extreme in the beginning, but it doesn't stay that way. Reading the book is the only way to know what the diet is really about. I am already to the point where I am introducing plums, honeydew melon, and peaches to my diet. I eat broccoli, kale, salads, and tons of vegetables.

    I've only been on two diets in my life. The low fat diet, which I was on for nearly 4 years, and Atkins, which I have been on for a little over 2 months. One diet made me tired and depressed. The other made me feel like a new man. I will hate it if I do get kidney stones, but the evidence against Atkins is NOT clear. There is NO damning study that shows that he is wrong or that we are going to die a horrible death from eating less carbs. In the meantime, I've definitely made my decision -- I'll go with happiness and weight loss.

  101. Re:Mozilla bugfixed. rah rah. Where's the DEB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Feedback is a contribution that helps make something better in the future.

    Providing your opinion is feedback. You could call that contributing. He's not saying it's a poor program, he's saying it's hard to get hold of. That's not trolling.

  102. Soy by sethdelackner · · Score: 1

    Note: Soy protein doesn't count, as it's not well-utilized and tends to lead to amino acid imbalances [...] it's a broad-spectrum allergin and in excess can bollux your immune system.

    Citations please? I'm amazed that with all the evil that soy must be causing, traditional chinese and japanese cuisine are so dependant on soy. I wake up to a soy milk + soy protein shake and actually almost ALL of my protein intake is soy, and I feel great.

    1. Re:Soy by Reziac · · Score: 2

      I don't know where you'd get citations. But I have noticed, fairly consistently, that babies fed soy-based formula are much more likely to develop plant/pollen allergies. Remember, until the child is about a year old, its immune system is vulnerable to overstimulation by foreign proteins -- that's why there are big red warning posters in our local child care clinics, warning parents not to feed honey to babies. (Honey contains all sorts of proteins that adversely affect an immature immune system.)

      I've also known a few adults who experienced this (in one case, after a spasm of too many soy nuts, the person became allergic to a wide range of plant-origin foods, and had particular problems if she accidentally ingested more soy).

      And here's something to think about:

      Nursing bitches require a LOT of protein to produce the milk to support a litter. Take any two lactating bitches. Feed one a meat-based diet. Feed the other an identical diet *except* that the major protein source is soy. Let both eat as much as they want. The bitch fed the meat-based diet will roughly double her food intake, and when the pups are weaned ca. 7 weeks, she will look great. The bitch fed the soy-based diet will eat 4 to 5 times as much as usual, and will look like death warmed over by the time the pups are 4 weeks old.

      Goes to show the relative *quality* of soy protein -- tho you don't really see this until the organism is stressed.

      (Note: I've raised 11 generations and 160 litters, and my original field was biochemistry. I think by now I know what I'm talking about. :)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    2. Re:Soy by sethdelackner · · Score: 1

      babies fed soy-based formula are much more likely to develop plant/pollen allergies

      First, your thoughts on raising dogs provide interesting food for thought. But as far as feeding human babies soy formula, I am surprised that you don't first mention that *all* formulas are inferior to mother's milk if we are discussing the development of a healthy immune system. I would be somewhat hesitant to apply any comparison between dogs and humans though, because, broadly generalizing, we are omnivores (notice our flat rear teeth?) and dogs are carnivores.

      To take another animal example, if you feed cornmeal to fish or cows, then their immune systems become impaired. This isn't because of anything inherently bad about corn, it is because these animals have specialized digestive systems that are being subjected to completely foreign foods.

    3. Re:Soy by Undecipherable · · Score: 1

      This year, around 34% of all maize, 71% of cotton and 75% of soya grown in America is GM.

      "The grim reaper," The Economist, Aug 22nd, 2002
      http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?St ory_ID =1291180

    4. Re:Soy by Seanasy · · Score: 3, Informative
      (Honey contains all sorts of proteins that adversely affect an immature immune system.)

      Isn't the problem with honey botulinum spores, not proteins?

    5. Re:Soy by Reziac · · Score: 2

      That too, but remember there are pollen fragments in honey as well.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    6. Re:Soy by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Yes, ALL baby formulas are inferior to mother's milk -- but some are more inferior than others. The same holds true of replacement milk for other animals. (I've also noticed a higher incidence of colic and similar problems in human infants fed soy formulas, which comes as no surprise considering that soy is known to cause the gut to produce a lot of slime -- mucous tissue's way of trying to protect itself from an irritant.)

      Dogs aren't pure carnivores either -- they're more of a carnivorous omnivore. Most will willingly eat just about anything. But what I was referring to are nutritional requirements. Dogs, pigs, and humans are all fairly similar in general requirements, differing mainly in how much they need in terms of calories and some vitamins, and that dogs don't handle fibre as well (even so, the average commerical dog food has more fibre than the typical human diet!) Check the charts in Feedstuffs (the feed industry's main print rag).

      I don't know about fish, but corn is routinely used to finish beef cattle for prime beef, and I've never heard of any problems from that (even growing up in beef ranching country). And corn is not an allergin to otherwise-normal animals (ie. not suffering from autoimmune disease, which is an inherited problem). I suppose you could get bloat if you were to switch 'em overnight from grass to corn, but that's more likely if they get into fresh alfalfa.

      BTW the widespread notion that some dogs are "allergic" to corn is totally bogus -- the symptoms (itching etc.) are due to nutritional *deficiencies* (or imbalances, which biochemically act on the system the same as deficiencies), usually of certain fats or vitamins. You can easily demonstrate this by merely switching the affected dog to a diet with the exact same ingredients, but in different proportions, and the symptoms will go away!!

