Listening To The Government Makes You Fat
For a little over a year, I've been eating a very low-carb diet -- no flour, sugar, fruit, or starchy vegetables like potatoes -- and I've never been healthier (according to my latest physical) or felt better. And I'm effortlessly thin, whether I exercise or not.
And P.S. I never have to starve myself. In fact, sometimes, at night, I eat cheese just for fun. None of this "don't eat at night" business -- because, as I learned from Gary Taubes, it seems a calorie is not a calorie.
Steven Malanga writes in the LA Times about how the government has told Americans to eat exactly the wrong things since the first federal guidelines appeared in 1980 -- "to reduce their intake of saturated fat by cutting back on meat and dairy products and replacing them with carbohydrates":
Americans have dutifully complied, and the rate of obesity has increased sharply. Meanwhile, the progress that the country has made against heart disease has largely come from medical breakthroughs such as statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, and more effective medications to control blood pressure.Now researchers have started asking hard questions about fat consumption and heart disease, and the answers are startling. In an analysis of the daily food intake of about 350,000 people published in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at the Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland found no link between the amount of saturated fat that a person consumed and the risk of heart disease. One reason, the researchers speculate, is that saturated fat raises levels of so-called good, or HDL, cholesterol, which may offset an accompanying rise in general cholesterol.
A study out of Harvard this spring analyzed data from 20 studies around the world, concluding that those who eat four ounces of fresh (not processed) red meat every day face no increased risk of heart disease.
According to Scientific American, growing research into carbohydrate-based diets has demonstrated that the medical establishment may have harmed Americans by steering them toward carbs. Research by Meir Stampfer, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard, concludes that diets rich in carbohydrates that are quickly digestible -- like potatoes, white rice and white bread -- increase the risk of diabetes and make people far more likely to contract cardiovascular disease than those who eat moderate amounts of meat and fewer carbs. Though federal guidelines now emphasize eating fiber-rich carbohydrates, which take longer to digest, the incessant message over the last 30 years to substitute carbs for meat may have done significant damage.
So far, it doesn't appear that the government will change its approach. The preliminary recommendations of a panel advising the FDA on the new guidelines urge people to shift to "plant-based" diets and to consume "only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs."
Genius. Any of you "government will save us" types want to pipe up?
Here's a comment from the LAT site that's typical of what I hear from commenters and readers who've discovered Gary Taubes, Dr. Michael Eades, Dr. Robert Lustig, and other low-carb recommenders whose dietary advice is based in science instead of the "science" the government favors.
Oh, and on an important note, don't assume your doctor knows the first thing about what to test you for. Eades provides a slew of consistently good information on this -- for example, his post on LDL cholesterol:
(Ronald) Krauss and his team showed that large, fluffy LDL particles aren't particularly harmful whereas the small, dense LDL particles are the ones that cause the problems. He also discovered that increasing carbohydrate in the diet caused LDL to shift to a smaller, denser pattern while decreasing carb and adding fat made LDL change to the larger, fluffier non-problematic kind....If you reduce carbs and add fat to the diet, not only does your HDL go up, but your LDL makes a particle size change for the better. However, when you increase carbs and reduce fat, your HDL goes down and your LDL goes down too, but it changes for the worse. So even though the high-carb, low-fat diet decreases LDL, it doesn't decrease risk - it increases it because even though LDL is lower, it is made up of a dangerous particle size,which negates any possible value of the fall in LDL.
Getting your cholesterol measured? Ask your doctor to check if your LDL particles are large and fluffy or small and dense. Large and fluffy = good; small and dense = bad.
Sorry, Amy, I don't think I can go quite as far as you have. I have low blood sugar episodes. However, I tend to emphasize meats and veggies more, while de-emphasizing things like breads and potatoes. And I drink diet sodas, not the regular kind, which contain that nasty high-fructose corn syrup. I eat fruit at work, so I can keep my blood sugar up while avoiding things like pop tarts (breakfast candy).
mpetrie98 at July 19, 2010 1:10 AM
Amy, on average, how many carbs a day do you eat? I ask because everyone seems to have a different opinion on what low-carb is.
