Becky Hand's articles are generally a load of nonsense.

This post came into us as a comment from a reader. We thought it worthy of a separate thread.

http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=becky+hand

Becky Hand's articles are generally a load of nonsense. Here is a recent one penned by Becky which links back to this article you've written about above:

http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=separating_the_truth_about_carbs_from_the_lies

You'll notice that the article I've linked here is very confrontational in its tone and the words Becky chose. When it was first published, "myths" was actually "lies", but that has been changed since there was a fair bit of complaining going on by some of the SparkPeople members who found it offensive. There was no apology or retraction, it was just quietly changed to "myths" after a couple days of complaining on personal blogs and the SparkPeople message boards.

At the end of that article there is a poll. More than half the people who answered apparently restrict carbs for one reason or another, yet the site insists on pushing these outdated and just plain wrong ideas about carbohydrate intake. Low carb diets are "fad diets", "not sustainable", "unhealthy", "dangerous", you name it....it is really tiresome and demeaning for those of us who have found out that we thrive when we limit our intake of carbohydrates. If we announce any sort of progress we've made, it's not congratulated or seen as being significant. It's always "well, that's water weight" or "that weight will all come right back as soon as you eat some carbs!" etc. The site's "experts" are very attached to the idea that one must eat "heart healthy" grains, and with every meal. If you mention that you don't eat grains and are feeling great/getting healthier because of it, posts will follow accusing you of being disordered, stupid, a liar, etc. and I mean from both the "experts" and the general membership at the site. However nobody has ever been able to explain to me how a cup of any sort of grain is healthier for me than a cup of kale.

Another thing to mention: that article I gave you a link to originally had a comment thread at the bottom where members were respectfully sharing their views. Some were cheering for Becky, while others were complaining about the article as a whole, or about certain points. Some people politely posted links to studies for Becky Hand to read. Well, the comment thread quickly vanished. The entire thing was deleted, with no explanation from Becky or the site. I don't know if this article you linked to had comments on it as well at one time. I suspect it did, and that they too were removed.

It's become very clear to me that SparkPeople is more concerned with their corporate sponsors than they are with providing health and diet information that is actually sane and correct. With that imbalance in mind, I can't recommend the site to friends or family members who are looking for health/weight loss community.

Liver