Question:
What about CARBS?

Hi all. I thought of a question I wanted to ask. I have been reading a lot about carbs and that you should try to take in as little as possible. I'm confussed as to why? Also, how do you NOT loose muscle as your loosing weight? Thanks!!!! — MissAuntieK (posted on June 3, 2000)

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June 3, 2000
My doctor told me to take in as little carbs as possible because if you don't excersize them off they turn to sugar in your body and you won't lose weight as fast as you would if you limit your carb intake. If you don't want to lose muscle while losing weight you have to excercise, excercise, excercise!
— Patricia G.

June 5, 2000
My understanding is that because our capacity is so diminished we should try to take in protein first. Then, in order to help your body build muscle instead of canabilizing muscle for energy, my surgeon requires we use a creatine supplement.
— jjames-thomas

July 29, 2000
Carbohydrate Craving: It's Role in Weight Gain and Obesity Are you a carbohydrate craver? Do you prefer to eat foods such as breads, pastas, potatoes, and desserts to vegetables and meat? If you eat a meal lacking breads or dessert, do you feel it is incomplete? When you are stressed or emotionally upset, do you crave candy, cookies, cakes, or breads? Do you feel sleepy after a large carbohydrate-rich meal? If you can answer yes to such questions, you may very well be a carbohydrate craver. Carbohydrate craving is likely to be the most common eating disorder of our society. Carbohydrate cravings are found among individuals who are depressed, have seasonal affective disorder or premenstrual syndrome, or who are trying to stop smoking or are alcoholics (either active or recovering). One community-based study conducted in Austria found that 30% of their study population craved carbohydrates, and from our own research we found that approximately 26% of non-obese individuals are carbohydrate cravers. Is the desire to eat carbohydrates greater among the obese? In a recent study, we examined the relationship between body size and intensity of carbohydrate cravings in lean and obese females and found that the greater one's body mass index, the greater their degree of carbohydrate craving. To our amazement, we found that 100% of all our obese female study participants even those with only mild obesity, were carbohydrate cravers. A group of Israeli investigators (Ilana Blum and associates) also found that 100% of their obese female study subjects were carbohydrate cravers, as were 78% of obese males. Such a high incidence of carbohydrate craving among the obese suggests that this eating abnormality may play a contributory role in the development of obesity. How might carbohydrate-craving lead to weight gain and obesity? Carbohydrates, particularly sweets, cause a substantial increase in the secretion of the hormone, insulin, which is needed to drive sugar from the blood into the cells to be stored for later use or to be burned for the production of energy necessary for our body's various functions. Insulin, however, also drives fat into fat storehouses, stimulates fat formation, and prevents its breakdown, enhances appetite, and fosters carbohydrate cravings, all of which would lead to weight gain. Carbohydrate craving and increased carbohydrate intake may also cause obesity for other reasons. Carbohydrates, such as cookies, ice cream, candy, and chips, are quite high in fat content. We found in our studies that the greater the intensity of one's carbohydrate craving, the more fat, as well as carbohydrate, is consumed, and, it is well known that high fat consumption increases fat accumulation and body weight. Eating large amounts of carbohydrates may also increase the body's own production of fat since excess carbohydrates can be readily converted to fat by the liver. Furthermore, carbohydrate craving and consumption, according to our studies, cause cells to burn more carbohydrates and less fat, resulting in even greater amounts of fat available for storage. For all the above reasons, carbohydrate craving can cause weight gain and obesity. As the prevalence of this disorder is so high in our society, it is possible that the eating abnormality may be a significant contributor to the increasing rise in obesity prevalence which has been occurring in this country and throughout the industrialized world over the last two decades. Carbohydrates are readily available foods and can be found 24 hours a day, in our homes, fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and supermarkets. Too often we eat a bag of chips, a package of crackers, or a candy bar in lieu of healthier snacks or even a meal. Or we run out for lunch or dinner to a fast food restaurant to consume thin layers of meat between thick layers of bread, the meal completed by an order of fries, cola, and a sweet treat. Those consciously attempting to control their weight may purchase and consume various low-fat or fat-free products which often contains an exceptionally high content of carbohydrates in substitution for the fats. Carbohydrates also increase certain