MonicaP at July 19, 2010 6:10 AM
mpetrie, I'm not a doctor, but eating almost no carb keeps me from having blood sugar rises and falls the way I used to. It's part of why I like eating this way. I started doing it when we shot my book cover, and I'd been eating a lot of ice cream for a month. We had four days to shoot it, so I no-carbed for those four days and lost probably eight pounds. I'd planned to go back to eating sort of low-carb (I'm not a Hollywood starlet, so I don't need to be stick thin) but I just felt too good.
As for how many carbs a day I eat, I don't count them. I eat three strips of bacon for breakfast, usually a cheese omelette, and I sautee a big handful of Italian parsley first for the vitamins it has. For lunch, I'll eat a cheeseburger and green beans in butter, or a cobb-type salad with dressing that has probably a carb or two. I'll sometimes eat a whole pack of Trader Joe's asparagus in butter for dinner, and nothing else. Or a whole avocado with salt. And I eat a lot of cheese and salami for snacks. I like that "artisanal salami" from Trader Joe's - about $3.49 each.
And I eat homemade gelato or some dessert about once every week and a half. My fave: N'ice Cream, in Venice.
Amy Alkon at July 19, 2010 6:20 AM
Or a whole avocado with salt.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks a whole avocado with salt (and some lemon juice for me) makes a great meal.
MonicaP at July 19, 2010 6:26 AM
I also eat chicken, tuna or egg salad when I'm writing at a cafe, or quiche without the crust.
I don't like the way most people make fish, so I don't eat it very often. I do take Neptune krill oil by DaVinci labs, 5,000 iu of vitamin D (I got tested), and 300 (whatever it's measured in) of magnesium.
Basically, I never count calories, I make sure I get plenty of fat and protein (I never buy any meat that has one or two grams of fat or is no-fat...although I can't seem to find chicken broth with fat in it...grrr...that's why it all tastes like otter piss).
Also, because, as Eades wrote at one point, there's more "calorie wasting" with no- or very low-carb foods -- meaning your body blows off the calories instead of using them efficiently like it does carb calories -- I can eat for entertainment. Sometimes, in the evening, as I'm blogging, I just have some cheese...not because I'm really hungry, but just for fun. Amazing. In years past, I never would have eaten four slices of an avocado or pieces of cheese, for fear I'd become a lard-ass.
And PS I think if you eat carbs and eat the way I do as well -- ie, add waffles to my three strips of morning bacon, you're going to lard up.
Amy Alkon at July 19, 2010 6:27 AM
although I can't seem to find chicken broth with fat in it...grrr...that's why it all tastes like otter piss
Try making your own stock. It sounds like a pain in the ass, but if you freeze the leftovers of vegetables and bones and such, you'll have enough in no time, and you can let it simmer while you write. And homemade stock tastes way better than otter piss.
MonicaP at July 19, 2010 6:42 AM
Mpetrie,
My fiance is diagnosed hypoglycemic and has a family history of diabetes. He does so much better on a low carb diet then he does on a standard one. Once he got over the low-carb flu his moods and his energy stabilized.
Elle at July 19, 2010 6:43 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/19/listening_to_th.html#comment-1734033">comment from MonicaPTry making your own stock.
I don't cook; I heat. I'm spending all my time these days researching my next book -- although I just figured out a book to write before the next book that will be much easier, and might actually earn me a living.
Amy Alkon at July 19, 2010 7:11 AM
When you remove fat from food it tastes like crap, so the food industry raised the sugar levels in their packaged foods to make them palatable. We've all seen the graphs from 1970 to 2000 showing the decrease in fat consumed in America with the correspondent increase in carbs and obesity.
And now the National Salt Reduction Institute has successfully lobbied several large food manufacturers to reduce the salt content in their products. If you think that salt is a problem read this. And guess what happens to packaged food when you take out the salt? It tastes like crap. And what is the food industry's solution? They're going to increase sugar content to make it palatable again. Jesus wept.
@MonciaP
There is no definition of low carb. The average American eats about 400-500G of carbs per day. Atkins set a high end limit of 100G carbs per day. Many low carb researchers feel that less than 50g carbs per day is where the health magic occurs. Yet others feel that your carb limit should be that which causes you to not gain weight.
Personally, I feel that if you give up the big three ... sugar, grains, starches, you don't need to count anything. Its pretty hard to get a lot of carbs without these items (and fruit is nothing but a bag of sugar and water.)
AllenS at July 19, 2010 7:27 AM
I don't buy that people are getting fatter because they're cutting back on meat and dairy. People are getting fatter because they're not cutting back on ANYTHING: junk food, giant portions, overly processed crap, too many carbs, too much sugar, and yes, too much fat.
