Maybe Gary Taubes already said this, but sat fats are not the culprit.
I'm reading an article by J Bruce German and Cora J Dillard, from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004;80:550-9, for those who check references.
What the article basically says, is don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. First, what more and more of us know, "high-carbohydrate diets were recognized as contributing to the lipoprotein pattern that charcterizes atherogenic dyslipidemia and hypertriacylglycerolemia."
In short, when the food industry began to remove sat fats from foods, they substituted carbohydrates in many forms. And those carbs not only made us fatter or obese, they changed our blood lipid profile to one which is "atherogenic" or bad for our blood vessels and circulation, and they gave us high triglycerides. Thanks a lot.
More interestingly, the article points out some of the things that saturated fats, or fatty acids, do is not bad, and what's more, some have positive effects on the body. The article states that there is no strong evidence that saturated fat elevates LDL cholesterol and thus the risk of CAD. What has not been studied is the possibility that some of the saturated fats might have positive effects, since mammals have within the mammary gland the means to produce a number of saturated fats, namely butyric, caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic acids, to ensure the growth and survival of mammalian offspring. Evolution is a funny things, and things seem to have happened for a reason.
The article notes that saturated fats are the preferred fuel for the heart, a source of fuel during energy expenditure.
It concludes that the advice to remove sat fats from the diet has made us all fatter, and has failed to have any effect on the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Next time: the sat fats and what they do for us.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sugar Sugar
Honey, ah sugar sugar,....
You are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you.
You know the rest.
And it's a sad fact that sugar is the origin of many of our problems, personally and as a society. Not only is obesity a personal problem, it is a societal problem.
Gary Taubes did us a great favour with his research on obesity and its patterns and causes. Were it not for him, we would still be thinking that low fat diets were the Greatest!
While exercise is a must for every human being who can do it, it is more important how you eat. If you exercise at a high rate every day, but eat a high carb diet with lots of saturated fat in it, chances are you will have high triglycerides, low HDL and high LDL. You probably have a bad level of C reactive protein as well, which is an indicator of how much inflammation you have in your body.
More and more, research in places like Harvard and Duke Universities is pointing to inflammatory processes and the size of your LDL particles as good indicators of your risk for cardiac disease. And researchers are realizing that "good fats" are important in lowering some of that risk.
A lot of these risk factors are related to the amount of sugar in your diet. High glucose in the blood throws everything off.
Heck, I would even bet that women with problems with their periods that is blamed on perimenopause and other such things, are probably insulin resistant and if they embarked on a program of walking and taking something like Metformin, their problems would stop as their insulin resistance decreased. It happened to me, but I don't want to generalize to a population. My doctor was absolutely skeptical at first, but no longer. She has studied hormones and now thinks that high blood sugar is the cause for many problems.
Want to change one thing in your diet? Reduce the amount of carbs you ingest. Switch to sugar free pop, eat an egg or egg substitute for breakfast instead of that cereal from a box, and look at the yogourt and fruit that you eat, and think about how many carbs are in them. The fewer carbs, the better.
You are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you.
You know the rest.
And it's a sad fact that sugar is the origin of many of our problems, personally and as a society. Not only is obesity a personal problem, it is a societal problem.
Gary Taubes did us a great favour with his research on obesity and its patterns and causes. Were it not for him, we would still be thinking that low fat diets were the Greatest!
While exercise is a must for every human being who can do it, it is more important how you eat. If you exercise at a high rate every day, but eat a high carb diet with lots of saturated fat in it, chances are you will have high triglycerides, low HDL and high LDL. You probably have a bad level of C reactive protein as well, which is an indicator of how much inflammation you have in your body.
More and more, research in places like Harvard and Duke Universities is pointing to inflammatory processes and the size of your LDL particles as good indicators of your risk for cardiac disease. And researchers are realizing that "good fats" are important in lowering some of that risk.
A lot of these risk factors are related to the amount of sugar in your diet. High glucose in the blood throws everything off.
Heck, I would even bet that women with problems with their periods that is blamed on perimenopause and other such things, are probably insulin resistant and if they embarked on a program of walking and taking something like Metformin, their problems would stop as their insulin resistance decreased. It happened to me, but I don't want to generalize to a population. My doctor was absolutely skeptical at first, but no longer. She has studied hormones and now thinks that high blood sugar is the cause for many problems.
Want to change one thing in your diet? Reduce the amount of carbs you ingest. Switch to sugar free pop, eat an egg or egg substitute for breakfast instead of that cereal from a box, and look at the yogourt and fruit that you eat, and think about how many carbs are in them. The fewer carbs, the better.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Eating Wrong
I've been off the wagon a few weeks, and the worst part is, I knew I was doing it the whole time.
I could blame hormones or whatever, but I just lost my focus. We have been cutting down a bit on our calorie and fat intake, and using more plant based foods. My husband has of course lost another five pounds. Now I need to get back on the train, and regain my focus.
We no longer make such a big deal about evening meals. I think evening meals are the downfall of society. We make a big fuss over supper, claiming big hunger after a long day of work. I now suggest that we should fuel our bodies for the day while we are "working hard", if many of us do that anymore. Are there a lot of big fat ditch diggers? I don't think so. I think the problem has been that we have a food worship society that is left over from our agrarian roots, where having food was cause for celebration.
My husband and I often have low fat cottage cheese, hummus with vegetables, a salad of some sort (there are so many interesting recipes that are low carb) and some fruit. we do eat dark chocolate. So dinner has to correspond with what we are planning for the evening. No big roast, potatoes and pie if we have a fairly low key evening. Which most of them are.
I suggest everyone eat a big breakfast, a good size lunch, and reasonable snacks with a small dinner. So much more reasonable for the modern lifestyle. And always, low carb.
I could blame hormones or whatever, but I just lost my focus. We have been cutting down a bit on our calorie and fat intake, and using more plant based foods. My husband has of course lost another five pounds. Now I need to get back on the train, and regain my focus.
We no longer make such a big deal about evening meals. I think evening meals are the downfall of society. We make a big fuss over supper, claiming big hunger after a long day of work. I now suggest that we should fuel our bodies for the day while we are "working hard", if many of us do that anymore. Are there a lot of big fat ditch diggers? I don't think so. I think the problem has been that we have a food worship society that is left over from our agrarian roots, where having food was cause for celebration.
My husband and I often have low fat cottage cheese, hummus with vegetables, a salad of some sort (there are so many interesting recipes that are low carb) and some fruit. we do eat dark chocolate. So dinner has to correspond with what we are planning for the evening. No big roast, potatoes and pie if we have a fairly low key evening. Which most of them are.
I suggest everyone eat a big breakfast, a good size lunch, and reasonable snacks with a small dinner. So much more reasonable for the modern lifestyle. And always, low carb.
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