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Carbs DO make me fat for one very simple reason: They are the foods I overeat. I don't sit on the couch with raw nuts and eat them until I'm sick. But give me a bag of Cheetos or a box of Oreos and I will. Attempts at moderating and "just eating a little" have failed miserably for me, thus, the only way I'm able to lower my overall calorie consumption is to eliminate those trigger foods from my diet. For me that means anything made with sugar and wheat flour are out, as are high fat snack foods like deep fried potato chips. And interestingly, once I stopped eating the stuff, I became generally less hungry. I can now go much longer between meals without feeling the need to eat, I'm consuming way less fat and chemicals, and my low blood sugar shakes are completely gone.
That's my experience. If it's not yours, then by all means, eat every meal at McDonalds if you want. No one's trying to tell you you can't.
Honestly, I don't understand why you keep arguing in favor of junk food. Stock in Nabisco, perhaps? But since you seem to enjoy reading, pick up David Kessler's book, "The End Of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite". From it, you will understand the challenges some people have with sugar and processed snack food, and how the food industry is engineering their products to make them as addictive as nicotine.
For what it's worth, I am a lot like you.
I did a lowfat diet for just under 3 years and I lost a lot of weight (no doubt about it). But I stalled out for an entire year at a plateu. I am now doing low carb and that's how I lost the last 25% of the weight I needed to lose to get to a normal/healthy weight (normal BMI). I am still working on 10 more pounds though (still in the normal BMI range).
I also find, that like you, when I eliminated those high carb, junky foods from my diet, the cravings for them stopped. Now I might want apples with no-sugar added peanut butter instead of apple pie a la mode (for example--which now sounds sickening too sweet to me). And when I eat the apple, I am fine... not fantasizing about another (like I might have with pie). Like you, if I eat something as long as I don't eat those high carby/junky foods, it doesn't trigger cravings which make me over eat.
For what it's worth, my low carb diet isn't high fat either. Not sure why the assumption is if you eat low carb, you are suddenly eating pounds of bacon cooked in butter or something. I might fry a piece of fish, but I fry it, unbreaded in olive oil. And I buy lean cuts of meat. But I do use cream and butter (but I don't over do it). The end result... I am not hungry, I don't have cravings, and it's maintainable for me. I do tend to avoid bread and eating a lot of bready things. But when I do, they are small portions and whole grain only--but I have to be careful because I will crave bread too. It's hard to stop once I have a little.
Everyone is different with diet and what works. I can relate to the cravings that high carb and junky foods can cause. Good luck OP.
Last edited by jillabean; 11-12-2014 at 10:31 AM..
I did a lowfat diet for just under 3 years and I lost a lot of weight (no doubt about it). But I stalled out for an entire year at a plateu. I am now doing low carb and that's how I lost the last 25% of the weight I needed to lose to get to a normal/healthy weight (normal BMI). I am still working on 10 more pounds though (still in the normal BMI range).
I also find, that like you, when I eliminated those high carb, junky foods from my diet, the cravings for them stopped. Now I might want apples with no-sugar added peanut butter instead of apple pie a la mode (for example--which now sounds sickening too sweet to me). And when I eat the apple, I am fine... not fantasizing about another (like I might have with pie). Like you, if I eat something as long as I don't eat those high carby/junky foods, it doesn't trigger cravings which make me over eat.
For what it's worth, my low carb diet isn't high fat either. Not sure why the assumption is if you eat low carb, you are suddenly eating pounds of bacon cooked in butter or something. I might fry a piece of fish, but I fry it, unbreaded in olive oil. And I buy lean cuts of meat. But I do use cream and butter (but I don't over do it). The end result... I am not hungry, I don't have cravings, and it's maintainable for me. I do tend to avoid bread and eating a lot of bready things. But when I do, they are small portions and whole grain only--but I have to be careful because I will crave bread too. It's hard to stop once I have a little.
Everyone is different with diet and what works. I can relate to the cravings that high carb and junky foods can cause. Good luck OP.
It's always nice to hear similar stories that let us know we're not alone.
I spent three years sitting in weekly Weight Watchers meetings, listening to how other people ate. I just couldn't fathom how they could eat so little food and not be starving all day. I did what they said and kept eating bread and sweets "in moderation" and it was constant torture. Low-fat "balanced" eating left me constantly hungry and obsessing over food. I went to bed every night hungry and miserable. If I went longer than 2 hours without a meal I'd feel faint and shaky.
The minute I cut out sugar and bread and stopped freaking out over fat, I became a "normal" person. Now I eat those small meals like everyone else and I'm losing weight. Like you, just because I'm not following a low-fat diet doesn't mean I'm pounding down butter and steaks all day. I'm just picking the regular salad dressing off the shelf instead of the diet one. I've found the lower the fat the higher the sugar in most products. So the combination of processed carbs and high-sugar/low-fat substitutes was death for me. I really believe I have some sort of sensitivity to wheat and sugar as I react to it in a way other people apparently don't. So just like someone who is lactose intolerant needs to cut dairy, I need to cut sugar and flour. It's really not that weird or "dangerous", like some people feel the need to caution.
But like I've said, for every one of me there were 10 people sitting in a WW meeting who had completely different experiences. So it just goes to show we weren't all born with the same genetic makeup.
Sacman, I appreciate that you are excited about your eating plan, but recognize yours is only one of thousands out there people are selling.
I've got one that is working for me and I'm happy with it.
I got the impression you were struggling. You said: "I'm still battling cravings". You see, I mastered food 4 years ago, and it's because I'm eating the natural human diet.
If it's this new diet that's working for you, note that it's new. Are you low-carb? If so, it IS unsustainable.....and miserable. I've studied Low-carbers, and making it my mission to warn people not to ruin their matabolism.
(too all: Is anyone getting what I'm saying?)
My diet's different from the other 1000. If you look, you'll see, my diet's the only one that works long-term, and works incredibly. Look.
I got the impression you were struggling. You said: "I'm still battling cravings". You see, I mastered food 4 years ago, and it's because I'm eating the natural human diet.
If it's this new diet that's working for you, note that it's new. Are you low-carb? If so, it IS unsustainable.....and miserable. I've studied Low-carbers, and making it my mission to warn people not to ruin their matabolism.
(too all: Is anyone getting what I'm saying?)
My diet's different from the other 1000. If you look, you'll see, my diet's the only one that works long-term, and works incredibly. Look.
I looked, it is no different than a 1000 other diets - there is good and bad. Glad you like it, doesn't mean it is suitable for or the best option for the OP.
I am not low-carb, but because of a serious disease I am on a restrictive diet - no sugar, no grains, and some other restrictions. I have over the last few years used the Specific Carbohydrate Diet as a starting point and altered it to suit my health needs. My metabolism is just fine. My weight is just fine. Most importantly, I feel significantly better on it than off it and the lab work backs that up.
Diets should be about what allows you to live the most optimally. What works for one person might be the worst thing another person has ever tried.
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When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
What works for one person might be the worst thing another person has ever tried.
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I might fry a piece of fish, but I fry it, unbreaded in olive oil. And I buy lean cuts of meat. But I do use cream and butter (but I don't over do it). The end result... I am not hungry, I don't have cravings, and it's maintainable for me. I do tend to avoid bread and eating a lot of bready things. But when I do, they are small portions and whole grain only--but I have to be careful because I will crave bread too. It's hard to stop once I have a little. 
