Posted on 09/02/2014 4:58:30 AM PDT by Pharmboy
People who avoid carbohydrates and eat more fat, even saturated fat, lose more body fat and have fewer cardiovascular risks than people who follow the low-fat diet that health authorities have favored for decades, a major new study shows.
The findings are unlikely to be the final salvo in what has been a long and often contentious debate about what foods are best to eat for weight loss and overall health. The notion that dietary fat is harmful, particularly saturated fat, arose decades ago from comparisons of disease rates among large national populations. But more recent clinical studies in which individuals and their diets were assessed over time have produced a more complex picture. Some have provided strong evidence that people can sharply reduce their heart disease risk by eating fewer carbohydrates and more dietary fat, with the exception of trans fats. The new findings suggest that this strategy more effectively reduces body fat and also lowers overall weight.
The new study was financed by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It included a racially diverse group of 150 men and women — a rarity in clinical nutrition studies — who were assigned to follow diets for one year that limited either the amount of carbs or fat that they could eat, but not overall calories.
“To my knowledge, this is one of the first long-term trials that’s given these diets without calorie restrictions,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, who was not involved in the new study. “It shows that in a free-living setting, cutting your carbs helps you lose weight without focusing on calories. And that’s really important because someone can change what they eat more easily...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It is a small chain fat, just like coconut oil is. Other fats have long chain fat. Canola is not a good choice. Nor is margarine it is hard to digest as it is a synthetic. And I never saw where it tasted good. Give me butter, I’ll just eat less of it.
It also goes to the amount you use. Small amounts over the course of the day works well. Your body needs it most in cold months to help you stay warm. It is slower to burn in your body than a carb or sugar is. Those are fast burners.
Nor do you need to eat by the clock. Eat when your stomach says it is hungry. Eat slow, and you will gain less weight. We eat 2 meals a day, maybe a small snack mid day. Hubby more than I needs the extra. Then he is more active. So I keep portion controlled stuff for him to eat.
I just finished up the low carb diet, several months. I lost a bunch of weight. I feel good. I now only eat gluten when it involves beer. I’m going in to my doc’s office today and he wants me on statins. I tried that before and had my chest get tight and my pulse race. My cholesterol is not perfect but my blood pressure is way down.
Had my annual physical exactly one week ago today. Was feeling somewhat dizzy, thirsty all the time, and having to pee way to often. With no history of high blood sugar, it tested at 452. After taking the lowest dose of medicine for high blood sugar and keeping the carbs under 20 grams most days, it is already down to 183; and I'm down five pounds. Expect my blood sugar to be down to 130-150 by the end of September.
J Hist Med Allied Sci. 2008 Apr;63(2):139-77. doi:
10.1093/jhmas/jrn001. Epub 2008 Feb 23.
How the ideology of low fat conquered america.
La Berge AF.
Author information
Abstract
This article examines how faith in science led physicians and patients to embrace the low-fat diet for heart disease prevention and weight loss. Scientific studies dating from the late 1940s showed a correlation between high-fat diets and high-cholesterol levels, suggesting that a low-fat diet might prevent heart disease in high-risk patients. By the 1960s, the low-fat diet began to be touted not just for high-risk heart patients, but as good for the whole nation. After 1980, the low-fat approach became an overarching ideology, promoted by physicians, the federal government, the food industry, and the popular health media. Many Americans subscribed to the ideology of low fat, even though there was no clear evidence that it prevented heart disease or promoted weight loss. Ironically, in the same decades that the low-fat approach assumed ideological status, Americans in the aggregate were getting fatter, leading to what many called an obesity epidemic. Nevertheless, the low-fat ideology had such a hold on Americans that skeptics were dismissed. Only recently has evidence of a paradigm shift begun to surface, first with the challenge of the low-carbohydrate diet and then, with a more moderate approach, reflecting recent scientific knowledge about fats.
Can you imaging what they would think of someone who walked into a chicken coop and started gnawing on a chicken?
re: Two groups of people have had a disproportionate impact on health policy for the last 50 years: Runners and vegetarians. Particularly vegetarians.
Good observation
re: How could the low carb group lose ONLY 3.5 kg (7.7#) in 12 months? Should be able to do that in under one month.
