Hacker News Reader

Comment by djsumdog | Hacker News Reader

Stop eating carbs. Stop eating bread, pasta, beans, chips, rice and potatoes. They're not healthy. They never have been. They're pure starch. Calories from sugar are waaaay worse than calories from fat. Low fat doesn't work. Low carb, high fat is the way to go.

Keto, Adkins, etc...They work. But they're not diets. It's a healthy lifestyle choice. It needs to be a change in your life.

Two years ago I was 70kg. Now I'm 59 ~ 61kg on average, I have more muscle mass, more energy and I feel great.

Also cholesterol isn't bad for you. It fixes the damage caused by sugar to clog your arteries. No sugar, you can have a ton of cholesterol and dietary cholesterol doesn't affect blood cholesterol in most people anyway.

View on HN

Comments like this piss me off so much. The article was about the role of gut microbes in weight loss, and you're here preaching diet advice that has nothing to do with the article.

But it worked for me, so it must work for everyone right? /s

This is literally what these studies on gut flora are disproving...

I sometimes wish people who submit links could moderate the comments section directly and mark items as off-topic.

I think an inevitable result for some submitters is that disagreeing comments would be filtered out.

Not me, mind you; I mean other people. ;)

The top comment does the same thing telling people to worry about caloric intake when the evidence is with higher protein and fat diets to lose weight.

I don't even know where to begin with all the pseudo-science half truths and ignorance in this post. For starters, basically all the blue zone diets are high carb with low to moderate fat, lots of vegetables and fairly limited animal products. Elite athletes prefer high carb diets by an overwhelming majority. Multiple studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of carbohydrate intake on the gut microbiota. Just about the only population where low carb, high fat makes sense is sedentary people who are morbidly obese and highly insulin resistant.

By the way, congrats on finding a lifestyle that works __for you__. Don't go around preaching like it's the one true path. Nobody likes a zealot.

  Elite athletes prefer high carb diets by an overwhelming majority.

Really? Your (modern) data for this is... ?

Elite athletes pay more attention to nutrition now than ever; can you name any with a 60%+ carb intake? The days of the "carb loading for endurance" myth are long past.

Hunter Pence is one famous Paleo eater.

A pre-competition glycogen depletion training block, where a significant amount of medium intensity training is logged in a fasted/glycogen depleted state, followed by a glycogen load immediately prior to competition is the gold standard in terms of competition preparation for sports that need a mix of aerobic and anaerobic endurance.

As for athletes that get the majority of their surplus calories from carbs rather than fat, look up various world champions and google their diet:

* Sprinters * Rowers * In-season bodybuilders * Powerlifters cutting weight for competition * Mixed martial artists

There is a bit of movement towards paleo eating in the MMA community (though oats, potatoes, rice and dairy are still typically consumed) and offseason bodybuilders/powerlifters will frequently eat a balanced mix of carbs and fat. Almost nobody at the top levels does low carb/high fat though.

>Keto, Adkins, etc...They work. But they're not diets. It's a healthy lifestyle choice.

Diets don't work because diets end. I have heard before "If you have an goal that you consider the 'end' of your diet, you've already failed".

A lifestyle change is what is needed to lose weight and keep it off. If you reach your weight and "stop dieting", that just means you're reverting back to the habits that lead to your original weight gain...

Please don't listen to blanket nonsense like stop eating carbs. They are not unhealthy, and serve as fuel for whatever exercise/activity you choose to do. Exercise more and eat a well balanced diet including carbs, fat, and protein.

> Keto, Adkins, etc...They work. But they're not diets.

Its "Atkins". And they absolutely are diets.

> It's a healthy lifestyle choice.

The aspect of lifestyle that concerns what foods you consume is called "diet". Keto, Atkins, etc. are lifestyle choices, and the specific kind of lifestyle choices they are is diets.

> Two years ago I was 70kg. Now I'm 59 ~ 61kg on average, I have more muscle mass, more energy and I feel great.

Two years ago I was 150kg. Now I'm 127kg on average. I have a lot more muscle mass, more energy, and I feel great. And I haven't taken a radically low-carb diet (and, in fact, the biggest change I made was exercise -- I stabilized my weight before that with a diet change that I've sustained, but not a radically low-carb one, though I've tried radically low-carb diets in the past, with no success [though not as much adverse health impact as my wife had when she tried them].)

Most people wanting to lose (or stop gaining) weight in the US could probably use cutting their intake across the board, and simultaneously cutting the share of that made up by carbs. Radically carb-cutting is useful for lots of people, but not everyone.

Most people could also use more exercise (again, any particular radical program may be useful for some people, but not everyone.)

Eight years ago I was 87kg, with a waist circumference of 102cm (40in) and a BMI of 26. Today I hover around 69-71kg, and I never once counted calories or went on keto, atkins or any exclusionary diet. I reduced my intake, increased my expenditure (CICO) and lost weight. I feel fan-f*cking-tastic, but that's more to do with my exercise regimen (resistance training for the win!) than anything else. I still eat carbs, just not as many as I used to.

You're right, diets don't work, it has to be lifestyle changes. But I'll second the other response to you that blanket statements are confusing the issue. Weight loss is simple to understand (CICO), but not easy to do. Find things that work for you, simple small changes that will last a lifetime, because otherwise they won't stick.

Also, gut microbes don't make people fat, eating too much does. Gut microbes may have an effect on cravings, hunger signals, etc, but ultimately it's the hand under control of your brain that puts food in your mouth.

Westerner bouncing around the dietary memesphere proclaims to the rest of the world that they need to get off their rice, beans and potatoes stat?

There are only 3 macronutrients. Advocating to just banish 1 entirely is "one weird trick" grade advice.

Not that simple.

The whole point of the gut bacteria investigation is understanding why the lifestyle you've described doesn't lead to weight loss for some people.

And this advice may even apply if you are thin. For years I concluded that my sugar cravings were because I was thin and had no fat reserves. If I missed a meal, or if I didn't code with Gatorade by my side, my skin would feel like it was crawling. I'd then experience fatigue.

Reducing carbs was not easy. I felt withdrawal symptoms for weeks. But now, I can skip meals without becoming irritable. Fatigue after lunch doesn't happen anymore.

To offset the loss of calories, I eat more nuts. Also, when I eat a pasta based meal, I keep the portion small and add a can of sardines for the protein.

Agreed this has nothing to do with the OP.

Are you short, or a woman, or what? That weight seems kinda low (60 * 2.2 -> 132 lbs.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com