Sugar, not Fat, is the Big Fat Slob

I said it before and I’ll say it again: obesity is not caused by eating too much food per se. It’s caused by the type of food you eat and how the food you’re eating affects your hormones.

Do you really think 2000 calories of Twinkies affects your body in exactly the same way as 2000 calories of salmon? Neither do I.

And here’s some food for thought – the very thing mainstream wisdom tells obese people to do to lose weight is the very thing that makes them hungry, namely, eat less and exercise a lot.

Watch this clip. Think about what YOU are eating when you’re done.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wZwdPkjeMM?feature=player_detailpage&w=440&h=360]

Now, there are parts of it that are not technically correct (FE: Dr. Lustig states that it takes twice the energy to burn/digest protein than carbohydrate. I’m not sure that this is technically correct. There are also parts where the two main experts (Taubes and Dr. “fructose is the devil” Lustig) contradict one another.

At one point Gary Taubes states that exercise has not been shown to be an effective agent against obesity (he’s correct, but this MAY be due to people’s high carb intake dissallowing fat useage when exercising. More on this in a subsequent blog post). Not too long after Gary makes the statement, Dr. Lustig says that when his patients adopt a low carb diet, they become much more energetic and feel like exercising and says that this is, in part, what helps them lose weight. Oops.

All that said, grab some popcorn – no wait too many carbs. I know – a fistfull of pork rinds – and let the games begin!

Cut The Kids Heads Open Instead

Epilepsy surgery is underutilized in this country…surgery isn’t an option for all patients, though. The approach can work if there’s only one problem area in the brain and if removing the area won’t interfere with something like speech or memory. – William Gaillard MD

Today on NPR, the subject of adolescent epilepsy was discussed.

It appears that seizures are worse than originally thought as they can cause learning and other mental disabilities later in life. So, drugs, drugs and “underutilized” brain surgery was bandied about by the MD’s as remedies to stop the seizures.

Much to my surprise, the low carb diet was mentioned by the reporter, but not a single doctor made mention of it.

“Another recent advance has been the resurgence in the use of low-carbohydrate diets, including the high-fat ketogenic diet that was used in the 1920s and 1930s before anticonvulsant drugs came along. Scientists say these diets appear to change brain metabolism in a way that reduces seizures for some patients.”

In fact, research in this area is quite promising:

The ketogenic diet has been in clinical use for over 80 years, primarily for the symptomatic treatment of epilepsy. A recent clinical study has raised the possibility that exposure to the ketogenic diet may confer long-lasting therapeutic benefits for patients with epilepsy.

And here.

In general, it’s a healtheir way to eat to boot.

So, why aren’t all doctors who treat epilepsy looking into this treatment and saying logical things like: “First we should educate parents on how to feed their children a high fat, low carb/sugar ketogenic diet. This will most likely help greatly and may be all that is needed to stop the seizures. If this is not enough, then certain drugs can be administered in the lowest dosage possible of course. If for some reason both diet and medicine fail, then surgery may have to be considered.”

But no. Let’s just cut their heads open instead so they can eat their Cheerios with skim milk for breakfast, mac and cheese for lunch and pasta or pizza for dinner. Epilepsy surgery is underutilized? I think the low carb ketogenic diet is what is underutilized if you don’t mind my saying so.

It seems that even the incredible power of human love for children is no match against the power of our addiction to sugar.

Stretching – The Lies Pilates, Yoga and Others Tell You

The big fella is actually contracting, not stretching.

In my book The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution, I discuss the non-need for stretching before or after your workouts and explain how useless it is for just about anything.

Some new studies have emerged confirming this to be true, and also suggest stretching can be harmful, especially to athletes involved in sports that require power and quickness. For the athlete, it’s akin to having loose shocks and springs in your sports car.

Gretchen Reynolds, a fitness writer for the NY Times, had this to say in her article:

One, a study being published this month in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, concluded that if you stretch before you lift weights, you may find yourself feeling weaker and wobblier than you expect during your workout. Those findings join those of another new study from Croatia, a bogglingly comprehensive re-analysis of data from earlier experiments that was published in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Together, the studies augment a growing scientific consensus that pre-exercise stretching is generally unnecessary and likely counterproductive.

Now I know a lot of people like to stretch. They say it feels good, relaxes them, gives them a rush, whatever. Far be it from me to tell someone that they should not do what they enjoy.

