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| Storm as diets recommend eating of red meat |
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| Written by ARTHUR OKWEMBA | |
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Doctors and nutritionists frown on red meat and other protein rich foods as the root cause of gout, cancers and obesity. Yet they may just be what you need to lose weight and maintain a slimmer and healthier body.
What has come to be known as Atkins diet is able to manage or control the development of some chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertensions, and heart conditions. But some Kenyan and British nutritionists and scientists have registered their misgivings about the effectiveness of the late Dr Robert Atkins dieting programme developed in the 1970s. They are terming it as misguided and one likely to result in adverse health effects. Protein rich foods such as red meat, argues Atkins diet, when taken unaccompanied or in a diet with controlled carbohydrates – sugar and starches, fibres or junk food, produce miracle results for people who are obese. In one of the studies, 12 women who were put on such diet over a period of 10 weeks lost 12.3 pounds of fat and 1.7 pounds in muscle mass compared to 10.4 pounds of fats and three pounds of muscle mass lost by 12 others who were on a conventional weight loss programme. In Britain, these findings and others have generated a craze for protein rich foods, particularly red meat, sausages and fish, leading to souring sales. Whiles those of carbohydrates and starch are slumping down. Sales for red meat and sausages have gone up by 10 per cent compared to what was sold during the height of mad cow disease. According to Atkins diet, people should reduce to 20 grams a day the intake of refined carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, cereals, Ugali and starchy vegetables, which in Kenya, constitute over 50 per cent of people’s daily food intake. Included in this list is beer, which is known to be high in carbohydrate content. In fact, Atkins diet wants beer drinkers to steer clear of these drinks for his diet to work. Instead they should eat more of protein rich foods such as red meat, bacon, cheese, eggs and fish. This diet, is however, turning upside down the conventional dieting theory of cutting down on proteins and fats like red meat, while eating more carbohydrates, vegetables and whole grain bread as way of losing weight or staving-off life threatening diseases. Despite the mismatch, individuals and companies dealing in beef and other protein rich products in other countries like Kenya are expected to take advantage of the current popularity of the Atkins diet to lose weight or increase their sales.              |