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    7. Re:Soy by sethdelackner · · Score: 1

      And if you read the packaging on the products you buy, then you can easily avoid the GM soy. Of course, your numbers reflect one of the core absurdities of the "GM" label. 100% of all corn produced is genetically modified -- it just happens to have been via a few thousand years of severe artificial selection by humans instead of a few months of direct tampering.

    8. Re:Soy by Velox_SwiftFox · · Score: 2
      That's odd... as far as I can tell, the current spasm of allergy studies indicate that children not exposed to allergens when young are more likely to have asthma or severe allergies when grown. IIRC children raised on formulas in general are more likely to develop allergies - that immature immune system being assisted and set up by the antibodies in mothers' milk; it would make sense that soy formulas, not based on milk at all, would be an even worse replacement.

      On the gripping hand, when I stopped feeding soy-based dog food to my personal domesticated wolves, I watched their chronic skin allergies disappear like magic. Even the flea reactions. Clearly there is something about this stuff that afflicts dogs, but overall your "vulnerable to severe antigens" theory seems frankly bass-ackwards. You don't help your case by inventing a reason honey is forbidden for infants to replace the real one, the danger of botulism caused by bacteria growing from spores that may be in the honey.

  103. Brody doesn't know what she's talking about by toni · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are several points in Brody's article that reflect her unfamiliarity with the Atkins diet, and recent research, making me wonder why? I am sure she can read as well as I:
    - Complete dismissal/inability to cover the role of insulin in fat storage
    - "How much of a limited category of foods can you eat before you find yourself eating less and less?" I'd say quite a lot.. my typical lunch (yes, I do Atkins) consists of about 300 grams of fatty meat cooked in butter and cream, along with tasty VEGETABLES (yes, imagine!). I am definitely not eating less, gram-per-gram, but more, calorie-wise, and still losing. And feeling good for 8 weeks now, too.
    - Why does she ask, what happens if someone doing the diet adds the forbidden items back? That's the same as going off the diet, and why would anyone do that? Wholesome foods = corn, potatoes, oatmeal? How did we ever reach civilization? Humans have lived for millions of years without agriculture, without the mandatory eat grain-and-sugars-or-your-brains-die food. We should all be dead millions of years ago already, if carbohydrate foods were necessary in any way.
    - About kidney stones: They take a LONG time to form. How did they measure the diet's effect on kidney stones in just 6 weeks?
    - She does mention that the diet did improve serum lipid values, decreasing LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. What she left out was that the diet does it MUCH better than the usually-recommended low-fat diet. It's DIFFICULT to lower cholesterol levels on a low-fat diet, which is why we have a multibiollion medical industry making cholesterol lowering drugs. Why use (questionable and expensive) drugs when you can use a diet?
    - "Why hasn't the government tested it? One possible reason is that it is unlikely to be approved by any review committee, given what is known about the effects of animal fats and cholesterol on the risk of heart disease"... Oh no, this is the unscientific "we know it's bad for cholesterol so we won't even test to see if it's bad for cholesterol" way of thinking, totall ridiculous. About diabetes, there is strong evidence it is caused by too much insulin, which is caused by eating too many carbohydrates. She should at least account for the research that says so, instead of just claiming this and that.
    - "The Atkins diet is shy on several vital nutrients, including the B vitamins and vitamins A, C and D"... and I thought meat and fish were a good source of the B vitamins and vitamins A and D, the fat-soluble vitamins. In fact, vegetarians often have deficiencies in the B vitamins if they do not eat supplements...
    - She's probably partially right about the increased food portions. Which is exactly why people should eat foods that actually make one satiated, so there will be no need to eat huge portions that will nevertheless make you screaming hungry in 2-3 hours.
    - She is right about the bad effects of refined sugars and white flour. Of course, this is also what Atkins forbids you to eat, ever.
    - "The swing back to Atkins is a response to the fact that a low-fat diet hasn't worked for a lot of people because they stuff in carbohydrates." And why do people stuff in the carbohydrates? Carbohydrates make you HUNGRY because of quickly rising and falling blood sugar levels, that's why. It's not because people on a larger scale are bad people who get into trouble because they're sinful, it's physiological.
    - "Eat more calories than you expend and you'll gain weight." of course that's right, but most people have a way too narrow understanding of the statement. I eat way more calories than recommended for a adult male of my size and age, and still lose weight. The excess is not STORED in my system, it is dumped out in my urine, out of my breath, in my sweat... so I am EXPENDING more than I eat, which is much easier to do on a low-carb diet than a low-fat one.

  104. Re:Atkins, or any other high protien, low carb die by 3am · · Score: 3, Informative

    Totally, complete FUD. FUD, FUD, FUD.

    I lost 40 pounds through moderate diet and excercise, and kept it off for 4 years on a 90% vegetarian diet with plenty of carbs. I only gained it back when I started working insane ours and had to cut exercise. Even at 250 pounds now (and losing again, thanks to exercise), my heart rate is low, my cholesterol is below 160, and by blood pressure has never tested over 130/80 (typically lower)

    Frankly, I don't see how the 'industry' has any more to gain that Dr Atkins does through the reverse position. I'm not doubting the validity of his 'diet', which involved STRUCTURED, REGULAR MEALS AND EXCERCISE.... He could have you eating buttered white bread 3 times a day at regular intervals with exercise, and you would lose weight. The only thing that will help you in the long run is a commitment to living healthfully.

    As for your comments:

    FACT: The foods that you are often encouraged to eat the most of, are the foods that are the easiest and the cheepest to produce. They are also the ones that MAXIMIZE profit for that industry.

    What is your point?? That companies encourage you to eat their highest profit products is obvious.

    Are you saying the food industry is suppressing Atkins because he is threatening there highest profit lines of business? That is baloney.

