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Memories of the 28th Century

The Fat of the Land

Rating: 2 votes, 5.00 average.
9 Comments
by
PeterL
, 08-29-2013 at 03:18 PM (3754 Views)
There are some people who think that eating fats result in becoming fat. There are things that are even further from the truth, but drastically decreasing consumption of fats and carbohydrates can actually lead to weight gain.

The human body has a number of feedback mechanisms that are designed to tailor energy usage to what is available. That allows people to eat very limited diets and remain healthy.
Such mechanism developed when humans were hunters and gatherers, who had to survive on what was available. As one example until recently, Eskimos ate a diet of mostly protein and fat, and they throve to that diet. Around the world there have been other peoples whose diets were similarly limited, but their bodies made adjustments when possible.

When there isn’t enough fats in the diet, the body stores as much as possible for future use, and that works very well when there is a drought and the animals are dying from lack of food, and what animals remain have no fat reserves left. When our hunter-gatherer ancestors got through the drought, they would be slender, but they might even have some fat reserves left.

When people go on diets to lose weight and mistakenly stop eating fat, their bodies will convert food into fats that will be stored for the lean times that the body seems to be living through. If the dieters are actually taking in about the same amount of food energy as before the diet started, then their bodies will store some of the energy as fat, while having enough energy for the body to function normally. The final result will be more stored body fat.

To lose weight, especially weight that is stored as fat it is a very good idea to start every day with enough fats to convince your body that it’s O.K. to burn body fat, because it can be replenished from delicious foods that contain food. That is one of the reasons why bacon and eggs was such a popular breakfast food for such a long time. If you search the internet you will find comments from and about nutritionists saying that they do not consume low fat and no fat foods, because they understand how the human body handles fats.

On the other hand, there are people who do not digest or process fats well, and eating fats can be unpleasant or even dangerous for them. And a high fat diet can cause problems also; moderation in most things, and certainly moderation in fat intake.

Just keep in mind that people don’t become fat from eating fat; they become fat from consuming more food than they use, and their bodies save the extra as fat. And carbohydrate intake is what tells your body when you aren’t hungry any more.

Relevant links
http://authoritynutrition.com/7-ways...s-your-health/

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/...cles.asp?id=60

http://primalblissnutrition.com/2013...-low-fat-diet/
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Comments

  1. Virgil's Avatar
    I agree with you that drastic reduction in fats is problematic. But I would say we all could reduce our carbohydrates. And i do think the more carbs one eats, the more one puts on weight. I'm not saying eliminate carbs; that could also be unhealthy. But we could all reduce our carbs by at least 10% and we would shed a few pounds. Problem is that carbs make you feel full.
  2. PeterL's Avatar
    It doesn't make much difference what kind of food one eats. It is more a matter f overall quantity. But it is true that carbohydrates do make you feel full. But a low-carb diet is almost as bad as a low-fat diet.
  3. Virgil's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterL
    It doesn't make much difference what kind of food one eats. It is more a matter f overall quantity. But it is true that carbohydrates do make you feel full. But a low-carb diet is almost as bad as a low-fat diet.
    I don't think I've ever seen a study where a low carb diet is bad for you. Perhaps it might be. Most of the carb we eat are not pure in nature, by which i mean are processed to be formed. Carbs from fruits are natural but carbs from breads and pasta are not. i bet there's something to reducing unnatural carbs and being healthier.
  4. PeterL's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Virgil
    I don't think I've ever seen a study where a low carb diet is bad for you. Perhaps it might be. Most of the carb we eat are not pure in nature, by which i mean are processed to be formed. Carbs from fruits are natural but carbs from breads and pasta are not. i bet there's something to reducing unnatural carbs and being healthier.
    As you earlier mentioned, the feeling of a full stomach that stops people from eating more is a matter of having eaten adequate carbohydrates. People who don't eat enough carbohydrates don't get that feeling, and they continue to feel hungry. That is one of the problems with sugar substitutes; sugar is a carbohydrate.

    While the carbohydrates in bread and cooked pasts are not what is in the plant, that form of carbohydrate is more readily digested. The raw, natural form has to be converted before it can be absorbed. The custom of cooking was basic in humans becoming what we are (Hmm, that's a matter for another blog); without cooking would not have had time to invent farming, tools, weapons, etc., because they, like other apes, would have spent nearly all their time eating low quality vegetable material. Cooking also makes more of the protein in meat digestible.

