As I am currently trying to shed a few pounds, any story that has the word diet in it catches my eyes:
The largest study ever to ask whether a low-fat diet reduces the risk of getting cancer or heart disease has found that the diet has no effect.
Journal of the American Medical Association The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.
“These studies are revolutionary,” said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. “They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy.”
Until this study is really analyzed, I am going to take it with, if you will, a grain of salt. The article points out that there are already a number of flaws with the study, and I continue to believe that lower fat diets are (and when I say lower fat, I think natural fats like olive oil are perfectly healthy), in general, healthier.
*** Update ***
Two quick things- Apparently I have no conception of what a ‘low-fat’ diet is, because I think removing all fat from a diet is stupid. We will stick to calling what I am referring to as a lower fat diet, which would include the healthy fats and oils.
Second, Ezra Klein has some thoughts on this study.
Davebo
Not smart to screw around with Mother Nature.
And Mother Nature says go eat some meat!
;0)
Bill from INDC
and I continue to believe that low fat diets are, in general, healthier.
Elevated blood sugar will destroy your body much faster than any fat will, and fats are essential to proper diet and metabolism. There are distinctions to be made about fats:
1. saturated animal fat triggers inflammation; it’s bad/less good for you.
2. Plant-based and fish fats are excellent for you.
3. The proportion of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats in your diet is important.
But overall, bread and sugar make you fat, as well as destroy proteins and cause diabetes. In that respect, Atkins was correct. What the initial iterations of his diet overlooked was inflammation. Start here:
http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/000668.php
I’d advise reading a book or two on the subject before arriving at a belief. Media summaries of studies do not cut it.
Jim Allen
Make it a small grain of salt. Hypertension, you know.
Mr Furious
Have some teeth pulled! I had my wisdom teeth out a week or two ago, and lost six pounds…
binky
This study is of post-menapausal women. Until there is something more generalizable, that grain of salt should be pretty substantial.
Laura
Too many calories, and not enough exercise, make you fat.
I never really needed to lose weight in my teens and 20’s, but like a lot of girls, I was an expert dieter. I paid for that in my 30’s, when my metabolism dropped to nothing, and I started gaining weight. As the big 4-0 was approaching, I started thinking about my health, not just the scale, and lost 20 pounds without ever feeling like I was dieting. For me, when I concentrate on eating healthfully, I naturally consume less calories (though I have to watch it with the good fats and use common sense when eating avocados or olive oil. I break that rule when I eat salmon, love my salmon). Most vegetables have hardly any calories and high fiber foods like legumes slow down absorption (and if you are counting calories, you can deduct 4 calories for every gram of fiber because you won’t absorb those calories). And lean meats and most fish are naturally low in calories. Plus, there are a lot of whole grain pastas and breads, there’s no reason to eat the white stuff. Personally, I can’t go without some treats, so I walk to the See’s candy store by my office about twice a week for one cup of dark chocolate covered almonds (by cup, I mean the little paper cup they come in, not 8 oz.). It keeps me from eating too much of bad stuff. And of course, exercise. I’m training for a half marathon now, so I get to eat even more, which is awesome. At first, I thought that meant I could “treat” myself a little too much, but I found that my runs were harder if I ate junk. When I’m not exercising as much, I don’t notice the effects of what I eat. But now that I’m pushing myself, I can really tell the difference. Unfortunately, wine is a big-time run killer. I’ve lost some more weight since I’ve been training, but I don’t think it’s just the extra exercise. It’s the reduction of wine. But unlike John, I can’t give up the wine completely, just the nights before my runs.
Krista
Good info, Laura. I find that eating healthfully is much easier when I keep up with the exercise. When you’re glowing and sweaty and energetic from a good workout, you don’t want to weigh yourself down with a bunch of junk. The wine and beer are my weaknesses, though.
This is my litmus test, and it’s a little weird, but bear with me. If I can read Shape or Self, or some other fitness magazine with a clear conscience, I know I’m on the right track with the food and exercise. If I’ve slacked off, looking at those magazines makes me feel vaguely guilty.
