(12-10-2009 02:34 PM)Jimmy Moore Wrote:  I'm just not buying the conclusion that low-fat, high-carb dieters have a better mood than a high-fat, low-carb one. Being constantly hungry and miserable is not my idea of a happy place to be. And that's what limiting fat did to me. Am I the only one who responded this way to low-fat?

Jimmy, you are definitely not the only one. When it worked (which was rarely), my low fat diet made me irritable unless I ate continuously. Does anyone remember Dr. Haas’ book Eat to Win? I found that book in the 80’s and lived by it for a long time. For that diet to work, I had to restrict calories which made me hungry. To be satisfied, I had to eat an enormous amount of food which made me gain weight. Either way, I lost and was depressed.

Every night before I went to sleep, I would do a self evaluation on how I had eaten that day. I would give myself a letter grade based on what and how much I had eaten, and each night I would promise myself I would do better tomorrow. I always wanted tomorrow to be better, but I knew it probably would just be the same.

(12-10-2009 02:34 PM)Jimmy Moore Wrote:  I'm just not buying the conclusion that low-fat, high-carb dieters have a better mood than a high-fat, low-carb one. Being constantly hungry and miserable is not my idea of a happy place to be. And that's what limiting fat did to me. Am I the only one who responded this way to low-fat?

Nope, that's how I react to low-fat also. However, all people's metabolisms are just not the same. We all know people who can eat anything they want and not gain weight. Most of us know someone who can't gain weight no matter what they eat, even though they are trying to gain. Then there are those of us who really have to watch carbs and calories to lose weight or even just not gain.

I think that trying to generalize from our own experiences or the experiences of others like us, to the whole population, is a mistake. A more useful task, especially with a study like this one, is to try to determine why the outcome was as it was. I think Jenny has some very valid observations in the link cited above (LCC's post).

And I just don't think everyone thrives on the same diet. I have to stay very low carb to lose weight or even maintain. Fortunately, I love it. For those who don't the advice of Atkins (and a lot of others) is find the carb level you can live with, then figure out how to stay there. I think that's what we're all really here for, and all the well-conducted studies ought to be used to help us in that goal.

(12-10-2009 02:34 PM)Jimmy Moore Wrote:  I'm just not buying the conclusion that low-fat, high-carb dieters have a better mood than a high-fat, low-carb one. Being constantly hungry and miserable is not my idea of a happy place to be. And that's what limiting fat did to me. Am I the only one who responded this way to low-fat?

No, of course not. I was miserable. I'm just saying that the study found what it found. If the methodology was bad or if the conclusions drawn are wrong, then THAT's the arguments we should make to refute them...not just that we don't like the results. Results are just results. They don't have an agenda one way or another. Methodology used to get them and interpretations of them are where the problems come in.

I hear ya buddy! What is most frustrating is the INTERPRETATION of the results by the media...something that gets my goat. THANKS for your comments!

Me too. it's ridiculous how they dumb it down to the point where the interpretation has nothing to do with the study itself.