Kevin the producer
(Jimmy’s on a well-deserved vacation!)

As a side note though, whenever I go on vacation, I set aside a few days where I implement the CAD or CALP diet…it works very well in that framework! But as a lifetime WOE? No thanks!

You do make good and valid points opposing CAD, but then again, I think, as with most things, what works for some may not work for others.

Where Jennifer was talking about Splenda, she said she didn’t understand why the Hellers were against using it. I am not sure about this, but the way I understand it, they don’t want you eating anything that even TASTES sweet, except during your reward meal, because your brain thinks it is sugar. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t want you to use it during your reward meal, and I’m not even sure if that’s what they said. It’s been a while since I read the book.

I have taken the test, though, and I’m extremely addicted to carbs. Not so much sweet foods, but pasta, rice, potatos, etc. I would have one big problem though. I drink iced tea or soda with sweetener in it, and it’s an all day thing for me, so that would be hard to break.

I heard about the CAD over 10 years ago, when I was SEVERELY carbohydrate addicted, but didn’t know it. I knew nothing about insulin or hypoglycemia, I just knew that if I kept going at the rate that I was I was either going to die from blacking out behind the wheel (did it once already) or become so obese I would no longer be able to function. The CAD was a godsend to me. It was the only thing that got my eating and my extreme blood sugar swings under control. I was so addicted to carbs that the idea of cutting them out of my diet entirely would have convinved me I wouldn’t succeed, and I would never have started. At first, I planned for my reward meal like an addict getting her methadone. I thought about all the courses I would eat, and how good they would taste. And I savored my reward meal like it was my last meal. This went on for a few months, in which time I effortlessly lost 30 pounds, compeltely controlled my blood sugar, and began exercising and educating myself about nutrition and diet.

Then one day I looked down at the sweet potato I had lovingly baked for my reward meal and thought to myself “I don’t need to eat this.” I tossed it and began following a modified Protein Power style diet, that I still follow to this day.

My point is, that from what I know now, CAD is kind of remedial low-carbing, and not the diet for me. But it was the surest, most accessible way to break the hypoinsulinemia cycle, which was what I desperately needed to reclaim my health. Once I got off that roller coaster, my entire life changed. And I will be forever grateful to the Hellers for that, and still recommend the diet to people who are afraid to low-carb, though they really need to.

THANK YOU for your insights, too, Marie!

First of all, let me say in Jimmy’s defense, that I do understand where he is coming from, and that for him the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet would most likely not work, as he would have a tendency to eat too many of the wrong carbs in one sitting, derailing his awesome weight loss. Therefore, I totally understand his horrified reaction. Hey, everyone is different! To be perfectly fair, though, there are thousands for whom the modified Carbohydrate Addicts Diet called the Carbohydrate Addicts LifeSpan Program will work and does work, as can be attested to by the fact that the Hellers’ diet books have been runaway bestsellers. It is, however, not quite as popular as the Atkins diet and for probably some of the reasons that Jimmy hotly outlines. Again, everyone is different!

I feel I need to be a lonely voice in the wilderness and moderate some of what Jimmy says in a nice way. With the first book (CAD), the Hellers found that some people went hog wild on the reward meal of the day (even although they said it should be a balanced meal) and would eat the very foods that they are addicted to in abundance – and obviously those people were not learning to eat in a balanced fashion and worse yet, were probably not losing much weight. As a result of this tendency of some people to abuse their diet, the Hellers revised the diet with some rules added and wrote the book called the Carbohydrate Addicts LifeSpan Program. This program definitely provides a more controlled approach for the reward meal in particular. The meal is to be preceded by a large salad. Then the actual meal consists of 1/3 protein, 1/3 veggies and 1/3 starch (this can be a ¼ of a potato and a small dessert, for example). However, it is commonly known, that if people stay off sugar and white flour and use the root vegetables only as a form of carbohydrate at that meal, weight loss is more predictable and faster.

Jimmy’s objections: 1. the 2 low-carb meals are no-carb meals. This is not true as low-carb veggies are allowed and a listing of craving-reducing vegetables is given.

2. People will not change their poor eating habits. I think if people eat as is described above that that will be a very healthy and balanced way of eating, doing an effective end-run on the amount of insulin the body produces daily.

3. He likes to eat every two or three hours to keep his metabolism humming. For Jimmy, this is also why this program would probably not be as appealing. However, low-carb snacks are optional on the CALP diet. It sounds like Jimmy would like to have his sugar-free dessert with his coffee, though, and that would not work.

