Talk Story
Could eating fat
actually be the cure
for obesity?A DOCTOR friend sent me an article from last Sunday's New York Times Magazine with a cryptic note asking: "Pizza for breakfast?"
In "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" Gary Taubes outlines the growing debate between proponents of low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets. On the low-fat side stands the American medical establishment. On the other is Robert Atkins, author of "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution," and a growing number of nutritionists and researchers.
As we struggle to stay healthy and avoid being overweight, we all have to wonder: Does dietary fat give us heart disease, or can we truly eat all the fat we want, stop being hungry, lose weight, be healthier and avoid diabetes?
Despite a galloping global fat epidemic and the fact that 26 percent of Americans are now obese, the people we've trusted to tell us what to eat have probably given us a bum steer and are reluctant to set things right, Taubes says.
Critics say the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid contributes to our poundage. It recommends a broad base of six to 11 daily servings of grains such as pasta, rice and bread, topped by fewer servings of fruits and veggies, then fewer still of dairy products and meat, capped by just a taste of fats, oils and sweets.
Since that pyramid was introduced in 1991, the number of overweight Americans has surged by 61 percent.
Suzanne Murphy, nutrition researcher at the University of Hawaii, says people unwisely consider all foods within a food group equally healthy. When consumers see six-to-11 grain servings recommended, they "think that means six to 11 servings of cakes and cookies."
Since the 1970s, Taube writes, "annual grain consumption has increased almost 60 pounds per person, and caloric sweeteners (primarily high-fructose corn syrup) by 30 pounds. At the same time, we suddenly began consuming more total calories: now up to 400 more each day since the government started recommending low-fat diets."
No wonder it's harder to squeeze into our old jeans.
Of course, lack of exercise is one major cause, but serving size is another. Increasingly sedentary Americans face pressure to super-size our burgers and fries and go for the fat-free, but sugar-loaded, Super Big Gulp. Most of us don't realize that a USDA serving of grain is about the size of one mini-bagel.
In 1982, a University of Massachusetts biochemist named J.P. Flatt documented that the human body rarely converts carbohydrate into body fat. This was widely misinterpreted to mean that you can eat all the grains, starches, fruit and other high-carb foods you want and not get fat.
"The misinterpretation developed a vigorous life of its own," Taube says, "because it resonated with the notion that fat makes you fat and carbohydrates are harmless." They aren't.
However, research indicates some fatty foods widely considered to be toxic are actually benign because they raise the level of "good cholesterol."
"If you work out the numbers," Taube says, "you come to the surreal conclusion that you can eat lard straight from the can and conceivably reduce your risk of heart disease."
Old suppositions die hard. After losing 35 pounds on the Atkins diet and keeping it off for two years, I'm back to eating carbohydrates and avoiding fat. Taube also lost weight with relative ease by giving up carbohydrates. "And yet," he says, "I can look down at my eggs and sausage and still imagine the imminent onset of heart disease and obesity."
"I suspect the answer still is balanced diet in moderation," my doctor friend says, "but then again I could be clueless. It sounds like we all are."
John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com.