    FACT: Fat in your diet, or [sic]protien does not put fat on your body - carbohydrates do. Period. End of discussion.

    http://www.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/ (in particular: http://www.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/lipid-synthes is.html and http://www.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/fatty-acid-ox idation.html)

    Read these links. You can eat whatever you want as long as you keep your blood sugar down (ie, eating nothing but fat is completely equal to exercise+low cal diet as both will keep insulin levels down, but only one accelerates your metabolism and excercises your heart and lungs...)

    FACT: Anyone who says otherwise has either bought the industry hype, or has outright been bought by them.

    Right.... remember to put on your tin foil hat. Again, if you can't support your argument, attack your adversaries...

    FACT: Benign dietary ketosis (NOT the same thing as ketoacidosis) is the ONLY WAY your body removes fat stores.

    COMPLETELY FALSE AND RIDICULOUS. Ketogenesis only occurs when acetyl-CoA levels exceeds the capabilites of the TCA (Krebs Citric Acid) cycle to utilize it. Granted, it is a SYMPTOM of high levels of fatty acids in the blood (rapid release of fatty acids from adipose (fat) cells), but it is certainly not the only method. Your body can easily remove fat stores through the following process: Low levels of glucose in the blood stimulate the release of glucagon, glucagon causes a reactions in adipose cells which activates hormone sensitive lipase, triggering a reaction converting the triacylglycerols stored in the adipose cells to fatty acids and glycerol which diffuse into the blood, and all cells are totally capable of passively absorbing fatty acids from the blood and converting them to acetyl-CoA in the cytoplasm via Fatty acid + ATP + CoA -------> Acyl-CoA + PPi + AMP.

    --

    A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master merely stays out of the way.
  105. Ketones and ketosis by reverseengineer · · Score: 1

    If you don't believe me soak your head in acetone (di-ethyl ketone) for a while.

    Maybe you should take the organic chemistry sometime, eh? Acetone is dimethyl ketone, not diethyl ketone. You are correct in asserting that ketones are highly reactive, which is why the kidneys, perhaps the most amazing organs in the body, get called into action. However, the major chemical reactions of ketones and aldehydes are generally very slow without acid or base catalysis. Human blood is buffered at a comfortable pH 7.4, so most of these potential poisons can be trucked to the kidneys without incident.

    Unfortunately, I haven't read anything conclusive (certainly not this article) that even casts reasonable speculation on the health effects of long term states of ketosis, and IANA dietician, so I refuse to pass judgement on the diet over the long term. I have decided to avoid the Atkins diet personally, because my family has a rather awful history of kidney problems (kidney stones, polycystic kidney disease, urinary tract infections, cancer, etc), so I don't plan on taking any chances with my pair. However, the evidence I've seen so far suggests that overweight people with normal kidney function can definitely benefit from the diet, and should be able to handle the ketosis, at least in the short term. Also, as many otherposters have pointed out, there are some undesirable side effects to being morbidly obese which might trump those of protein and fat metabolism.

    I think that a balanced diet, with fats, protein, and carbs all in moderation, is preferable, in terms of both ease of following, and enjoyment of the food you consume, but I guess most Americans simply cannot eat that way and go about it responsibly. It reminds me of the fine print at the bottom of most diet pill ads, which point out that the miracle weight loss from their product occurs "in conjuction with a balanced diet and regular exercise." If people could eat a balanced diet and get regular exercise, chances are they would need the product.

    --
    "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
    1. Re:Ketones and ketosis by reverseengineer · · Score: 1

      That last sentence should read, If people could eat a balanced diet and get regular exercise, chances are they wouldn't need the product. Three characters can make a world of difference. My powers of proofreading are failing me...

      --
      "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
  106. Very good post... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sorry, wish I could mod you up.

  107. Atkins & food combining. by 1%warren · · Score: 2
    What struck me about the Atkins diet is how it takes one of the precepts of food combining, eating one food group at a time, or one with another that is easily digested with it. Food combining gets the same sort of "miracle" comments Atkins does. I wonder if he isn't missing something. A more balanced diet would eliminate the problems associated with his.

    Sureley food combining has been pointed out to him. Can anyone recall his comments?

    --

    Full plate and packing steel! -Minsc
  108. Ooooo! Eight weeks! by EnglishTim · · Score: 2

    Come back and give us a report in two years time... ;-)

  109. Nature/Nurture by EnglishTim · · Score: 2

    Identical twins are also likely to have had extremely similar upbringings, and therefore are likely to have similar attitudes towards food and come from the same socioeconomic background. I'm sure that your weight is affected by your genes, but to pretend that that's all there is too it is fooling yourself. Yes, your genes will have an impact on your weight, but so will the food you eat and the excercise you take - otherwise it wouldn't be possible to change your weight by changing your lifestyle.

  110. PLATOish fun with xterm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ctrl-middleclick in an xterm and select Switch to Tek Mode. This opens a new window that emulates an old Tektronix graphical terminal. Here you can type a character, hit backspace and type a new character over the old one a'la PLATO.

  111. The human race would have died out without grains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We have eaten grains as a staple of our diet for thousands of years and in most developing countries rice and grains still make up the majority of their diet. Try to find a fat person in a third world country, you won't, even though they live primarily on carbs. If you can't see a fad diet for what it is, you don't know anything about your body and prefer to "look" healthy than to actually "being" healthy. It's like looking good with a great tan you got over the summer, only to find out next year you have skin cancer. People are more vain than ever today, yet in the land of plenty its hard to say no when there are McD's on every corner so we look for quick fixes to make us look good in a bathing suit for the summer neverminding the internal damage we are doing. Afterall, nobody ever got picked up at a bar for having a sexy liver and heart.