You can eat fruit, potatoes, and bread without being overweight, let alone obese. The majority of people that I know are living proof of this (since I live in a socioeconomic area where virtually no one is obese). Or look back 50 years ago: there was no such thing as a low-carb diet, yet our country had nowhere near the weight problem that we do now.
I'm not saying that an extreme low-carb diet isn't a good solution, just that it's not the ONLY solution, or even the best one. We don't NEED to get society looking like supermodels/Amy :), we just need to get people to be not-overweight. And if you eat real foods in moderation, you're probably not going to be overweight.
Shannon at July 19, 2010 7:32 AM
There certainly *was* such a thing as the low-carb diet 50 years ago--only it was referred to as the low/no-startch diet and was the way my mother, aunts, etc trimmed off excess pounds after the holidays or before swimsuit season. They'd have called it "skipping bread and sweets for a while" but it was very definitely low-carb.
Casey at July 19, 2010 7:44 AM
Amy I just finished reading Good Calories Bad Calories. The thing reads like a horror novel! And it pisses me off that a small group of Ivy League cronies pretty much took over nutrition and refused to listen to anybody with conflicting studies.
For cheese entertaiment, microwave a 1x2x.25 inch slice of block sharp cheddar till it puddles up and browns, then let it cool. Crunchy delicious cheese cracker! Perfect platform for summer sausage.
Mary Q Contrary at July 19, 2010 7:44 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/19/listening_to_th.html#comment-1734043">comment from ShannonFlour and sugar are, from what I've read (see Eades), quite unhealthy. I sure wouldn't eat them, and I don't need to stop eating them to not be fat (although I'm almost model-thin with no effort because I'm not eating them).
After I put a friend on an almost no-carb diet, he not only lost about 30 pounds, his blood pressure went from high to near-normal and his Hashimoto's thyroid WENT AWAY. Can't prove that's from the diet, but it sure is an interesting coincidence.
By the way, if you do go low-carb, Taubes and Eades suggest drinking chicken soup to avoid having the wearies/achies in the first few weeks, aka "the Atkins flu." I didn't feel it, although I had sugar cravings for about a month, which have since gone away. It's fantastic.
Amy Alkon at July 19, 2010 7:44 AM
I'm in my mid thirties and have been overweight my whole life. I read Gary Taubes' book (I think I purchased it through Amy's Amazon link)in March and started the Atkins diet a week after. As of today I'm down sixty pounds.
I tried low fat/low calorie diets in the past, but always gained the weight back and usually more. The path I was on was bound to lead to diabetes and more severe health issues.
Amy, thanks for setting me in the right direction!
JFP at July 19, 2010 8:11 AM
Casey-good point, I phrased what I wanted to say wrong. What I meant is that there's definitely been a spike in the obesity problem in the past 50 years, and it hasn't been caused by people suddenly deciding to eat bananas. There are other factors at play.
Shannon at July 19, 2010 8:33 AM
I did low carb for ten years of my life and was in the best shape of my life. I felt healthy and never craved garbage. I happen to love cheese, veggies, and meat so for me it was perfect. I fell off the wagon when I had some health issues and gained a lot of weight being on hormones and steroids. I was thrilled when my cardiologist told me to go back to the low carb life. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune and neuromuscular disease and according to him and all I've been reading, the carbs are hard on people with joint ailments. Funny thing is I had arthritis very young and never felt an ache when I was doing low carb during those ten years. My best friend is on a new diet every day and argues with me, but the proof was how thin I was and how all she did was yo-yo.
Kristen at July 19, 2010 8:49 AM
I started Eades' 6 Week Cure for the Middle Aged Middle plan in March and lost 20 lbs to get to my goal weight in about 8 weeks. We have never counted carbs. We just used the recipes in the 6 Week Cure and in another Eades' book, Protein Power. JFP, if you need some variety in your diet, I suggest you buy these books just for the recipes.
I have taken other recipes and taken out the carbs. Last night, I made Chicken Parm without the breading, just chicken, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan. Saturday, I made Chicken Tagine, leaving out the carrots, honey and dried apricots.
Since March, my waist size has dropped from 36" to 32" and I feel great. I have never had problems with blood pressure or cholesterol, but my mom had diabetes and I feel that now I have a better chance of dodging that bullet.
