| The term low carb wasn't really coined until | | | | "I am told by all who know me that my |
| around 1992 when the USDA announced America's | | | | personal appearance greatly improved, and |
| model food pyramid included six to eleven | | | | that I seem to bear the stamp of good health; |
| servings daily of grains and starches. | | | | this may be a matter of opinion or friendly |
| However, low carb dieting dates back more | | | | remark, but I can honestly assert that I feel |
| than 100 years before the trendy Atkins diet | | | | restored in health, 'bodily and mentally,' |
| to 1864 with a pamphlet titled "Letter on | | | | appear to have more muscular power and |
| Corpulence" written by William Banting, as | | | | vigour, eat and drink with a good appetite, |
| close to the first commercial low carb diet | | | | and sleep well. All symptoms of acidity, |
| as you could get. | | | | indigestion, and heartburn (with which I was |
| | | | frequently tormented) have vanished. I have |
| Banting had suffered a series of debilitating | | | | left off using boot-hooks, and other such |
| health problems due mainly to being | | | | aids, which were indispensable, but being now |
| overweight or 'corpulent'. He searched in | | | | able to stoop with ease and freedom, are |
| vain for cures to his weight problem, which | | | | unnecessary. I have lost the feeling of |
| many doctors at that time believed to be a | | | | occasional faintness, and what I think a |
| necessary side effect of old age. He also | | | | remarkable blessing and comfort is, that I |
| tried eating less but he continued to gain | | | | have been able safely to leave off |
| weight and have various health problems. He | | | | knee-bandages, which I had worn necessarily |
| could not understand how the small amounts of | | | | for many years, and given up the umbilical |
| food he was eating led to his weight problem: | | | | truss." |
| | | | |
| "Few men have led a more active life - bodily | | | | Wow! Talk about improved health. Notice too |
| or mentally - from a constitutional anxiety | | | | that he ate more than just three meals a day. |
| for regularity, precision, and order, during | | | | Four to five small meals should be the rule. |
| fifty years' business career, from which I | | | | |
| had retired, so that my corpulence and | | | | His how-to dieting book became very popular |
| subsequent obesity were not through neglect | | | | and was translated into multiple languages. |
| of necessary bodily activity, nor from | | | | However, over time it was abandoned. |
| excessive eating, drinking, or self | | | | |
| indulgence of any kind, except that I partook | | | | Banting noted in "Letter on Corpulence" that |
| of the simple aliments of bread, milk, | | | | a common health paradox of our time did not |
| butter, beer, sugar, and potatoes more freely | | | | exist in his. This was the paradox of |
| than my age required?" | | | | obesity, widely believed to be a problem of |
| | | | excess, among the poor. The poor of the 19th |
| Many contemporary Americans on the go may | | | | century could not afford the refined sugary |
| recognize Banting?s previous unhealthy daily | | | | foods that cause weight gain. But poor people |
| diet: | | | | of the 21st century sure can today. |
| | | | |
| "My former dietary table was bread and milk | | | | In a recent Associated Press article titled, |
| for breakfast, or a pint of tea with plenty | | | | "Health Paradox: Obesity Attacks Poor", the |
| of milk, sugar, and buttered toast; meat, | | | | reporter noted that many poor families are |
| beer, much bread (of which I was always very | | | | stretching their food dollars by purchasing |
| fond) and pastry for dinner, the meal of tea | | | | unhealthy processed and refined foods. |
| similar to that of breakfast, and generally a | | | | |
| fruit tart or bread and milk for supper. I | | | | Of one family the author wrote, "During |
| had little comfort and far less sound sleep." | | | | winter, jobs are scarce, so Caballero feeds |
| | | | her husband and three children the cheapest |
| Just substitute a Pop tart, doughnut or | | | | food she can get: potatoes, bread, tortillas. |
| muffin with coffee and plenty of cream and | | | | As processed foods rich in sugar and fat have |
| sugar for breakfast, a fast food burger and | | | | become cheaper than fruits and vegetables, |
| fries with a supersized soft drink for lunch | | | | the poor in particular are paying a high |
