No-carb diet, unhealthy???

im reeeaallly concerned about my mum, shes started this no carb diet. fruit for brekkie, fruit w/ low-fat sour cream yoghurt stuff for lunch then some meat and salad for dinner. snacks are celery. i know this is bad, she says shes lost weight on it before and people say it best for her 'blood type' total crap. This is like starvation mode......i want to know the long term effects, what its doing to her, alternatives etc. she'sreally smart and should know better than this, and im only her 14year old daughter, i need better ways to convince her out of it.....

Sounds like an Atkins thing.


Find articles and show her PROOF that the Atkins diet is deadly. 


Introduce her to something like WeightWatchers.  Offer to join with her or something.

I agree with oxymoron, you should look for articles that show that Atkins is not the best choice. Tell her also that a low carb diet can only work agaisnt you. Once she reintroduces carbs into her diet, most of her weight will come back, because when you do a high protein diet for a long time, your body goes into what's called ketosis....the weight that comes out so quickly in the atkins diet is purely water. Also long term high protein diets can cause liver damage....If she thinks that a low carb diet is what is gonna keep her motivated with her dieting and make her lose the weight...convince her on trying the south beach diet. IT goes my phases, first two phases are the harshest, but phase 3 is a lifetime commitment and change in your diet that you are to follow for as long as you live...this phase includes a super well balanced diet of carbs, fats and protein. South Beach Dieters are more successful than atkins dieters, and tend to maintain their weight for a long time (unless they break out of the phase 3) if they gain weight they can always go back to phase 1 and start off from there....

There are also other long term diets that work best...like a Low GI diet...or just a well balanced diet and exercise.

Also tell her about your concern for her and let her know that you only want whats best for her, and doing this to herself is going to only damage her, and damage you in return.

best of luck

-xo

Don't worry too much.  Mum won't  kill herself doing what she's doing (at least she's eating some fruit and salad) and there will be little long-term damage.  She'll be pretty miserable, her bowels might choke up and her breath might start to whiff a little but that's about it.

The clincher argument is actually 'she's lost weight on it before'..... which means she's yo-yo'd back at least once.   Any idiot can lose weight quickly on a crash or fad diet but keeping it off requires a more sensible, long-term approach.  Bottom line is that if you don't maintain the loss, the diet didn't 'work'.

You're not responsible for your mum's choices.  She's old enough to do what she pleases.  Rather than convincing her out of it (which will be a waste of breath), bide your time because a few months down the track she'll be back to her old size, very unhappy and probably more receptive to suggestions!  The alternative to fad dieting is changing to a healthier lifestyle - being more active, watching the portions and getting a healthy balanced diet.  But she has to work that out for herself, unfortunately.

Well done for being a caring daughter.  You probably can't change her behaviour but you can learn from her mistakes. 

she's eating fruit.  that isn't low carb.

I'd be more concerned that she isn't getting any fat.  She isn't doing atkins.  Atkins has a lot of fat in it.

Original Post by for_zev:

she's eating fruit.  that isn't low carb.

 

I'd be more concerned that she isn't getting any fat.  She isn't doing atkins.  Atkins has a lot of fat in it.

yeah, fruit is pretty much all carb.

Competitive Figure athletes use the same idea when they're trying to lose fat and maintain their muscle. They do carb cycling. Very low carbs for 5 days and lots of carbs for 2 days( This works well if you do weight training). Fruit is a sensible approach, its the best kind of carbohydrate you can get. Some people argue that human beings have only been eating heavy carbohydrates like bread and rice for the last 10,000 years and that evolution hasn't completely adapted to that in our diet. So the best source of carbohydrates are from fruit, and things like sweet potatoe as they are the most natural source. There was a time when grains were likely a very limited resource. Of course in the modern world it's difficult to turn around without seeing bread and rice and thus it is hard to keep it out of our diets. But I don't think eating very little breads rice and pasta would be bad for her. I would almost encourage it, but thats only if you could keep it up.  

My mum did Atkins and lost a lot of weight. Now she's convienced that she can't loose weight without cutting out carbs because they affect her "more heavily" than meats. O_o?

I don't know, but the unfortunate thing is, she gained all the weight back. Unfortunately, because she thinks that she can't lose weight any other way (apparently calorie counting is too slow, because she's been on this site before but gave up quickly) and is simply miserable being heavy. (She's not really heavy, especially for her age group, but more like 30 pounds over weight.)

I'm really not sure how to broach the subject with her, especially when she's convinced she's 150 (a weight I'm not even at yet!) when she's clearly more as we have the same body structure almost to a T. I suppose when/if she ever says something about my weight loss, I'll go into detail then. But otherwise, I've just resigned myself to let her think what she wants. There's little I can do to change her mind. =/

As it is, it doesn't sound like you're mum is going to kill herself this way, just not going to maintain achievable results.

people will debate all day about the low carb life... the point of it is eat real food and cut out processed crap food. nothing on the atkins diet is bad for you i know for a fact it works and it preserves muscle. i had no bowel problems you speak of they were in tip top shape i might say, i was healthy i took a multivitamin and could easily run 5 miles a day and lift weights

cutting back fast and going low calrie is how i wound up with AN and am recovering now

You really cannot convince people that their experiences didn't happen.  You can inform them that the results that they experienced were from a different cause than they thought.  Hopefully they'll continue to think on your information.  Let me know if anything works because I need a new approach for my dad.

