The Skinny on Fat (The Truth About Obesity, Part 2)

Tech Central Station ^ | July 16, 2003 | Sandy Szwarc

[Timesink]

A host of sinful foods have been demonized as the root of obesity and poor health of American adults and children. Fast food restaurants have been sued, accused of contributing to customers' obesity because their food tastes too good and they tempt us by advertising. Taxes are being proposed on foods deemed fattening or bad for us, namely, anything with meat or fat, that is fried or processed or that is sweet.

[Aquinasfan]

My sister and her husband went on this diet and did lose weight. But since I was around for a long enough period to monitor their intake I could see that the weight loss didn't come from the type of macronutrient they were eating but from an overall reduction in total intake. When we ate out and they had a burger, they had just the burger and maybe a garden salad. They ate just the portions of the meal that were allowed by their diet. The rest went uneaten. They didn't compensate for it by ordering two burgers. By restricting themselves to a low carb intake, they just ended up not eating as much.

And there's the rub. Try eating a garden salad and two burgers (sans bun) for lunch. It ain't easy. Especially after you've had two eggs and ham for breakfast. You'll find the second burger to be distasteful, at best. When you eat protein and fat, you don't get hungry for another six hours, as opposed to eating a bowl of Special K for lunch and breakfast. By 1pm you're ready to kill for some carbohydrates, if you're not too dizzy and lightheaded to do it.

Atkins has been a godsend for me. I eat a couple of eggs and ham for breakfast with some coffee with cream and Splenda. Lunch is usually an Atkins bar (I usually eat and drive) and a diet soda (Splenda-sweetened). Afternoon snack is some cashews. Dinner is a large salad with blue cheese dressing, a barbequed chicken breast and green beans. Dessert is some blueberries with whipped cream. The result? I'm NEVER hungry. I never get lightheaded. I don't swoon in the late afternoon.

What can I say? That's my personal experience and my wife's personal experience, and the experience that many of our acquaintances have had, many of whom were skeptics.

People don't quit Atkins because they're hungry. They quit because they like the taste of pizza, spaghetti, candy and cookies too much. They eat too much. They're blood sugar goes haywire, and they're back in the carbohydrate trap again.

Try it and see for yourself.

[SamAdams76]

Nice catch on linking that anti-Atkins website to a left-wing animal rights group. I knew there was another agenda at work here. They just don't want people eating more meat!

[Mamzelle]

re: Of these three, fats and carbohydrates are the most immediately useful in meeting the body's energy needs. The reason? It takes less energy to use them because they're all ready to go; amino acids have to be deaminated before being used as fuel. )))

Theory? I've been reading that it is the carbs that need to be used quickly after consumption, because they are stored soon as fat. Fat itself is more complex, does not have the impact on insulin, is sometimes expelled by the body before it has the opportunity to be digested. Proteins can eventually be stored as fats, but they are also part of a complex process of breakdown.

Consuming fats, without accompanying carbs, will also generate a sense of satiety. Carbs will make you hungry.

I'm betting that the American Diabetic Assoc will shortly discover that they've been feeding diabetics too much sugar with their dietary guidelines.

[Aquinasfan]

A recommendation for Atkins people: Blue Bunny brand ice cream, sweetened with Splenda and available at Walmart Supercenters. I especially like the "Bunny Tracks."

[RockyMtnMan]

Nice catch on linking that anti-Atkins website to a left-wing animal rights group. I knew there was another agenda at work here. They just don't want people eating more meat!

You'll find the same for people railing against consuming milk. PETA doesn't like cows to be herded for any reason including lactation.

A vast majority of people can benefit from the Atkins diet. I use a modified version that is more compatible with my exercise routine. The biggest thing to avoid for anyone that wants to lose weight: DO NOT consume high carbohydrate meals late in the evening (supper time). Carbs are good for high energy exercise and adding fat to the body, not sleeping.

If you are trying to add muscle mass, ie lean mass, then you should consume 1 gram of protein for each pound of lean mass. Adding lean mass through even minor exercise can boost weight loss significantly.

[Lael]

Nice catch on linking that anti-Atkins website to a left-wing animal rights group. I knew there was another agenda at work here. They just don't want people eating more meat!

After the Stillman diet [he was a retired dentist, and wrote his book shortly before his death, to share what he had helped his patients with their weight problems], the LEFTIES began a concerted smear of high protein, low carbohydrate diets.

