The FastDay Forum

yum ! I just ate the fat on my lamb chop bone. It was delicious!

yum ! I just ate the fat on my lamb chop bone. It was delicious!

Good for you Sallyo!

Actually, it turned my weight loss and my blood results when I went over to following a low carb high fat diet. When I went 5:2 it all went pear shaped again (literally!!)but I changed to 16:8 plus the LCHF and everything has come right again. I think I just have to accept that my insulin resistance is so high that it has to be a way of life for me. I did start out on Atkins which is more bent towards low carb/high protein but the weight loss stalled. I read some of the Swedish research and dumped the protein a bit and its done the trick.

This works for me. I'm not being drawn into any arguments over fat versus carbs, people have got thrown off the forum for that, but for anyone in a similar position I would say that if you don't try it you might never know if it works for you. If you're not happy with the idea of fats in general you can always stick with the olive and coconut oils. From my reading its the seed oils that are the biggest villains.

Miffy, isn't pear shape better?

Well, I guess its better than apple-shaped but not if you take in the context of my sons favourite phrase of going 'tits-up'!

Oh nooooooooooooooooooo that's not what I meant, LOLOLOLOL!!!

It is clearly going to take decades to get rid of the 1980's generic "fat is bad" advertising messages that are still in people's minds. Olive oil is fantastic and it is SUGAR that is the largest driver of obesity in the US over recent decades.The ability for your body to convert 1TS of olive oil is materially harder than a fraction of a measure of sugar. I don't touch, "0% percent fat" yoghurts with a barge pole, they invariably often have tons of sugar in them.

Read two books:
Pure, White And Deadly: How sugar is killing us and what we can do to stop it
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pure-White-And- ... 0241965284

Fat Chance: The bitter truth about sugar
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fat-Chance-bitt ... gy_b_img_y

[quote="superfluity"] I don't touch, "0% percent fat" yoghurts with a barge pole, they invariably often have tons of sugar in them.

/quote]
Care to elaborate on that? I have two 0% yoghurts right now in my fridge (they are the best for marinades) and they certainly not have any sugar.
Unless you mean those "yoghurt desserts" which don't in fact contain yoghurt but yoghurt substitute.

Totally agree - I eat Yeo Valley greek yoghurt and it is yum and healthy, but unfortunately too many people see 0% fat and thisk what the pot contains for them is fine. Only a subset look to see the sugar content.

Totally agree with the spirit of your point.

Just read this article: "One of the biggest failures in the health industry was the introduction of the low fat diet. "
http://www.functionalfitmag.com/blog/20 ... re-part-1/

Low fat is a necessity for some people, like low carb is a necessity for others. As long as we know what we are eating, we are fine.
I am aware that low fat milk has less calcium than full fat. But I can't drink full fat, I will get sick. Instead of not drinking ANY milk, I choose the low fat.
The problem with low fat and/or low sugar is that many people see it as an excuse to eat/drink more of those products.

Agreed that there are those who need to follow low fat for certain medical issues, but the correlation between increasing obesity over the last 50 years and increase in sugar consumption is compelling.

Why is 5:2 effective? Dr Michael Mosley suggests it is because it forces you to substantially reduce your number of calories two days a week and results in other beneficial changes.

The easiest calories for your body to convert and absorb are sucrose, fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup. Amongst the hardest calories for your body to convert is raw oil fats eg olive oil.

My conclusion: Follow 5:2. and avoid sucrose, fructose, High Fructose Corn Syrup. I am very wary of 0% fat lables and always examine more closely.

Personally, I'm an all-in-moderation gal. I grew up with the Med diet, my parents and grandparents grew up with that and my grandmother is 85 and has no diet-related health issues. In fact, her generation is the most long-lived.

I think that one of the reasons many of us disagree here is because we come from different parts of the world and we have different experiences. For example, we don't even have the high fructose corn syrup in Greece, while it is used even in hamburgers in the US.

And you are spot on with an all-in-moderation approach.

Unfortunately there is a significant section of society that believes "a calorie is a calorie". When in fact that is very far from the truth.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2 ... a-calorie/

This video is excellent at explaining, gets a bit deep, but hits the nail on the head....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

I'm afraid that I will disagree with you. I was always doubtful regarding the calorie-is-a-calorie theory but I came to believe that it is true, assuming that one doesn't overeat though.
What I mean is that if we eat within our TDEEs then a calorie is a calorie. But if we tend to exceed it, then it is better to exceed it by eating lettuce than cake.
On the other hand... it's not worth it to exceed it with lettuce, is it?

That is of course for those who don't have health problems. Because when they get in the middle then there are more things that calories to consider.

We are all welcome to our own beliefs.

But here is the fact: We consume 30% less fat on average than our parents/grandparents did in the 1960s.

It is therefore fairly clear that the obesity pandemic is not caused by fat. It is the 40% increase in sugar consumption that is driving this.

Sugar calories have had far far more impact on obesity than fat over the last 50 years.

The Robert Lustig video is excellent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Enter, different origins. Greeks eat more fat and less sugar than they used to. Plus more protein. And they are fatter. Hence my reluctancy to blame sugar and other carbs.