I’m training for a 5K, and am having a damned hard time with it. Laura, I might have to pick your brain for some advice sometime.
John, stick with it. Small lifestyle changes. Dont’ try to overhaul everything at once. Each little change eventually becomes ingrained to the point of no longer being noticeable.
binky
Are you training for the 5K alone? When I did marathon training, I never would have made it without a running buddy.
Tom
John,
Try Weight Watchers. It sounds corny but I’ve lost 27 pounds since November. The biggest change to my diet has been portion size. I eat steak, potatoes, bread, pasta and of course my beloved red wine. It’s all about choices. Good luck!
John Cole
Well- I have lost 13 lbs so far, and I have about 50 more to go.
I am starting to feel better already- I just didnt realize how fat I had let myself get after quitting the Army. I gradually put on 20-30 lbs after that, and then when I quit smoking last year, another 30+ seemed to fly on.
My other problem was a lack of exercise. I went from being really active to sedentary. I am now up to about 82 minutes a day on the bike, and intend to start lifting and swimming in a couple more pounds.
Laura
I was going to ask that. I run alone usually, but I’m running the race with my brother and dad so we’re going to start doing our long weekend runs together. I don’t want to be the person that drags them down, so I won’t let myself miss a run. At the suggestion of my brother, I’ve also incorporated walking into my runs. At each mile, I walk for one minute (at a fast pace). It gives me a mental lift knowing that I’m “supposed” to walk and it keeps my legs fresher. And somehow, my pace per mile is faster than when I ran without walking.
Krista
Yeah, I’m doing it alone…I live in a teeny-tiny community and have nobody to run with, except for Dreyfus, and he gets tired after the first kilometer and just wants to sniff things and check his p-mail. If I get enough back on my income tax this year, I’ll get an mp3 player, and that’ll help keep me motivated…good, fast-paced tunes are vital.
John! That’s phenomenal, honey! 13lbs, and 82 minutes a day on the bike! You rock! Just for shits and giggles, next time you’re at the grocery store, go lift up a 10-lb bag of potatoes. You’ll be astonished.
Laura
Runner’s World had an article a few issues ago about running with books on tape. Apparently, it’s a good way to get “lost” on long run days. (Probably not a good idea when you’re working on pace.) Books on tape (CD) are expensive, so I keep meaning to go to the library. I’d like to try that out.
Krista
Long run…not an issue with me. I’m still working up to short ones. :) I’m a really bad under-pronater and run heavily, so 5K is really the most I can handle.
Laura
Congratulations! It seems like you just started so 82 minutes is amazing. Swimming, for me, is the toughest. But it’s so good for you, I wish I could stick with it. Have you swam much in the past?
John Cole
I have been working up to the 82 minutes over the past 6-7 weeks.
I used to swim competitively, but I have held off lately. I am afraid I would go to the pool and someone would run to call Sea World or whale rescuers while someone would dump buckets of salt water over my head to make sure I stayed wet.
Krista
LOL. Not laughing at you, John. Just appreciating some great self-deprecating humour. But seriously, 82 minutes. That’s phenomenal…it really is. You should be proud.
binky
That’s real progress. Diligence is the key. I went from not being a “real” runner and never having run more than a couple of miles to doing a marathon in about five months. At first I thought I would die, but decided that every little improvement (either time or distance) was an improvement. And my running buddy and I would always say, well, we’re doing better than the 98% (or whatever) percent of the population who are doing nothing at all.
Laura
“Long run” is a relative term. When I first started, a mile was my long run!
As far as over-pronating and running heavy, have you had someone help you pick out shoes? I used to run in what I thought was the “right kind” of shoe for me, but I kept turning my ankle and having foot problems, so I was always having to take time off from running or even walking. Then I had someone at Fleet Feet help me, and it’s made a huge difference. I don’t know if you have Fleet Feet stores near you, but in my experience, their staff really know what they’re talking about.
binky
I’ll second that comment about Fleet Feet. Most of the people who work in those places have used every product imaginable, and have a great knowledge about what each offers. Plus, they’ll put you on a treadmill and watch you run to make a determination about what kind of shoe you need. You can really mess yourself up with the wrong shoe, or a worn out shoe.
