Purdue Nutritionist Likens Low-Carb Weight Loss To Taking Laxatives
How do you ruin an otherwise excellent news story for a student newspaper on the damaging effects of extreme dieting by college students to look "perfect?" Well, you allow a registered dietitian to start railing against livin' la vida low-carb by comparing it to the truly extreme measures of downing diet pills or laxatives for weight loss (like this Chinese reporter did a few months back in this column about the Atkins diet).
That's exactly what happened with this article written by the summer editor Sarah Michalos for Purdue University's independent student newspaper called The Exponent.
Michalos was doing an excellent job pointing out in her story the unreasonable demands that society puts on young women especially to look a certain way which leads them to begin dieting in an attempt to have "the look" for themselves. It reminded me of this recent blog post I wrote that dealt with this exact same issue.
The focus of the story shifted to the various ways college students, mostly women, decide to lose their weight including skipping meals, exercising excessively, and even becoming anorexic or bulemic. All of these ideas were universally condemned as poor choices for weight management.
But then Michalos asked Purdue University's Nutrition Educator from the Student Wellness Office Annie Mahon to weigh in on the subject and that's when the story took a decided turn for the worse because of this dietitian's apparent dislike for the low-carb plans the South Beach and Atkins diets.
According to her bio page, Mahon is working towards her doctorate in nutrition, so she has undoubtedly been deeply entrenched in the anti-low-carb propaganda that is apparently passed on to students of nutrition who would otherwise think for themselves and realize that livin' la vida low-carb is indeed a very safe, nutritious and healthy way of eating. But she is also into "vegetarian diets" as part of her areas of interest, so there may be some personal animosity towards low-carb there.
While Mahon makes some excellent points about the psychology that goes into trying to have that "perfect" body and the stresses that generally accompany such a pursuit, she completely loses any respect I had for what she was saying when she began lumping together the low-carb diets Atkins and South Beach with "diet pills and laxatives."
Michalos quotes Mahon as saying people can lose weight doing low-carb, diet pills and laxatives over the short-term basis, but they will gain back the weight after they stop the diet.
Mahon said these weight loss methods "are unhealthy and over the long term can eventually have negative health consequences."
If this is how a nutritionist like Mahon honestly feels about the low-carb lifestyle, then I want to see how she came to that conclusion. To disagree with a nutritional approach based on sound research showing it to be ineffective for weight and health management is one thing. But projecting your opposition to low-carb living and using it as an opportunity to liken weight loss achieved through this method to taking diet pills and laxatives is preposterous and irresponsible, especially when you are given authority to speak intelligently as an "expert" on nutrition to impressionable college students (a privilege that this college nutritionist is also abusing).
Ms. Mahon, I'll have you know that my 180-pound low-carb weight loss in 2004 was the direct result of many hours, days, weeks, and months of hard work, commitment, dedication, bullheaded stubborness to stick with it no matter what, endless sacrifices, and never ever ever giving up. It wasn't some fly-by-night "fad" or an unhealthy weight loss plan. It was my PERMANENT solution to a LIFELONG problem!
And guess what? I'm STILL livin' la vida low-carb two years later and it's helping me keep my weight off -- LONG-TERM! It saddens me that you would so foolishly lambaste this way of eating that has not only worked for me, but also for literally millions of other people across the United States and around the world to help them overcome their obesity and begin living their lives as a shining examples of health, vitality and fitness.
It's just such a shame that the students you counsel at Purdue could do well on a low-carb program, but your negative portrayal of this way of eating may be keeping them from even trying it. I tried and failed on so many low-fat, low-calorie, portion-controlled diets over the years that I literally thought I would never be skinny. WRONG!
Thanks to the Atkins diet, I am a physically active, physically fit, 230-pound, 34-year-old man who just a little more than two years ago weighed over 400 pounds and was on medications for cholesterol, blood pressure and breathing. NOT ANYMORE! I'm a new man and I owe it all to this diet you are derogatorily comparing to taking laxatives. What a crying shame to be so educated in nutrition and yet knowing so very little.
Are you that ignorant to think for yourself, Ms. Mahon? Consider this your wake-up call to start studying all the latest research regarding nutrition, especially on low-carb diets, and you might just be able to erase those years of indoctrination you've been through to get your degrees. I know you can do better than you are doing now and I genuinely wish you well as you attempt to help the students at Purdue University live a healthier lifestyle. I wish I had a "wellness" center when I was going to college!
Feel free to share your comments with Anne Mahon about what she thinks about livin' la vida low-carb by sending her an e-mail at mahona@purdue.edu. Be sure to tell her how the low-carb lifestyle has transformed YOUR life and that she is depriving some of her students from getting their weight under control by not telling them about low-carb. Let me know if you hear back from her.
You can also send an e-mail to the editor of The Exponent newspaper Sarah Michalos at editor@purdueexponent.org.
That's exactly what happened with this article written by the summer editor Sarah Michalos for Purdue University's independent student newspaper called The Exponent.
Michalos was doing an excellent job pointing out in her story the unreasonable demands that society puts on young women especially to look a certain way which leads them to begin dieting in an attempt to have "the look" for themselves. It reminded me of this recent blog post I wrote that dealt with this exact same issue.
