Hi there, I'm new to the diet and fitness world (having gained a lot of weight after I quit smoking) and am looking for a serious, slow, and most importantly healthy way of losing weight. The thing is that half the people I talk to are saying eat carbs for energy and the other half are saying carbs make you fat. I just want to be slimmer and healthy. I already walk and do Iyengar yoga in my fledgling program but how do I eat? I'm taking some fitness and nutrition classes at the local university to help out but again, one teacher says lo-carb and the other says that's wrong for good health. Can anybody help? yukari

I'm new to the diet and fitness world (having gained a lot of weight after I quit smoking) and am looking for a serious, slow, and most importantly healthy way of losing weight. The thing is that half the people I talk to are saying eat carbs for energy and the other half are saying carbs make you fat. I just want to be slimmer and healthy. I already walk and do Iyengar yoga in my fledgling program but how do I eat? I'm taking some fitness and nutrition classes at the local university to help out but again, one teacher says lo-carb and the other says that's wrong for good health. Can anybody help? Expect to find the same diversity of opinion here. Just to give you a sampling, there are... *Low-fat diet advocates *Low-carb advocates, some of whom will push high protein and fat as important parts of their diet *Paleo diet advocates, who apparently rule out anything that wasn't part of the diet of paleolithic man *Traditional pyramid diet advocates *Training and exercise advocates *Mediterranean diet advocates *Asian diet advocates *John This Is Not a Diet Support Group Gohde Good luck! As for my own advice, I'd first ask you to think about why you gained weight after you quit smoking. Presumably you weren't overweight back before you were a smoker. So becoming a smoker caused some kind of addictive behavior, and quitting did not entirely get rid of it; you just replaced smoking with eating. What you need to do is get back to where you were when you were a non-obese, non-smoking person. I assume from your name that you are of Japanese descent. As someone who has lived in Japan for 22 years, I've noticed that many Japanese who go to live in the U.S. for a time come back overweight. They seem to walk less, but also to eat differently than when they were living here in Japan. Not only that, but America has become a much fatter nation just in the time I've been away. In a couple of decades, obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Again, both exercise and diet seem to be at fault, but how did the diet change? The low-carb people blame the low-fat trend, interestingly, and they may have a point. People who have tried to lower their fat intake may have made up for it by eating more carbohydrates. They ended up raising their calorie intake, and at the same time became more sedentary. Just as your weight gain came in response to smoking cessation, their weight gain was a reaction to their fat addiction. The low-fat advocates, on the other hand, will point out that a properly designed low-fat diet will result in lower calories, and will promote greater long-term health. They will note that many so-called low-fat diets are not really low in fat compared to the diets of other nations where obesity and heart disease are not problems. In fact, a recently reported study shows that people who are successful in lowering fat intake, getting enough exercise, and eating vegetables, fruits and whole grains, were able to lower their chance of getting heart disease by 80 percent. The problem, though, was that most people in the study were unable to practice this life _style_. The biggest problem they had was overeating. So my conclusions are: 1. If you can successfully follow a well-planned low-fat diet, do so and expect good results. After all, you were able to quit smoking, so maybe you have what it takes, unlike many people around you. 2. If you are unable to stick to such a diet, then consider a low-carb alternative. I know it has worked for many people. My only concern is the long-term effects of such a diet on overall health, and here there is no reliable body of evidence, even though many advocates will tell you otherwise. 3. Consider also going back to your ancestry

says lo-carb and the other says that's wrong for good health. Can anybody help? Expect to find the same diversity of opinion here. Just to give you a sampling, there are... *Low-fat diet advocates *Low-carb advocates, some of whom will push high protein and fat as important parts of their diet *Paleo diet advocates, who apparently rule out anything that wasn't part of the diet of paleolithic man *Traditional pyramid diet advocates *Training and exercise advocates *Mediterranean diet advocates *Asian diet advocates *John This Is Not a Diet Support Group Gohde That is still true. But, I am now filter most of that nonsense out.  So, I  nolonger give a hoot one way or the other.