Krista
I have a convenience store, a gas station, and 4 churches near me. Oh, and a burger boat. I shit you not. It’s a boat, on land, and they sell burgers.
There is a Running Room in Halifax, which is about 2 hours away…probably much the same thing. I got fitted there once, but after awhile, found that the shoes were too narrow. They didn’t put me on a treadmill at that one. They do in some of their stores, but at that one, they just make you run to the end of the store and back, which to me, doesn’t really show your natural gait, does it? Anyhoo, the shoes made my feet ache like they do when I wear ice skates. So when those wore out, I just picked out my own pair on sale. I got a wider width, but I find that they make the outside edge of my feet ache a lot. I tend to stand on the outsides of my feet, so that’s not surprising. Stupid biomechanical inferiority…
Krista
I’m still able to go for about 20 minutes, at 5 mph (zero incline), so it’s huge progress for me, who used to declare loudly that the only way I’d run would be if someone was chasing me with a knife.
scs
I agree with Bill from INDC above that ‘low fat’ and diet is a more complicated affair than people think. I am glad this study came out because it highlights that just good diet alone will not lead to less heart disease and cancer. Diet can perhaps indirectly lead to certain factors such as high blood sugar and inflamation that are damaging. But the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. We hear it screamed over and over that Americans are so fat and how we are ruining our health. But as fat as we are, and have been for a while, do Americans really die at any significantly lower age than the rest of the skinny world? No. If you factor out death by accidents, murder, poor health care, alcoholism, disease- does any society really die at a significantly different age than any other, no matter what diet they are on? No. I think that should lead us to believe that our life span is overwhelmingly genetic, not driven by diet- no matter what the food Nazis want you to believe.
Laura
lol. I can’t run on a treadmill. I have one, but it’s mostly a clothes rack. I get bored too fast. Fortunately, there are a ton of parks in Sacramento, as well as running trails along the rivers. And the weather’s mild enough to run year-round outside (except on some 100+ days in the summer).
This isn’t perfect, but Runner’s World has a shoe finder. You plug in your needs and it gives you recommendations.
Krista
I believe that too, to a point. But you might have to look at quality of life, too. You might have two men who live to the age of 80, just as an example. But one might have been fit and vital and enjoying life up until he died, and another might have been severely diabetic due to obesity, and in a wheelchair or blind because of it. I do think that we North Americans are ruining our health. Who knows…maybe the only reason our life expectancy is still so high is because of all of the advances of modern medicine, not because eating poorly has no effects.
Thanks for the link, Laura. I’ll go check that out. Definitely looking forward to when the weather warms up and I can run outside again. (I’m not one of those hardcores who runs outside when it’s so cold out that the St. Bernard says “screw that” and drinks its own brandy.)
scs
Well that is true as well. Diabetes is definitely a big factor in quality of life, if not life span, and that is driven by diet (as well as genetics). But as a fan of the Atkins diet (used occasionally) I always thought this fat hysteria was over-rated and I’m glad we are seeing more studies now to support that. As usual, I suppose, a balanced diet and excercise is always the best and safest.
scs
Darn- spelled ‘exercise’ wrong again. Funny how you keep spelling the same words incorrectly over and over, isn’t it?
Veeshir
I once lost about 60 lbs from August to November by eating as little fat as possible. No mayo, no beef just lots of skim milk, chicken and shrimp, bread and sugar snacks like sherbert. I exercised very little. Maybe 25-40 sit-ups a day.
I gained some of it back when I started working at a desk job and nearly completed the process when I tore up my knee and spent 4 months unable to walk much.
I’ve started a new diet regime, I moved a 25-minute walk from work and I got rid of my parking spot. I also walk my dog 3-4 times day either around a few blocks or the 10-minute walk to the dog park.