Now that I am at my goal weight, I can occasionally go off diet and have a pizza, a quesadilla or even a burger with a bun.
Other than the first few days of the two "shake weeks" while my body was getting used to doing without carbs, I never feel really hungry.
Steamer at July 19, 2010 8:52 AM
although I can't seem to find chicken broth with fat in it...grrr...that's why it all tastes like otter piss
Nah, Amy, it tastes like otter piss because commercial broth isn't made right.
If you want decent broth, you really have to make it yourself. Next time you fix chicken at home, roast a whole one. When you've finished the breast, legs, thighs, and any other easy-to-reach morsels, throw the carcass (bones & skin) into a pot of water (dutch oven sized pot is good for a single carcass) with a few veggies (carrot, celery, onion), a bay leaf, and a few peppercorns, and simmer it (no boil or it will get cloudy) for a looooong time. Add more water if you need to. The longer you simmer, the tastier the end product -- eight hours minimum.
Strain & cool uncovered .
You'll see the difference after it's spent the night in the fridge. It will gel. Commercial broth does not. It's probably too dilute.
The fat will sit on the top incidentally -- you can leave it if you want or spoon it off (it will be semi solid, the consistency of frosting).
Either way, it's the gelatin and minerals you've extracted from the bones and connective tissue that imparts the flavor & mouthfeel of a good broth, not the fat. Try it, I promise you'll be astonished.
Kirsten at July 19, 2010 8:58 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/19/listening_to_th.html#comment-1734081">comment from KirstenWhen I have staff, I will be sure to ask them to do exactly as you stay.
Amy Alkon at July 19, 2010 9:33 AM
I know you don't cook, Amy, but this low-carb flax bread is really easy to make if you're craving bread or want something to put the chicken salad on. It's like a really thick wheat bread, and so healthy. I find substitutions like these help me stay on the low carb diet. I bake this in a loaf pan and have bread all week:
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breads/r/flaxbasicfoc.htm
lovelysoul at July 19, 2010 9:34 AM
Thanks for the link, LS. I'll be trying this for sure.
Steamer at July 19, 2010 10:00 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/19/listening_to_th.html#comment-1734087">comment from lovelysoulThanks - I actually don't crave bread at all, and my goal in shopping is to find things (like this roast they have at Costco) that I can put in the microwave for three minutes (it says 7-9 but I like it rare) and eat for a week.
Amy Alkon at July 19, 2010 10:07 AM
There's more than food, you know... Work out (a good sweat) 30 minutes to 45 minutes every day and you won't have to worry about your diet if you keep it balanced (which a low-carb diet is not). And you'll get and keep a nice body, too. Works for males and females alike.
Alan at July 19, 2010 10:29 AM
For those who have a hard time "keeping thier blood sugar up". Get checked for reactive hypoglycemia. It sounds like you are on a sugar/insulin roller coaster: Eat fuit, blood sugar goes up, then insulin spikes too high and blood sugar crashes, then you eat more fruit to get it back up again, stimulating yet another too-high insulin surge.
Dave at July 19, 2010 10:50 AM
Getting your cholesterol measured? Ask your doctor to check if your LDL particles are large and fluffy or small and dense. Large and fluffy = good; small and dense = bad.
Anybody know if your average lab can do this, or are we talking about the sort of thing that is still primarily research stage?
Christopher at July 19, 2010 10:56 AM
Wuddever.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at July 19, 2010 11:02 AM
@Alan - *cough* bullsh*t *cough*
A low carb diet may not be "balanced" according to the gov't, but it is certainly balanced in the right direction where a humans health is concerned. Eating low carb helps not just with obesity, but with so many other health issues. I would encourage you to do some research, think for yourself, and get back to us on that.
Lisa at July 19, 2010 11:27 AM
My husband's doc prescribed Niacin to enlarge his LDL particles.
Lesley at July 19, 2010 11:41 AM
excercise IS good, Alan, it just doesn't do it for most people. This whole idea of balance? Who made that up to start with? The same people that have been telling you to cut all the fat? To eat an astonishing amount of grains in the food "pyramid". Is it a pyramid scheme? Could be. These are the same people that also tell you to eat less excercise more... even though the less that you are eating is Snackwells that do all sorts of interesting things to your insulin. Not GOOD things mind you.
