Good Calories, Bad Calories (Part 2)

In Part 1 I discussed how the overconsumption of refined carbohydrates may be a leading cause in heart disease rather than the consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat. In Part 2 I'll discuss how overconsumption of refined carbohydrates may be the leading cause of obesity and overweight. I must admit that I don't think I've done this section justice. If this information interests you then I recommend that you read Good Calories, Bad Calories or Taubes other book Why We Get Fat.

When Taubes makes his case for the high carbohydrate diet being the cause of obesity rather than the high fat diet he discusses a number of interesting case studies. The Sioux and Inuit for instance ate almost exclusively meat, which is high protein/high fat/low carb. Even though fruits and vegetables were basically non-existent in their diets these populations were very healthy. It was only with the introduction of the foods of European settlers that these tribes experienced diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

The typical treatment for obesity is calorie reduction and more exercise. However, most of the studies that drastically reduced calories by reducing fat intake led to ravenous hunger and lethargy. Not only were results abysmal but in one study the subjects became so hungry that when they were finally allowed to eat as desired they ate 8,000 calories a day. This led them to gain 5 percent more weight than when they had started the study and have 50 percent more body fat. Another study showed that an 18 month marathon training program led to an average loss of 5 pounds of body fat for men and no change for women.

Many of us are familiar with the phrase “a calorie is a calorie.” This means that whether you’re eating a calorie of protein, fat, or carbohydrate you’re getting the same amount of energy. Thus, in order to lose body fat it shouldn’t matter what you eat as long as calories are reduced. However, Taubes points out that different nutrients have vastly different effects on metabolism and hormone secretion. Insulin secretion for instance is dramatically increased by the consumption of refined carbohydrates. Insulin is the only hormone capable of shuttling fatty acids and glucose into fat cells where it stores them as fat.

The main argument against the research Taubes discusses is that it seems to defy the laws of physics; according to Jane Brody, “Eat more calories than your body uses and you will gain weight. Eat fewer calories and you will lose weight. The body … knows no other arithmetic.” In defense Taubes discusses an interesting hypothesis. Instead of overeating and lack of exercise being the cause of weight gain, what if we “eat more, move less, and have less energy to expend because we are metabolically or hormonally driven to get fat?” The body gets so good at fat storage that it creates an “internal starvation” for the other tissues causing you to consume more calories and be lethargic. Since insulin is “the primary regulator of fat storage” it would appear high levels of insulin due to overconsumption of refined carbohydrates is the problem.

In the end Taubes suggests a compromise with the saturated fat/cholesterol hypothesis into a diet that “might do us good and probably won’t do harm.” “The current conception of a healthy diet is one that minimizes salt content and maximizes fiber; has plenty of good fats (monounsaturated and omega-three polyunsaturated fats) and minimal bad fats (saturated and trans fats); has plenty of olive oil and fish, and little red meat, butter, lard, and dairy products. When meat is consumed, it’s lean … Dairy is low-fat or no-fat. The diet has plenty of nuts and legumes and good carbohydrates … (vegetables, fruits, and unrefined grains), but few bad carbohydrates ... (highly refined carbohydrates and sugars).” 

In Part 3 I'll discuss the limitations to the research.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt
Pratt's Pro Fitness

Good Calories, Bad Calories (Part 1)

Wow! It's been nearly four months since I've posted a blog. A lot has happened since then. I coached track again at West Ferris with Graham Hansel taking the bronze medal at OFSAA in the 2000m steeplechase. In May I moved Pratt's Pro Fitness out of my home and into Inside Out Chiropractic. The increase in size from 200 sq ft to 700 sq ft and connections with the chiropractors has allowed me to gain a lot of new clients. Most importantly, three weeks ago I married the lovely Courtenay Robidas. The wedding was perfect!

Good Calories, Bad Calories

A few months ago I finished reading Good Calorie, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. It had a lot of great information although some of the chapters were science-laden and made for slow reading. I really enjoyed Taubes’s thoroughness and his desire to challenge “the conventional wisdom on diet, weight control, and disease.” This post is particularly long, so I decided to break it into three parts: the effects of refined carbohydrates on heart disease; the effects of refined carbohydrates on obesity; and limitations to the research presented in this book.

The basis for the book is the chronic negative effects of the high carbohydrate diet – particularly a diet high in refined carbohydrates such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and refined flour. There is evidence that a diet high in refined carbohydrates may increase the risk of developing hypertension (i.e. high blood pressure), diabetes, various cancers, and dementia, as well as speed up the aging process. The majority of the book however was on the effect of diets high in refined carbohydrates on heart disease and obesity.

Effect on Heart Disease

It was once widely believed that the cause of heart disease was due to high cholesterol, and high cholesterol was caused by a high cholesterol/high saturated fat diet. While many still recommend a low cholesterol diet, evidence continues to show that a high cholesterol diet is not linked to high blood cholesterol. According to Taubes, “Dietary cholesterol … has an insignificant effect on blood cholesterol … Decreasing cholesterol consumption from four hundred milligrams a day … to the three hundred milligrams a day recommended by the National Cholesterol Education Program would be expected to reduce cholesterol levels by … perhaps 1 percent.”

Ancel Keys – the main proponent for the cholesterol-heart disease link – suggested that it was the consumption of saturated fats that raised blood cholesterol, and this in turn led to heart disease. However, the Masai of Kenya had “blood cholesterol levels among the lowest ever measured” despite a diet of “three thousand calories a day of mostly saturated fat.” Also, the researcher Krauss was also able to show that high saturated fat consumption led to an increase in the size of LDL particles (i.e. the so-called bad cholesterol) rather than increasing the number of LDL particles: this seems to be a beneficial effect.

Interestingly, total cholesterol levels may have little to do with heart disease. According to the MRFIT data, “If we were to stick rigorously to a cholesterol-lowering diet for thirty years – say, from age forty to seventy, at which point high cholesterol is no longer associated with an increased risk of heart disease – we would reduce our risk of dying of a heart attack by 1 percent.”

Taubes goes on to say that the cause of heart disease could be high blood triglycerides. Pete Ahrens showed that a high carbohydrate diet caused high blood triglycerides in the 1950s. Thirty years earlier Joslin had shown the same effect in diabetics. According to research by Albrink, Man, and Meigs “only 5 percent of healthy young men had elevated triglycerides, compared with … 82 percent of coronary patients.” A diet high in refined carbohydrates stimulates a high production of insulin. Insulin in turn causes the liver to release triglycerides into the blood.

In part 2 I'll discuss the effects of refined carbohydrates on obesity and weight gain.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt

Pratt's Pro Fitness