I don’t own a scale, but over 1 month I’ve lost over one belt hole and my pants look as if I’m into hip-hop. Not bad. Too bad I’m going to Italy next week, I gain a pound a day there.
Krista
60 lbs. from August to November? Dude…not healthy.
(Mind you, my admonition is tinged with bitterness, as it’s taken me two years to lose 65 lbs, and the last 20 are clinging stubbornly. Picture trying to put a pissed-off cat into a box. That’s how stubborn those pounds are.)
scs
Everytime I and my family went there, we lost weight, even though we ate lots of pasta. You have to stay with real Italians to do that maybe. Those people only eat practically once a day. A large lunch/dinner but no breakfast, hardly any snacks, a light evening meal. I was practically starving the whole time there. I don’t know how they do it. In fact Italy has one of the lowest obesity rates in Europe.
htom
The “low fat+” diet target was 20% of calories from fat. First year, those in this group averaged 24%, at the end they averaged 29%.
The “normal” diet varied from 34% average first year to 39% average last year.
Ornish & Pritikin, the “low fat gurus” say that you have to stay under 10% (to reverse heart disease) and under 15%-20% to stop the development of heart problems. So the test doesn’t show anything, other than that their recommended diet was not followed.
Interesting that the “low fat+” group had lower breast cancer rates.
Jess
I think the bigger issue is the junk food vs. nutritionally-loaded food, not fat or calories. When you eat for nutrients rather than against calories, you naturally eat less because your body is satisfied. You’ll also feel way more energetic, which makes exercise more appealing, and the upward spiral takes off from there. Also, when you’ve broken the sugar addiction, sweet stuff really doesn’t taste good any more, and the flavor of everything else is much more intense and delicious. I’ve always been skinny, but I used to eat crappy food (lots of sugar) and drink way too much. Now I go for a balanced diet (no extremes) with a minumum of sugar, alcohol and caffeine, and no junk food or empty calories, and I have far more energy in my late thirties than I ever had in my twenties. I have gained about 5 pounds, but it’s muscle, because I finally have the motivation to work out regularly. I also sleep much better, feel happier, and look 10 years younger than I am. I don’t know if a test would be able to quantitatively measure those changes in my life, but they’re huge and mainly due to diet. So I think all this latest study proves is that there’s a lot benefits to a healthy diet that don’t show up on tests.
Jess
I think the bigger issue is the junk food vs. nutritionally-loaded food, not fat or calories. When you eat for nutrients rather than against calories, you naturally eat less because your body is satisfied. You’ll also feel way more energetic, which makes exercise more appealing, and the upward spiral takes off from there. Also, when you’ve broken the sugar addiction, sweet stuff really doesn’t taste good any more, and the flavor of everything else is much more intense and delicious. I’ve always been skinny, but I used to eat crappy food (lots of sugar) and drink way too much. Now I go for a balanced diet (no extremes) with a minumum of sugar, alcohol and caffeine, and no junk food or empty calories, and I have far more energy in my late thirties than I ever had in my twenties. I have gained about 5 pounds, but it’s muscle, because I finally have the motivation to work out regularly. I also sleep much better, feel happier, and look 10 years younger than I am. I don’t know if a test would be able to quantitatively measure those changes in my life, but they’re huge and mainly due to diet. So I think all this latest study proves is that there’s a lot benefits to a healthy diet that don’t show up on tests.
Jess
sorry for the dupicate–quirky connection issues.
Jess
Sorry for the duplicate–quirky connection issues.
Veeshir
Those people only eat practically once a day. A large lunch/dinner but no breakfast, hardly any snacks, a light evening meal.
I don’t know who your relatives are, but mine eat a lot more than that. As a matter of fact, I skip breakfast most days because they eat so much.
My day with the family.
Morning. Breakfast for everybody. Big breakfast. A little grappa with the cafe.
Lunch. Everybody comes home. The women cook, serve, clean up and then they eat then go back to work. Big lunch. Usually pasta and meat sauce. Lots of bread and plenty of vino(home-made so pretty strong).