  112. Losing weight and Fad Diets by EmagGeek · · Score: 1
    Disclaimer: I'm not telling anybody to do anything here. I'm speaking in the proverbial sense. "You" does not mean YOU specifically. I am not a doctor, lawyer, crowned prince, dietitian, or personal trainer. ALWAYS SEE YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE MAKING ANY DIETARY CHANGES OR BEGINNING REGULAR EXERCISE!!!! ALWAYS!!! If you're a STUPID BLITHERING IDIOT, don't go blaming me.

    Let me preface my story by saying that in September of 1999, I was 245lbs. Six months later, in March of 2000, I was 170. For those of you who may be bad at math, that's a 75lb delta. My cholesterol dropped from 225 to 127 in the same period. My blood pressured dropped from 170/110 to 110/60. Resting heart rate? 85 down to 40 (33 was my record low - achieved through meditation).

    How did I lose 75lbs so quickly? It wasn't a fad diet like Atkins. Nor did I become a 'speed' addict. I made three very simple and easy-to-stick-to modifications to my lifestyle:

    • I changed my diet from Pizza and Chef Boyardee to something much more sensible and balanced. Cereal for Breakfast. Soup and Salad w/ Bread for Lunch. Dinner was usually some kind of meat & rice or meat & potatoes dish, or sometimes pasta. But, most important, smaller portions!
    • I stopped using the elevator. I stopped using my car (I lived on campus, so everthing was a sub-1-mile walk).
    • I walked 45 minutes every day, and i mean brisk walking. This turned into intermittent jogging, which turned into running after 3 weeks.

    Hmmm a balanced diet with exercise - the same plan that the government has been pushing for years and years. Nothing special. The point is that by making minor lifestyle changes (ok, so maybe mine were a bit more than minor), you can become a more healthy person. Instead of Pizza, have a bit of Pasta with a somewhat-rich sauce and dry bread with a salad. It's MUCH more filling and has many fewer calories. Stop drinking soda and beer and just drink water or an occasional diet soda. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk to class/work instead of driving.

    You don't have to swear anything off to lose weight. Just eat healthier food and don't eat until you're full. Drink lots of water to help your body metabolize your food. You can still enjoy the occasional slice of pizza or 16oz New york Strip (as I did sometimes).

    You know, far too many people run to these fad diets because they feel like "Oh I can't lose weight no matter what I do." I would be willing to guess that most of these people don't know that making night-and-day radical changes to your lifestyle makes it much harder to stick to. If you find it difficult to go on a diet - then go on a diet gradually. Start cutting heavy fatty foods out bit by bit - that will be easier...

    Well enough of that tirade. You get the point. You can do all the fad diets, crash diets, gimmicks, pills, potions, snake oils, or whatever, but you'll never lose weight until you take ownership of your life and make the conscious decision to make the changes that are necessary to achieve a lasting change in your level of health. That first hump is very hard, but if you can give yourself enough faith to make it, you'll be much happier and healthier over the long term.

    Here it is, precisely three years to the day that I stared making these changes, and I'm still 175 lbs, still have a Good luck...

  113. I am a test subject, of sorts, for the other side by SolemnDragon · · Score: 1
    Simply put: I was a vegetarian and happy that way. IT almost killed me, because it turned out i have multiple allergies AND Celiac, which means that i can only eat two grains- rice and corn. No others. I can eat meat, and now i have to; i can eat most vegetables. I can have dairy if it's lactose-converted, and i can't eat most of the chemicals and artificial additives (or, for that matter, most natural additives.)

    Anyone want to guess how much weight i lost with that kind of shock to my system? I only weighed 126 to start with, and most of me was muscle. I dropped to 106. And here's the important part: that kind of weight loss does damage. Every time. You're making a bet, on a high-protien diet, that your risk of injury from losing weight that way is less than your injury from remaining obese. Which is why my nutritionists and the other members of my medical team- that's right, i said team were in earnest when they told me that this is NOT a good way to lose weight- ever. THey told me that Atkins was not a fraud, but to take that idea to an extreme the way people do is a very bad idea. One piece of bread is not enough carbohydrates to stave off gout or other diet-linked damages.

    So what am i doing now? Well, i weigh about 116, which is due to a serious effort to eat more, period. If i can take in more than the 1632 calories that i burn on an average day, I will probably gain weight. Some of those have to be carbohydrates, enough to keep my body in the habit of using them as fuel. The kicker is this- I NEVER liked rice. And there's wheat in most soy sauce, so that rules out the take-out diet.

    My point: extremity is bad, you're likely to lose weight on the Atkins diet, and it's likely to do you lasting harm, as evidenced by how fast they started trying to get me off my accidental wander onto it. I'm holding steady at 116, and I miss my coca cola breakfasts. (I'd also point out that most of the geeks I know are in great shape, and some of them are slashdotters. So some slashdotters are in great shape.)

  114. Yeah, I've lost ~25 pounds by KjetilK · · Score: 2
    I've lost about 25 pounds without dieting at all. I wrote a big thesis in astrophysics, which made me sit in front of a computer 13 hours a day. That's not good for you. I guess I'm kind of a super-healthy person; not drinking coffee, not even coke, no smoking. I used to be an endurance athlete, and in some ways, I always was, but the studies took so much of my time, I just didn't have the time to train.

    But then, I finally got the time to get out there. Enjoying the woods as I always did. Just seize every opportunity. Also, I spent the summer climbing to about 20000 feet.

    I enjoy training a lot, so the first thing I did when I finished was to start training again. At that time, I weighed ~85 kg. It was 7 months ago. Now I'm 71 kgs, which I'm pretty comfortable with.

    In the meantime I was eating a lot. You've got to do that when your burning as much as I do.

    My advice is rather than diets (OK, stay away from things that are obviously bad), go out training. Burn it. But it means that you have to be dedicated, and that you seize the opportunity to go out when you've got it.

