Low carb in Negril?

[RockRobster]

Good for you MissBlue! You will live longer, healthier and happier! Plus, you might delay/prevent any knee replacement. Obesity is a HUGE factor in wearing out your knees. I'm down 42 pounds since February and plan on keeping it off!

[Muck]

I disagree RockRobster...there IS such a thing as a "good carb". Foods such as spinach and carrots (both considered "carbohydrates") are very healthy. All fruits and vegetables are considered "carb" foods. By eliminating or reducing these foods from your diet, you are also eliminating a great source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Fiber is important because is slows the absorbtion rate of the nutrients thereby reducing the peaks and valleys in blood sugar levels, ultimately reducing the risk of developing diabetes. Fiber also helps keep that "full" feeling, so you're not always feeling as hungry.

What you want to eliminate or reduce is the "refined" carbs such as white rice, pasta, white flour, etc. These carbos break down quickly and give you that short term energy bust, but then is followed by "withdrawl" systems making you feel sluggish and hungry.

[RockRobster]

Muck, the carb count in spinach is very low. Carrots high. Sugar is sugar, your body cannot tell the difference. Its all about quantity per serving. ALL fruits are high. Many veggies are low, such as asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, etc.. Nobody said to eliminate veggies, especially Atkins. But fruit is a sugar luxury, certainly NOT necessary to sustaining good health. The rate that you metabolize the sugars found in different foods is due to what those sugars are contained in. But know that your body WILL metabolize those sugars. The lower your total gram intake is of sugar, in ANY form, the healthier you will be. Some sugar IS necessary for your body to function properly. Its the intersection of that necessary sugar and weight gain that is important. On one side of that intersection is health, the other side....not so much. YMMV.

[CaribbeanSoul]

Sugar is not sugar and your body does know how to tell the difference, thus processes them differently. Natural sugars (those found in veggies and fruit) are burned at a much slower rate than refined sugars such as those found in high fructose corn syrup and enriched (stripped of the good) starches such as white flour and white rice. These sugars are metabolized at a much higher rate thus turning to fat unless you are on a 24 hour cardio sesssion. However, moderation is the key to natural sugars. Any intake greater than your base metabolic rate can handle plus your exercise routine will result in a higher body fat composition. There are good carbs and bad carbs. This from a 44 year old who dropped 80 lbs in 8 months and went from a near 40 inch waist to a current 32 inch waist. And I have kept it off for two years....

[RockRobster]

Carrib soul, I believe that you are mistaken about carbs. For example, fruit is a "simple" carb food, a monosaccharide called fructose. Fructose is fruit sugar. Monosaccharides are the allegedly "bad" carb. "Complex" carbs, the allegedly good carbs, are merely polysaccharides (more than one sugar). Veggies are an example of polysaccharides. Yes, your body will metabolize a simple carb faster than a complex carb. That's what spikes blood sugar levels. But your body will metabolize the complex carb as well, just not as quickly. Both carbs are turned into glucose when your body metabolizes them. Glucose is glucose, your body has NO idea where the glucose came from. Too much glucose and you gain weight and risk diabetes. Too little glucose and you have bad things happening. Nutritionally speaking there is absolutely NO difference between 100 calories of a complex carb and 100 calories of a simple carb. The difference is in what is accompanying each carb. Simple carbs, pure sugars really, aren't usually attached to anything nutritious. The exception is the fibre and vitamins in fruit. When you mention high fructose corn syrup as being bad and fruit as being good, I had to laugh. Fructose is fructose! And fructose is the sugar in fruit. I am surprised that you haven't discovered fibre capsules to replace lost fibre from eliminating fruit and high carb veggies in your diet. Along with a multi-vitamin, fibre caps are a key component in a low carb diet. Congrats on your weight loss. Exercise is a key component to any long term weight loss program.

[Honey518]

I think he will be fine on a LC diet in Negril...Stick to meats, veggies and fruit.. Lots of grilled fish/chicken/pork to choose. Just make sure any sauces are on the side...I'm sure he already knows to skip the rice n peas,breads,etc...

[RockRobster]

If you think your body can tell the difference between fructose in fruit and fructose in corn syrup, you're wrong. If you think your body can tell where the glucose it is burning came from, you're wrong. If you think that there is a nutritional difference between 100 calories of good and 100 calories of bad, you're wrong. There is no nutritional difference--they each have 100 calories!!! We are talking carbs, not what you consume with the carbs. Where's the difference?

[Maryann]

I try to limit only bad carbs (especially white bread and sugar), but when I'm on vacation in Negril, I tend to lose weight no matter what I eat.

[Muck]

If you think your body can tell the difference between fructose in fruit and fructose in corn syrup, you're wrong. If you think your body can tell where the glucose it is burning came from, you're wrong. If you think that there is a nutritional difference between 100 calories of good and 100 calories of bad, you're wrong. There is no nutritional difference--they each have 100 calories!!! We are talking carbs, not what you consume with the carbs. Where's the difference?

I think you're wrong about this RockRobster. Princeton University has published a study that shows that there IS a difference between the fructose in High Fructose Corn Syrup and the fructose in natural sugar.

"High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars -- it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose -- but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized. "

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/a.../S26/91/22K07/

[sammyb]

As mentioned just ask for what you want and you shall receive it. No problem. The person didn't ask what your opinion was on a LC diet but if they'd have a problem with finding food. Goodness.