bogus article

[aravis]

Over the weekend, I watched “Fathead”, a documentary produced in reaction to Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me”. This documentary completely challenged everything I knew about weight loss and heart disease, and was also incredibly informative and entertaining.

 

Tom Naughton, a stand-up comedian and computer programmer, set out to prove Morgan Spurlock wrong. Fast food can be part of a healthy diet. Tom decided that he’d eat fast food three times a day for a month, just like Spurlock…but he’d LOSE weight, not gain it.

 

According to the “Fathead” official site, the creators describe the film as a “delicious parody of Super Size Me…Naughton serves up plenty of no-bologna facts that will stun most viewers, such as: The obesity “epidemic” has been wildly exaggerated by the CDC. People the government classifies as “overweight” have longer lifespans than people classified as “normal weight.” Having low cholesterol is unhealthy. Lowfat diets can lead to depression and type II diabetes. Saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease — but sugars, starches and processed vegetable oils do.”

 

Naughton’s plan was simple: maintain a caloric intake of 2000 calories per day while eating only fast food (and a couple of “Carb Options” snack bars.) But you can’t just cut calories to lose weight. You need to be eating the correct types of food, and in the correct ratio. And you also need to take into account your hormones, particularly insulin. When insulin levels are up, you are more likely to store calories from food as fat, rather than burning them. And what increases insulin levels? The consumption of sugars and carbohydrates. So Naughton decided that he’d limit both calories and carbs, ingesting 100 grams of carbohydrates per day.

 

While Morgan Spurlock gained 25 pounds in his 30 day fast food diet, Tom Naughton lost 12 pounds in just 28 days. His BMI dropped from 31.2 to 28.2, and cholesterol also improved. And that number is even more impressive when you hear what percentage of his calories came from saturated fats: a whopping 54%.

 

But saturated fats aren’t as bad as we’ve been conditioned to believe. Mother nature isn’t stupid. We prefer fatty foods because our bodies crave these foods, because we evolved to eat animal fats over millions of years. The diets of our ancestors were mostly meat-based, with a few fruits and veggies, and very few carbs…and they didn’t have a lot of heart disease. It wasn’t until the advent of agriculture that wheat and grains became a big part of our diet, and it wasn’t until several decades ago (when we started eating processed vegetable oils) that heart disease rates increased.

 

According to the lipid hypothesis, “Saturated fat raises cholesterol, and cholesterol causes heart disease.” But this hypothesis was based on skewed, outdated research. According to the doctors interviewed for “Fathead”, the lipid hypothesis is “bogus”. No medical studies have proved that a high-fat diet causes heart disease. In fact, several major medical studies have proved that high-fat diets have no link to heart attack rates.

 

Eating a diet rich in saturated fats has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels in your blood. And it isn’t cholesterol that causes clogs in your heart valves. Inflammation does. Cholesterol can build up on these inflamed parts of the heart as part of the healing process, but the root of heart disease is inflammation. And if you want to increase your HDL (good cholesterol), you need to eat more saturated fats. Bad cholesterol (small LDL) levels are increased by eating sugars and carbs.

 

Stress, elevated insulin levels, and smoking all cause heart disease. They also cause elevated levels of cholesterol, which is why people thought for so long that cholesterol caused heart disease, when really it is just a SYMPTOM of heart disease.

 

Processed vegetable oils and transfats are rich in Omega-6 fatty acids. And while your body needs a little of these fatty acids, too many cause stiffening of cell membranes and inflammation. You’re better off eating fries cooked in beef tallow or duck fat than fries cooked in vegetable oils.

 

So, in summation, here are Tom’s tips for losing weight and making your heart healthier:

 

1. Limit your calories to what is appropriate for your size and activity level.

2. Only eat natural fats, not transfats or processed vegetable oils (cook food in butter or coconut oil)

3. Limit your carb intake to 100 grams per day (not the 300 grams per day suggested by the FDA)

4. Get about 50% of your calories from saturated fats

5. Avoid foods with a high glycemic index (note that most unsweetened cereals still have a glycemic index rating that is higher than granulated sugar)

 

Follow these tips, and you’ll likely see the same success as Tom did.

 

I was shocked/angered when I read this! It's so full of bogus!

[codebar]

It remembers me something I've seen before...

 

oh yeah...

 

 

[DanInVan]

Where does stuff like this even come from?

 

Not to mention he was already obese, so eating only 2000 calories a day (which is less than is recommended for many men) probably is the reason he lost some much needed weight...

[cnb88]

I'm going to play a bit of the devil's advocate here... To a certain extent, the article is right on a few things.

"Limit your calories to your size and activity level". That's not total bogus- it makes perfect sense. I remember back during the Olympics a few years ago they were talking about how many calories Michael Phelps injests in a day.... 12 000 (yes... twelve thousand). If I ate that I'd be as big as a whale, never mind an olympic swimmer. So yes, that makes sense. Same reason kids don't need as many calories as adults- they're smaller and therefore don't need as much.

 

"Only eat natural fats"... This makes sense too- people have been saying this for years- the less processed your foods, the better; that goes with the "caveman" theory- we didn't have hydrogenated margarine way back centuries ago- we had fats from fish, meat, milk, etc.

 

Also, eating a cholesterol free diet, could potentially have very little effect on your cholesterol levels. Your body makes the cholesterol it needs (or think it needs) which is why some people have through-the-roof cholesterol levels (famililial hypercholesteremia- these people will have high cholesterol levels regardless of how much, or how little, cholesterol they ingest).