    --
    Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
  115. Article is plain wrong about fat content by sleight · · Score: 2

    Dr. Atkins does not describe his diet as a high fat diet. He perhaps misleads a little in the book, perhaps to sell his product a little better, but, at a few points, he makes very clear that Atkins is not a high fat diet. However, this is a common misconception among Atkins detractors.

    In his book, Dr. Atkins recommends low fat sources of protein, i.e., skinless chicken, although he occasionally mentions eggs, bacon, etc.

  116. Hi, Governor Engler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For those that don't know, he' the guv of Michigan

    You're a b i g man, but if you've lost 40 lbs, that means you can walk through a 36" doorway without having to be pushed through.

  117. Gays, all of you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just wanted to say that you are all gays!

    Please ban this IP.

  118. You were not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You said you were only eating 1300 calories a day and gaining wait.

    This, prudence, is a physical impossibility.

    A few years ago, there was a study of heavy people that put them in a monitored environment. They picked people like yourself who claimed they didn't eat, only x calories.

    But it turns out that people lie. They lie to researchers, they lie to themselves.

    And I promise that if you ate 1300 calories a day, you'd lose those 50 pounds in about 5-6 months.

    1. Re:You were not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sir, are an idiot.

      You have no idea if he is being honest or not. Get off your high horse and stop listening to the "experts" that have convinced everyone for years to go on low fat diets.

    2. Re:You were not by Rary · · Score: 1
      "...stop listening to the "experts" that have convinced everyone for years to go on low fat diets..."

      ...and start listening to the new "experts" that are convincing everyong to go on high-protein diets.

      .....oh wait.........

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

  119. No, not really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're 20 pounds overweight, then yes, 10 pounds per month is about 30-40% too much.

    On the other hand, if you are obese, its best to crash diet. The theory is that obesity is so bad for you that the alternative is better (losing lots of weight quickly).

    The "fat-farms" all try to get people shed pounds quickly.

  120. Atkins Advice by brownj_685 · · Score: 1

    I started Atkins right around the time that article was published. I will tell you the following about it. It does work. I have no doubts on that. It does have its draw backs. The two biggies for me were leg cramps and constipation.

    Now for the other side. I am eating healthier on the diet than I did before the diet. No question in my mind on that. For those doubters out there, I say read the book. You will notice that even in the earliest stages of the diet, you must eat 20 grams of carbs a day. Almost all of that in Vegitables. I had never eaten so many greens in one day in my life. Potatoes, yes. Corn, yes. Salad Greens, no. I am eating almost exactly the same amount of meat today, as I was eating before the diet. You may ask how is that possible. You try eating 3+ cups of salad greens a day, and lets see how much more you can eat beyond that.

    I have no sugar in my diet, and very little processed wheat flour. I drink only water.

    I am now up to eating a couple of handfulls of unsalted peanuts, and some small berries. That is beyond the basic, meat, chesse and sald greens.

    The diet has allowed me to rework my eating habits.

    That alone was worth starting the diet.

    If you just want to loose 20lbs, but aren't really after changeing your eating habits. I would advise against this diet. I strongly suggest that you take the philosophy: If I want to permenatly be X weight, then I will have to permanently change my eating habits.

    The most current book (Atkins new diet revolution) gives some good advice to apply to any diet. I think his 4 stages for dieting are an excelent plan, even if you dont agree with what he asks you to eat.

    1. Re:Atkins Advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your problems of leg cramps and constipation can be dealt with by taking potassium supplements for the former and magnesium supplements for the latter.

      Read _The Protein Power Lifeplan_ by Michael R. Eades and Mary Dan Eades, both doctors who run a nutrition/weight loss clinic in Colorado. Their book is much more helpful than Atkins's book. Their book is packed with information, referencing cutting edge knowledge, on metabolism, health, low-carb eating, and so on. I found Atkins's cantankerous attitude got in the way of his message. I thought I knew enough about nutrition--along the lines of folks here who say, "The number of calories you eat correlates directly to how much weight you'll lose or gain." I learned better. I'm 25 pounds lighter without having gone hungry, without having reduced calories, without exercising, and without having to eat anything weird. I have more energy, too.

  121. Nice try, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Atkins doesn't make any money when you use his diet.

  122. Grammar check by nial-in-a-box · · Score: 1

    "MozillaZine have updated their article"
    Everyone please tell me they see the problem with that sentence. I see this on Slashdot far too often: people assume that since one word represents a group of people, it should be treated as a plural noun. This is very wrong. The sentence should read "MozillaZine has updated its article" or at least "MozillaZine has updated their article." Good grammar and spelling go a long way toward establishing credibility.

    --
    I am feeling fat and sassy
  123. My low-carb experience by mbourgon · · Score: 2

    I was on a low-carb diet for about a year. Not Atkins, but Neander-thin. Basic premise - mankind has only recently started eating cultivated foods, and these "alien proteins" are what make us fat.

    Practical upshot? If you could eat it, naked in the savanna with a stick, you can eat it. Basically, eat like Neanderthals eat. So Corn? Out. Beef? In. Peanuts? Out. (they're actually beans). Almonds? In. Cauliflower? In. Carrots? In. Rice? Out. (has to be processed)

    So, given that, I did eat vegetables. Quite a bit, actually, more so than I used to. Could cook them in butter, actually, but it had to be real butter.

    Overall, being very strict on it, I lost 30 pounds in the first month. Not a typo. I actually ate fairly healthily. Decent amount of veggies, took vitamins, and kept the weight off for over a year,
    and lost an additional 30 pounds over the next several months. I didn't lose more since I wasn't as strict as I was the first month - while there was a lot of food I could eat, even more so than on normal diets, it's just NICE to be able to tuck into some bread, or pasta, etc occasionally. There is an entire subculture devoted to the low carb diet, though. You can get bake mix, cookies, chocolate bars, etc online, and they taste good.

