Fit Fare

Good fat and good carb diets rule!  One of my favorite topic headings from the agenda for the Worlds of Healthy Flavors event I recently attended was: “Why the “Low-Fat/Non-Fat” Campaign was (Mostly) a Mistake.”  The main argument asserted by the Worlds of Healthy Flavors Scientific Advisory Committee (pictured at left and explained here) against both low-fat and low-carb diets is that studies have consistently shown that neither can be maintained for the long haul.

When we were shown a chart comparing the two diets, the results were striking.  Low-carb dieters had more weight loss within about the first six months, with low-fat dieters also generally losing weight.  However, at the 18-month mark, both diets ended up with dieters gaining most of the weight back.  The scientists concluded that people simply can’t eat low-fat or low-carb for a sustained period of time and any study of a diet that lasted less than a year is simply not useful.

In a more practical sense, low-fat diets are unsustainable because when someone eats only low-fat foods, they end up eating more refined starch and sugar.  When a dieter eats only low-carb foods, they end up eating more fatty foods.  So what’s the answer?

The answer is simple: always make choices based on quality and don’t focus on quantity.  The doctors emphasized that we shouldn’t be “demonizing” all fats, but should instead choose healthy fats over unhealthy fats.  I’ll refer you to Rachel Rappaport’s detailed piece on which fats are good and which fats are bad, but the general rule is that vegetable oils are better than animal fats. 

As for carbs, whole grains are better than processed foods because whole grain food have a lower glycemic index.  Foods with a lower glycemic index don’t cause a huge spike in blood sugar like a high glycemic index food would.  That means we should be eating brown rice instead of white rice, whole wheat pasta instead of white flour pasta and no more Twinkies at all (not even the low-fat ones). 

I have to say that it sounded like the South Beach Diet to me, but the doctors don’t seem to like those first two weeks.  The only compliment bestowed on South Beach was given by Dr. Janet King, who said that it was the first diet to address the type of carbs and fats consumed and was therefore a “step forward.”  Check out this post from Kalyn Denny about the details of South Beach.

It may sound counterintuitive, but the general rule is that reducing fat does not reduce calories.  Studies show that a good carb, high protein (in the form of poultry and seafood) and good fat diet is the best combination for weight loss.  This diet, often called the Mediterranean diet, is balanced, not extreme in fat or carbs and has variety, so people enjoy it.