2008 Woodie Awards
Less sugar a day keeps weight away
Health: Know when to eat, when to exercise
By: Anna Mavromati
Issue date: 4/22/04 Section: Features
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When faced with multiple exams, busy traffic and long lectures, most of us rarely stop to think what is the best way to feed and fuel your body for the day.
Because of the desire to decrease weight, low-carb dieting has lured in followers from all over the nation.
The low-carb diet involves cutting down on carbohydrates. Tom Storer, who teaches fitness and nutrition, said that although the diet is effective, he questions whether it is the lack of carbohydrates or the reduction of calories that gives dieters good results.
"I think most dietitians and people who have studied this area would think that it is probably the low calories, not the low carbohydrates," Storer said.
The Atkins diet, founded by the late Robert Atkins, has actually been around since the 1970s, Storer said.
The many people who have benefited from the diet have drawn in new believers.
The Atkins diet involves two phases, Storer said.
Phase one, the induction phase, recommends the dieters eat no more than 20 grams (which equals 80 calories) of carbohydrates per day.
For phase two, dieters are advised to gradually start re-introducing more carbohydrates into their system.
"A lot of people think that low-carb just means eating meat and cheese, and that's not correct," Sean Williams, the vice president of Carb Cops, the Low-Carb Superstore in Redondo Beach, said.
Williams said that the Atkins approach's goal is to get a carbohydrate intake from vegetables rather than from refined sugars and starches.
He said that Carb Cops, located down the street from EC at 2739 Manhattan Beach Blvd., has customers who have been on the Atkins diet for 25 years or more.
Williams said that he has been on the Atkins diet for two years and has lost 30 pounds.
He also said that his cholesterol went down, his allergies decreased, which helped him with his asthma.
It is also known to help people with diabetes.
"You have to make a lifestyle change," Williams said, "you can't really go back to your old way of eating because you'll put yourself in the same cycle again."
Because of the desire to decrease weight, low-carb dieting has lured in followers from all over the nation.
The low-carb diet involves cutting down on carbohydrates. Tom Storer, who teaches fitness and nutrition, said that although the diet is effective, he questions whether it is the lack of carbohydrates or the reduction of calories that gives dieters good results.
"I think most dietitians and people who have studied this area would think that it is probably the low calories, not the low carbohydrates," Storer said.
The Atkins diet, founded by the late Robert Atkins, has actually been around since the 1970s, Storer said.
The many people who have benefited from the diet have drawn in new believers.
The Atkins diet involves two phases, Storer said.
Phase one, the induction phase, recommends the dieters eat no more than 20 grams (which equals 80 calories) of carbohydrates per day.
For phase two, dieters are advised to gradually start re-introducing more carbohydrates into their system.
"A lot of people think that low-carb just means eating meat and cheese, and that's not correct," Sean Williams, the vice president of Carb Cops, the Low-Carb Superstore in Redondo Beach, said.
Williams said that the Atkins approach's goal is to get a carbohydrate intake from vegetables rather than from refined sugars and starches.
He said that Carb Cops, located down the street from EC at 2739 Manhattan Beach Blvd., has customers who have been on the Atkins diet for 25 years or more.
Williams said that he has been on the Atkins diet for two years and has lost 30 pounds.
He also said that his cholesterol went down, his allergies decreased, which helped him with his asthma.
It is also known to help people with diabetes.
"You have to make a lifestyle change," Williams said, "you can't really go back to your old way of eating because you'll put yourself in the same cycle again."