    Why'd I get off? Combo of things. I didn't have the cooking skills to go after some of the foods, and so the variety wasn't enough. My breakfast used to be a 1/3rd pound of bacon in the morning, and while it tastes great for the first 6 months, you can get sick of it. Also, since you're eating more meat, bills go up. Not to mention eating out! But, overall, it worked fantastically, and I don't regret it.

    --
    "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
  124. Atkins Diet. by let_freedom_ring · · Score: 1

    Since diets are a serious healpth concern there should be a comprehensive long term gov't sponsored study of the Atkins diet. Instead it is being entirely dismissed out of hand by people not even pretending to use any scientific method. My favorite quotation from the article.
    "Why hasn't the government tested it? One possible reason is that it is unlikely to be approved by any review committee, given what is known about the effects of animal fats and cholesterol ..." Gee, that's objective.

    I am an 'Atkins (actually Eades)' partisan because the diet works for me. I've lost 20lb's, feel great energy level and my blood cholesterol improved (from 3.8 LDL/HDL to 3.1). Also, my triglycerides basically dissappeared (over 70% reduction).

  125. Thanks you by ACNeal · · Score: 1

    I have never tried the Atkins diet, but know several people who have "tried" the Atkins diet.

    Every one of them does exactly the same thing. They tell me all about it, in painful detail, reciting virtually the entire book to me.

    Always detailing that you slowly work your way back up to a healthy amount of carbs.

    Then after the first two weeks of no carbs, they take to eating meat all week except one binge day. The binge day they eat candy, pizza, pour sugar down their throat. Then they roll around in fat and meat for the rest of the week, extolling the virtues of Atkins as they drink a glass of bacon drippings and mock the rest of the nutritin world.

    This is not the Atkins diet. Just because you read a book written by Atkins, and misquote it to justify how you are living, doesn't mean you are on the Atkins diet.

    What I want to see is a real study of real people actually on different diets (1 being the actual Atkins diet, not how most people tend to practice it.) I hate nutritionists that argue experimental data with common wisdom, or even arguing that high protien is bad because some other diet is good.

  126. Atkins snacks on carrots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, maybe he doesn't, but his diet doesn't preclude it.

    Read the book. You are supposed to start eating carbs later in the diet. Just not sugars, and processed carbs. And even then, it is just not a lot, not total abstinence.

    The total abstinence only lasts for a short while, and then slowly increase the amount of carbs you eat.

  127. kidney damage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Be careful with high protein diets. My grandmother is on dialysis now because her kidneys failed. The first failed in the late 70's after she went on a high protein diet. The second hung on until a few years ago.

  128. Diet? by Lxy · · Score: 2

    This is a revolution:

    Get away from the Tivo.

    Put down your GBA.

    Stop trying to listen to vinyl with your scanner.

    Heck, just stop reading /. all day. Go outside or something. See my sig for details.

    --

    There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
    :wq
  129. Earliest Smileys by teamhasnoi · · Score: 2
    I was just reading an article in our newspaper and it mentions that there is a smiley on the TEN COMMANDMENTS!

    I believe this would be the first recorded smilely. Here is a portion of the article.

    ...Dr. Franz Tellimhoff believes that is untrue. "We have found examples of smileys that go back to Biblical times," he said in a telephone interview from the Institute of Greater Reasearch in Bella, France. "We have been asking ourselves, 'Where did the smiley originate? How did it come to be used in our modern society?' We searched many hundreds of texts from many libraries and found many examples of smileys predating the ones found by other researchers. After acting on a hunch that we would find similar results on some earlier writings, we arranged to study the two stone tablets containing the original ten commandments. This was a difficult prospect to say the least. They had not been out of the sealed vault where they had lain for several hundred years. With some custom-made special equipment and reassurance that the tablets would not be damaged, we studied them in earnest. Previously, it was thought that God did not use smileys. We found three."

    "The first was a ':P' and was found at the end of 'I) THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GOD'S BEFORE ME.' We moved down the list and found 'VII) THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. ;) ' Amazed at this point, we pressed on to find 'IX) THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THEY NEIGHBOUR. :( '"

    "We at the Institute will not put words in God's mouth, per say, however it seems that these 'emoticons' give us added insight into what God was feeling at the time the Ten Commandments were written. We believe there may be more, though further study is nessasary. Our next project will ..." (Continued on next page)

    Reprinted from the Charleston Daily Star and Report with permission. All rights reserved.

  130. Re:Atkins, or any other high protien, low carb die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh jesus, how could this post (4295701) NOT be a 5? That last paragraph alone is worth it...

  131. Atkins by Krieger · · Score: 2

    I was amused to read the article only to discover that many of the "healthy" points she was making were similar to those in Atkin's book.

    I also find it terribly amusing that all of the nutritionists that criticize the diet appear to have never read the book, or if they have it always appears that they rather specifically ignore parts of it so they can criticize it.

    Atkins is not a no carb diet. It is a controlled carb diet.

    It also has phases, only the first one is extremely low carb... afterwards you work up to a level where you maintain a steady weight.

    I too have lost weight with Atkins. I've lost 25 pounds over a couple months. It has also helped me to have stable energy levels, as opposed to the post lunch blackouts after eating meals with a lot of carbs. I also quit drinking soda, and dropped caffeine altogether. All of these factors are making me healthier then I was before.

    All I can say to the skeptics is read the book and read medical studies. Then make your own informed choice.

