The simple answer to the question of why we get fat is that Carbohydrates make us so; Protein and fat do not. But if this case, why do we all know people who have gone on low-fat diets and lost weight? Low-fat diets, after all, are relatively high in carbohydrates, so shouldn’t these fail for all the people who try them?
Most of us know people who say they lost significant weight after joining Weight Watchers. When researchers test the effectiveness of diets in clinical trials, like the Stanford University A TO Z Trial that I’ll discuss Shortly, they’ll invariably find that a few subjects do indeed lose considerable weight following low-fat diets. Doesn’t this mean that some of us get fat because we eat carbohydrates and get lean again when we don’t, but for others, avoiding fat is the answer?
The simple answer is probably not. The more likely explanation is that any diet that succeeds does so because the dieter restricts fattening carbohydrate, whether by explicit instruction or not. To put it simply, those who lose fat on a diet do so because of what they are not eating-the fattening carbohydrates-not because of what they are eating.
Whenever we go on any serious weight-loss regimen, whether a diet or an exercise program, we invariable make a few consistent changes to what we eat, regardless of the instructions we’re given. Specifically, we rid the diet of the most fattening of the carbohydrates, because there are the easiest to eliminate and the most obviously inappropriate if we’re trying to get in shape. We stop drinking beer, for instance, or at least we drink less, or drink light beer instead. We might think of this as cutting calories, but the calories we’re cutting carbohydrates, and, more important, they’re liquid, refined carbohydrates, which are exceedingly fattening.
We’ll stop drinking caloric sodas-Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr Pepper-and replace them with either water or diet sodas. In doing so, we’re not just removing the liquid carbohydrates that constitute the calories but the fructose. Which is specifically responsible for making the sodas sweet. The name is true of fruit juices. An easy change n any diet is to replace fruit juices with water. We’ll get rid of candy bars, desserts, donuts, and cinnamon buns. Again, we’ll perceive this as calorie cutting-and maybe even a way to cut fat, which it can be-but we’re also cutting carbohydrates, specially fructose. (Even the very low-fat diet made famous by Dean Ornish restricts all refined carbohydrates, including sugar, white rice, and white flour. This alone cloud explains any benefits that result.) Starches like potatoes and rice, refined carbohydrates like bread and pasta, will often be replaced by green vegetables, salads, or at least whole grains, because we’ve been told for the past few decades to eat more fiber and to eat foods that are less energy-dense.
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