The Flaws and Harms of Weight Loss Treatments
First published in 2020 - Last edited in May 2022 by Luka Tunjic. © All rights reserved.
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Although the word “carbohydrates” didn’t exist in Banting’s time, the diet introduced in 1838 by William Banting was the earliest version of the Low Carb Model of Obesity.
Please note: “Banting Diet” wasn’t invented by William Banting. He just wrote and promoted the diet regime for weight loss that was prescribed to him by his physician.
The William Banting diet was rebranded in 1970 as the Atkins Diet and promoted by Dr. Robert Atkins.
Eat right, not less, was the main rule of the Banting and Dr. Atkins diets.
According to Banting and later on, dr. Atkins diet, eating right, means restricting sugary nature and starchy food (bread, rice, and potato) in favour of the food rich in fat and protein.
The main diet of the majority of the world's population during the Banting era was bread, rice, and potatoes. In the same period, most of the world's population was lean. Particularly among children and young people, obesity was almost non-existent. However, the Banting diet was still very popular, and there weren’t any critics from the medical professionals at those times.
During Banting’s time, most of the world’s population was fine with eating bread, rice, and potato. They were not obese on that diet, but after the Banting diet gained popularity, many started to believe that bread, rice, and potato make people gain weight despite contradictory evidence from the real world.
The introduction of the models based on counting calories diminished the popularity of the Banting (Low Carb) Diet. Still, the low-carb diet appeared again in 1972 (promoted by Dr. Atkins). The Bunting diet is rebranded as the Dr. Atkins Diet.
But despite the popularity among a significant percentage of the general population, Dr. Atkins’ diet was received with animosity by the obesity experts. By all medical institutions and official health bodies, it was regarded as pseudoscience or dangerous nonsense. Obesity experts believed that the "calorie is a calorie" theory of weight gain and weight loss was unquestionable.
The fact is that the Banting and Atkins Models (although there is no difference between these two diets) didn't do too much damage to humans. Some people following the banting diet have lost some weight, and the majority didn't. But the Banting/Atkins Model of obesity didn't initiate the surgical treatment of obesity (WLS) and didn't initiate pharmaceutical inventions- diet pills. The abandoned model of “a calorie is a calorie” and the current model “Calories In Calories Out “CICO).” caused surgical (bariatric weight loss surgery) and pharmaceutical interventions to treat obesity.
At the time of the Banting diet, the Surgical Weight Loss Industry and Pharmaceuticals-Weight-Loss Drugs Industry didn’t exist.
But at the time of Dr. Atkins’ Diet, the Weight Loss Surgery Industry and Pharmaceuticals-Weight-Loss Drugs Industry were some of the most financially prosperous medical businesses.
The popularity of Dr. Atkins’ diet was a significant danger to the prosperity of the surgical and the pharmaceutical weight-loss industry, and it is understandable why no one involved in Weight Loss Surgery and the Pharmaceutical Weight Loss Industry wasn’t in favour of the Atkins theory/science.
The other important fact is that Banting and Dr. Atkins Model of Obesity didn’t encourage eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
As the Banting/Atkins Low Carb Model didn’t advocate the overall restriction of the food, there wasn’t a ground for anorexia or bulimia.
Particularly it doesn’t have anything to do with the cause of bulimia.
As the Banting/Atkins models of obesity didn’t advocate for an overall restriction of food intake, it will be impossible to imagine a person who purges only Carbohydrates.
Many people affected with anorexia and/or bulimia (the victims of “calorie counting”) regarded the Banting/Atkins diet as quackery and indirectly supported the model of “a calorie is a calorie” that is responsible for their misery.
The Banting/Atkins Low Carb Model of Obesity wasn’t effective in reducing obesity prevalence. Still, it was almost harmless for the general population, especially compared to when “A calorie is a calorie” transitioned into “Calories In Calories Out (CICO)” after 2002.
The popularity of Dr. Atkins’ diet was a positive thing that happened, not as prevention or treatment for obesity, but as a guard against the adverse conditions like those caused by the models based on counting calories.
It is difficult to imagine how anyone can be affected by anorexia or bulimia while on Dr. Atkins’ diet. Like the Banting diet, Dr. Atkins’s diet didn’t advocate an overall restriction of food intake.
The Banting diet, and later on the Atkins diet for weight loss, advocated a certain way of nourishing the body (restricting the food rich in carbohydrates in favour of the food that is rich in fat and protein).
The diets for weight loss, are based on the “a calorie is a calorie” and later on the “Calories In Calories Out (CICO) advocating a certain way of starving the body (voluntary starvation).
1) Voluntarily restricting food intake to restrict the number of calories is in itself anorexia (voluntary starvation).
1A) Mild restriction of food intake to prevent or lose weight is a mild form of anorexia (a mild form of voluntary starvation).
1B) Severe voluntary restriction of food intake to prevent or lose weight gain is a severe form of anorexia (a severe form of voluntary starvation).
Also, it is difficult to imagine that someone will use any diet pills for weight loss because, at the time of Dr. Atkins's diet, all weight loss pills are made to make patients eat less.
But the positive effects of the Low Carb science diminished at the very beginning of the 21st century when the Low Carb Model of Obesity transitioned into the Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM).
The Banting diet, and later on the Atkins diet for weight loss, advocated a specific way of nourishing the body (restricting the food rich in carbohydrates in favour of the food that is rich in fat and protein).
The diets for weight loss, based on the “a calorie is a calorie” and later on the “Calories In Calories Out (CICO) advocating a certain way of starving the body (voluntary starvation).
At the time of the Banting diet, the Weight Loss Surgery Industry and Pharmaceuticals-Weight-Loss Drugs Industry didn’t exist.
But at the time of Dr. Atkins’ Diet, the Weight Loss Surgery Industry and Pharmaceuticals-Weight-Loss Drugs Industry were some of the most financially prosperous medical businesses.
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