The skinny on fat
The book on nutrition I've been reading (Eat, Drink and Be Healthy byWalter Willett) is very informative. The chapter on fats was very enlightening.
He goes into the history of the messages we've received about fat. He said that researchers have found evidence for many years that saturated fat is bad for you. However, at some point, those who advise on eating just felt the decrease saturated fat message was too confusing and decided to advise people to just decrease all fat.
The result. We have, but we're no better off. We just keep getting fatter.
When looking at nations, the people with the highest fat intakes are not the people who tend towards obesity. Fat intake in and of itself has little connection with weight.
Decreasing fat intake also has some consequences for our health because some fats are good for us and are heart healthy. When we decrease all fat, we lose out on the benefits of the good fats.
Willett's advise is not to focus on decreasing fat intake but to focus on replacing saturated fat with mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
Further indicators we made the right decision to throw out all non-stick cookware.
He goes into the history of the messages we've received about fat. He said that researchers have found evidence for many years that saturated fat is bad for you. However, at some point, those who advise on eating just felt the decrease saturated fat message was too confusing and decided to advise people to just decrease all fat.
The result. We have, but we're no better off. We just keep getting fatter.
When looking at nations, the people with the highest fat intakes are not the people who tend towards obesity. Fat intake in and of itself has little connection with weight.
Decreasing fat intake also has some consequences for our health because some fats are good for us and are heart healthy. When we decrease all fat, we lose out on the benefits of the good fats.
Willett's advise is not to focus on decreasing fat intake but to focus on replacing saturated fat with mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
Further indicators we made the right decision to throw out all non-stick cookware.
posted by Jude | 11:01 PM
3 Comments:
That totally fits with my exerperience. These past two weeks I have been doing a limited Atkins kind of thing again, which says no problem to fats, meats, and vegetables, and the result has been another real kick start. 2 kg's in two weeks. That was the same as the first time as I did it, 6 kg in 6 weeks. I don't think you should sustain it for a long time, heck, I can't, love carbs way too much, but it sure gives a good kick start...
I've heard a lot of people say the same thing about Atkins - it does work, but who can sustain it for long? Atkins has virtually no scientific research behind it. Plus kicking carbs kicks out all the good things that are in carbs.
Yeah, that's what I mean. I find it useful as a kickstart, something to do for a month or so. The biggest deal for me is that it gets me paying close attention to what I am eating, and that might have the most value of all. And I have found that the pounds that come off in those Atkins campaigns have stayed off. But if I am doing a lot of sports or weight workouts, Atkins is useless. No carbs means not much fuel for the workout or the recovery.
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