  132. Re:I'd agree but personal experience shows otherwi by VivianC · · Score: 2

    Her doctor put her on an "experimental diet" and she lost about 30# and all indicators of diabetes disappeared!!

    You have raised an important point:

    See your Doctor BEFORE you start on Atkins or any diet

    I was on Atkins for over a year and dropped 75 pounds. The first 30 came off pretty fast and the rest more slowly. But I also ran into other problems and my initial bloodwork showed that is wasn't directly related to the diet. The only problem I had with the diet was kidney stones so make sure you drink enough water.

    I can feel a difference as little as 5 pounds and damn it, I wanted it gone!

    I hate skinny people. If I need to lose 5 pounds quick, I'll take a dump.

    --
    Viv

    Gmail invites for ip
  133. Re:I'd agree but personal experience shows otherwi by AugustFalcon · · Score: 1

    My experience has been very similar to yours, i.e., putting the extra pounds on and not being able to take them off until going on an Atkins type diet.
    The one additional downside I experienced was that the diet seemed to make my stool sticky causing difficult bowel movements and aggravating my tendency to get hemmorhoids. [I too am an old guy.] That required some modification, i.e., adding fruits back in.
    On reading the book: it is a terrible book... mostly puffery. Hard science in support of his recommendations would have been very helpful. I have moved back towards the "Zone Diet" since that book had, amid the puffery, some explanation of a seemingly scientific basis for his recommendations.

  134. I used to be a wiener by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 1

    Are you saying the food industry is suppressing Atkins because he is threatening there highest profit lines of business? That is baloney.

    I had no idea that baloney was so profitable. I'm calling my stockbroker right now to invest in Oscar Meyer.

    --
    Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
    1. Re:I used to be a wiener by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, since Kraft is the parent company of Oscar Meyer:

      http://money.cnn.com/MGI/snap/A2A93.htm

      They have a 1.52% yield, a sustainable 34% payout ration, and are predicting strong growth...

  135. Smileys the other way 'round? by BillX · · Score: 1
    I'm surprised that I see so many smileys go in one direction

    :)


    and not the other


    (:


    As a matter of fact, I have known of only one person besides myself to use them interchangably.
    Is there a reason for this? (Of course this is Slashdot, so an instant mod-down for admitting to using them at all...)

    --
    Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
  136. How to gain by sbeitzel · · Score: 2

    I had a similar problem a couple years ago. I had switched from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet, and the loss of the fats from cheese meant that I dropped ten pounds without even noticing. At 6'7", 175 pounds is scrawny. I wanted to bulk up to about 195, and I didn't want it to be gut.

    I worked weights three times a week, and did cardio on the off days. If I was awake, then I was either working out or chewing. I ate oat cakes and smoothies in the morning, and grazed all afternoon. It took me a few months, but eventually I did make it up to my goal. Maintaining the weight is a lot easier than gaining it, since my appetite has adjusted.

    It mostly just required a lifestyle change: I had to plan on eating, so I became more organized about shopping and cooking. Once I had adjusted my daily routine, though, it was well-integrated into my life and I found it easy to keep with my program. I could be at work, at my desk, coding furiously and simultaneously eating the food I'd packed.

    --
    Oh, go on, check out my job.
  137. 'Eyes Only' seems to be a microsoft thing. by sawilson · · Score: 1

    Usually when the source is open, you don't have
    'eyes only' anything. Kinda pointless trying to
    hide something that somebody could find out
    about tommorow. It's much easier to simply
    not mention bugs when your source is closed.
    Even though perhaps 1/100th of the people use
    Mozilla based browsers over IE, the likelyhood
    of finding bugs is probably a few degrees of
    magnitude higher considering you can actually
    look at what it's made of.
    Just started using mozilla myself a week ago and
    I couldn't be happier. Best browser money can't
    buy.

  138. Hey, I'm a geek. by mmol_6453 · · Score: 2

    I need to use my computer. It's an addiction. I'll only start running on a treadmill if I can get a hand-mounted keyboard.

    --
    What's this Submit thingy do?
  139. it is not QUITE that simple by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

    If you exercise too much, or eat too little, or lower your protein intake too much, your body will start cutting out as much lean muscle mass as it can to reduce your metabollism. Once that happens, you have to eat a lot less to actually lose fat.

    That's behind the famous 'balloon dieting' syndrome. Some woman uses slimfast and jazzercise to drop 50 pounds, but she actually loses 40 pounds of fat and 10 pounds of muscle. She goes back to her old 1900 calorie a day diet, but now her body only needs 1400 calories to maintain itself. One year later she's 50 pounds heavier again, but this time it will be even harder to lose the weight. If she had incorporated some resistance training and a diet with a reasonable protein level into her first diet, it might not have happened.

    I got sick of regaining the fat I lost on each diet. I started making sure I ate the RDA of protein and lifted weights for an hour per week. An hour isn't much, but it's something even a lazy SOB like me can continue over the long term. It took me about half a year to build up enough muscle for it to affect my metabollism. Now I've been losing about half a pound per week, without trying, for about four months. The new muscles are nice too, but at this rate it will be about 700 years before I'm Mr. Universe material.

    1. Re:it is not QUITE that simple by Loligo · · Score: 1


      True, it's not quite as simple as starving yourself and running ten miles a day, there is a balance of healthy food and reasonable exercise to be reached.

      HOWEVER, a successful weight-loss plan BASICALLY boils down to those two things.

      EAT LESS. MOVE MORE.

      If you wanna get picky...

      EAT LESS (of the bad things). MOVE MORE (the right way).

