Obesity and insulin resistance

[F, Calla & Luca]

I found this to be very interesting although it leaves things up in the air. But of late I have heard many interesting things on obesity, inflammation and mood disorders and it is all intriguing. I expect in the future there will be much more information on all this and new ways of looking at things.
http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diab...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The Nutrition Department of the Harvard School of Public Health has been arguing against the US government's Food Pyramid for many years; I did a paper on the differences between the USDA pyramid and Harvard's 15 years ago. That broad pyramid base with its 6-11 servings of starch per day never did anyone any favors. The government recommendations have gotten better but there is still a lot of room for improvement. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramid/

Part of the problem is that most college degree programs in nutrition follow the gov't recommendations. 

 I'm betting that the doctor's "shocking" dietary choices that led to his losing the 40 lbs included a whole lot of animal protein and very, very little starch. :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I do wish he had a few more answers than questions. At least he could have shared information on what he ate : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here you go, F. Looks a lot like Atkins to me. Or the old Stillman diet minus all the water, with more emphasis on fat than meat. Very low carbs. Ketosis. :)

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/what-i-actually-eat

[F, Calla & Luca]

Karen the detective does it again : ) This answer doesn't make me too happy, been there done that.

[Adina P]

I was reading on his site last night after I saw the link to the video.  He is hard core.  He checks his ketones regularly and is quite regimented.  He calls himself a self-experimenter.  Seems fine for him to do it, but I think he recognizes his lifestyle and diet aren't really realistic for most people -- and he never suggests to others that they follow suit, though it seems he probably would suggest more people lower their carb intake and then only whole food/whole grain types of carbs. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

The lower the carb intake and the whole grain thing make sense of course. It's such a pity bread tastes so good.

[Adina P]

I like fat as much as anyone else, but without some carb to put it on, it's just not as exciting.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And in terms of maintaining a healthy weight, carbs + fat is the deadliest combination, in my experience. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Karen, we did not need to hear this! I live in hope they are going to find something wonderful to not only refute this whole thing but to exclude diet and exercise from the equation : )

[Adina P]

So basically you've got either Ornish/McDougal (SUPER low fat, carb rich, vegetarian) or mostly fat + protein?  Neither is realistic to me especially since it's only recently (50 years) that this whole 'obesity crisis' became a thing and it's not like people weren't eating bread for loooong before that.  Bread with butter.  I think that the body is highly adaptable and it is only in this RICH country with an overwhelming supply of processed food at every corner to override normal appetite/eating habits that we have a problem. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, we all know that portion control plays a huge role, too. And certainly the processed food issue is a concern. This country is the only one that puts high-fructose corn syrup in just about everything. I have to wonder why Coke sold in Mexico uses cane sugar instead of HFCS, by law, and when you buy Coke in a Mexican grocery store here in the U.S., there's cane sugar in that too. I know a lot of people have poo-pooed the idea that HFCS affects insulin differently than cane sugar (God knows the corn industry has spend a fortune on the "sugar is sugar" ads) but I personally believe there's something to it, and a lot of extremely knowledgeable nutrition experts believe it too. That's $ directed, as are so many USDA food policies. (It's the Office of Management and Budget that approves the food pyramid, after all.)  But I also think how realistic a particular eating program is depends a lot on the individual. For a lot of people, it's much more realistic to say "this, this and this are fine, but don't eat that" than to ask them to weigh, measure, add, etc. I'm not saying that's good, but it is realistic. 

I have also found that given half a chance (say two weeks) homeostasis will take care of those sugar and fat cravings. It's anecdotal, but my clients who drastically reduced their fat or sugar intake stopped craving it much. And when they did eat the occasional high-fat meal, they got diarrhea, which had never happened when they were eating those fats on a regular basis. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

But 50 years ago many of us were getting a lot more exercise just in day to day living too. I was for sure : ) I don't know if high fructose corn syrup is to blame but we do get an awful lot of sugar. I also see in a large sample of one, that would be me, that set points have some validity. I remember the Setpoint Diet theory. It takes me some effort to get to a lower set point but then I tend to stay there. After a while I can try for another notch. Once at a Setpoint it also takes some effort, not nearly as much, to gain weight.
It is true that after a while with nothing sugary the cravings lessen.