Posted on 05/27/2013 2:35:55 PM PDT by Altariel
A CALORIE is a calorie. This truism has been the foundation of nutritional wisdom and our beliefs about obesity since the 1960s.
What it means is that a calorie of protein will generate the same energy when metabolized in a living organism as a calorie of fat or carbohydrate. When talking about obesity or why we get fat, evoking the phrase “a calorie is a calorie” is almost invariably used to imply that what we eat is relatively unimportant. We get fat because we take in more calories than we expend; we get lean if we do the opposite. Anyone who tells you otherwise, by this logic, is trying to sell you something.
But not everyone buys this calorie argument, and the dispute erupted in full force again last week. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a clinical trial by Dr. David Ludwig of Boston Children’s Hospital and his collaborators. While the media tended to treat the study as another diet trial — what should we eat to maintain weight loss? — it spoke to a far more fundamental issue: What actually causes obesity? Why do we get fat in the first place? Too many calories? Or something else?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Bush?
A writer from the Guardian blamed Nixon.
Wheat! Stop eating it and watch the fat dissolve.
I am a “Calorie-is-a-calorie” kinda guy.
The term, Empty Calories, still infuriates me...
Ya got snookered.
How a body converts food to Kcals is very different from how a bomb calorimeter converts food for the 'official' measurements.
All folks are different. I eat about 2000 Kcals for first breakfast. Carbs, fats, all the good stuff.
And then move on from there.
I barely maintain my 120lbs.
Some folks would bulk up on that.
/johnny
A calorie is a calorie, but it also depends on how well your metabolism works. Many people gain weight in middle age even if they maintain the same diet and level of activity, because their metabolism changes.
Conclusion: Enjoy your steaks, your hamburgers and your other grilled meats this fine day, ladies and gents-—for your health. ;)
I eat alot of wheat and I’m not fat.
My wife got on the kick...I eat what she feeds me (happily) and when she stopped feeding us wheat we both lost a lot of weight. When I was younger it didn’t seem to matter as much. These are just the ramblings of a (very) late middle aged man.
“The term, Empty Calories, still infuriates me...”
It is true that a calorie is a calorie, but I think the empty calories phrase refers to eating something calorie ridden that has no other nutritional benefit whatsoever.
Easily a third of my calories come from wheat. I’m 6’2”, 186 lbs with a 34 inch waist. To each his own.
Take your weight, multiply it by 10 and then add 30%. That’s your base.
Less calories than that you burn. More you gain weight.
All it takes is a meal from Mickey D’s and that’s it for the day.
She would also suggest that everybody look up Dr. Mercola on the web...but I wouldn’t think of it, although I must admit that he has some incredible articles out there for people interested in this sort of thing.
Ain't gonna happen. I'm past that magic age where it was supposed to happen. I'm still whip-cord lean.
/johnny
I learned recently that alcohol calories don’t make you fat (seriously): e.g., http://www.maxwettstein.com/Library/Alcohol.htm. This is why drinking hard liquor rather than high-carb beer can actually be good for your weight.
This is cutting edge information about 30 years ago. The real research is far beyond this. Some directions:
Adjusting the intestinal flora to a “skinny” floral combination of the 30-40 primary digestive bacteria.
Reducing the enterobacter genus bacteria. Very obese people have an intestinal flora that is almost 1/3rd enterobacter genus. Enterobacter produces a toxin that promotes weight gain.
The digestive Archaea consume gases like hydrogen that inhibit digestion by bacteria. Archaea look like bacteria but are totally alien to them.
Normalizing irritated MAST cell clusters in the fat. These cell clusters release chemicals that promote fat creation, and the fatter you are, you have more than proportionally greater numbers of them.
Triggering the production of more brown fat and overall metabolic thermogenesis. White fat saves calories, brown fat burns them up for heat.
Not too long ago, a research scientist discovered that incineration-based calorimeter nutritional data is wildly incorrect, in that the digestive nutritional value of raw and cooked foods is remarkably different, to the point where people on raw food diets generally exhibit some form of malnutrition over time.
Medically supervised starvation of obese people with diabetes has been shown to significantly reverse problems with their insulin production, if not permanently.
Some allergens are associated with obesity as well.
I barely maintain my 120lbs.
Me too. And, my diet is HEAVY on meat, meat, potatoes, meat, a sprinkling of veggies, meat, a little meat and all the wrong kinds of food. Finished off with a huge slab of Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese frosting. Otherwise, I will cook up a whole package of bacon and fight with my son over who gets the most...
62 years old, 5’7” and, on a good day, 123lbs.
Ain’t braggin. Ain’t complainin’...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.