4. He does not like their stance on not using sugar substitutes. I also don’t like that and will use Splenda preferentially over sugar at the reward meal.

5. He cannot understand how one can eat foods one is addicted to on a daily basis. He had low-carbers give him a tough time over the one splurge meal he had every 6 to 8 weeks during his weight loss period. It worked for Jimmy, so why knock it folks? Still, Jimmy made this splurge such an occasional thing, that he cannot understand doing this on a daily basis. There is a science behind it to reduce insulin output, that seems to work for many people, if the diet is followed correctly. Eating carbs wily nily in an unbalanced fashion is not the intention of CALP. In fact, one cannot go back for just dessert if one is still hungry. One has to go back for 1/3 protein, 1/3 veggies and 1/3 carbs/dessert in small amounts. How is that eating as much as possible of the bad carbs? Now, admittedly, some people will only go back for dessert and that is incorrect. Some people may not be able to have the self-control faced with that temptation, so it really is a YMMV issue. Some people may have to stay more low-carb at the reward meal, especially in the beginning of a weight loss program. Again, I can see why Jimmy would have trouble with this meal and I understand his reservations completely.
6. Jimmy quotes Dr. Bowden as saying that exercise is not encouraged. This is not true. It is one of the options highly recommended in CALP.

7. He says one can eat carbs in whatever amount one wants to. This is not true of either diet, but CAD was abused that way and so CALP was born. It is not a buffet line of whatever one wants to eat in whatever quantities. Hunger should still dictate the amount and the emphasis for the meal is on “balance”.

In any case, this new program, CALP, outlines two low-carb meals, usually breakfast and lunch, snacks are optional (also very low-carb) and a reward meal (balanced) to be eaten in one hour. The science behind it, if I can remember correctly is that a certain amount of insulin (not much) is produced during the very low-carb meals and that at the beginning of consuming the reward meal, about the same amount of insulin will be produced, however, if the meal continues past the 1 hour, sometime thereafter a second surge of insulin will be produced, which will mean more of the glucose in the meal will stored as fat, because of the extra insulin (fat storing hormone) floating in the blood stream. In a person who does not have insulin resistance, this would not be a problem, but as we age, most of us have some degree of insulin resistance. So this diet does, in fact, have a solid science behind it, and its intent is to do an end-run on insulin, which it does.

The only thing I disagree with the Hellers over is their stance on the use of Splenda Granular instead of sugar. For me, sugar is a known poison, and I prefer to make my desserts with Splenda Granular, which seems to me to have been a better way to go for our family, based on the research we did 15 years ago. We know that if we had lived through the entire recipe testing for my cookbooks (seven) using sugar and white flour, we’d all be in trouble in this family. Our sons grew up on Splenda. Our family has been planet earth’s only human guinea pigs for massive Splenda consumption (most other people will never consume that much in a life time). Splenda, in case anyone is wondering is not the same as the even more controversial aspartame. Splenda is made from sugar with the sugar molecule being changed so that the body will not recognize it. It is inert, which makes it extremely heat stable for baking. Aspartame is not heat stable and should not be recommended for baking. I was the first in the world to write a dessert cookbook using Splenda Granular for a sugar substitute, mainly because Canada had the product 10 years before FDA approval in the United States.

I myself preferentially on a daily basis like to eat low-carb throughout the day, just like Jimmy does, but occasionally I prefer to follow the Carbohydrates Addicts LifeSpan Program (I prefer it for losing weight as well, as does my husband. I tend to eat low-carb desserts wily nily during the day on Atkins and that derails me.) to allow myself flexibility when eating out or visiting friends’ homes or on vacation. This is a useful tool for many low-carbers, without making them feel guilty for occasional indulgences at one meal. Let’s not be low-carb traffic cops and let’s rather cut the people slack who find this particular Carbohydrate Addicts LifeSpan Program a diet that they enjoy and are successful following. In my opinion it is a good, solid program and it will work for those who can follow it properly. For some, it will be like a license to an all-you-can eat buffet of carbs – but that is not the program! Let’s also give the Hellers credit where credit is due! Thanks, you guys!

In defense of my friend, Jimmy, I believe he was reviewing the first book, Carbohydrate Addicts Diet and not the Carbohydrate Addicts LifeSpan Program.