Is giving up carbs really the best thing for long term weight loss?
And there's me moaning, and I'd only put on five pounds! (Mind you, that still represents over 20% of my total loss so it isn't as trifling as you'd think.)
It would be easy for me to use her plight as a reason to have a go at the Dukan Diet. I'm not a fan of his high-protein plan for several reasons, some of which are:
- Why give up a whole food group (carbs) if you can lose weight happily without doing so?
- Why give up carbs when they provide a range of nutrients that many high-protein foods lack and which are necessary for our health?
- Why pretend that it isn't 'how much' you eat, but 'what type of food' you eat, when all known nutritional science shows time and again that indeed, 'how much' - i.e. how many calories - is a vital factor in weight control? Dukan works mainly because it restricts calories.
- Why encourage the world population to scoff even more meat than we do already, when a high meat diet is wasteful of our planet's resources?
- Why encourage us to eat more meat during a recession, when meat is one of the most expensive food items in our shops?
It would be easy, but I'm not going to. Because the fact is that Jenni Murray gained back her five stones after she came OFF the Dukan Diet - so how can I blame him for that? No doubt if she'd stuck with it, at least 80% of the time, or so, she'd still be a svelte little thing today.
No - she was so relieved to come off his restrictive plan, that she went out and binged on everything non-Dukan that she could find - bread, wine, pies, and cake no doubt included.
And she didn't stop. And all those naughty things made her fat again.
Actually - can I change my mind? I will blame that high-protein diet, if not Dr Dukan himself, as had Jenni chosen a more moderate, balanced approach, and allowed herself to include carb foods, and treats, in moderation while she slimmed down, she would have had no need to go so mad once she was let out of jail.
There really IS no point at all in anyone losing weight, ever, if it's all going to come racing back on. Pointless, pointless, pointless, and it makes me mad.
Oh look, damn - I started this off all bitchily happy at Jenni's plight, and now a few words later, I'm not. But I'm slightly perked up by the fact she's now doing the WeightWatchers plan, which is at least a positive start to the daunting task of trying to get it all off a second time in two years.
PS I have actually lost one of my five pounds now.
Ate last night: Chicken traybake with sliced squash, sweet potato and red onion, doused with lemon juice and a bit of cumin seed. Just fling decent chicken pieces (most of skin removed) in a roasting pan with sliced vegetables, toss all in olive oil and seasoning, roast at 190c, turning once or twice, for 50 minutes, adding a little chicken stock, juice of a lemon and cumin for the last 15 minutes. If you're feeling diligent you can brown the chicken pieces first.
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