Online Idiocy: A Futile Rant

[boggins]

I was just on MyFitnessPal and there's a thread called "Carbs, a Cautionary Tale", by a guy who's lost 70lb in a year on low carb. This poor man has just been to the doctor because of short-term memory loss and is getting tested for Alzheimer's. Understandably he's horrified, but what does he do? He comes on MFP to warn people that low carb causes Alzheimer's!

I mean, what?! From what I've read this is practically impossible. Alzheimer's can be symptomless for years, up to a decade- if he does have it he'll have had it for ages before he went low carb.

Plus, Alzheimer's has been linked to insulin secretion in the brain. High insulin is what low carb dieting AVOIDS. I don't know quite how it works, but that would suggest that if anything a low carb diet would slow the rate of damage, not make it worse.

Finally, he doesn't have a diagnosis yet. It could be something completely different. God forbid, a brain tumour, for instance. Why jump on the forum damning low carb when you don't even know what you have yet? The diet you were so happy with yesterday is suddenly a killer....what?!

Then to top it off some skinny wench posts a thread going, oh I love carbs, look at my rail-thin body which I got by eating carbs, "carb-phobia" is unfounded, and a bunch of other skinny wenches all post their agreement...grrrr.

Yes, I know it's the internet and stupid to get irritated by it. It's just that the possible-Alzheimer's guy is so irresponsible. Sure I feel bad for him, he must be scared out of his wits right now, but really? A year of low carbs caused your as-yet-undiagnosed case of short term memory loss? What about the previous X number of years when you were 70lb overweight and presumably eating high carb? Or a set of unfortunate genes? Or just plain bad luck? Arrrghghghhhhhh! cwhack:

/rant

 

[Kat1e]

Consider your rant appropriately seconded....can't be bothered to waste much more breath than that
X

 

[reluctant_whale]

I stand by Kat1e ... this is the only forum I can go on without being instantly wound up / demoralised ... x

 

[msrsimpkin]

I hate when people jump on the "low carb is dangerous" bandwagon without the slightest bit of knowledge or research!

When I eat out with DH and ask if there's any hidden carbs in the food, for example sugar in seasoning on meat or steak that's been floured before frying, I get the oddest looks! Like I've just asked if they contain alien vomit!

I once asked one woman at Morrisons if the rotisserie chickens had any kind of coating containing flour or sugar and she gave me the strangest look and asked why. So I explained that I was on a low carb diet and couldn't have those things and she just said "Well, if you're on a diet, just don't eat the skin"! *sigh*

I get that not everyone understands low carb diets, but that wasn't what I asked.

 

[losingit]

I give up too. I don't even tell people i'm on Atkins, sometimes easier to say you have a gluten or wheat allergy hence the questioning about flour on stuff. Ignorant people don't annoy me so much as my own GP or other doctors i encounter, i really feel that doctors should know better but they don't, and that really gets my goat. In the case of this guy with Alzheimers, i wouldn't be surprised if his dr actually told him that the diet contributes to his condition. grrrrr.

 

[Jennykndy]

I totally third your rant! It is ridiculous, not only will people agree with this man, they will probably post on other boards with the story presenting it as being a proven factual account.

I think this is definitely a case of receiving horrifying news and trying to find a reason for it, something to blame. Unfortunately there is probably no "reason" and "no-one/thing" to blame, so this guy is latching on to the low carb as it already has an army of haters!

 

[Starlight]

Anyone want to put money on how long itll be before this story is quoted as 'fact' somewhere on Minimins

 

[reluctant_whale]

I give up too. I don't even tell people i'm on Atkins, sometimes easier to say you have a gluten or wheat allergy hence the questioning about flour on stuff. Ignorant people don't annoy me so much as my own GP or other doctors i encounter, i really feel that doctors should know better but they don't, and that really gets my goat. In the case of this guy with Alzheimers, i wouldn't be surprised if his dr actually told him that the diet contributes to his condition. grrrrr.

Losing it - this is exactly the route I am going to take .. they were all questioning me at work last week and I just said I had found out I was wheat intolerant .. so much easier than the disaproving looks ...

 

[boggins]

I stand by Kat1e ... this is the only forum I can go on without being instantly wound up / demoralised ... x

I agree. The rate of idiotic ZOMG LOW CARB KILLZ posting on Minimins is practically zero.