The focus of the story shifted to the various ways college students, mostly women, decide to lose their weight including skipping meals, exercising excessively, and even becoming anorexic or bulemic. All of these ideas were universally condemned as poor choices for weight management.
But then Michalos asked Purdue University's Nutrition Educator from the Student Wellness Office Annie Mahon to weigh in on the subject and that's when the story took a decided turn for the worse because of this dietitian's apparent dislike for the low-carb plans the South Beach and Atkins diets.
According to her bio page, Mahon is working towards her doctorate in nutrition, so she has undoubtedly been deeply entrenched in the anti-low-carb propaganda that is apparently passed on to students of nutrition who would otherwise think for themselves and realize that livin' la vida low-carb is indeed a very safe, nutritious and healthy way of eating. But she is also into "vegetarian diets" as part of her areas of interest, so there may be some personal animosity towards low-carb there.
While Mahon makes some excellent points about the psychology that goes into trying to have that "perfect" body and the stresses that generally accompany such a pursuit, she completely loses any respect I had for what she was saying when she began lumping together the low-carb diets Atkins and South Beach with "diet pills and laxatives."
Michalos quotes Mahon as saying people can lose weight doing low-carb, diet pills and laxatives over the short-term basis, but they will gain back the weight after they stop the diet.
Mahon said these weight loss methods "are unhealthy and over the long term can eventually have negative health consequences."
If this is how a nutritionist like Mahon honestly feels about the low-carb lifestyle, then I want to see how she came to that conclusion. To disagree with a nutritional approach based on sound research showing it to be ineffective for weight and health management is one thing. But projecting your opposition to low-carb living and using it as an opportunity to liken weight loss achieved through this method to taking diet pills and laxatives is preposterous and irresponsible, especially when you are given authority to speak intelligently as an "expert" on nutrition to impressionable college students (a privilege that this college nutritionist is also abusing).
Ms. Mahon, I'll have you know that my 180-pound low-carb weight loss in 2004 was the direct result of many hours, days, weeks, and months of hard work, commitment, dedication, bullheaded stubborness to stick with it no matter what, endless sacrifices, and never ever ever giving up. It wasn't some fly-by-night "fad" or an unhealthy weight loss plan. It was my PERMANENT solution to a LIFELONG problem!
And guess what? I'm STILL livin' la vida low-carb two years later and it's helping me keep my weight off -- LONG-TERM! It saddens me that you would so foolishly lambaste this way of eating that has not only worked for me, but also for literally millions of other people across the United States and around the world to help them overcome their obesity and begin living their lives as a shining examples of health, vitality and fitness.
It's just such a shame that the students you counsel at Purdue could do well on a low-carb program, but your negative portrayal of this way of eating may be keeping them from even trying it. I tried and failed on so many low-fat, low-calorie, portion-controlled diets over the years that I literally thought I would never be skinny. WRONG!
Thanks to the Atkins diet, I am a physically active, physically fit, 230-pound, 34-year-old man who just a little more than two years ago weighed over 400 pounds and was on medications for cholesterol, blood pressure and breathing. NOT ANYMORE! I'm a new man and I owe it all to this diet you are derogatorily comparing to taking laxatives. What a crying shame to be so educated in nutrition and yet knowing so very little.
Are you that ignorant to think for yourself, Ms. Mahon? Consider this your wake-up call to start studying all the latest research regarding nutrition, especially on low-carb diets, and you might just be able to erase those years of indoctrination you've been through to get your degrees. I know you can do better than you are doing now and I genuinely wish you well as you attempt to help the students at Purdue University live a healthier lifestyle. I wish I had a "wellness" center when I was going to college!
Feel free to share your comments with Anne Mahon about what she thinks about livin' la vida low-carb by sending her an e-mail at mahona@purdue.edu. Be sure to tell her how the low-carb lifestyle has transformed YOUR life and that she is depriving some of her students from getting their weight under control by not telling them about low-carb. Let me know if you hear back from her.
You can also send an e-mail to the editor of The Exponent newspaper Sarah Michalos at editor@purdueexponent.org.
posted by Jimmy Moore at
7/09/2006 08:33:00 PM
2 Comments:
I notice that these experts that attack the Atkins diet and low carb, look like they have never been obese or morbidly obese in their life.
It makes you wonder about the mental beliefs and bias that these people have. Because that is what we are talking about here - beliefs, because there is certaintly no evidence they can prove that the Atkins diet is unhealthy.
Those colors in the background, is that a Plasma display with her thought patterns?
Meat is bad...fat is bad...meat is bad... fat is bad... click... meat is bad... fat is bad... click...
Lol! Of course they do not have even a shred of evidence against the diet, but then again some people cannot be bothered by that. Nor can they be bothered to take even a cursory look at the literal mountains of scientific evidence to the contrary. It's a strange world out there; full of such close-minded, shortsighted idiots. Luckily there are also some good guys (and women!) out there trying to undo the damage and telling the truth. But it's an uphill battle and that's why we need people like Jimmy. And that's also why we need to keep supporting him!
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