NEWS Blog NEW! NEW ARTICLE: Why Do We Cheat On Our Diet and How Can We Stop? "Low Fat" is Killing America – The Myth of Water Weightloss – What is BMI and Why is it Calling Me Obese? – What is a Carbohydrate? – Diet and Addiction – Why do we cheat on our diet and how can we stop?
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“Low Fat” is Killing America According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly two thirds of adult Americans are overweight as defined by body mass index (BMI) greater than 25. That is 130 million people. About one third are obese (BMI greater than 30). That is an astounding 61 million people. From 1960-200, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled. Being obese increases the risk of death by 50-100%. This translates to a reduced life expectancy of 8-20 years. In addition, the total cost of annual medical spending due to being overweight and obese is $118 billion, about 9% of all U.S. health expenditures. Although there have been many different dietary recommendations over the past decades, the rates of obesity have only increased. Data from NHANES shows protein intake to be relatively constant from 1971-2000, with a gradual decline in fat intake proportion of nutrients. Carbohydrate intake has increased during this time. The Food Pyramid developed by the USDA, outlines several recommendations including emphasis on choosing a diet low in fat. This change in dietary guidance has not been effective as demonstrated by the increases in rates of overweight and obese Americans. It is currently being studied to consider revision. Is a low fat diet the “natural” state for the human body? Over several hundred thousands of years, modern humans evolved in stages over a long time. The current foods you are eating were not readily available to these predecessors of current people.They did not have convience stores with 30 varieties of ice cream and whole aisles devoted to cookies. What did they have readily available? The ancient diet consisted mostly of available vegetation, seasonally limitied amounts of fruits and nuts, and food that ran for its life. Characteristically, foods that are not low in fat. Foods made from grains were not part of the human diet until about 10,000 years ago. The evolutionary history of people goes back 3-4 millions years ago. You are trying to run your body on the wrong fuel for which it was evolutionarily designed. After eating a meal rich in carbohydrates, your body secretes hormones that cause storage of the extra blood glucose in the liver as a storage material called glycogen. When this reserve gets filled up, the rest starts getting stored as fat. By changing your approach to eating, this process can reverse and cause fat burning. By reducing, not eliminating the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, you can shift your body into fat burning metabolism. Weight loss follows and reduces the risks of obesity related illness and mortality.
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is a Carbohydrate?
Carbohydrates are one of three classes of nutrients in foods (proteins and fats are the other two). They are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and are classified on the number of carbon atoms per molecule, the number of units in the chain, the location of a certain bond, and its shape. The number of sugar units in the chain distinguishes the
various types of carbohydrate: Monosaccharides, the one sugar unit type of carbohydrate, are Glucose, Galactose, Mannose, Fructose, Ribose, Ribulose, and Xylulose. These are sweet tasting and dissolve easily in water. Ribose and deoxyribose are part of nucleic acids which go to form DNA. Disaccharides are two simple sugars joined together by a chemical bond. These are Sucrose (fructose and glucose), Lactose (galactose and glucose), and Maltose (glucose and glucose). Polysaccharides are long chains of simple sugars (predominantly glucose) joined together as polymers. They can be branched or unbranched chains, and fold upon themselves. In animals, Glycogen is the main storage form of sugars. It is a polymer which is highly branched and made of glucose molecules. Starch is the storage form in plants. In the unbranched form, it is termed Amylose, and the branched form is Amylopectin. Plant forms of carbohydrates are found in potatoes, wheat, corn, rice, and beans. Cellulose, or plant fiber is another polysaccharide, but it is not digestible. When starch is eaten, digestion begins an enzyme called amylase, which breaks down the large chains into simple sugars which are absorbed into the bloodstream. From there, these simple sugars are either used as energy, or stored for later use. Storage occurs in the liver and in muscles as glycogen. Extra carbohydrates can also be metabolized and stored as fat. As cells of the body use simple sugars for energy, oxygen is added and releases carbon dioxide and water as byproducts. Glycogen breakdown occurs when more sugars are needed by the body for energy. After it is used up, the body looks to stored fat for its energy needs.
