Human beings aren't one size fits all. Just take a look at the supplement review section on any bodybuilding forum for confirmation.

That said, it's amazing how some people subscribe to conventional thinking with no results, and in the absent face of progress, don't take the time to try something else.

The health revolution of the 1990s taught us that all fats were bad and we should cut them out. Then later we find out that there's actually good fats and bad fats.

The low-carb revolution taught us some valuable lessons about reprogramming the body's metabolism to curb an addiction to sugars and starches, but later we learned that doing that too long can carry significant health consequences.

The same can be said for the workout itself. We read article after article, one contradicting the other, hoping that we'll find the one that helps us transform into what we want. But are far too many of us guilty of wasting time on what doesn't work. Even on this site, I've seen apocolypic tales that chronicle the perils of carbohydrate consumption and the like.

All things in moderation...

I'd love to see a meaningful dialog from people who threw conventional wisdom to the wayside and came up with something individual, be it diet, supplementation or exercise, that actually worked for them in producing noticeable results.

Links?

The tenor of my post is based largely on conjecture and conflicting reports out there. No single statement should be taken as the gospel.

Experts have theorized that a two-week carb detox period helps cut the body's dependence on sugars and reprograms the appetite. The South Beach Diet is the classic example. Yes, I've read it, and I've seen it work for many. But I'm sure there are some it won't work for.

I remember several years ago seeing a few accounts in the news where kidney damage had resulted from people who tried to live carb free for too long.

The post was made to invoke discussion on the topic of wisdom-defying decisions that yielded progress or achieved a person's intended outcome.

We're all different.

Fair enough - thanks. That statement just stuck out and I'm always interested in the science behind any of this stuff.

The South Beach Diet is a chronicle of that science. It's a good read, and a lot of the doctor's points make very good sense.

In the end, the book is about re-aligning your eating lifestyle to something that's manageable, but the plan does call for two weeks carb free. From that point on, you work carbs back in, but complex carbs (whole grains, etc.).

I think that some people are much more "tuned into" their bodies than others. For example, months before my CABG, I knew that something was "not quite right," but I couldn't figure out what it was. I had fleeting, vague symptoms, and I think many people would have simply ignored them. Fortunately for me, I didn't.

I think many aspects of medical care, including medication selection and type of diet, will eventually be molecular genetics-driven. In other words, examination of a panel of gene polymorphisms will be used to determine what should work best for you, before you even try it. This technique is already being utilized in oncology to treat certain malignancies.

Ultimately, gene therapy is going to be a viable prophylaxis... basically, if you know the genes responsible for individuals developing risk factors for certain diseases and "repair" those genes, the diseases shouldn't manifest themselves later in life. Of course this opens up the whole issue of eugenics, except now it is at the molecular level.

- Dan