The Harcombe Diet Again

I have had a few responses to my previous article from people who say that the Harcombe Diet is not working for them.

My own view is that the fewer carbohydrates you eat, the more weight you will lose. I think the element of the Harcombe diet that says you can eat a meal of carbs as long as you keep off the fat for 3 hours is wrong.

Eating carbohydrates, even unrefined ones like brown rice and wholemeal bread, causes the pancreas to produce insulin. Insulin is the hormone that enables the body to store fat, so the more carbs you eat the more fat you will store and the less of the goodness from your food will go to the places you need it i.e. your muscles and organs; you may also become hungry again because you haven’t got the goodness you need from your food. The book says don’t eat fat with the carbs because otherwise the fat will be stored as body fat by the insulin you produce by eating the carbohydrates. I say, don’t bother with the carbs (have a few but keep off the fruit and eat only low carb vegies).

I think the reason that the Harcombe diet encourages the consumption of fruit and vegetables is because these contain vitamin C. There is a book called Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes in which he points to, and provides references to, scientific evidence that all the vitamins we need can be obtained from meat, even vitamin C. The Inuits eat nothing but meat and they are very healthy, never suffering from modern diseases such as diabetes, gout, high blood pressure and certainly not older diseases like rickets (lack of vitamin D and calcium – allegedly), beri beri (lack of vitamin B1 – allegedly), or scurvy (lack of vitamin C – allegedly).

I think if you are struggling on the diet, you should try having ‘Fat’ meals only. If you still have trouble try cutting out cheese, and reducing cream.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you want to understand your body’s response to food, read Good Calories, Bad Calories. It will amaze and outrage you. If you wish to read any other advice, make sure you get scientific references for the facts stated in the book, and think about the conclusions drawn from the evidence. There was once a guy called Keyes who convinced the world that fat, and eventually cholesterol, is bad. The official advice we are now given about what constitutes a balanced diet, what is good and bad for our hearts and our blood pressure and how to treat diabetes is affected by this guy’s opinion but was he right?

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