Once again, Dr. Atkins must be turning over in his grave. It was reported in the New York times last week that a new study was released supporting the findings of Dr Atkins and his followers: Eat fat to lose weight (avoiding carbs) and eat carbs to gain weight. Without counting calories, obese men and women were put on one of two diets: one was low-fat and the other was low-carbohydrate. After 1 year of following their prescribed diet, without counting calories, the group eating the low carb diet (ie, high fat) lost 8 lbs morethan the group consuming the low-fat diet. This study of 148 obese people was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and it verified, once again, that the low-fat myth is exactly just that. Low -fat diets cause weight gain (unless they are also extremely low-calorie diets) and those who feast on fats and proteins and eschew breads, pastas, crackers, and desserts, lose weight easily, without counting calories. This news of the vindication of fats, even saturated fats, has been coming to the surface with regularity during the past few years yet people still doubt it's veracity. The religion of the 80's (get rid of fats, buy low-fat and non-fat everything) is a hard one to leave because the food-industry hopped on board and has made enormous profits by using those words on products. Those products line the shelves of every supermarket. People still gravitate toward non-fat and low fat Greek yogurt, milk, even cheese, even though it's been proven over and over again to not help with weight loss, but actually promotes weight gain. (But folks, it's those low-fat-high-carb-tasty-salty things in packages and boxes that really promote weight gain) But here is the shocker that should finally encourage people to pay attention: The high-fat group lost more fat and the low-fat group lost more muscle. The high-fat group also showed greater improvements in cholesterol levels and other measures of cardiovascular health. (This report is a summary of the one on the Science page of THE WEEK, 9/19/14) Here's my take: If it's so easy, why aren't people picking up on this not-new information? Because of the common misinterpretation of the high-fat diet: Just add fat to the already high-carb diet you've been eating for decades! Nope. If the breads, pastas, cereals, crackers, sweets don't go, neither will the pounds. Eat the steak but not the baked potato. Eat the salmon but not the bowl of rice. Spinach, green beans, broccoli, romaine, must fill the plate, but with the tasty high fat creamy and cheesy sauces, it goes down pretty easily! Mary Anne Robinson, MS Bio-Nutrition watch my video "WHAT ARE WE REALLY EATING" by clicking on the website below |
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