They didn’t just lose 3.5 kg. That number is how much more weight the low carb participants lost on average as compared to the low fat group: “By the end of the yearlong trial, people in the low-carbohydrate group had lost about eight pounds more on average than those in the low-fat group. They had significantly greater reductions in body fat than the low-fat group, and improvements in lean muscle mass — even though neither group changed their levels of physical activity.
While the low-fat group did lose weight, they appeared to lose more muscle than fat.”
50% of your calorie intake should be carbs, actually. GOOD carbs, not empty or worthless carbs.
Why?
Yes. Why? I hate taking pills.
Scarsdale Diet. Low fat, low carbs, high protein. Works well for me, though you do have to up your intake of carbs if your mind starts to slow down.
I should have read more closely.
Thanks.
Importantly, the *reason* a low carb, high protein and fat diet works is because it rapidly changes the intestinal flora. Some suggestions are that it changes the flora faster than any other diet. Here are some of the variables.
A lot of weight gain and health problems are attributable to an overgrowth of internal yeast, specifically of the type Candida albicans, called Candidiasis (which can take several forms). This excess yeast produces a multitude (about 180 known) of poisons and can cause many health problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_albicans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidiasis
The yeast feeds primarily on refined carbs and sugars, as well as alcohol and foods digested by a major phylum of intestinal flora called Firmicutes. A low carb diet starves the yeast, reducing its numbers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmicutes
Firmicutes digest a wide variety of foods quite efficiently, releasing a lot of nutrients to be absorbed by the body, and are one of the two largest groups of bacteria in the digestive tract. They exist in a balance with another very large phylum of bacteria, called Bacteroidetes, which do not digest food as well, so provide less nutrition to the body.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteroidetes
Importantly, it has been discovered that if the balance of the two is tilted towards Firmicutes, animals and people gain weight. If it is tilted towards Bacteroidetes, animals and people lose weight. And a low carb diet shifts the balance in favor of Bacteroidetes; importantly, the more Bacteroidetes, the fast the weight loss.
There are also two other major phyla in the intestines, but their effect on weight gain or loss, if any, is not yet known.
Other variables include an entire genus of bacteria of another phylum, called Enterobacter, that are singularly associated with weight gain. In very obese people, it can take over as much as 1/3rd of the intestinal flora, displacing the other 30-40 dominant bacterial types.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterobacter
In addition, there are some 26 species of bacteria in the gut associated with weight gain, proportional to their abundance.
One of the common cold viruses that infect humans is called Adenovirus. It has some 52 species that infect people, and one of them, Adenovirus serotype 36, is associated with weight gain. Oddly enough, even when it is no longer active in the body, the bits and pieces of the dead virus still cause weight gain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenovirus_serotype_36
Avoid white food in general, sugar, white flour, refined rice, potatoes and white pasta. Limit dairy but a bit is certainly okay. Eggs, meat, fruits and vegetables are great as are whole grains. I seems to me that, in terms of calories, 40% fruits and veggies, 40% whole grains and 20% meat, eggs and dairy can’t be far from ideal.
One other point. We are all unique. I cannot easily digest pork products; they create a gastric situation best not discussed in polite company. Others might react the same way to fish, wheat, eggs, milk or any other basic food. It’s critical to listen to what your body is telling you and not get used to swallowing antacids or some other over-the-counter product with each meal. I am convinced there is no one-size-fits-all diet out there.
People are different...50% of diet as “good carbs,”...NOT me!!!
Try to not take statins...and do not go on them just because of total cholesterol. ..it’s your ratios that count
A casual observation about diets. If you follow Atkins, Mediterranean, Nutritarian, low sodium, low cholesterol or even vegetarian (if you actually eat vegetables), look at what is in your cart. Invariably, you are eating more fresh, unprocessed foods on all of these diets. Not exclusively of course, but a much higher percentage is fresh whole food. Highly processed foods are just bad for you.
It is my opinion that dramatically reducing processed foods is why all of the above diets will eventually get you off meds for metabolic disorders. Follow one that suites your taste, focus on fresh whole foods and eat ~500 calories per meal - unless you are hitting the gym hard - and you will lose weight and get off the pills.
That is not a study. It is Jim’s opinion (I know him...he asked me for my opinion when one of his family members was ill). While his opinion is correct, it is not a study. what I presented in this post is a report on a clinical study. Big difference—data vs. opinion.
You are most welcome.
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