One of the first was a guilt tripping tome "Diet For A Small Planet", or some such thing, and practically branded any meat diet as GENOCIDE!! I'm NOT making this up.

The argument went that if you feed grain to animals, you are SELFISHLY starving the THIRD WORLD of resources, etc., etc., etc.

Look, I followed Stillman, limited my CARB to no more than 20 grams a day, lost 40+ lbs in 6 months, and had energy like you wouldn't believe!

Kept it off until I moved to the Desert Southwest, where the heat changed the metabolism.

I'm back on the diet, substituting mostly Salmon for a heart problem, and, yes, have attained my pre- move Stillman weight!

Don't fall for the LEFTIST propaganda!!

It's YOUR body and YOUR life!!!

[RockyMtnMan]

You had more energy because your body wasn't constantly trying to process excessive carbohydrate intake. Every persons energy level is different, some people can tolerate more carbs than others. It would be nice if there was an easy way to determine your maximum carb intake level before the body just starts making fat.

[Thorondir]

I have never heard of that connection before. I'm 44 and my joints are fine, even though I am very hard on them. I have been since I was 11.

[mtbopfuyn]

Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in an April 12, 1990, New England Journal of Medicine study found that lipase levels rose 25 times normal in fat people and stayed elevated for 6 months, long after they'd stopped dieting. This activation is believed to be a reason why those who have dieted gain weight more easily than those who haven't and then have a harder time losing weight again, as the FDA's "Guide to Dieting" published in FDA Consumer, reported in 1991.

Don't I know. Lose 10 - gain 20.

[Xenalyte]

One of the first was a guilt tripping tome "Diet For A Small Planet", or some such thing, and practically branded any meat diet as GENOCIDE!!

I remember that one. What tripe. (Except the diet forbade tripe.)

[Fred Hayek]

I can't handle Gatorade when I'm on the bike. Even watered down, it tears up my stomach - to much of the carbs is simple sugars. I will use it as a last resort if I'm out of water on a training ride (get a bottle from a convenience store/gas station). Best alternative is Shaklee Performance - gets most of kcal from glucose polymers, and much better electrolyte mix (never muscle cramped using the stuff). Next best is Extran Blue, which is big with the pro pelotons in Europe.

A few things to keep in mind for long intense exercise (on the scale of a 3 hour hammer ride or road race), you do need to take in some carbs during the effort, or you will get the bonks (NOT fun!). Also, if you ingest 100 grams of carbohydrate (complex) within 30 minutes of such an effort, it will not turn to fat. Within such a window the stuff turns straightaway into muscle glycogen, aiding muscle recovery by stopping post-exercise breakdown of muscle. Ultra Fuel by TwinLab is one such product, Extran Green is another. I have been using this during stage races (immediately after a stage), and it does help for recovery for the next day's race. I have at one point forgotten to use the Ultra Fuel after the Minnesota Road Race Championship (53 miles with a wicked long hill climb at the end of each lap), and my legs felt like deadweights during the next day's criterium.

[SamAdams76]

Interesting. I always liked Gatorade straight but I know others who had to water it down because they couldn't handle it straight. I switched to Propel about a week ago and haven't had a Gatorade since. That was definitely the one thing left in my diet (Gatorade) that was sugary-sweet. I'm going to miss it.

[Swordmaker]

"The research"? Yea, okay. It's not research. It is how your body operates. Lose weight on Atkins, go ahead. Have a nice life. Ignorance is bliss.

If ignorance is bliss, you must be in ecstasy...

[Rennes Templar]

The body metabolizes processed sugar foods at a metabolic price. Basically, alkaline minerals are used to offset the acid effect sugar has, beacuse these minerals are removed in the processing. Aerobic activity offsets this for a time, but eventually there will be pain and/or stiffness due to loss of alkali minerals.
Additionally, sugar cretaes arterial blockages, not fat. Sugar makes fat sticky. Pour some coke on a finger and rub it in for awhile. Gets sticky fast. Same thing happens in arteriole sysytem. Again your body will adapt, but the arteries can be developing plaque whilst exercising.
Wnat to be really healthy for the long term? Read Sugar Blues by William Duffy. I'm not a fanatic, I enjoy ice cream, but refined carbohydrate is only 5% of my intake, not 50% like most Americans. And at 51 and pain-free and do not use any medication or pain killers and still play competitive basketball. Also check out Mercola.com for great health info. Happy trails.