The bottom line is that this will take experimentation. The Eades won't work for everyone. I have friends from Asia that eat a fair amount of rice and do well. Their peoples may have been eating rice long enough for an evolutionary change in how their body works with it. Dunno, but they are very svelt people. I cannot eat rice in those quantities, and I know it. Eades seems to work for me, though it's hard because I cook less than Amy...
I can tell you that while I havent had the "zounds!" moment in losing weight, the fat IS changing. Waist size very down, arms/legs have lost a lot of fat, and I can see it. Middle? Yeah, it took years to get there, it'll prolly take a while to go, but the INTERNAL visceral fat, yeah, that left.
What is out of blanace in my diet? I eat much, much more veggies [not starches], and more meat and eggs. Kinda like the caveman... which perhaps is what I am.
You seek balance, grasshopper, but no-one can tell you what it is for you. You will have to seek it.
SwissArmyD at July 19, 2010 12:08 PM
@Lisa. Surprise, surprise... In your rant, not a word on meaningful exercise, which was the main point of my comment. I know it's not even an option worth considering for most of you folks. Physical laziness is THE cancer in America.
Alan at July 19, 2010 12:10 PM
@SwissArmyD. Define exercise. Most people think that walking to the mailbox or climbing the stairs at the office is enough. It's not. It's well below the minimum we're supposed to do. Our bodies and genes haven't adapted to our lazy habits we've developed in the last 50 years (remote control, drive-thru, power tools, and thousand more.)
Alan at July 19, 2010 12:21 PM
OK, smartguy, how many calories do you burn in your meaningful excercise? And when your body sends a storage signal instead of a burn signal, what difference does the excercise make?
If it was as easy as excercise, I dare say quite a number of people would find it better, but it is, as all things only ONE facet, and maybe NOT the most important one.
SwissArmyD at July 19, 2010 12:22 PM
Oh, and? Alan you are the one touting excercise, you tell me how YOU define it.
SwissArmyD at July 19, 2010 12:39 PM
Thanks for the link lovelysoul! Great stuff
Ppen at July 19, 2010 12:42 PM
SwissArmy: meaningful exercise is nothing you can imagine doing yourself I'm afraid (like for 99% of Americans). A good sweat. A strenuous workout every day. Just to make up for the calories we *don't* spend because we take the elevator, our car, and use a power drill instead of a manual screwdriver. All things our slim ancestors of a century ago would do after eating their chocolate cake. We just don't speak the same language if you won't get the picture I'm trying to draw here.
Alan at July 19, 2010 1:24 PM
@Alan - That was hardly a rant. You just made me ROFL.
Laziness? Ha! You are clueless, sir. There is certainly nothing wrong with exercise, but it won't make someone lose weight.
I lost 60 pounds. I didn't exercise a lick to lose it. I wasn't lazy, just didn't have the energy to do it. Now I do. It doesn't help me keep the fat off, but it does tone my muscles, and make me feel good (you know, that old endorphin thing).
This is me, before and after low carb (keep in mind, I didn't exercise my way thinner!):
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UjaMr4ms2t4/S4pqqE8YygI/AAAAAAAAAC8/XVbVfxghtuo/s1600-h/beforeafterlisa.jpg
Three years and holding steady. You do not have to kill yourself exercising to be healthy and thin. You just have to eat right, and it's not following the pyramid of certain obesity and diabetes.
Lisa at July 19, 2010 1:33 PM
Laziness? Ha! You are clueless, sir.
I admit it: I'm lazy.
I have no desire to bust my butt for an hour or more every day when I could be doing something I do anyway: eating. I lost 20 pounds a couple of years ago and kept it off without exercising at all, not through low-carb eating, but through portion control. I tried low-carb for a short time, but it wasn't for me.
The exercises I like lean toward yoga and belly dancing, which do not burn enough calories for me to eat anything I want.
MonicaP at July 19, 2010 1:46 PM
oh, Alan you are dissembling like a mofo... you believe it's all laziness... when it is, in fact, change. Many years ago, my grandfather was a rancher... and when I was a kid I remember the astonishing amount of food he ate every day, all cooked in lard. He rolled his own smokes too. I don't do jobs like that, so I don't consume 10,000 calories a day, regardless of where they come from. But I certainly excercise more than you give credit for, because I have to go out and do it separately, I have to set aside time for it. My grandfather would have never excercised, because he would never have needed to. Our society isn't built like that anymore.