| and a frozen pot pie or pizza for dinner | | | | price with obesity rates shooting up, |
| followed by dessert and you can see how | | | | followed by diabetes." |
| Banting's diet was so much like the typical | | | | |
| fast-paced modern day Americans. | | | | Unfortunately for the Caballero family, these |
| | | | cheap staples are bad for their health. Fresh |
| When his physician placed these items on a | | | | meat, low starch fruits and vegetables may be |
| "forbidden foods list," Banting lost 50 | | | | more expensive and have a shorter shelf life, |
| pounds and 13 inches in one year! Let me | | | | but they are definitely worth the price in |
| repeat that, fifty pounds and thirteen | | | | saved medical expenses and better health. |
| inches! He kept it off, living a long and | | | | |
| much healthier life. | | | | Throughout the years, as "calories" became |
| | | | known, variations of counting them were |
| His new diet plan consisted of a number of | | | | included in dietary solutions. And a variety |
| meat dishes and he listed it as follows: | | | | of other issues were explored like how many |
| | | | of which foods should be eaten and how |
| "For breakfast, at 9.00 A.M., I take five to | | | | frequently. |
| six ounces of either beef mutton, kidneys, | | | | |
| broiled fish, bacon, or cold meat of any kind | | | | While Bantings diet eventually fell out of |
| except pork or veal; a large cup of tea or | | | | favor, low carb diets did begin appearing |
| coffee (without milk or sugar), a little | | | | again in the 20th century. The most famous of |
| biscuit, or one ounce of dry toast; making | | | | these are the Atkins and Scarsdale diets that |
| together six ounces solid, nine liquid. | | | | came to popularity in the 1970s. While |
| | | | Scarsdale has a set 14 day meal plan that |
| For dinner, at 2.00 P.M., Five or six ounces | | | | must be followed and greatly restricts |
| of any fish except salmon, herrings, or eels, | | | | calories, the Atkins diet allowed for |
| any meat except pork or veal, any vegetable | | | | unlimited calorie consumption as long as |
| except potato, parsnip, beetroot, turnip, or | | | | those calories were from protein, fat and |
| carrot, one ounce of dry toast, fruit out of | | | | vegetables and carbs intake was kept low. |
| a pudding not sweetened, any kind of poultry | | | | |
| or game, and two or three glasses of good | | | | Atkins and Scarsdale fell out of favor in the |
| claret, sherry, or Madeira- Champagne, port, | | | | 1980s as the U. S. Department of Agriculture |
| and beer forbidden; making together ten to | | | | encouraged the consumption of grains and |
| twelve ounces solid, and ten liquid. | | | | grain products with the USDA food pyramid. |
| | | | |
| For tea, at 6.00 P.M., Two or three ounces of | | | | It was only in the 1990s that we began to see |
| cooked fruit, a rusk or two, and a cup of tea | | | | a return to low carb dieting that seems to be |
| without milk or sugar; making two to four | | | | more than a fad. It is a lifestyle! As more |
| ounces solid, nine liquid. | | | | and more people realize the weight loss and |
| | | | other health benefits that are available to |
| For supper, at 9.00 P.M. Three or four ounces | | | | people who eat this type of diet, the number |
| of meat or fish, similar to dinner, with a | | | | of diets and stores that sell specialty low |
| glass or two of claret or sherry and water; | | | | carb products continue to rise. |
| making four ounces solid and seven liquid. | | | | |
| | | | In a nutshell, most low carb diets carry the |
| For nightcap, if required, a tumbler of grog | | | | same basic premise: that too much of simple, |
| (gin, whisky, or brandy, without sugar) or a | | | | refined carbohydrates leads to over |
| glass or two of claret or sherry." | | | | overproduction of insulin, which leads to the |
| | | | storage of too much fat in the body. This fat |
| So great were the changes in his appearance | | | | storage is especially prominent around the |
| and health that his friends and acquaintances | | | | middle. |
| began to notice and just like today wanted to | | | | |
| know what diet he was on. Most important of | | | | While there are degrees of difference among |
| all Banting could feel and see a difference | | | | the many diets, they all agree on the |
| himself. | | | | negative effects that excess insulin |
| | | | production have on our systems. |