As I mentioned before, I was reading an article in a magazine on how to lose weight by eating bacon and eggs. Many of you may already read Reader's Digest (February 2011 issue), and if so you can maybe skip this post. I think I know why my mind associated this article with the other article on death and dying. It's because they are both linked to my Whistler trip.
One night when we were at Whistler, we went out to eat sushi. One of the guys ordered the real sushi (sashimi I think it's called) - the pieces of raw fish on a small bed of white rice. He only ate the fish and left the beds of rice, so I was asking him why. He told me that he used to be into competitive biking and has been into nutrition and weight for many years because of it. True story - most serious biker guys are obsessed about reducing weight - either on themselves or on their bike (or both). Anyway, he told me he didn't eat the rice because it had very little nutritional value and made you fat because of the simple carbohydrates. Your body responds to the carbs by producing insulin to process it. However, the side effect of lots of insulin is that these carbs go right to your fat cells and get stored. It's not that I didn't believe him, but it was a new concept, so I needed time to mull it over.
Then, this week I read this article about a science journalist named Gary Taubes who advocates eating a diet high in protein and fat. I found this article interesting because he has a different take on weight control. The traditional view is that if you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight (calories in, calories out). This seems logical. However, at the same time, if you exercise a lot and don't eat many calories, this is a good way to make yourself hungry, and you will tend to eat more. Plus, your body adjusts to the calories you take in, and over time reducing your calorie intake is not all that effective. He made another good point - if you overate by 20 calories every day, you would gain 20 pounds every ten years. Can you realistically balance your calories that well every day?
Gary's alternate theory is based on the insulin physiology my friend from Whistler mentioned. I looked up some details on fat and its physiology tonight to verify my facts. Wikipedia says, "Fat is not laid down when there is surplus calories available and stored passively until it is needed; rather it is constantly being stored in and released from the adipose tissue. Storage in the adipose tissue is catalysed by insulin, the activity of which is stimulated by high blood sugar." Gary says insulin tends to "lock" the energy into your fat tissue and that Atkins got it right with his diet, but he didn't necessarily get all of his science right. This is an alternate theory that seems to make sense too. Don't eat a lot of carbohydrates that will put all the energy into your fat cells and make it difficult to get out.
What Gary thus recommends is as follows. Don't try to limit fat - eating fat keeps you from feeling deprived. Go ahead and eat that bacon, cheese, butter, oil, etc. Cut your carbs (sugar, rice, and pasta are big ones). Each veggies, but not ones with too many carbs. Stay away from sugar, even the ones in fruit and fruit juices. Eat as much as you want, just stop when you feel full. The theory is eating a lot more protein and fat will make you feel full longer, which will result in you eating less.
I've heard several people say that when they stopped drinking pop they started losing weight. The question then becomes, why? Is it because less pop means less calories? Or, is it because your insulin spikes less and allows you to burn more fat? It's also interesting that being obese and diabetes have a correlation. Are you overweight because you have an insulin disorder (diabetes), or is your high carb diet causing your insulin to go haywire, thus making you gain weight? Then, over time with your insulin always being high, does it cause the onset of diabetes? Hmmmm.....something to ponder.
I'm not sure if I'm willing to do that kind of hard-core Atikins-like diet. I sure do like my oatmeal, fruit, granola bars, fruit juice, and the occasional potato (mashed potatoes!) and pasta dish. But, I have noticed before that if I don't eat protein with my meals, I tend to get hungry quicker and snack more. At the same time, if I eat too much protein and not enough carbs, sometimes I feel lethargic when I exercise (supposedly this is normal as your body adjusts to a high protein diet, and usually some salt helps cure this). And, a low carb diet can lower your blood pressure; I really don't need to lower my blood pressure any lower than it already is - I already get head rushes sometimes because of it. And of course every body is unique, so maybe certain people can tolerate different levels of carbs in their diet. That's my food for thought today.....now I must go eat five bratwurst.
Fun fact for the day from Wikipedia: Female sex hormone causes fat to be stored in the buttocks, thighs, and hips in women. Men are more likely to have fat stored in the belly due to sex hormone differences. When women reach menopause and the estrogen produced by ovaries declines, fat migrates from their buttocks, hips and thighs to their waists.