messengers in our brain and nervous system, in particular one called serotonin, which provide for an overall feeling of well being. This feeling, however, doesn't last long and to achieve such a feeling again, we have to continue to eat more and more carbohydrates. In this way, carbohydrates become somewhat of an addiction, making weight loss and weight loss maintenance extremely difficult. How can we control our carbohydrate cravings? There are studies, including our own, which found that certain anti-obesity drugs, dexfenfluramine (also known as Redux) or fenfluramine (Pondimin), reduce ones craving for carbohydrates. These particular agents, however, have been found to be possibly associated with heart valve disorder and, consequently, are no longer available. There are numerous low carbohydrate diets which may reduce carbohydrate cravings, such as "The Adkins Diet", "The Sugar Busters Diet", "The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet", "Protein Power", "Entering the Zone", "The Fat Fast Diet", and "The Mayo Clinic Diet", which by the way did not originate at the Mayo Clinic and is not approved by them. Some of these reduced carbohydrate diets discourage the consumption of simple carbohydrates such as sugars or refined flour (those that cause high insulin responses) and encourage the use of fruits and carbohydrates with high fiber content (which cause far less insulin response). Still others in this list of diets discourage nearly all carbohydrate intake, replacing such with protein and even fat. Although we could all benefit by eating fewer sweets and so-called "junk food", we should not exclude carbohydrates such as potatoes, grains, fruit, corn, beans, etc. from our diets. Carbohydrates are necessary components for proper cellular and hormonal functions. Furthermore, carbohydrates are the primary source of energy necessary for all the functions carried out by our brain and nervous system. This is why diets very low in carbohydrates may be dangerous to our health and cause one to feel weak, sluggish, light-headed and irritable. What about surgery? Can obesity surgery reduce carbohydrate craving? We have found that the desire for carbohydrates, particularly sweets, is reduced in the majority of our patients following gastric bypass surgery. Dr. Harvey Sugerman and his associates, from the Medical College of Virginia, have found in their studies that gastric bypass is a highly effective procedure for inducing and sustaining weight loss in individuals who crave sweets. The reasons for the effectiveness of the gastric bypass procedure in reducing one's desire to eat carbohydrates however are unclear. In previous studies, we found that taste acuity for sweets is altered following gastric bypass, which may possibly reduce one's desire for simple sugars. Dumping Syndrome, that feeling of nausea, dizziness and light-headedness that occurs in some gastric bypass patients following consumption of sweets, may also be responsible for reduced carbohydrate cravings with the gastric bypass procedure. Still, there are many patients who claim to have lost their desire for carbohydrates after surgery who have not experienced "Dumping Syndrome" nor had a change in taste acuity. So, how the gastric bypass succeeds in reducing one's desire for carbohydrates, particularly sweets, remains a mystery. ****( you can say that again I was a devote chocoholic before surgery..I think this surgery removed my sweet tooth also) There are also no studies that have determined how long after the surgery the loss of appetite for carbohydrates persists. If you have had obesity surgery, have you lost the desire to eat carbohydrates, such as sweets and chips, after your surgery? Did this desire ever return and, if so, how long after your surgery did such cravings reoccur? ****(I'm over 6 months post-op and it has never returned as yet I have "NO DESIRE " for sweets or any other carbohydrates and I conveyed this to my surgeon for his records and studies) The answers to such questions as these can help your surgeon and others with the American Society for Bariatric Surgery ASBS to develop more highly effective surgical procedures for those individuals who are carbohydrate cravers. Furthermore, your shared observations regarding your desire for carbohydrates before and after the surgical procedure can greatly assist scientists in their understanding of those underlying mechanisms which may be responsible for weight gain and obesity. Cynthia Buffington, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Memphis and Director of Research for The Obesity Wellness Center [issue: December 1999] ************************************************************ Open Divided proximal RNY 12/8/99 Dr. John Husted, Nashville, Tenn. Beginning weight 367 now 230.. <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/Vbowenweightloss">My Pics</a> <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/vbowen">My Webpage on Gastric Bypass Information, Links & Recipes</a> <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/VBowenCookBook">My Cook book</a> 
— Victoria B.

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