 

Yes, you can lose weight on an all McDonalds diet. Back when Super Size Me came out there was a biology teacher in Edmonton that went on the diet for a month, lost 17 pounds, and lowered his blood pressure. And if I remember right, his cholesterol levels stayed the same (CBC article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2005/03/01/diet-mcdonalds050301.html)

 

While I would never (nor recommend) go on an all fast food diet (or cut out fruits and veggies for that matter) it is possible to lose weight by doing just that- look at Atkins; that's essentially what this "fast food" diet is.

 

 

 

For the record- in no way shape or form am I condoning this, but I'm just saying it's not ALL bogus. It has some good points (albeit shrouded by some BS). Just like a lot of weight loss programs out there have some good points in the middle of all their BS. It's knowing how to filter through (and have access to Journal articles to see if claims are substantiated) that's the problem. The general public doesn't have the science background, or access to scientific journals to gain access, and that's why even though the article has some good points, it is, for lack of a better word, dangerous to the general public.

[tooty]

I was shocked/angered when I read this! It's so full of bogus!

 

It remembers me something I've seen before...

 

 

Where does stuff like this even come from?

 

Not to mention he was already obese, so eating only 2000 calories a day (which is less than is recommended for many men) probably is the reason he lost some much needed weight...

 

which points are bogus? i'm interested in seeing some evidence for either side.

[mdDave]

1. You can lose weight eating anything as long as calories in < calories out.

2. The part about saturated fats not being bad is news to me. I was always taught saturated fats do indeed increase bad cholesterol and should be avoided thus making most fast food a bad choice in the long run.

 

From his summation:

1. Limit your calories to what is appropriate for your size and activity level.

2. Only eat natural fats, not transfats or processed vegetable oils (cook food in butter or coconut oil)

3. Limit your carb intake to 100 grams per day (not the 300 grams per day suggested by the FDA)

4. Get about 50% of your calories from saturated fats

5. Avoid foods with a high glycemic index (note that most unsweetened cereals still have a glycemic index rating that is higher than granulated sugar)

I would agree with everything but 4

[LostLamb]

i concur with mddave. indeed, i follow such a regimen myself. I feel so much better not eating processed stuff every day. Fresh food is great, just more expensive :/

[thatonekid]

I was shocked/angered when I read this! It's so full of bogus!

Where did that article come from?

[orange123]

1. You can lose weight eating anything as long as calories in < calories out.

2. The part about saturated fats not being bad is news to me. I was always taught saturated fats do indeed increase bad cholesterol and should be avoided thus making most fast food a bad choice in the long run.

 

From his summation:

 

I would agree with everything but 4

 

We learned that sat. Fats do indeed raise HDL, however they also increase LDL. So it isn't the healthiest option. What is healthier, is consumption of monounsaturated fats ( canola oil, olive oil etc). These raise HDL and decrease LDL.

 

Trans fats are the worst, they increase LDL AND decrease HDL. While poly unsat fats decrease LDL and HDL.

 

we recently learned this in MNU, from dr. Jenkins, the big shot of nutritional sciences! ( inventor of the term Glycemic index!)

[Erk]

In my opinion, which is a pretty educated one, most of nutritional science is the art of flopping back and forth in opinion due to experiments which have just too many factors to be adequately controlled.

 

I'm pretty confident that the bottom line of eating healthy is, don't eat too much of any one thing, and don't eat too much. The rest is all fad. This article included.

[aravis]

Tom Naughton lost 12 pounds in just 28 days. His BMI dropped from 31.2 to 28.2, and cholesterol also improved.

Tom's BMI indicates that he's already obese. Of course if he significantly cuts down his current caloric intake he'll start to lose weight. Plus Tom's a computer programmer. How much would the average computer programmer know about food science and metabolism.

 

The diets of our ancestors were mostly meat-based, with a few fruits and veggies, and very few carbs…and they didn’t have a lot of heart disease.

They also probably didn't live long enough to develop heart disease.

According to the lipid hypothesis, “Saturated fat raises cholesterol, and cholesterol causes heart disease.” But this hypothesis was based on skewed, outdated research. According to the doctors interviewed for “Fathead”, the lipid hypothesis is “bogus”. No medical studies have proved that a high-fat diet causes heart disease. In fact, several major medical studies have proved that high-fat diets have no link to heart attack rates.

I can easily find recent research about high fat diets and atherosclerosis.

 

And if you want to increase your HDL (good cholesterol), you need to eat more saturated fats.

Unsaturated

 

Stress, elevated insulin levels, and smoking all cause heart disease. They also cause elevated levels of cholesterol, which is why people thought for so long that cholesterol caused heart disease, when really it is just a SYMPTOM of heart disease.

???

 

 

Where did that article come from?

 

Some blog a friend showed me.

[apache]

eating healthy is pretty simple, i just try and use common sense, small meals many times a day, lots of veggies/fruits, avoid fried/fatty foods/sweets, lots of fish and chicken for your protein, whole grain breads.

 

when i was a lot younger i lost 60 pounds and all i did was follow these rules, and start exercising everyday, there may be a more scientific, better way at staying healthy but i don't think that the common sense approach would hurt you.

[David89]

There is a little issue. But I think it must be discussed with some friend as

some of the members can feel it disgusting.

I'll share it later. regards