Low Fat Vs Low Carb Diet

First came low fat then came low carb.

But which one is better?

I saw a programme the other night on the TV comparing an extreme high fat diet to an extreme high carb diet.

They used two doctors who were actually twins, in the experiment which lasted a month.

The results may surprise a few people.

One thing that would certainly surprise most people is that both doctors had no idea what the effects of the diets were going to be.

To quote one of them:
“…despite being doctors – I also have a degree in public health neither of us knew much about losing weight and eating healthily”

That should make anyone wake up and smell the coffee.

Doctors don’t study weight loss or eating healthy.

They study disease and are experts in disease (and medication).

That’s very different to knowing how to help someone lose weight and eat healthily.

So the three stand out results were…

Which caused more weight loss? – The high fat diet

Which raised blood sugar more? – The high fat diet – in fact the guy was almost pre diabetic

And the high fat diet did not raise cholesterol either

That kinda contradicts the general perception that fat is bad

You’d think cholesterol would go up eating more fat but it didn’t.

You’d think blood sugars would rise eating unlimited sugar. Nope, nothing, nada.

And you’d think more body fat would be lost eating NO fat for a month right? Nope wrong there too.

Oh and one other result.

The high fat diet, which caused a 4 kg weight loss (3 more than the high carb), also caused a 2 kg loss in muscle.

Something which was very alarming to the doctors.

Your ability to maintain muscle is a key predictor of how long you’ll live.

Aggressive diets like this DESTROY your muscles.

You can’t maintain your muscle mass when dieting without weight training.

Even the high fat, high protein diet in the show didn’t preserve the guys muscle.

So you can see the benefits of learning how to lift weights is HUGE.

The programmes “take away” point was high fat and high carb diets, on their own, were not the end of the world.

However, food with fats and carbohydrates combined are VERY bad.

They talked about a study done with rats…

They said that they gave rats unlimited amounts of sugar and fat and they just ate the same amount as they always did, and did not gain weight

When they gave the rats the combination of sugar and fat, the gorged and over ate and gained weight

They said the “perfect food” for gaining weight would have a 50/50 composition of sugar and fat

Like CHEESECAKE

Like many processed foods like ice cream, biscuits and cakes.

Processed food is the devil in disguise and now you know why.

They have the perfect combination of sugar and fat to make you over eat and gain weight.

Just to sum up…

Foods with both sugar and fat do not exist in nature

They are only made by man

This week’s message is to stay away from process foods.

Take care,

Rich