With all the fruit is sounds more liek LOW carb not NO Carb. Which I must say I do advocate, I kinda have to low carb it to lose weight.

To tell the truth, what she's eating there sounds healthy.  She's got 3 of the 4 food groups, she's only missing grains.  On the low carb or atkins diet she wouldn't be eating all that fruit.

Throw some cerel or an occasional sandwich in there and she's eating perfectly balanced meals. 

I lost over 40 pounds on Atkins in about 6 months eating low carb. During that time my cholesterol improved significantly (HDL went up while LDL went down).  Once I started eating carbs again, though, I gained about 25 pounds back.  I'm now counting calories instead.  It's taking longer to lose the weight, but I'm hoping it'll be easier to keep it off in the long run.

There's nothing wrong with cutting out bad carbs from your diet, and eating more of the good carbs like fruits and veggies. I found that I don't feel tired in the afternoon anymore when I reduce the number of carbs I eat during the day.

Atkins is not a bad diet, but I don't think your mom is doing atkins. As long as she is getting enough calories a day you don't need to worry about her going into starvation mode. If you are really worried about that then you can keep up with her calories for a few days to make sure she is getting enough and then maybe you will feel better. I did atkins myself and I lost a lot of weight, but I was not committed to staying off carbs forever so the weight came back. However I have known people who live a carb free lifestyle and they are perfectly healthy and keep the weight off, but there is no point in doing the diet if you ever plan on going back to carbs as it will just come right back. There are many articles online about the misconceptions concerning low carb diets, so if you are still worried about her you can try reading some various articles about how low carb diets work.

Fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates.  It's not a "no-carb" diet.

^there is, actually, a diet of meat & fat.

1) Atkins is NOT a "Deadly diet."

2) Fruit, low fat anything & yoghurt are all FULL of carbs. Your mother is obviously NOT following the Atkins diet.

Original Post by whitsc:

I lost over 40 pounds on Atkins in about 6 months eating low carb. During that time my cholesterol improved significantly (HDL went up while LDL went down).  [b]Once I started eating carbs again, though, I gained about 25 pounds back. [/b]

This is why people say Atkins "doesn't work." However, if one were to lose 40lbs by calorie counting & improve their health, and then forgoe calorie counting & return to their former way of life & gain it all back, nobody would say calorie counting "didn't work."

Low-no carb is a healthy lifestyle for a lot of people. Your mom is not on a low-carb diet.

Original Post by carleyrapp:

Original Post by whitsc:

I lost over 40 pounds on Atkins in about 6 months eating low carb. During that time my cholesterol improved significantly (HDL went up while LDL went down).  [b]Once I started eating carbs again, though, I gained about 25 pounds back. [/b]

This is why people say Atkins "doesn't work." However, if one were to lose 40lbs by calorie counting & improve their health, and then forgoe calorie counting & return to their former way of life & gain it all back, nobody would say calorie counting "didn't work."

Low-no carb is a healthy lifestyle for a lot of people. Your mom is not on a low-carb diet.

I was just relaying my personal experience with the Atkins diet.  Reading information about the Atkins diet, I learned a lot about good versus bad fats, and good versus bad carbs.  I ate much healthier on Atkins then I did before I started the diet. I also was never hungry like I was while on a low-fat diet. I still follow a modified Atkins diet, avoiding bad carbs and eating more good fats, though not as low-carb since I enjoy the good carbs too much!

u shudnt worry...fruits have TONS of carbs. A cup of raspberries has as many calories as a slice of bread. I just became interested in the blood type diet, and as a type O, it recommends that i limite grains and completely restrict wheat.

I only started this diet 3 days ago..

- i have SO much more energy (i replace the bread ad grains i ate with fruit)

- my lips are beautiful and red again (i started to take a B vitamin complex YESTERDAY and i ate a little more meat than usual JUST YESTERDAY, and my complexion is beautiful today)

- i can breathe so much easier

- my face doesnt feel heavy or puffy (over the last 3 days, my face has felt felt lighter, progressively. i finally have cheekbones again)

- I'M NOT BLOATED OR GASSY!!! first time in, like, a YEAR!!

so i know i'm just one person (of MANY, mind you) that has experienced positive effects with this type of diet. And i know that i literally just started it, but i've had chronic tiredness ever since i can remember, and its only gotten worse. This is the first time in my life that i'm actually beginning to feel much better.

Well... I have been on a low-carb diet for the past 6 years... and my diet DOES NOT include fruit or dairy... I strictly only eat lean meats, healthy fats & vegetables... So I am going to have to say her diet is not really low-carb. If you look at the carb & sugar content of both the fruits & sour cream & yogurt she is eating, you will be amazed at how much there is in those things. Granted, she may look like she is not eating a lot, but with a diet high in protein she probably feels relatively fuller on smaller portion sizes. Let your mother do what she feels best on, that is what I have learned. My mother goes through really weird eating phases too and at first I used to sort of freak out about it but now I just let her do her thing while I do mine.