    It is interesting that I was having a similar exchange without someone on another site, and she runs a site dedicated to low-carb diets. She has trouble digesting carbohydrates. She may have celiac disease, but she thinks not.
  5. Virgil's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterL
    As you earlier mentioned, the feeling of a full stomach that stops people from eating more is a matter of having eaten adequate carbohydrates. People who don't eat enough carbohydrates don't get that feeling, and they continue to feel hungry. That is one of the problems with sugar substitutes; sugar is a carbohydrate.
    No, but there's more to the full feeling. Carbs effects the blood sugar profile. What happens is that the blood sugar spikes but the drop is sharp, and so you feel full but then you feel hungry within a few hours. Protein has the same calorie level as carbs but it doesn't cause the sugar profile to spike like carbs. It's a more flat curve that doesn't spike as high but extends out further. Try this experiment. Eat a couple of eggs for breakfast and see how long you go until you feel hungry. Next day, eat four slices of toast with jelly for breakfast. See how long you go before you feel hungry and compare with the eggs of the previous day. When I have a vegetable omelet in the morning I can go way past lunch before I feel hungry. Having toast or a bagel with no protein and I'm hungry before lunch.
  6. PeterL's Avatar
    Thanks for the idea of the experiment, but I couldn't eat more than one slice of toast with jelly; I don't like sweets. Beyond the metabolic differnces, there is the matter of what one is accustomed to eating. An interesting related experiment is to use taost with jelly and toast with butter the next day. And compare that with toast and cream cheese. I could only eat two slices with cream cheese, but I would consider that a meal that would hold me for a long time.

    But sugar is a carbohydrate. Failing to understand that is one of the several reasons why adult onset diabetes has become common.
  7. Virgil's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterL
    Thanks for the idea of the experiment, but I couldn't eat more than one slice of toast with jelly; I don't like sweets. Beyond the metabolic differnces, there is the matter of what one is accustomed to eating. An interesting related experiment is to use taost with jelly and toast with butter the next day. And compare that with toast and cream cheese. I could only eat two slices with cream cheese, but I would consider that a meal that would hold me for a long time.

    But sugar is a carbohydrate. Failing to understand that is one of the several reasons why adult onset diabetes has become common.
    Oh, do it without the jelly. I just looked up the calorie content of several of these foods. Now you got my engineering juices flowing, so here's how i would do the experiment. A large egg is 74 calories and a slice of Wonder White American bread is 79 calories, close enough for direct comparison. Eat two or three (depending how big a breakfast you're used to) hard boiled eggs one morning and the same number of bread slices the next day while keeping the rest of the breakfast (such as cups of coffee) as constant as possible. I would eat at the same exact time. You'll also have to try to not eat late the nights before (a good eight hour gap should do) and about the same dinner as well. I would also do the trials at least twice each, if not three times.

    Comparing toast with jelly versus butter versus cream cheese strikes me as too fine an experiment. Your stomach is a gross measurement and I'm not sure you could detect a distinction with accuracy.
  8. PeterL's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Virgil
    Oh, do it without the jelly. I just looked up the calorie content of several of these foods. Now you got my engineering juices flowing, so here's how i would do the experiment. A large egg is 74 calories and a slice of Wonder White American bread is 79 calories, close enough for direct comparison. Eat two or three (depending how big a breakfast you're used to) hard boiled eggs one morning and the same number of bread slices the next day while keeping the rest of the breakfast (such as cups of coffee) as constant as possible. I would eat at the same exact time. You'll also have to try to not eat late the nights before (a good eight hour gap should do) and about the same dinner as well. I would also do the trials at least twice each, if not three times.

    Comparing toast with jelly versus butter versus cream cheese strikes me as too fine an experiment. Your stomach is a gross measurement and I'm not sure you could detect a distinction with accuracy.
    It would be an interesting experiment, but I don't think that it would produce much information. For one thing what one does partly determines how long it takes to become hungry. There would have to be a specified set of activities. If i spent the morning splitting logs after having the eggs, and I took anap aftr the bread, then we wouldn't learn anything.

    Comparing toast with jelly versus butter versus cream cheese would show the relative effects of jelly, butter, and cream cheese. Butter and cream cheese are mostly fat, so we could tell the difference between fats and sugars.

    Most of these experiments have been done. Nutritionists do things like that.
  9. PeterL's Avatar
    I forgot to mention one other thing that may be a factor with people who have trouble with starches: intestinal flora.