Sidebar: My niece started a low carb diet early this year and coupled it
with stopping smoking . . . no one can tell me that decision can be a bad
one!

writes:

There is plenty of research to back up my claim, problem is that fat
people
won't believe it. Being fat is being lazy and being lazy means that you
are
looking for a panacea.

While that might be true with a few people, it is certainly not true of
everyone. I know of many "fat" people who are anything but lazy.
Unfortunately, our society often equates heavy with fat and the two are
not the same thing at all.

I need to only look at my own grandmother who for years hovered around 160
pounds, at 5'4" . . . anyone who would say she was lazy is a fool. She
worked in the fields along side my grandfather, maintained a huge garden,
keep beautiful flowers, sewed, crocheted, was a sports advocate, etc.,
hardly a person who even the most critical person would call lazy or
looking for a panacea. Yet, she was not able to lose weight though her
diet was not excessive in any area . . . it was simply her makeup. Pure
and simple, that weight was where her body wanted to be, regardless of
what she did. It happens.

For the record, her doctor was not the least bit concerned about her
weight for she was healthy. Now before the critical among us jump on the
bandwagon and discuss health problems related to being overweight . . .
she celebrated her 95th birthday in August and is still as healthy as one
can expect someone who has lived 95 years to be and, until two years ago,
fully maintained a household!

The issue with health is not the amount of weight but rather whether it is
healthy weight. A "normal" weight person can be very unhealthy while
looking good to others.

If a person is physically active and has good muscle tone, which means
exercises either by design or by life style regularly, he/she usually
don't need special diets regardless of his/her weight. Apart from those
folks who have organic issues (thyroid, genetic, etc.), the truth of the
entire weight issue is how motivated the person is to lose weight. A
person can lose weight and become healthier keeping exactly the same diet.
Yes, he/she can. The first thing is to have the proper mind set. The
next thing is to drink plenty of just plain water . . . you notice that
diets mention water intake, there's a reason for that. Our bodies need
that minimum of two quarts of water every day to metabolize properly. The
next thing is exercise, not just once a day but throughout the day, the
point being of getting the metabolism up early in the day and keeping it
up throughout the day. Going to a gym and working out at 7 a.m. does only
minimal good if the person goes home and takes a nap and is physically
quiet the remainder of the day. Drinking water so the body can operate at
proper metabolism, keeping physically active throughout the day to keep
the metabolism up, and then following it with sensible eating will do the
job for any person who wants to lose (and does not have organic issues as
mentioned above). The third thing is, of course, the sensible eating.
Keep away from the things that we know are not good for our bodies such as
excessive sugars, fatty foods (and I mean *fatty* not just the type of
food, chicken can have as much fat as a piece of marbled beef!).

It is a fact that *if* a person eats exactly the same thing in the same
amounts and adds the water intake and exercise, that person *will* lose
weight/tone and be healthier. It happens, naturally.

While I'm not a L.C. advocate, the premise behind it has good points.
Staying away from excessive refined flour products (donuts, cookies,
rolls, etc.) is not a bad thing . . . there are a lot of calories in that
stuff and little food value. The important thing is that it has people
thinking about what is going into their bodies.

If you really are concerned about your health and your weight, make
everything you put in your mouth beneficial to your body; don't put it
there only because it tastes good. If those who want to lose weight think
of food like money and there is only a limited amount to intake like
spending, they will begin to be more health conscious and are more likely
to make life-style changes that will improve their health. It is the
*mind-set* more than the *diet* that does the trick.

Whether I agree with the current low-carb fad (and it is a fad and will
fade as many others have), it is encouraging people to think about what
they eat. Any time a person thinks about what they eat is one step closer
to better health. Thinking, after all, is the first step to doing.

As for those who say it is alone what you put in your mouth that
determines your weight, I say they are full of it. After my son died, I
averaged less than 500 calories a day for nearly a year and lost not a
single ounce! On the other side, when my children were young and I was
very, very active with three healthy little boys to keep up with, I gained
not an ounce, staying within 3 pounds of 105 for years, even though I ate
more than most men working outdoors! (I'm 5'6") There are many factors
that enter into weight and whether an individual will gain or lose, or
just maintain.

My point is that regardless of what you eat, make it all good substantial
(meaning with health benefits) food, drink a minimum of two quarts of
water every day, keep physically active (take the stairs, not the
elevator, walk not drive to the corner market, etc.) by looking at your
life and seeing where you can add more physical movement.

Insulting the ideas of others as to what type of diet to utilize to lose
weight is pointless and only demonstrates ignorance as well as a lack of
common consideration. Personally, I would prefer to hear all arguments
(meaning *debate* not attacking) about the diets because somewhere there
is something of benefit to me.

Glenna