However. Our ancestors also didn't live very long. Before the revolutions of antibiotics, and sanitation, it didn't matter what they ate, they died young unless they were lucky.
So, what needs to be figured on, is what way of eating works for what we are doing now.
Your problem is that you think that 100cal of meat is the same as 100cal of sugar or 100 cal of grain, when the body doesn't treat them similarly at all.
This difference trumps your issues with excercise completely, becasue if you eat that much sugar, your body will issue a store signal. The only people who get around this are elite athletes who consume huge amounts of cals. every day, and who have bodies conditioned to use it.
Even the average thin person doesn't. Calorie is only a measure of the theoretical energy the food contains, NOT how it is used in the body. So, your excercise regime is VERY dependant on what kind of fuel is used. Riding a bike, HARD, [15mph] for 30 min takes 600cal. Running ~10min miles takes about the same at #250 weight...
That's it. How much pasta IS that? How many potatos? Do you lose weight when constantly sending the body a store signal?
Excercise is GOOD, especially if it keeps you moving, limber. But the lack of it, isn't the primary problem in the obesity epidemic. Nor is the sudden rampup of it the thing that will stop this. Figuring out what will work for YOUR body IS the thing that will help. Some people are cavemen and some aren't, but figuring what things make the body use it's fuel and what makes it store it, is the primary question. Only THEN can we tackle the different lifestyles we lead, and how things work when you live to be 80 instead of dying at 45 as many people did in 1900.
SwissArmyD at July 19, 2010 3:17 PM
I find exercise is a waste of time for me as far as weight loss. Great for toning but not weight loss. As a relatively thin person, I have to do so much more of exercise to have an effect. A 250 pd person has much more resistance, so they burn more calories exercising in a set amount of time. At 115, I'd have to exercise almost all day to lose a pd, which is silly when I can just cut carbs and do it.
Ppen, I'm glad you like the recipe. There's also one for flax/parmesan-garlic crackers on the same site. I'm making those tonight for a gathering, so I can have cheese and crackers with everyone else. Really easy too.
lovelysoul at July 19, 2010 3:36 PM
Yum!
Ppen at July 19, 2010 9:17 PM
Even if you believe that exercise doesn't affect weight loss, it still makes a big difference on the way that your body looks. There's an enormous difference between a women who is, say, 5'6 with 140 pounds of muscle versus 140 pounds of flab-possibly the difference between wearing a size 4 and a size 10. And for guys, I think it would be almost to achieve a really "jacked" physique, if that's the look you're going for, without working out and lifting weights. Virtually every man whose body I am attracted and woman whose body I envy-both celebrities and people that I know-exercises frequently and strenuously.
For myself personally, I notice a big difference when I exercise regularly versus when I slack off. I can go to the gym for an hour and burn 700 calories, and it's MUCH easier than cutting 700 calories from my diet. I still have to watch the kinds of foods I eat, but I can eat MORE of those foods, which is my preference. Plus I like to exercise; I like how it makes me feel: more relaxed, focused, energized, and sleeping better; and I like being able to climb flights of stairs, walk long distances, lift heavy suitcases etc without getting tired. I don't know how you can argue with those benefits.
Shannon at July 20, 2010 7:57 AM
Nobody's arguing with those benefits, Shannon. You've misunderstood. What we're arguing is that calories are not what actually makes you fat. The whole focus on calories has been flawed. Calories don't matter as much as how many carbs you consume.
lovelysoul at July 20, 2010 8:08 AM
Most people who want to lose weight have tried exercise, less calories, low fat, etc without getting the results they need. They often were miserable and hungry following the accepted advice to reduce calories and/or fat as their bodies went into starvation mode as a response to the diet.
I had never been on a diet before, so I can't compare, but I quickly and easily lost 20 lbs and only felt hungry for the first few days as my body adjusted to the lack of carbs it was used to using as fuel.
I'm not trying to push low carb on anyone. I'm just telling you my experience.
Steamer at July 20, 2010 9:46 AM
LS- Actually people WERE arguing with Alan that exercise is pointless, which is why I responded! Whether or not exercise matters is one issue, whether one should focus on calories rather than carbs is another.
