jrhana,
Well for me bread is indeed the very staff of life so I am not about to give it up.
There was no bread before mill was invented, and there was life before mill was invented. BTW, it's not that I personally never eat bread, I just try to keep the amount low.
Phase 1 of the the South Florida diet is more like an induction phase for your typical overweight office junkie who is addicted to doughnuts, pizza, sodas etc. Phase 2 is a test transition to phase 3 where you spend your life and where some whole grains are indeed acceptable.
My diet is in general not too different from South Beach diet. I just never call it that. There were diet books (and gurus) who preceded South Beach, and South Beach diet copied a lot of ideas from them. In Particular, Protein Power and The Zone diets.
I see Atkins is being pushed here and it has its passionate adherents. I don't buy that it is necessarily as good for your cardiovascular system as a Mediterranean type diet would be.
I am not quite sure that is the case. The latest study from Israel showed Low Carb to be slightly better than Mediterranean. I think Atkins diet has its place for people who need to lose fat. Once you achieve your goal, you are allowed to add a little more carbs in maintenance phase of Atkins diet.
I am, in general, on a low carb diet, but not extremely low carb. That way, I can have more variety in food. I am pretty much at my ideal weight and I don't need to lose any weight.
Some observers are also convinced that a vegetarian type of diet acts to prevent many forms of cancers there are possible trade offs everywhere.
There are a lot of beneficial nutrients in vegetables, especially non-starchy ones. You can eat plenty of those even on Atkins diet. The things to avoid or limit are grains, sugars, excessive starches and excessive fruits and fruit juices.
I don't think there is any benefit in avoiding meat and fish. I think if there is any benefit in vegetarian diet, it is not from grains, it is from vegetables. It is just my theory. I don't think there were any well designed studies on this.
Joe |