But knowing the facts about stretching (as well as many other fitness fibs) can save you precious time and can keep you out of harms way.

No – Pilates will not give you the long, lean muscles of a dancer. Yoga will not improve the elastic properties of your limbs. Stretching will not make you a better athlete and might indeed lead you to injury.

Many trainers will stretch their clients before and after a workout. The trainer means well, but it is an unwise and time-wasting practice. That time is better spent hitting the weights (slowly and carefully of course) to build strength and lean tissue (bone, muscle, etc.).

To stretch or not to stretch is no longer the question!

A Warm Heart

After reading the following email, my heart couldn’t have been warmer:

Hi Frederick,
I contacted you awhile back in regards to my father having lower back problems to the point where the lower part of his spine has shifted over and he could barely walk. This discomfort happened suddenly when he was around 78. I asked you if doing the slow burn was OK at his age and you highly recommended it.

My father first tried Bikram yoga and did it religiously for two years with no improvement. He paid $3000 for PT and that also did not work. After reading your book I noticed how skinny his legs had gotten and he had absolutely no muscle tone. He is now 81 and after bugging him for months he finally read your book and is now doing part of the slow burn- more for his legs and glutes.

After only two months of doing it, he walks straighter and with more distance, and he no longer “schleps” when he walks. His back has even gotten straighter. This is after only 2 months!! This is the most improvement anyone has seen in regards to all of the therapy he has done. He even has muscle tone in his legs now. He is also very happy!

I just find it amazing that with all of the schooling that I have had in nutrition and exercise science, slow burn is NEVER taught. When I finally graduate and become a personal trainer I would love to implement your program. Seeing the results from my father has totally convinced me!

Sincerely,
Erika

I immediately called her and we had a lovely conversation.

After the call, she sent another email:

Hi Fred,
I wanted to add that my dad’s physical strength was deteriorating so quickly he was probably going to be in a wheel chair by the end of this year. He got so depressed and literally became a grumpy old man! He was crawling up the stairs on both hands and feet. Now he can walk up the stairs no problem.

It’s sad that so many doctors, physical therapists and other health professionals do not focus on making seniors stronger. In this article on the benefits of strengthening muscle, you can see how traditional physical therapy has lost it’s way, focusing too much on passive modalities (ultra sound, electirc stim, etc.) and balance tasks instead of improving muscular strength.

Back in 1992 when working as a PT aide at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in NYC, I was putting a 70 yeard old woman throught an intense set of leg presses. A PT took me aside and said: “Fred, what are you trying to do to her? Turn her into a body builder?” I thought for a second and said: “I wish I could.”

Do Calories Count – Simplified.

If…you are eating crap and getting fatter and you start eating more crap, you’ll get even fatter.

Probably.

If…you are eating really well and becoming leaner and you start eating more (of all the right stuff), you’ll stop getting leaner and get fatter.

Probably.

This is how calories count.

But…

Eating more or less calories is not the mechanism by which we get fatter or leaner.

FACT: You can eat the same amount of calories and by altering how much fat, protein or carbohydrate you eat, you can lose fat, gain fat or stall fat loss. Same total calorie intake, but because the combination of foods affects our hormones differently, the response (fat loss, fat gain, energy output, etc.) will be different.

Probably.

Take a look at this graphic, created by and graciously lent to me by Dr. Richard Feinman, professor of cellular biology at SUNY Downstate Medical School. He uses this slide to teach medical students nutrition:

Feinman faucet

Carbohydrate and fat are different metabolically.
Carbohydrate is not just a fuel but a control element (directly and via insulin).
Glucose is the major stimulus for the secretion of insulin (dietary fat does not stimulate insulin).
Insulin controls disposition of dietary fat. Insulin is primarily anabolic and favors deposition of TAG.

(NOTE: You don’t get to have an opinion on this by the way. There are some things that are known in nutritional science and the above is several of them.)

So even when your carb intake is low (which keeps insulin low) which makes it harder to store fat, if you eat more than you were eating before you might stall your fat loss and even increase your fat stores. After all, the extra has to go somewhere.

Remember, excess caloric intake is not a mechanism by which fat is stored. But more energy in can and will contribute to how the mechanisms are affected, resulting in excess fat storage.

Probably.

So, as the saying goes, too much of even a good thing can be “bad.”