New Findings on Food and Weight Gain
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-07-11/new-findings-food-and-weight-gain
Summer is a popular season for diets. People want to look good at the beach or lose the pounds they gained while on vacation. Most doctors caution that fad diets don't work for the long term. Instead they stress lifestyle choices - eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and getting enough exercise and sleep. New findings of a Harvard University project confirmed this. But the researchers also found it's not just a matter of calories consumed versus calories burned. Certain foods, such as potatoes, can cause more weight gain over the years. Others can help keep people lean. Diane and her guests explore the relationship between food choice and weight.
Guests
Dr. Lawrence Cheskin
director, Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center; faculty member in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Amelia Baker
registered and licensed dietitian at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Walter Willett
chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health; professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; co-author of "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy."
Comments
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Is it true that nuts are 'leaner' because our teeth do not mill them finely enough to get the same energy out as measured in the lab?
Genetic predisposition should be considered in choosing the right diet. Dieting may achieve the greatest success when combined with regular physical exercise. Restricted-calorie diets may demand most discipline, but reduce weight most effectively, and may even prolong life!
Read more here:
http://brainmindinstrev.blogspot.com/2009/02/reduced-calorie-diet-body-m...
We know that Diabetes and obesity has been successfully helped with bariatric and gastric bypass surgery.
Why not offer this type of surgery to those with weight problems who don't have diabetes, just obesity?
So people who snack on nuts feel sated more quickly than people who snack on potato chips. How many other foods relate to portion size? I don't often see people people sitting down to an overloaded plate of healthy foods, but I do see people with poor food choices eating enormous portions of fatty, starch-filled foods. Are people who choose unhealthy foods also more likely to eat to the point of being uncomfortably full, or are they not feeling sated as quickly as those on a healthy diet?
With regard to Yogurt..are we talking about greek plain yogurt or sweetened commercial candied yogurts?
I have been on every diet known to man without success. In 2008 I was living alone for the first time in my life and I began to eat just when I was hungry. Then I ate as much as I wanted. One day it would be a bag of broccoli and a brownie or two and the next day it would be buttermilk cornbread with butter and cheese. One day it would be cheese tomato soup with sour cream. I'd eat ice cream every day and half and half in my coffee. It wasn't long before I had lost 40 lbs. I worried I had a terminal disease because I always ate as much of whatever I wanted. But checkups said I was fine. My cholesterol went down 85 pts. while I was still eating fats. I think the clue is just to eat when you are hungry.
Hi Diane,
Love the show. I'm Dutch, living in Baltimore Maryland and everything potato related always catches my attention. I was wondering whether Dr. Willett and his team have looked at the Dutch diet as potatoes are the staple crop in the Netherlands (the dutch wikipedia site lists over a 100 different kinds of potatoes), and as you might or might not know dutch people tend to be quite skinny. Might it not have more to do with the way you eat potatoes? Fried, as chips, boiled, mashed?
With regards,
Maarten Ottens
At age 27, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Not wanting to take prescriptions long-term and die an early death as my doctors warned, I changed my lifestyle. I removed beef, pork, milk, potatoes, and other foods that I learned to be non-healthy. I became an avid runner and joined the gym. Now, at age 40, I am 6 feet tall, I maintain a 32 inch waist, I look younger, and I weigh a consistent 178 lbs. This research, though good, includes nothing new. What is missing is how much people eat. My friends jokingly say I eat like a bird.
According to Gary Taubes' new book, Why We Get Fat, carbs make us fat and proteins and fats don't. Obviously, the sweeter the food, the worse it is, but he implicates all carbs in weight gain. He throws out the whole "calories in/calories out" notion. Any comments?
What should people do to control their weight who are on a gluten-free diet? They can't eat bread with wheat so some turn to potatoes to get their carbohydrates and then gain wait. I've heard many people have gained weight by eating gluten-free foods.
What should people do to maintain their weight when they're on a gluten-free diet? They can't eat bread because it has weight, so some turn to potatoes or rice bread (100 calories a slice). I've heard many people gain weight with the gluten-free lifestyle.
a bit off topic but is there be any food that helps to increase the expression of human growth hormone or testosterone? Would not foods that increase production of such compounds (especially as we age) help to maintain a healthy body weight and fight weight related diseases, e.g. diabetes?
I disagree that white potatoes and white rice are bad for you. Entire civilisations have thrived on these foods as the primary staples of their diets. I eat all the potatoes I want and have been 155 - 160 lbs (5 ft 10 in tall) for 30 years. I keep my total caloric intake to a reasonable level and don't eat much junk. I do agree that high fiber in your diet is essential. Everyone should eat a diet high in fruits,, vegetables, and whole grains; however, potatoes are an important part of this.
I work a job and have a lifestyle that allows plenty of exercise, mainly hiking at least 4 - 5 hours over a week. I love pizza and white 'taters... used to eat at least 1 if not 2 pizzas a week and white 'taters with almost every meal. Weighed over 200 pounds. Got injuries to my neck and back and had to go on a wheat and white 'tater free diet (anti-inflammatory). Increased beets, carrots and broccoli, nuts, always start the day with raw fruit / soy protein smoothie. Dropped 50 lbs. Eat a lot of ice cream and maintaining new trim form. Quinoa pasta is a great substitute for wheat pasta!
Maarten, I would guess the explanation is in the amount of physical activity (bicycle vs car etc).
Asian's eat white rice with soy sauce (and vegetables, lots of them if they can afford them.)
We eat baked potatoes with butter or margerine, sour cream, bacon, cheese, and eat mashed potatoes with butter or gravy.