[aruanan]

Regarding these quotes:

1. This is a lie so blatant that it is undeniable proof that Mr. Fumento is either completely ignorant of the subject matter or has a personal vendetta against the late Dr. Atkins. The text of Atkins's book makes it quite clear that you are not allowed "limitless calories" by any stretch of the imagination. The reader is specifically told to try to keep their caloric intake within "normal" daily limits as generaly defined by the mainstream medical community (~1500-2000 calories/day), and that your outlook at every meal should be "eat until you are satisfied, not until you are 'full' or 'stuffed.'"

The only person with the Jayson Blair problem here is Fumento.

2. Fumento is also lying through his teeth when he implies that the Atkins plan claims to require no exercise. Atkins sure as hell never made such a claim; he spent his entire life saying the exact opposite: That you WILL ULTIMATELY FAIL if you don't get off your ass.

This is what Michael Fumento has to say:

You can post this for me, but actually in his original book Atkins did claim you could eat 5,000 calories or more and not get fat so long as you ate the way he advised. He only modified that when he kept catching grief for that. Yet it's still built into his message, because he says that you can eat all the fat and protein you want but it won't convert to body fat so long as you keep carbs very low. Therefore, he's still saying you can an unlimited amount of calories and with no exercise. It would be idiocy of him to have said to keep calories to within the 1,500 to 2,000 range. If people did that, they'd be thin regardless of how much they ate. Unfortunately, on average Americans consume more than 3,000 calories a day. But as I've found repeatedly (and as you can see on my hate mail pages devoted to Atkins acolytes), people like the fellow who wrote in have serious mental problems. Absolutely none have ever accepted my challenge to send me a photo of them even though almost all talk about how wonderfully slim they are. Indeed, if you go to the www.lowcarbfriends.com site you see such personal testimonials accompanied by photos of fat people! The point is, it doesn't really matter to them whether the Atkins diet really works as a diet. It solves some other inner need of theirs, as does any cult. Yet when it IS challenged as a diet, they become absolutely ferocious. You can challenge any other diet book or author out there and you won't get the utterly fanatical responses you get from Atkins' apostles.

Best,
Mike Fumento

Michael Fumento
www.fumento.com
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Medical/Science Columnist, Scripps-Howard Syndicate
Join the Fumento Discussion at: fumento-discuss

[Xenalyte]

I'd rather see a quote from the original book, in which Atkins allegedly said we don't have to exercise, than take Fumento's word for it.

[TomB]

I did a Google search on "fumento wrong" and came up with 11 pages of it.

Well, you convinced me. If you saw it on the internet, it MUST be true!

Using that logic, considering the number of websites devoted to the "Apollo hoax", it's proof we never landed on the moon.

BTW, don't forget to check out all those websites that went after Fumento when he wrote that insanely wacky and couldn't-possibly-be-true "The Myth of Heterosexual Aids".

Yep, the guy obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Xenalyte]

Like I said, I'd rather see the original offending quote. Besides, Atkins apparently took it back, so I guess he changed his mind - which is something doctors do, y'know.

[Timesink]

Using that logic, considering the number of websites devoted to the "Apollo hoax", it's proof we never landed on the moon. BTW, don't forget to check out all those websites that went after Fumento when he wrote that insanely wacky and couldn't-possibly-be-true "The Myth of Heterosexual Aids". Yep, the guy obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.

The only person committing logical fallacies here is you. First, you clipped out Xenalyte's links to legitimate arguments and focused entirely on her one line about how many pages of results she got from running a Google search. Are all 11 pages' worth of results true, or even directly connected? Almost certainly not. But that doesn't disprove her basic conclusion. This is an argumentum ad Logicam, falsely claiming that because argument X for the conclusion Y is incorrect, Y itself is false. That dog doesn't hunt, especially when the REAL arguments in the post have been conveniently edited out by you.

Second, you committed an argumentum ad verecundiam, an Appeal to False Authority, by bringing up Fumento's book. You are making the false argument that because a person is an expert in one subject, he is automatically an expert in all others.

Either argue against the articles Xenalyte linked to, or don't waste our time.

[King Prout]

incredible. sad. puzzling.
I go through a 5lb bag of sugar (coffee and cereal) in about 6 weeks, and here I was thinking that I had a HIGH sugar intake.
And, yes, I know, a lot of sugar to be found in prepared foods.
Most of what I eat, I make from scratch myself (aside from the cereal, but how much sugar can there be in Cornflakes and Grape Nuts???)