Dinner. Huge dinner. Lots of vino. Home-made grappa and cafe. For those who don’t know, real, Italian, home-made grappa is Italian moon-shine. It’s in the vicinity of 190 proof. You’re doing well if you don’t go blind after drinking it. One uncle had to stop drinking it because his skin was constantly peeling off.
Then, out drinking with the cousins. Quite often we would go to a bar and play cards, drink and eat cheese and bread.
Then, home and a snack of home-made salami or ham and bread and some more vino. Then, off to bed.
God help me when I visit the old-school Italians. My great uncle for instance. For breakfast he kept feeding me different home-made boozes he had made. Almond liquor, grappa and then I lost track. I think there were a few more different types. Who knows? I was hammered by 10am. You have to eat like a horse to keep from being drunk all the time.
I love it.
I figure it’s the alcohol that causes me to gain so much weight.
I am pretty angry at most of my family. The men, on my mother’s northern Italian side, are almost all about 5’8″ and whip thin, like 140 or so. I’m 5’11” and have to fight to stay below 200lbs. The only reason I don’t think my mother slipped on in is because I look just like my paternal grandfather, a Sicilian. He had light hair too.
Which is weird, the Sicilian part is taller and fairer while the northern Italian part is shorter and darker.
Weird.
Krista
Veeshir, yeah, isn’t it usually the other way around? I have an ancestor from northern Italy, and she was tall-ish (tall for the time, but would be average now), and as blonde as could be. That day of yours sounds like fun…but I would only be able to do that for a weekend, max. After that, bleurgh….
Laura
Jess, that’s exactly what I’ve discovered. Too bad it took me until I was in my late thirties to figure it out.
Krista
I’m not allowed to comment on this thread anymore. I didn’t have time to make lunch last night, and don’t have the car, so had to select from the convenience store next door.
Doritos do not make a healthy lunch.
Laura
There’s gotta be some fiber in there!
Krista
Way to look at the bright side, Laura! :) At least I had enough time to throw a banana in my knapsack, so the pre-run snack will have some health benefits.
I miss poutine, though…it’s been years. But…dropping 6 dress sizes tastes better than poutine, I guess.
scs
Veeshir, your family sounds like it’s from a different part of Italy. My relatives live in Rome. We never had grappa at any meal. We never had pasta with a meat sauce. I heard meat sauces were big in the north but I thought grappa was big in the south so, hmmm, can’t quite place where you were. I know that each region of Italy has VERY different ways of eating, so perhaps that explains the difference.
Update- oh wait- I started typing this and then read the end of your post. Your family IS a north/south combo. I get it now. Yeah maybe Romans think its fashionable to eat less. What got me was the lack of snack foods. There is nothing there in those fridges that you can eat without cooking. And that evening dinner you talked about was skipped, we went straight to the late night snack as the evening meal- usually right before you go to bed. Who knows maybe my relatives are anorexic, but they were all the same way so I thought it was a respresentative sample.
Laura
6 dress sizes?! That’s amazing.
Krista
Laura,
Thanks! Oh yes, I was a big ol’ buttertub. I bawled my eyes out the day I was able to shop at regular stores again. Pathetic that I let myself get that way in the first place, though. Should have known better…Dad’s obese, with Type II diabetes AND sleep apnea.
Veeshir
The day I described was in Piacenza. About 60 miles from Milan and, conveniently enough, about the same from Turin.
The drunken breakfast was in the, non-Alp, mountain town of Leggio in the same region. That’s where my mother’s family is from. It’s a very small town where the phone is in the bar and so is the bathroom. Of course, they probably have high-speed Internet now. The last time I went was in 1993.
Speaking of northern/southern differences, I once told my northern Italian grandmother that she looked just like my Sicilian great-grandmother. She didn’t smack me, but she didn’t talk to me for months.
When they translated Airplane! into Italian, according to my cousin, jive was translated into the Neopolitan dialect.
That’s pretty funny.