      -l

  140. If you want to experiment... by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

    I think you're lifting too much. Try spreading your workouts more. Trust me, you can go up to 10 days between workouts without losing strength (as long as you don't make a habit of it). If I stall while lifting, I maintain my diet and make sure to sleep well but take a week or ten days off from lifting. When I come back, I usually have so much energy I feel like I could chew through the barbell. Plus, my poundages often increase. I'd say give that a try once or twice, and see if it doesn't help your weight and your quest for 200 on the bench press.

  141. If it doesn't Fly, Swim, Run, or if it isn't Green by SmegTheLight · · Score: 1

    If it doesn't Fly, Swim, Run, or if it isn't Green..Don't Eat It...

    It's that simple..

    Is it healthy ?
    Well, I have been doing it for 10 months now. Who knows, maybe I will keel over tomorrow - but I doubt it. I am not a doctor, but my family doctor is very happy with my progress and health.

    Do you loose weight ?
    No shit.. 257lbs now 210lbs. More importantly I have lost FAT..

    Do you need to work out ?
    No you don't - I didn't for 6 months until I felt comfortable with my looks. But you will look like shit without any muscle mass, not to mention all the benifits of a higher metabolism, and athletic ability..

    BUT YOU NEAD BREADS & GRAINS !!
    Who sent you ? The Quaker Oats company eh ? You just keep on eating your fat free rice cakes lard arse, we will see croaks first...

    Do you have to watch your calories ?
    No.. Eat as much as you want..
    Go eat 3 hard boilded eggs.. Chances are you will not be hungry as quick as eating a bowl of rice, and certainly not as quick as a bag of chips.

    But ??!!
    But what ? Look, it's very simple biology that seems to have been overlooked since this "Fat Free" craze started.. FAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU FAT - SUGAR MAKES YOU FAT. I am not a "Registered Dietitian" (there is a WHOLE rant on those people), just a former unhealthy fat guy..

    That being said, perhaps you have some weird digestive system, or metabolism that works totally different then mine and every fat person I have convinced to change their eating habbits.
    If so, then good luck on finding out what works for you.

    A corporation will kill you in a second for the sake of a dollar, but they prefer to do it over 30 years..
    -Smeg The Light

    --
    Time travel is possible. We are quickly heading for 1984.
  142. Dear Fsckface... by Ominous+Armed+Cow · · Score: 1

    Atkins diet has remained relatively consistent since the early 70's when it was introduced.

    That makes it as old as the vaunted food pyramid which came out of the McGovern committee in the mid 70's, which itself was based on the dubious proposition that reducing cholestoral in the bloodstream (via drugs) reduced heart disease, so reducing cholestoral in the food supply would achieve the same end. Of course no one could ever prove it, despite 5 government studies which attempted to do so, but having 80% of your recommended food intake grown by farmers had to be popular in the heartland, and it's not like the massive "healthfood" industry which developed because of the recommendations was bad for the economy, so who cares?

    Point 2:
    Since the adoption of the food pyramind in the early eighties the United States has seen an major explosion of obesity, which corresponded with an explosion with exercise and genereal "health consciousness". Since it is doubtful that exercise is the underlying cause of obesity, and there was no correspondent "explosion" in fast food or junk food consumption, (just steady growth) I would be curious as to how you could explain this?

    Here's a clue. Atkins is like Copernicus, and nutritionists and people like you are the unimaginative sheep who think he's crazy. All the priesthood say he's a heretic because he's called them what they are: Snake oil salesman of a fraudulent "science" which resorts to scarying the public so they can keep their undeserved reputations intact and the grant money flowing. Meanwhile, even these same nutritionists admit that the diet is effective for losing weight, and that it warrants more research, which is more than one can say of the twenty five years of the "eat like a rabbit and run like a gerbil" diet. The CR (calorie reduction) folks are just the last hurray of this idiocy. Tell me, have you ever seen a CR practictioner that didn't look twenty years older than their age? Wow, so you got a mouse to live longer, and all you had to do was keep them on the brink of starvation? That sounds like a fad to me.

    1. Re:Dear Fsckface... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's slightly more complicated than that, in that portions have gotten larger so while everyone is eating low-fat food, they're eating more of it. So while the percentage of fat in the average diet has gone down, the total amount of calories consumed has increased. I also think that since sugar has no fat sugar consumption has increased. I personally lost fifteen pounds by putting nutrasweet in my coffee instead of sugar.

  143. Much puffery indeed! by itwerx · · Score: 2

    I think the book could be condensed to about 30 pages. And 28 of those pages would be recipes... :)
    I had problems with constipation as well but a few prunes cleared that right up. (Damn, I thought I'd last a few more decades before I had to start eating prunes! :)
    Speaking of problems, a friend of mine had kidney stones off and on for years and was given a folklore remedy of an apple a day along with a teaspoon of olive oil.
    He got sick of apples and olive oil pretty quickly but it's been a few years since he's had one. He's taken to having an apple-laden fruit salad once a week and making salad dressing with the olive oil (different salads I hope!).
    Could just be coincidence or wierd body-chemistry too...

  144. A different perspective... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know why people are so afraid of a low carbohydrate diet. The USDA has done a great job of convincing people they're going to die unless they get 5-10 servings of vitamin M (Muffin).

    Unless one was previously a vegetarian, they're basically eating no more meat than they did before officially "dieting", they're just cutting out the refined carbohydrates, and foods highest on the glycemic index.

    USDA stands for US department of AGRICULTURE by the way. I highly doubt the farming industry is as interested in our wellbeing as they are in their own profits.

  145. Ok... by Ominous+Armed+Cow · · Score: 1

    When you reduced sugar, you reduced carbs, which would be directly in line with Atkin's theory. Congratulations, BTW.

    I conceded that there was steady growth in the quantity digested (this trend exists everywhere, even in the third world) but steady growth should yield a steady increase in obesity, not the dramatic acceleration that has actually occurred in the population.