Eat fat and lose weight?

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My father-in-law handed me the February edition of ‘Reader’s Digest’. The cover featured a picture of a plate with two eggs over easy and a piece of bacon and the story line “Eat this, lose weight.” Well…I love eggs over easy and bacon, but I never eat it to lose weight…the bacon, that is. It certainly got my attention, though.

Turns out the story was about a new book by science journalist Gary Taubes called ‘Why We Get Fat – and What to Do About It’. I read the article and there is certainly some controversial information reported. I’m going to have to get the book, but it would appear that Gary is attacking the notion that cutting fat from your diet or following a diet low in fat will do any good in helping you lose weight. He says that public health authorities have been hammering home a message of less fat in the diet for forty years and in that time, obesity rates in America has risen from 13 to 33%.

He attacks diets that are high in carbohydrates and dieting in general. He actually makes some pretty good points, too...like eating a meal with fat fills you and keeps you from wanting to eat again anytime soon. I’m not a dieter and never have been. I’ve never believed in doing things completely unusual to what I consider ‘normal eating’ because I believe that once you return to your normal diet, whatever weight was lost during the dieting will return. Without a change in behavior, the weight is coming back. Eat early, eat often, and stop when you’re no longer hungry.

I’m also a big believer in moderation. I like to mix it up, but do attempt to avoid hollow calories...most of the time. I think Gary’s book spends a good deal of time discussing the pitfalls of simple sugar, its impact on the release of insulin in the body and the corresponding tendency of the body to turn carbohydrate calories into stored fat. Anyway, I’ll get it…read it…and report back.

I had another boring ride on the trainer. I don’t know what I’d do without my computer’s DVD player and the ability to re-watch five seasons of ‘Lost’. It’ll get me through the winter.

Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 biking.
Calories burned during workout: 900 biking.