Thing is, I KNOW the MFP forums wind me up. Viewing them is like some kind of sick compulsion- what are the idiots saying now kind of thing. Really I should get a different ticker and stay the heck away, especially now I don't use it to track calories anymore.

Not long ago someone on MFP posted that obesity is a moral issue. Did my nut in. I didn't respond, what's the point? What nonsense. So if I go to Cornwall and wolf down 6 Ann's Pasties and become obese, that's apparently a moral issue- I suffer with a lack of morals, I'm a BAD PERSON. If my partner comes with me, he also eats 6 pasties and several pints of Guinness to boot, he'd stay as painfully rail-thin as he's always been. What does that have to do with morals? He looks flippin' anorexic, despite eating like a not very health conscious horse. Moral issue my expansive backside.

Right, I'm giving up MFP forums. I have to be firm with myself or I'm just going to get bitterer and twistederer than what I already are, or something or nothing.

 

[boggins]

IRL people have been lovely. I think it's difficult for people to criticize when they see someone lose a good 7 stone, quit being so depressed, start coming in to work earlier, have better skin, hair, nails....the proof is right in front of them.

3 work colleagues have lowered carbs and ditched processed food, plus my mum and sister, and still more people are making positive changes like eating butter instead of margarine, drinking whole milk instead of skimmed, things like that. My OH was most resistant to the idea in the beginning, because I said the word "Atkins". His response was "Hasn't that been discredited?". 6 months later he's saying how proud he is of me for "sticking with this Atkins thing"!

I don't back down from telling people what diet I'm doing- how will they ever change their ideas, drop their prejudices, otherwise? I'm getting my health and my life back, and if they're going to be offended by that then I have a fight to bring to them!

 

[Just Do It]

I love your rant!!!

In fact more ranting please there is nothing quite like venting your spleen!!

I was a member of minimins when I got to goal on LL and loved it. I STUPIDLY joined another forum when thinking of doing Atkins.

I was soo annoyed on it I tried to scrub my membership and then thankfully thought of returning here.

Sigh of relief!!

 

[reluctant_whale]

I think you are doing the right thing quitting MFP .. Low Carb Friends drives me mad too - sometimes I see a post on there where some "troll" jumps in and threatens everyone with impending death, Gods will or bamboozles someone with "have you thought you might have X Y or Z" .. usually something REALLY scary ... which is the last thing you need. Read a thread about being thirsty the other day and by the end of it I had kidney failure, pottasium deficiency, anemia ... if you stay away from MFP ill stay away from LCF !!!! x

 

[Kat1e]

Hey boggins - agree that it's not worth deliberately reading stuff that annoys you - far too much negative energy created!

Now i like a good argument and discussion of data each way - otherwise we never learn anything new! And I hate ignorance paraded as fact even if agrees with my views - also hate sensationalism which is why i avoid many newspapers too

Luckily the internet provides multiple news sources so i can keep up!

 

[boggins]

if you stay away from MFP ill stay away from LCF !!!! x

Deal! I've scrolled through LCF a few times but never joined- I'll know to stay away now!

The one that gets me on MFP is sodium. Whenever someone posts "I'm eating 1200kcal a day and exercising and not losing!" someone will ALWAYS say "Watch your sodium- it makes you retain water!".

There's no way, if someone's been in calorie deficit for months with no loss, that you could say it was simply because of water weight; at some point their fat loss would show. Besides, who cares if you lose water weight anyway? "Drop water weight" is not a helpful fat loss tip! Meanwhile, the person's carb count is like 300g a day. It takes all my willpower not to post a response saying EAT MORE CALORIES AND FEWER CARBS. It's not worth the inevitable bunfight that ensues.

Now i like a good argument and discussion of data each way - otherwise we never learn anything new! And I hate ignorance paraded as fact even if agrees with my views - also hate sensationalism which is why i avoid many newspapers too

I complee agreetly. The trouble with MFP is that it has a handful of self-appointed gurus who quote or post links to research which makes them sound authoritative. If you take the time to follow the links, half the research is irrelevant or suspect- you know, 8 subjects fed soybean oil through a tube., or a study of diabetes quoted to prove something about non-diabetics. The number of people dazzled by their pseudo-authority is worrying.

