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Probably most of you are too young to remember the Stillman diet -- essentially the same thing Taubes is warning us against.  Those people did lose weight, but got sickly.  Fortunately that diet went by the wayside.

But it's an interesting point, isn't it?  How often do we have to remind CARb posters to increase their calories, especially fat?  And when people feel bad eating low-fat high-protein diets, who can blame them for stopping it?

When I consider the Atkins protein charts (sticked at the top of our list of threads) it seems that most protein ranges average about 100-110 grams/day -- roughly 400-450 calories.  And that rightly would add up to about 20-25% of most of our calorie intakesd of about 1400-1800 calories a day, so I guess that in general, we seem to be right on.

Thank you for posting this!

I love the idea of eating just to satisfy hunger.  Realistically, not many people whe needed wls can pull that one off. 

Recently I've read research papers that concurred with the points made above.   It discussed experiments done on high protein diets vs real life experiences of europeans forced by cir****tance to adopt the Inuit traditional diet.  Studies claiming high protein diets resulted in weakness were too short in duration for the body to adjust burning fat for energy vs carbohydrates. 

I do ok no matter what I eat.  However, I feel and look best on protein foods.  Carbs result in energy crashes shortly after plus increased hunger.   

Excerpt from 'Why We Get Fat' by Gary Taubes:

It has been suggested from evidence of the dietary practices of hunter-gatherer populations, both present day and historical, that humans avoid diets that contain too much protein. The short term symptoms of these high-protein, low-fat, low-carbohydrate diets are weakness, nausea and diarrhea. These symptoms will disappear when the protein content is reduced to a more moderate 20-25% of calories and fat content is increased to compensate. When physicians and nutritionists tested carbohydrate restriction they did so with fatty meat and diets that were 75-80% fat and only 25% protein. This mixture had no side-effects, was well tolerated and is most consistent with diets eaten by populations like the Inuits, who live almost exclusively on (high-fat) animal products.

I thought this topic was interesting because we've all been told for years that eating fat is so bad for us. He began that discussion by pointing out that high-protein diets that are low in fat can be toxic. I've been trying to adjust my diet to test Taubes theory and have noticed that I do feel so much better when I eat a higher fat diet.

Another thing Taubes points out is that we should not be concerned with calorie intake - eat when we feel hungry and eat until we feel satisfied - not full - just satisfied. 

Amen to that!

 Honestly so far all the piece of bread has done for me, 

is give me horrifically stench-y gas, actually bad enough for my HUSBAND to remark.  If the dog notices, I'm going to have to give it up permanently.

 Rebecca, hope you're feeling loads better.  Witht he flu, keep up the fluids for sure!

Lisa