What is BMI and Why Is It Calling Me Obese? Anthony J. Burlay, M.D. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of body weight adjusted for height. The formula replaces previous weight measures based on distribution tables of large numbers of people to give averages. BMI = [Weight in Pounds/(Height in inches x Height in inches)] x 703 It does not distinguish between people with different percent body fat. Someone muscular, with a lower percent body fat can have the same BMI as a person of the same height with a higher percent of body fat. It is not clear whether there is a difference in risk factors of a higher BMI in this comparison. This is its limitation. Normal is designated as 18.5-24.9. Overweight is defined as 25.0-29.9. Obesity begins at 30.0. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) describes that a higher number is correlated with higher rates of premature death, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, oseoarthritis, some cancers, and diabetes. BMI was originally calculated by the Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874) in the 19th Century trying to describe the notion of the “average man.” The BMI is only one type of measure of weight. Others include bioelectrical impedance, computerized topography, skin fold measurement, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio.
by Anthony J. Burlay M.D. There’s a common belief that any initial weight loss on a diet plan comes from lost water weight. It is not clear how this inaccuracy originated. In mammals, including humans, there is no water reservoir sac or gland that empties upon beginning a diet. (Even camels, contrary to popular belief, store fat, not water in their humps.) Where does water in the body come from? There are two sources: intake and byproducts of metabolism. The first line of nutrient storage in the human body is glycogen. This is basically a water free glucose polymer stored in the liver and to some degree in muscles. The average liver weighs about 2.5-3.0 pounds. Glycogen usually accounts for about 10% of this weight. This equals less than half a pound. Muscles have about twice the amount of glycogen as the liver, so this is less than a pound or two of total glycogen. Even if all the reserve were converted to water, it would account for less than a pound. (Actually, a chemical reaction called phosporylation breaks down glycogen, not hydrolysis as is commonly believed.) The water molecules that are formed account for only a fraction of the weight of broken down glycogen and are later used for new glucose production. When fat is broken down, it produces fatty acids and glycerol as its first byproducts. Glycerol enters metabolic pathways to produce energy and glucose molecules, which the rest of the body can use for its energy needs. Fatty acids are chemically converted by oxidation and hydration to Acetyl CoA, which is broken down in other energy and amino acid pathways. These other energy pathways actually use water rather than release it. Even if fat break down were to release an equivalent amount of water per pound, what is the difficulty? Fat gets broken down and weight loss occurred. What about total body water? The human body has about 42 liters of water. There is a lot of body machinery to keep water at a constant equilibrium. This ranges from thirst centers in the brain, to changing absorption in kidney tubules, to a number of regulatory hormones. The body is made of 60% water (women have water content closer to 50%). Sixty percent of total water is within cells. Forty percent is in between cells and within blood vessels. Interestingly, more lean people have higher water content than those with a higher total body fat. This is because lean tissue has more water content than fat tissue. Thus, as one loses weight, percentage of water content actually goes up. Where does the notion about water loss come from? It appears to be from misinformation, not biochemistry and physiology.
You have permission to publish Dr. Burlay's articles, in total, electronically or in print, in your newsletter, on your website, or in your E-Book, provided the author's Resource Box (depecited below) is included with the article. Other or partial uses require permission. Contact candicepascal@zen-fusion.com for further information. Copyright 2005 Zen-Fusion Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Anthony J. Burlay, M.D. attended medical school completed his Psychiatric Residency at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. He is Board Certified in General and Addictions Psychiatry and is the author of “The Foundation Diet: Your Body Was Designed to Eat,” (Zen-Fusion Publishing, $22.95) a plan he designed after losing and keeping off over 50 pounds. Copies are available at Amazon.com and major booksellers. Learn more about how your body works at www.FoundationDiet.com. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition. |
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