I too love to hear opposing views with the aim of getting to the truth. What MFP gurus do is selection bias- they post the research that supports their pre-determined opinion (it's calories in/out and low carb is a fad), and begin with the notion of proving themselves right, not proving what the truth is. And who has time to go through every link provided and show the flaws? So they get away with it.

I've seen some DUMB pro-low-carb arguments on MFP too, and facepalm every time. There are idiots on both sides of any debate.

 

[-Pudding-]

Boggins - I literally cannot read the MFP forums without my blood boiling. Total hysteria and misinformation about low-carb eating is absolutely rife there...and what makes me laugh is that most of it seems to come from the 'look at my 6-pack' gym bunnies who talk about how they love their pizzas and their waffles and none of it matters as long as you burn it off pressing metal.

Many of them are, in my view, totally superficial. As long as their bodies look 'hawt' then they actually don't give a damn about what they shove in their mouths. I like to hoist a wry smile and remind myself that a quick blood work test would show just how well they're doing with their 'eat crap; work hard' lifestyles :wink:

I've even seen a type II diabetic get attacked on there before because he was eating low-carb in order to stabilise his blood sugar. I literally had to close down my browser because I knew that if I comments I'd probably end up getting banned!

 

[AnnieAnnie]

Send them to sugarfreesheila.com she's amazing & has all het blood results posted on the site. Posts to low carbs research & has maintained for 11 years. So jealous!

 

[Scrumbles]

What I don't understand is why people can't accept that we are all different. There is NO one-size-fits-all regime.

You could hardly have a better example of genetics at play than my OH and his brother.

They grew up in the same household eating the same foods and doing the same activities, yet very early it was obvious that their metabolisms were hugely different: OH is, was, and probably always will be stick-thin, whereas older brother was a ball of a child who grew into an obese adult. One hit the genetic lottery, the other didn't. It's that simple.

Therefore it stands to reason - my reason anyway! - that those of us who are genetically predisposed to accumulate adipose tissue have to fuel ourselves differently from those who aren't. Their bodies can handle carbs without whizzing them straight off to fat - whoopee for them, they got lucky - mine cannot, therefore I have to reduce them to a point that my body can tolerate. If the skinny carb-eaters can't handle that concept, tough!

As for the "moral" aspect, I sometimes get the feeling that ignorant folk look at obese people and think they've clearly been "sinful" and wilfully gluttonous and should now suffer for it with nothing but rabbit food to eat and hours of pain on the treadmill. What right do we have to be eating delicious, tasty food and feeling satisfied? What right do we have to be losing weight without toiling at the gym for our sins?

I have never visited MFP, and I think I'll pass after reading this thread...

 

[boggins]

^ AMEN. To all of that!

I found a guy called Stephen O'Rahilly, he's a Cambridge University bio-something-or-other specialising in the genetics of obesity. In an interview online he gave a great comment about the role of genes in weight gain, to the effect that outraged thin people think they have the moral high ground, when in fact "they're just lucky". I wish you could have signatures on MFP- that would be mine!

People have tried the "we're all different" argument. What comes back is "nobody can get around the laws of the universe, we're all beholden to calories in/calories out, it's that simple".

Truly, visiting MFP forums is a mug's game. Never again.

 

[-Pudding-]

What comes back is "nobody can get around the laws of the universe, we're all beholden to calories in/calories out, it's that simple".

If it were that simple, nobody would be overweight would they

 

[Scrumbles]

^ AMEN. To all of that!

I found a guy called Stephen O'Rahilly, he's a Cambridge University bio-something-or-other specialising in the genetics of obesity. In an interview online he gave a great comment about the role of genes in weight gain, to the effect that outraged thin people think they have the moral high ground, when in fact "they're just lucky". I wish you could have signatures on MFP- that would be mine!

People have tried the "we're all different" argument. What comes back is "nobody can get around the laws of the universe, we're all beholden to calories in/calories out, it's that simple".

Truly, visiting MFP forums is a mug's game. Never again.

Lol, then they clearly need to go and listen to Dr Robert Lustig's lectures on YouTube. "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" is a good place to start. And they can follow that with a dose of Gary Taubes.

But then they might find out something that challenges their core beliefs and pre-conceptions, and that would never do.

Leave the "Flat Earth-ers" to it, I say....