Move Over Atkins

Move over Dr. Atkins, yours may not have been the first or the fattiest diet of them all. Before there was South Beach, there was... lard?

As reported in today's Tribune, an estimated 2,000 Polish Chicagoans, and 2 million people worldwide, currently follow the so-called Optimal Diet, a plan developed in Poland by Dr. Jan Kwasniewski some 40 years ago. Rather than focus on low-carb, the diet fixates on fat, and lots of it, recommending 250 grams per day, about four times what the FDA recommends. Any type of fat will do, but lard seems to be a favorite. Lech Walesa himself is reported to have lost 44 pounds. For more information see http://homodiet.netfirms.com.

Here in Chicago, we have Calma Optimal Foods on Milwauke Avenue, reportedly the only store in North America dedicated to the Optimal Diet.

Trans Fatty Blog remains skeptical.

Comments

[pika]

LOL. This is fantastic! But I've gotta say that my favorite Pole remains skeptical.

[Judith Popolo]

How do I locate the book written By Dr. J Kwasniewski? the Optimal Diet and is it in english?

[disinfo buster]

Quote:

"Rather than focus on low-carb, the diet fixates on fat, and lots of it, recommending 250 grams per day, about four times what the FDA recommends. Any type of fat will do, but lard seems to be a favorite."

Why misrepresent?

First, fat consumption in the Optimal Diet isn't necessarily that much. It can be either lower or higher depending on one's height, a figure used to establish one's daily protein needs which are the foundation of the system's macronutrient ratio determining how much fat and carbohydrate will be consumed -- a range of 2.5-3.5 grams of fat and 0.5-0.8 grams of carbohydrates for every gram of protein eaten:

1 : 2.5-3.5 : 0.5-0.8

One's protein needs are determined by subtracting 100 from one's height in cm. That's your daily protein quota. So, if you're 175cm, your protein allotment is 75g per day.

Secondly, trans-fats are totally forbidden and polyunsaturated fats are to be consumed only through fish, meat, eggs and poultry. Moreover, saturated fats are clearly preferred over monounsaturated fats. In short, animal fats are always preferable to fats from plant sources.

See http://www.ahoa.org.au/optimal_nutrition/optimal/optimal_nutrition.html for additional points outside of this comment's scope.