Insulted Dietitian Claims 'Carbs Are The Body's Preferred Source Of Fuel'

A common topic of feedback that I receive from from time to time centers around my qualifications to blog about the subject of diet, health, and nutrition. I've answered this charge directly by basically asserting very clearly that I am simply a layman using my First Amendment right to free speech to share the personal lessons I have learned from losing half my weight and restoring my health.

Apparently, that explanation wasn't good enough for Registered Dietitian Adam Goff.

Flexing his educational muscles at me and my blog, this gentleman went on to berate and ridicule the work I am doing claiming my assertions about the dangers of excessive carbs is wrong and deceptive.

Oh brother! Why would I ever expect a duh-duh-dietitian to understand livin' la vida low-carb? It goes against EVERYTHING they've been taught, so they'd have to admit they were wrong if low-carb living was embraced as a viable method for weight loss and improving health.

The evidence is growing stronger and stronger about low-carb diets in the research community, but dietitians like this Goff fella don't want to have any part of it. He's not the first one who has challenged me (see a list of them in this blog post) and he won't be the last.

But I'll just keep doing my part to spread the positive message of the low-carb lifestyle.

Incidentally, here's what Goff wrote to me in his e-mail:

I wish I had never clicked through to your blog and here's why. While I am glad to hear that you made a conscious decision to change your eating habits in an effort to lose weight, I am insulted by the tone you take on your blog.

I am one of those "well meaning health 'experts'," and I did not spend four years and $60,000 dollars on a degree in dietetics just to be put down and contradicted by some previously overweight gentleman who read a book.

Contrary to your OPINIONS, complex carbohydrates are essential to a healthy diet. Completely removing anything from one's diet is a bad move no matter which way you cut it. I am all for eliminating simple carbs from one's diet, but despite what you preach, complex carbs are the body's preferred source of fuel. Period.

Do you honestly think that we in the field of nutrition just make this stuff up? You may have lost the weight you so desired but I would love to see how your body will hold up 30 years from now continuing on the road you're on. The fundamental key to weight loss is not the elimination of any food group but is the overall restriction of calories and an adherence to a proper exercise program.

I can only hope that people seek alternative sources for information than relying solely on your blog.

Adam Goff, R.D.

THANK YOU for sharing your feedback, Mr. Goff. But I do have a few corrections and responses to make to your charges against me.

While I am happy you found my blog, you need not be "insulted" by anything I have written. My job is to provide information presented in an engaging and entertaining way to help others make decisions about their own health. Sadly, we don't have enough of that happening with the same old tired high-carb, low-fat diet message that has been proven to be a BIG FAT LIE!

What we need is more "experts" like yourself to begin acknowledging the changes in the science rather than resting on what you have always thought to be true about diet and health. A little self-research would go a long way for anyone educated in nutrition and medicine.

While I may not have the educational background in nutrition that you do, Mr. Goff, I am a tenacious researcher absorbing information like a sponge and then making it palatable to the common man. That's what I've been doing for over two years and I'll keep on doing for as long as I have this platform.

Incidentally, I've met some truly remarkable people in the world of diet and weight loss too numerous to name them all. But Dr. Jonny Bowden is one who certainly comes to mind right away as one who understands there is more to nutrition and health than a monopolistic approach as is advocated by too many so-called health "experts."

Although you spent tens of thousands of dollars on your dietetics degree, that does not give you more of a right to speak on the subject of diet than me. Similarly, I wouldn't disqualify what you have to say about government policy just because you didn't earn a Master's degree in Public Policy like I did (costing men $50,000 to earn, too, by the way).

You may not have enjoyed being "put down" as you claim I did to you, but you did the same thing with the snide "some previously overweight gentleman who read a book." That's the same thing Dr. David Katz attempted to do to discredit and silence me, too. Didn't work!

Believe what you want about carbs, Mr. Goff, but the body recognizes them as sugar. This is a nutritional truth that I wish more dietitians would communicate clearly to the general public. The idea that the body "needs" carbs is just plain wrong. You don't NEED carbohydrate in your diet at all to survive thanks to gluconeogenesis. That's how our ancestors lived and it's how we can live today.

What am I "completely removing" from my diet, Mr. Goff? This is a popular tactic implored by people like yourself and your willing accomplices in the press to communicate the erroneous message that livin' la vida low-carb gets rid of ALL carbs. While some low-carbers eat that way, most low-carb diets include between 20-100g carbs daily. That's significantly lower than the average American, but still doesn't eliminate them entirely as you claim.

Fat becomes your "fuel" on a low-carb diet--both fat you consume as well as that stored fat I want to burn, baby, burn! For carbohydrate addicts, this way of eating is the answer to their obesity and getting their health in order. Again, I wish people like you would even consider for a moment the good a low-carb diet can do.

I don't think you "just make this stuff up," but you have been taught an agenda-driven bill of goods that frankly does not pass the muster of modern science. Where else are people going to learn the truth about low-carb living if they don't read it on blogs like mine, Regina Wilshire's "Weight Of The Evidence", Dr. Mike Eades and elsewhere? The answer is NOWHERE!

Low-carb has stood the test of time for MILLIONS of years and will continue to do so. I know one thing for sure--I'll be MUCH better off 30 years from now when I'm STILL livin' la vida low-carb than I would have been had I remained at 410 pounds! Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Goff?

I've never claimed my blog to be the ONLY place for people to get their information about diet and health. In fact, oftentimes I will provide links to other places on the Internet for people to do their own research for themselves. Knowledge is power and I am merely the spark that gets the fire started for some.

Mr. Goff, you might want to read my responses to this nutritionist as well as this other health "expert" to learn more about why I believe what I do about livin' la vida low-carb. I wouldn't think of EVER eating any other way! This is the best diet I have ever found because it changed my life forever for the better!