I think if cravings are an issue that have contributed to you being overweight, it's important to find a system that moderates that. That's my appreciation of low-carb - fewer cravings have allowed me to develop a healthier relationship with the food i eat, be less obsessed, enjoy treats and not feel bad after, and stop having binge-restrict cycles. :)

I've read some literature, there's a lot available. in the end, I figure it's just best to try and see how the body reacts.

The most important factor is much important how much the diets makes you want to eat. Your metabolism might change by about 300kcal/day, but you can eat 300kcal in 5 minutes.

Originally Posted by Maki:
The most important factor is much important how much the diets makes you want to eat. Your metabolism might change by about 300kcal/day, but you can eat 300kcal in 5 minutes.

That's what's so awesome about low-carb. Not only is there the metabolic advantage, there's also the hunger/craving suppression that most people experience (especially those who are overweight with metabolic issues such as insulin resistance or diabetes).

Most people find low-carb diets, hunger suppressing. In fact, that can be part of the problem. Extremely low-carb diets can turn you off food enough to make you sick with severe headaches, light-headedness, nausea, fatigue.

Atkins tells us these symptoms are "carb withdrawal" and they may be, but for some of us, they do not dissappear once we've become acclimated to the diet. Instead, they're a signal that we need more calories and may be the only symptoms of hunger we experience.

High glycemic, high-calorie carbohydrates will prevent and instantly cure even the worst of these symptoms. This can make it extremely tempting to believe that low-carb by nature is unhealthy and even dangerous (I thought so for nearly 30 years because I got so sick on low-carb, becaise I didn't know there were other remedies for the severe symptoms).

Not only did carb-flu not go away after 2 weeks, it would only get worse, and I would start passing out (from the hunger I wasn't feeling - at least not as I was used to feeling hunger) by the 2 week mark.

These awful symptoms can usually be prevented and cured with extra calories from fat and protein, but they take more time to work. In rarer cases one has to increase carbs, but not necessarily by a lot. Just eating more vegetables or a small piece of fruit or two per day can be enough.

For most people, the biggest obstacle to low-carb isn't hunger or cravings, or learning new way to recognize hunger, or inability to lose weight. It's the economic and socio-cultital emotional aspects of low-carb.

For middle and higher incomes, low-carb can be affordable, if you learn to shop carefully. However, for the lowest income families, low-carb just isn't feasible. Carbs are cheap. Fat can be cheap. Protein rarely comes cheap unless it comes linked with carbs (such as in beans).

The bigger obstacles though are socio-cultural. Carbs are celebration foods. Carbs are social foods. Carbs are the foods that loving well-meaning friends and family will push on you strongly - "just one won't hurt," "you've got to live a little" .....

Nonconformity is always harshly difficult. "Swimming upstream" when everyone else is headed in the opposite direction can feel impossible. And woth low-carb, even small slip ups can wreak havoc on hunger and craving control.

In some ways sugar can be more addictive than cocaine (Cocaine-addicted monkeys will choose sugar over cocaine).

Losing weight permanently is a lot more complicated than hunger, caloric intake or metabolic advantage.