In the summer, even new 'baby' potatoes are usually slothered in mayo as part of a potato salad.
When is the last time most American's ate a simple boiled potato? Probably not recently. The fact is - as with many of our our other mono-cultures that are grown for storage not flavor, we're down to a handful of (flavorless) varieties doesn't help.
In Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Vegetable Miracle", she grows heirloom potatoes and comments on the many different shapes, sizes, flavors and colors.
Gary Taubes is right on target about carbs. The problem is so many of the carbs people eat are refined and lacking in minerals that are so important for proper body function and metabolic rate, which is obviously very important on how many calories on burns. Another issue that has not been addressed is the nature of fats. It is widely acknowledged now that excessive amounts of omega-6 fats from vegetable oil, esp. when the oils are highly processed, are not good for health and can interfere with fat-burning. So commercial potato chips are worse than a small serving of potato with a good dab of real butter. As a retired dietitian I have become aware of the adverse influence of the food industry on the dietary recommendations. I also am aware that research does not support the condemnation of natural saturated fats. Moderate carb intake or real foods along with high quality animal fats is much less likely to lead to overeating. The nutrients in natural animal fats are very valuable. There is research that whole milk is less fattening than skim milk. In fact skim milk is fed to pigs to fatten them! We need to avoid most processed foods.
what about fad diets where calories are high but there is weightloss
Have you considered the extraordinary health benefits and dietary excellence of WHOLE FOODS PLANT BASED NUTRITION as described by T. Colin Campbell (Cornell) in THE CHINA STUDY? After regaining cardiovascular health and maintaining optimal weight, I can vouch for the precious potato whether baked, boiled or mashed without fat or dairy. Accompanied by green leafy veggies, colorful veggies, whole grains, beans and legumes, potatoes are a treasured part of a plant-based diet. It's the ANIMAL PROTEIN and FAT that are the trouble makers in SAD (Standard American Diet).
You can get carbs from a wide variety of sources. Biochem major here (BS NCSU), carbohydrates are ubiquitous! You can get them from fruits, veggies, sweets; the important thing is how fast they'll reach your system, the less processed, the slower they hit, the better for weight control. White 'taters are high in minerals and other nutrients but their speed of assimilation us stellar, not good. Mixing in other veggie sources of minerals like carrots, beets, turnips, broccoli, leafy greens like kale, spinach, and eating these things raw can go a long way in gluten-free weight maintenance. Have you tried spaghetti squash or quinoa pasta?
The nutritional value of cooked potatoes should not be overlooked. A medium sized potato has significant amounts of vitamin C, potassium, niacin, folate and other nutrients and only contains 110 calories. There have been studies were individuals consumed potatoes as their primary food and did not gain weight.
The association of potato consumption and weigh gain has more to do with what is added to the potatoes and the degree of physical activity participants had rather than the potatoes themselves.
The association of yogurt and nuts with weight control is likely due to the awareness of the individuals consuming these foods with the relationship between calorie intake and physical activity.
Jez,
1. The metabolic pathway to create and store fat in the body *only* involves carbohydrates. Not fats, not proteins. Thus, it is absolutely right to say you can't add body fat without carbs.
2. Generally speaking, most people are not comfortable with a carb-free (or very-low-carb) diet. To make it work, you have to work hard (sort of like eating a vegan diet - you have to spend lots of time and effort making sure you get all the kinds of nutrients you need).
Comment about Chinese not getting fat but eating white rice shows remarkable ignorance of the Chinese diet overall. Their diet is largely vegetarian with very little in the way of meat and only eggs and a tiny amount of seafood or fowl as a protein source. Compare that to the average American meal with the percentage of calories from beef, pork, and chicken meat along with the various food additives including hormones and antibiotics.
Why did Dr. Willett enter this field of medicine? What was his motivation?
"Soy sauce" varies widely depending upon the country of origin. Most of what Americans consider soy sauce has its origin in Japan and has more salt added. It is difficult to even find soy sauce when traveling around China today as it is not a standard condiment. Historically the fermented sauce in China was more likely to have been made using wheat. Modern soy sauce has its roots in Japan. In my own travels in SE Asia I have found fish sauce to be far more commonly used than soy sauce for cooking.
I think the simple idea is that some foods have the ability to speed up the metabolism, while some slow it down. I think these scientists are over thinking things a bit.
Please invite Gary Taubes as a speaker on your show. Both of his books (Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat) have far more to say about the topic of weight gain (backed up by gobs of research) than was covered by today's panel of "experts." As a public health professional, I am much more swayed by Taubes' work than by most mainstream nutritionists. Taubes makes the same point as today's panel about needing to look at the type and quality of calories (and not the quantity) but in a far more elegant and nuanced (and informed) way.
I would also love to hear DR interview writers on other important nutrition topics, such as Lierre Keith (author of The Vegetarian Myth) and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome).
Your saying that nuts don't contribute as much to weight gain as potatoes. Did this study check on the amounts of nuts and potatoes were consumed. Potatoes are part of typical dinners and lunches (fries). As nuts are usually are eaten as snacks in smaller portions. If nuts were eaten in largrer quantities than potatoes, what would happen then?
Jon Bellino
Eugene Oregon
Interesting show. I look forward to further conversation on this topic. And as someone who never liked white potatoes from a very young age, I'm glad I have another excuse to avoid them!
I am a development worker living in third world countries for 25 years now. Working on issues related to malnutrition, we know that potato is considered a 'wonder food' for its ability to plump up underweight children and mothers in a relatively short period of time. Potato, particularly sweet potato which is rich in different vitamins as well, is easy to grow and harvest. These merits become demerits in other settings it would appear.