Study Shows Food Quality, Not Calories, Determines Your Fat-Burning Abilities
Remember that professor who lost 27 pounds on the "Twinkie Diet" and argued it didn't matter how you lost weight if you just reduced your calories? A new study from Harvard University knocks that bogus theory on its poorly-supported head.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, followed 120,877 men and women between 12 and 20 years to explore how multiple factors influenced weight loss or gain over a four-year period.
Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Participants gained an average of three and a half pounds every four years, resulting in almost 17 additional pounds over 20 years time.
Some conclusions weren't surprising. Non-exercisers, for instance, became fatter than exercisers. Likewise, TV-watchers and poor sleepers (fewer than six hours or more than eight) saw their scale numbers increase.
And wine-drinkers, listen up: one daily glass didn't trigger weight gain -- though other forms of alcohol did.
Most interestingly, however, this study destroys common food dogmas that junk-food manufacturers and so-called health experts have nonsensically argued for eons. You hear this prescription often: everything in moderation, reduce your calories, ditch the higher-fat foods, and oh yeah -- a calorie is a calorie, period.
Research blows these myths to bits. "What you eat makes quite a difference," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, the study's lead author. "Just counting calories won't matter much unless you look at the kinds of calories you're eating."
He also dispelled the oft-repeated claim that there are no bad foods. "There are good foods and bad foods, and the advice should be to eat the good foods more and the bad foods less," he said. "The notion that it's ok to eat everything in moderation is just an excuse to eat whatever you want."
Tell that to your fast food addicted friend the next time she devours a McDonald's cheeseburger and milkshake while smugly repeating the mantra "everything in moderation."
So which foods made the "bad" list? No mystery here. French fries topped it, followed by processed meats, sugary drinks, refined grains and other junk foods. Similarly, the study showed refined grains -- which manufacturers sometimes market as healthy foods -- can actually slow your metabolism and stall fat burning.
The study also concluded that dairy as a whole does not affect weight loss or gain -- people who ate yogurt lost almost a pound every four years. Study co-author Dr. Frank Hu attributes this to yogurt's beneficial bacteria, which keeps you full and raises your metabolic rate so that you burn fat more efficiently.
The good guys included -- no surprise here -- fruits, vegetables and high-fiber grains.
The take-home message from this study: It's not the calories, but rather where those calories come from, that determine whether you burn or store fat.
Let me give you two meals to drive that point home. One consists of wild salmon and steamed garlic spinach; the other includes pizza and ice cream. Both contain exactly 500 calories. Which would you bet helps you burn fat?
No contest. The high-quality protein, omega-3 fats and fiber in the nutrient-dense salmon/ spinach combo keeps you satiated, supports the maintenance and/or development of muscle and triggers your fat-burning hormones.
The carb-heavy pizza and ice cream, on the other hand, will spike your insulin and crash your blood sugar levels, leaving you hungrier, tired, nutrient-deprived and prone to weight gain.
This study supports my belief that your body is a chemistry lab and not a bank account. Calories do matter, but they hardly constitute the whole fat-burning picture.
If you want to be healthy, ditch the sound-bite nutrition clichés for lean protein, high-fiber starches, good fats and plenty of non-starchy vegetables.
Source
http://calorielab.com/labnotes/20110721/counting-calories-is-not-necessarily-best-for-weight-loss-say-researchers/
©2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Nutrition and Fitness Expert JJ Virgin is the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and the co-star of TLC's Freaky Eaters reality series. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to grab her free audio: Top Ten Hottest Tips to Get Slim and Sexy Fast
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EatingWell: 9 'Bad' Foods That Aren't Always So Bad
I don't believe we should be arguing about the First Law of Themodynamics. The argument should be what makes it EASIER to lose weight. There have been a lot of diet studies comparing a low fat diet to a low carb diet. These studies make the low fat dieter restrict the number of calories they eat and thus they must count them. But guess what, the low carbers can eat however much they want. That's right these medically run studies do not require the low carbers to restrict their calories at all. Even so, almost all, if not all, of these studies find that the low carb dieters lose more weight . This happens even though they were not required to count their calories. They simply restricted their calories naturally. That sounds a lot easier to me than having to restrict your urge to eat more and to count calories to make sure you don't over eat. (To be continued.)
People who lose weight through cutting Calories alone may be losing bone density, and increasing their risk of osteoporosis while those who combine diet and exercise does not seem to produce the same effect, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://bestweight-loss-diet.com/calorie-restricted-diet-without-exercise-may-lead-to-bone-loss/427/
Don't forget that frozen fruits and vegetables are often more nutritious than fresh produce (as long as they contain no added sugar or other additives). The nutrients are frozen in time and don't lose their nutrient value in transportation and storage.
In tougher times, I often find myself grabbing frozen instead of fresh.
I am a big guy who, when active, burns a lot of calories.
