Quote :

"We've reported a lot this year about how there's a major rethinking of fat happening in the U.S. Turns out, eating foods with fat — everything from avocados and nuts to dairy fat — doesn't make us fat. But eating too many carbohydrates — particularly the heavily refined starches found in bagels, white pasta and crackers — does our collective waistlines no favors. A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine adds to the body of evidence that cutting back on carbs, not fat, can lead to more weight loss. Researchers at Tulane University tracked two groups of dieters for one year. The participants ranged in age from their early 20s to their mid-70s and included a mix of African-Americans and Caucasians. The low-carb group, which reduced their carb consumption to about 28 percent of their daily calories, lost almost three times as much weight as the low-fat dieters who got about 40 to 45 percent of their calories from carbs. The low-fat group lost about 4 pounds, whereas the low-carb group's average weight loss was almost 12 pounds. Participants in the two groups were eating about the same amount of calories. Lydia Bazzano, one of the study authors and an associate professor of epidemiology at Tulane, says she had anticipated some difference in weight loss between the two groups. But the size of the effect — the nearly 8-pound difference in weight loss — was surprising, she says. So, what kinds of meals were the low-carb dieters eating? "Typically in the morning they were eating eggs," says Bazzano. Other breakfast items included small portions of high-protein, high-fiber bread, with either butter or other kinds of oily spread. As for lunch and dinner, the low-carb dieters ate lots of vegetables, salads and protein, including fish, chicken and some red meat. They had generous portions of healthy fats such as olive oils, canola and other plant-based oils. Fat accounted for a sizable part of their diet: from 40 percent to 43 percent of their total daily calories, including about 12 percent from saturated fat. Bazzano says with so many people still abiding by low-fat recommendations, a diet so high in fat might not sound like a good weight-loss strategy. "It's not the general perception," she says. But, in fact, there are a spate of studies that have come to the same conclusion about the benefits of swapping a low-fat, high-carb strategy for a pattern of eating that emphasizes healthy fats and lower carbohydrate consumption. It's not just waistlines that respond. The low-carb, healthy fats approach has been shown to cut the risk of heart disease. One big study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent, compared to a low-fat diet. Research published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which compared a low-glycemic-index diet — which minimizes refined starches — with a more traditional low-fat diet, also documented advantages. "We saw improvements in triglycerides, [good] cholesterol, and the possibility of lower chronic inflammation" among the lower carb group, JAMA study author David Ludwig of Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital told us. Here's the fascinating part: Ludwig also found that when people stopped eating so many refined carbohydrates, they burned off about 150 more calories per day, compared to those eating a higher carb, lower fat diet. "Too much refined carbohydrates — white bread, white rice, potato products — all the foods that crept into our diets as we've followed the low-fat craze has undermined our metabolism," says Ludwig. In other words, the high-carb, low-fat pattern of eating "caused us to become hungrier and burn off fewer calories," he says. What's happening in the body when we follow this pattern of eating is still the subject of much research, but Ludwig says the thinking goes like this: Eating too many carbs can overstimulate the release of insulin and direct more calories into storage in the fat cells. "It's a double-whammy for weight gain," Ludwig says. "We've been told for decades that if you don't want fat on your body, don't put fat into your body. It's a very appealing notion, but the problem is it's wrong.""

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/01/344315405/cutting-back-on-carbs-not-fat-may-lead-to-more-weight-loss

9/3/2014 1:33:49 PM

If you want to lose weight then don't circle around the goodberrys parking lot 3 times trying to find the closest spot. Stop taking the elevator to the 3rd floor at work. Etc. Don't blame it on food. Its your mentality as a human that makes you fat.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

9/3/2014 1:39:23 PM

um, it's also food.

9/3/2014 1:40:51 PM

Quote :

"Its your mentality as a human that makes you fat."

And here I was thinking food made you fat.

9/3/2014 1:45:05 PM

My birthday in a nutshell

9/3/2014 1:48:02 PM

I thought the carb vs fats thing was pretty much settled years ago. Big government doesn't really care about your health and big business made/makes so much money convincing us that low fat is the way to go, that the official policy never changed.