I wholeheartedly agree that WHAT you eat matters more than the calories you consume, but calorie counting DOES work for a lot of people. Millions of people have used Weight Watchers for instance, and I think it's a horrible diet that allows too much overly-processed, nutrionally-devoid crap, but it's hard to argue with someone who's losing weight on it. I just don't think there's anything as one "best" diet-it's whatever works for each individual.
Shannon at July 20, 2010 10:29 AM
Actually all the bloggers that I follow recommend HIIT as the only kind of exercise that will matter for fat loss and metabolic disorders. High Intensity Interval Sprints. Or none at all. Basically sprints or Tabata type workouts, google it. Insanely SHORT and EASY to do. Read Stephan Guyanet at www.wholehealthsource.blogspot.com or Chris Kresser at www.thehealthyskeptic.com. The reason this type of sprinting works is because it literally mimics our caveman ancestors when we had to run away from predators. The way that Amy (and I!) have been eating is essentially called Paleolithic Nutrition and it is very low carb. Read Dr. Kurt Harris at www.paleonu.com. He's a bit crusty but full of great info. Also Rob Wolff at The Paleolithic Solution. I had out-of-control hypothyroid (+69) about three years ago, gained weight on a practical starvation low fat high carb diet ...and there is juvenile diabetes and lupus and autoimmunity all though my siblings, there are now MAJOR connections being SCIENTIFICALLY made about gluten and thyroid disease and all autoimmune disease. Researching this led me to Taubes and Eades. Read about that here: http://thehealthyskeptic.org/the-gluten-thyroid-connection. Anyway, have lost 40lbs since March and feel awesome. Went for Dr.'s appointment the other day, blood pressure 110/70...everything else in the low low low range of normal LDL, HDL, triglycerides etc. Doctor amazed. Keep doing it. I think this info via Taubes and Eades and other low carb gurus like Jimmy Moore at Living La Vida Low Carb podcast (free on iTunes) ...it is finally starting to hit the mainstream. Yay. Re that f***ing USDA food pyramid...yeah, the thought the world was flat at one time too. If I have one criticism of Amy's eating it would be buying meat at Costco. You should be sourcing your meat and your artisanal cheeses from local farmers. Not sure about the antibiotics and hormones in the Costco meat, but it sure as hell is rampant in the Walmart meat. That's why it's so cheap. It is also GRAIN FED which is labeled for you to think it's healthy but it is actually not. Might as well eat the carbs. A small point, but after you start hitting the farmer's markets for your meat, you can't eat the other stuff anymore. It changes your taste. And don't even get me started on the evils of industrial seed oils (olive and coconut and yes, horros PALM oil only folks). Be healthy!
Rosemary at July 20, 2010 7:18 PM
horrors*
Rosemary at July 20, 2010 7:20 PM
"Nobody's arguing with those benefits, Shannon. You've misunderstood. What we're arguing is that calories are not what actually makes you fat. The whole focus on calories has been flawed. Calories don't matter as much as how many carbs you consume."
Voice of reason.
Rosemary at July 20, 2010 7:25 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/19/listening_to_th.html#comment-1734581">comment from RosemaryIf I have one criticism of Amy's eating it would be buying meat at Costco. You should be sourcing your meat and your artisanal cheeses from local farmers.
I should be earning a much better living, too, and when I am, I'll get cheese made from somebody's pet cow and wrapped in ribbon woven from baby spiders' webs.
Amy Alkon at July 20, 2010 8:14 PM
Anyone remember that article Amy linked a long time ago, an article arguing that there was no difference healthwise between formula feeding and breast feeding for infants? Y'all just loved that, but can anyone explain the logic of why adult humans need to eat like our ancient ancestors, but babies don't? After that I decided all discussions of health and nutrition on this website consist mostly of wishful thinking.
Sam at July 22, 2010 10:25 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/19/listening_to_th.html#comment-1735606">comment from SamRight, Sam. What, you're a vegan, and you're offended?
The question is, what does the evidence say? Whether or not you like what it says. And how flawed is the study or are the studies on a topic? (All studies are flawed, some are just more flawed than others.)
Feel free to tell us, and support with evidence, why eating flour, sugar and potatoes are healthful.
Amy Alkon at July 22, 2010 10:29 AM
Weight Watchers. High carbohydrates, moderate on fats and proteins. A very healthy diet plan and very flexible too. it allows the dieter to plan his own meal rather than give him a set to follow.
Billie Macchio at October 11, 2010 5:41 AM
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