I've been scarce on here this weekend. We had a little family get-together. It's still going-on, in fact. My sister and her husband came down to southern California and wanted us to get together.

You may recall I've posted about her before. She and her husband used to do Atkins. By last December, they'd given up, regained their weight, and were going to start South Beach. Last May, she told me that she had given up on South Beach and was doing some weird anti-psoriasis diet. Now they're starting South Beach again.

Which would make this weekend's eating more interesting if we could all low-carb together. It hasn't worked out that way. They've been pigging out! We've been marching from place to place, careening from pizzas to cookies to popcorn to Italian bread, little old me hanging on to my low-carb Hickory Farms sticks and mumbling things like, "I don't think you guys are supposed to eat that, are you?" They went out with my mom today. She called and told me about them bingeing again at Ports O'Call.

Oh well...

I had a lot of comments and rants I was going to make about it, but that's the gist of it. I have never read the South Beach diet, but if it left them thinking they can eat half the things they've been eating, it can't be a very good book for low-carbing. I'm not going to read it, though, because then I'd be telling them how to do it, and that's not my business. Blah... I'm just disgusted right now.

At least I've been a good boy this year. I should get a halo. It's been darn near a year low-carbing without a cheat, except for the Russell Stover "sugar-free" mini-binge one night, and I blame that on false advertising. It IS possible to do this without falling off the wagon and without tearing your hair out.

**************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

You are so right, Doc.

It is tempting, sometimes, to become the Food Police, but sometimes just setting a good example and keeping your mouth shut is all you can do.
I ran into a friend of mine at a party this summer, and listened to her tell me how she is doing Atkins, and how great it is; so easy, yadda yadda. The entire time, she was stuffing Doritos and bean dip in her face. I stood there, resisting the temptation to say something, eating my little cheese cubes.

When I bought Reese's SF peanut butter cups, I was just going to have one. I ate six; now I don't buy them anymore. Some things just aren't worth it. Even so, I remember the little potato chip-and-bridge mix orgies I used to partake in, and six little sugarless candies really isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things.

Wear your little halo with pride. You've earned it.

Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy.
And cooking done with care is an act of love.
- Craig Claiborne

i just read south beach, pizza & cookies are definately NOT part of the plan. once they are past their first strict two weeks they could add popcorn & maybe italian bread once in a blue moon. they don't sound too committed to changing their eating habits FOR LIFE. you are one of the most committed people on this board from what i've seen, it must be hard to keep your mouth shut. someday, hopefully, it will just click for them & they'll finally do it for real.

christine

166/143/120
L/C 8/04/03

They aren't truly low-carbing obviously and haven't committed. Those are the types of people who give this WOL a bad reputation, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. You are entitled to a Rant, Doc!!! Stick with us. I know how frustrating it is to deal with family on this subject. But, oh well.......what can ya do? Come here and rant!!! teehee.

Barb
Atkins-3/14/03
174/146/135 5'2"
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Knowledge is POWER

I think one of the other low carb diets has an option that they can binge once a week for one hour. It can't be more than an hour!

I don't think the carb hangover would be worth it. I think it would also confuse your system too much and not be good for the long term.

261/228/220?
(recently re-joined, Started Atkins on 6/12/03)

i believe your talking about the carbohydrate addicts diet. i think its an hour everyday.

christine

166/143/120
L/C 8/04/03

Oh, we kept our mouths shut about a lot of stuff this weekend. :P

My sis said she couldn't do Atkins because she just had to have some bread. It just doesn't seem right not eating bread. I started to go into my rant about how much bread sucks, then realized, I don't want to talk somebody into doing Atkins when they're hearts aren't in it.

**************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

It's very true that pushing someone into Atkins (or any other diet for that matter) doesn't help. 1, they don't stick with it and 2, they resent you for it. I have never pushed, but have been pushed quite a few times. I am finally now ready to start this and am committed. It has never seemed so easy to actually stick to a diet when you really want to do it!! Only 4 days into it, but without a cheat yet!

This is the first time I havn't been pushed into it...just a gentle nudge and some startling facts from my doctor. Said that a 10% decrease in weight takes 50% impact off of your joints. I'm looking into having a hip replacement so I'm gonna give my joints a break!

If you sister is anything like my brother and I are, she wouldn't listen to you anyways. So go ahead and rant to us. We'll listen and agree!

Lynda Lou

Don't know if any of you saw MY rant about my RN sister under the Atkins thread under Anti-Atkins Discussion. I almost fell out of my chair when my sis that said we should eat like the great apes said she might give LC a try. And my mom wants to give it a try to. I am going to put together a little binder with recipes for them for Christmas. After my doing this for 8 months, they are seeing the light. My RN sister will NEVER change her mind. Win some, lose some.

Barb
Atkins-3/14/03
174/146/135 5'2"
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Knowledge is POWER

I agree it's very frustrating to deal with people that view this lifestyle as a diet, and not a way of life. That would have been a great opportunity to LC together, but they chose to do the "we're on vacation, let's binge" diet. It's a shame, but there's nothing you can say or do for people that think that way. People will always put off starting a diet until the holidays are over, which is why companies like WW are making a fortune come January 1. A majority of those people will also be gone by the time the next holiday rolls around since they believe they are on a diet.

The key is to realizing that this is a way of life - there's no on again/off again, because if that's how it is followed, you just won't reap the multiple benefits of eating this way. They will not learn what it's like to lose the carb craving and not want the pasta and the bread. People have such a hard time believing that I not only don't eat bread, I don't WANT to eat bread. Simple as that. And, I hate to say it, but it's behavior like your describing that gives our way of eating a bad name. People see them binge and blame it on the fact that they don't eat "normal" and because they haven't eaten bread in a week they were driven to this.

Sorry you were so frustrated, but it sounds like you handled yourself well!

"The more I meet people, the more I love my dogs"

202/187

Being a buff stud is the best revenge, Dr. I



BC
172/108/108
Zone since 4/98

Right you are, Brenda!

Dr. I., your relatives sound like they flit from one plan to the next, looking for a "quick fix" - isn't it nice that we have adopted this as a WOE and NOT a "follow it today, forget it next week" plan!

I came from a rather militant website when I was doing WW so it's very easy for me to stay "on plan" and furthermore - like Justin's Mom says, I don't MISS, nor do I WANT, bread, flour products, sugary junk - I feel so good eating this way and I LOVE that now I can have REAL cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, chicken skin - all the stuff I truly love!

So they gotta do what THEY gotta do, we know what works for us, and perhaps never the twixt shall meet. I cannot MAKE someone else "see the light" so I'm just happy for myself that *I* have managed to see it!

Good for you for sticking with YOUR plan!

Char

Don't squat with yer spurs on!