9/3/2014 1:51:42 PM

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/3/6098671/how-to-lose-weight-diet-studies-low-carb-low-fat

Quote :

"But while it seems the low-carb diet won, this study — like all diet studies — had important limitations. Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an Ottawa-based obesity doctor and author of the Diet Fix, noted that the circumstances of the study don't really reflect the real world. Study participants got one meal replacement per day (a shake or a bar) and regular diet coaching. "That changes the outcomes of the study when people diet with a dramatic amount of support and have a partial meal replacement," he said. What's more, the study only lasted for one year, and the general consensus in the scientific community is that you need at least two to know whether weight loss is real and sustained. ] The strictness of the two diets was also different: the low-fat group was asked to reduce fat consumption by about 1/7th while the low-carb group was asked to stop eating about 5/6th of their carbs. "My take on this is part of the difference in weight loss between the two groups is explained by this difference," said Christopher Gardner, a professor at the Stanford Prevention Research Center who studies diet. "The people who lost more had to pay more attention to lose those carbs." So it wasn't necessarily the content of their diet but the fact that they had to be really careful about what they were putting in their bodies — even more than the low-fat group — that caused them to lose a couple of extra pounds. "

9/3/2014 1:52:18 PM

it's difficult to keep up with all the information about nutrition. I think the bottom line is if you do everything in moderation, you should be fine. if you're actively trying to lose weight, yeah the low carb diets (Atkins, Paleo, Whole30, etc.) are good but it's really about finding a diet that's sustainable for you and your lifestyle.

9/3/2014 1:54:34 PM

Quote :

"I thought the carb vs fats thing was pretty much settled years ago."

it was, decades even

9/3/2014 1:56:48 PM

this is decent analysis of the study
http://examine.com/blog/is-low-carb-really-the-best-weight-loss-diet/

9/3/2014 10:31:29 PM

Quote :

"Turns out a calorie isn't a calorie"

I have been saying this on TWW for a decade... this is another study that provides strong evidence for that.

I even have a study with a sample size of one, myself. And not only did I lose weight on it, eating shit loads of fat and no starch for 4 months actually tremendously improved my blood lipid profile, as much as 6 months of statins did a year before my experiment.

9/3/2014 11:57:28 PM

I've known that a calorie isn't a calorie, but I just have some friends who think otherwise.

So I was hoping to drag some similar minded dolts out of the woodwork so we could make fun of them.

Didn't work.

9/4/2014 12:12:42 AM

this is relevant here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9069276/Chocolate-cake-breakfast-could-help-you-lose-weight.html

9/7/2014 6:02:05 AM

so the doughnut before my run is justified...

9/7/2014 8:48:27 AM

If anything, this study showed that a calorie is a calorie. Besides the fact that the low carb group could not maintain the low carb diet throughout the year, they ate less than the low fat group so it is no surprise that they lost more weight. Overall, this was a really shitty study for saying low carb > low fat for a multitude of reasons. They didn't actually eat low fat, they didn't match protein intake, they relied on self reporting, they didn't monitor exercise, etc, etc, etc. It is just another example of terrible nutritional science to grab headlines.

If you look at every intake controlled study where protein was matched it shows that carb/fat intake makes zero difference for weight loss, it is the total caloric intake vs energy expenditure that matters. Instead of worrying about carb or fat intake people should just focus on hitting their protein target and then eat whatever amount of carbs and fats they want as long as it keeps their total caloric intake in a deficit (if you want to lose weight of course, maintenance level if you just want to maintain). Problem is, that isn't sexy and doesn't sell books.

9/7/2014 10:25:36 AM

Dumb people become fat and stay fat. Smart ones figure stuff out and stay fit...

9/7/2014 7:36:40 PM

The sad thing is it isn't even that hard to figure out. Eat less, move more.

9/7/2014 8:58:14 PM

we need to figure out if we can talk krallum and djdownrail into some kind of murder-suicide.

get them to hang out and maybe see where things go?
Do it just to prove you can do it without murdersuiciding. Unless you're chicken/faggy

[Edited on September 7, 2014 at 10:53 PM. Reason : d]

9/7/2014 10:33:43 PM