We cut up potatoes into Steak fries, coat them in EV Olive Oil and cook them under
the oven broiler. Add a pinch or two of sea salt when done. YUM !!!
This whole article underlines the point made by those that live a Paleolithic lifestyle-- quality is indeed better than quantity. What's the point of eating food if you're eating junk in little itty-bitty amounts?
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Once again, this is all about calories. They are simply saying that consuming beverages that are sugar-laced tend to be consumed in larger quantities than fruit juice. Larger quantities = more calories consumed.
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"Overall, our analysis showed divergent relationships between specific foods or beverages and long-term weight gain, suggesting that dietary quality (the types of foods and beverages consumed) influences dietary quantity (total calories)."
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As you can see, the foundation of weight loss, or weight gain is all about calories consumed. The study simply points out that certain foods are more calorie dense, while others have less calories.
But at the end of the day, its about calories consumed. Period.
Heck the study starts off with this:
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"Because efforts to lose weight pose tremendous challenges, primary prevention of weight gain is a global priority. Since weight stability requires a balance between calories consumed and calories expended, the advice to “eat less and exercise more” would seem to be straightforward."
And what does the study show? People that ate less calories, and exercised more, lost or maintained their weight. People that ate more calories, and exercised less, gained weight.
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Study here: http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/NEJMoa1014296.pdf
It also found that eating unhealthy food, encourages eating more unhealthy foods, which leads to great calorie intake.
that I don't really have much appetite for less healthy ( usually calorically dense) foods.
But quality calories matters more if you ask me. You don't have to count calories if you eat small meals of healthy food frequently throughout the day. Just. Eat. Real. Unadulterated. Food. ... You'll be fine. You'll lose weight as long as you have it to lose and are exercising and your body tissues will be healthier.
counting calories sucks unless you're trying to do something very specific with your body. i.e. get down to a specific body fat percentage.
"Remember that professor who lost 27 pounds on the "Twinkie Diet" and argued it didn't matter how you lost weight if you just reduced your calories? A new study from Harvard University knocks that bogus theory on its poorly-supported head."
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The study makes no mention that reducing your calories to lose weight is "bogus"... In fact, the study makes it PERFECTLY clear that reducing your calories is the key to weight loss. All throughout the study they focused on reduction of calories. They simply point out that people that eat healthier foods, reduce their calorie consumption. Period.
What part don't you understand?
As a registered dietitian, I actually understand human metabolism. I also understand what is meant by "high quality protein." It simply means that the protein source contains all of the essential amino acids. Wild salmon is high quality protein but so is bacon or balogna or the cheese and sausage on that loathesome and shameful pizza.
Do I think it's possible or even likely that a healthier diet may lend itself to weight loss because of its nutrient density? Yes, probably. Our bodies need vitamins and minerals for the metabolic processes that take place in them. Do I know that small changes and fewer calories is how most people actually lose weight? Yes.
This article will just confuse more people who will think, "but I eat healthy, how can I not be losing weight?" Because calories DO count.
You couldn't possibly "know" this. It isn't true.
The five-year failure rate of eating "fewer calories" is 95% and rising. Of that ninety-five percent, roughly two-thirds will regain more weight than they initially lost, and all of them will be at greater risk of future weight-gain, not to mention the deleterious effects of weight-cycling.
I suspect the rest of your "knowledge" is of about the same caliber.
1. People lose weight by eating fewer calories than their bodies need. (not necessarily JUST cutting calories, but usually a combination of physical activity and calorie restriction.)
2. People make permanent changes by making small, managable changes to their lives.
I actually DO know this.
How DO people lose weight then? I'm assuming you're an expert if you're so certain of my ignorance. Do share your expert credentials.
Then I went on Atkins' diet. The weight loss was so amazing (without additional exercise or less food) that anyone could figure out that he was on to something. It is not healthy, of course, to eat almost all protein, so since then I have always worked at lean protein, fruits and vegetables, falling off the wagon once in a while -- sometimes too often.
Menopause reinforced that it is not as simple as calories in and calories out. (I workout almost every day in one way or another).
Of course, calories count, but hormones play an obvious and very significant role. I believe dietitians don't more beyond calories in and calories out because they are not trained sufficiently in biochemistry and endocrinology.
Calories count. I've helped thousands lose weight permanently by training clients to undereat, reducing their caloric consumption, regardless of the kind of calories. We eat what we like in the right amounts. I have never had a single client not lose weight this way. I lost 140 lbs. 25 years ago with a practical method to limit the calories, have kept it off, and my clients all lose weight this way. As long as people listen to your misinformation, they will put off doing what they need to do to solve their weight problem. Please study the science more carefully.
William Anderson, LMHC
Author of 'The Anderson Method - Secrets of Permanent Weight Loss'
http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/NEJMoa1014296.pdf