Calories, fat or carbohydrates? Why diets work (when they do).

I came across this article today and thought I would share. You can also read the entire article by following the link at the bottom of this post. Gary Taubes is a regular blogger on the science of weight loss and has also recently published a couple of must read books if you are planning on improving your health.

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (Borzoi Books)

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage)


Last September, the Williams College psychologist Susan Engel had an opinion piece in the New York Times on the value of standardized testing as a means of assessing the quality of a child’s education. Engel argued that there was scant evidence that these tests were of any value at all, and that they should be replaced by the many “promising techniques” that psychologists had already identified as valuable in assessing the learning of our children.

So what does this have to do with nutrition and weight control? Well, among the promising techniques, wrote Engel, was this one:

Researchers have also found that the way a student critiques a simple science experiment shows whether he understands the idea of controlling variables, a key component in all science work. To assess children’s scientific skills, an experiment could be described to them, in writing, and then they would explain how they would improve upon it.

So the value of controlling variables in a scientific experiment is something that a reasonably well-educated child supposedly understands. And what I want to know is why don’ t nutritionists understand it and those researchers out there doing diet trials and studying obesity and weight regulation. Because their failure to do so — and I would argue that it may be a willful failure — has led to what may be another of the great misconceptions in modern nutrition research. In particular, that carbohydrated-restricted diets are “valuable tools” in the arsenal against overweight and obesity, but they’re just one of the dietary tools.

This belief stems from the last decade of diet trials comparing carbohydrate-restricted diets (usually Atkins) to low-calorie, low-fat diets. Instead of thinking of low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins as deadly, which was formerly the case, nutritionists and dietitians (or at least most of them) now think of these diets as useful, just as other diets, low in calories or fats, are also useful. The idea now is that some people do well on carbohydrate-restricted diets and some people do well on low-fat diets, and maybe this is a result of whether they happen to be insulin sensitive or insulin resistant or maybe its just a product of their particular food tastes and preferences.

And this belief, of course, is based on the notion that we get fat for reasons other than the nutrient composition of the diet – probably because of some combination of our genes, our tendency to eat to much and our sedentary behavior – and so the diet that works best is the one that allows us to most comfortably restrict our intake of total calories.

Read the entire article by following the link below...
http://www.garytaubes.com/2010/12/calories-fat-or-carbohydrates/

Ultra or Bust Week 11

Training is progressing, not always to plan but I am using it as a guide to make sure that I am getting at least close to the mileage/time I need each week. This past weekend was busy and I was not sure I was going to be able to get my long run in. My daughter however, asked if we could go to the gym so she could swim on Sunday. Perfect, except now I had to do my long run on a treadmill as opposed to outside.

The treadmill or as I and many other like to call it the dreadmill is not exactly a place that inspires the same level of excitement as heading out on the road or trail for a long run. My YMCA also limits your time to 60 minutes so my only hope was that it would not be that busy and I could manage to just keep resetting it after each set. Plan called for 4 hours but I thought if I could manage 3 I would feel pretty good about that.

As it turned out once I had conceded that I would be on this contraption for 3 hours it was not really that bad. I did not push any sort of difficult pace like I might normally do but instead just set it at a steady 6MPH and went. At the end of each 60 minute set I went and filled my water bottle and used the restroom then quickly returned to the machine and finished another.

I would not recommend this as something to do regularly but in a pinch it was not to bad and including my warmup/cooldown along with a few walk breaks to hydrate I managed to finish just shy of 17 miles.

Typically after my long runs I take a day off before and after but this week because of many scheduling conflicts I ran the night before and also opted on a recovery run the next day. Surprised that neither one seemed to affect my long run and my recovery run seemed to loosen up my tight calves from the long run the day before. I will probably continue to at least do a short 3-5 mile recovery run the day after each long run from now on.

The thermostat has taken a quick plunge to the south. Last night I got home and debated on running outside or not. It was dark and the temp was 17 degrees with a steady wind. I picked up a pair of Saucony tights in the fall this year but I don’t really have anything for the torso to protect against these temps. In the past when I have run in the cold the sun was typically out so it never really got to be miserable. However, running in the dark cold is an entirely different experience. I am going to have to do a little research on proper gear for running in these temps. Chest, arms and hands were OK but the tissue around my stomach and back was frozen.

Have a good week.

Lab Tests: Galeos Caesar Dressing Not What it Claims to Be

Galeos Miso Caesar Dressing, a supposedly low-calorie and low-fat product hyped on NBC's reality show "The Biggest Loser" and endorsed by trainer Jillian Michaels, among others, is neither low-cal nor low-fat, lab tests commissioned by Consumer Ally found. Testing showed the actual calories per serving is almost 10 times what the label claims.

Read the full article here...

Recent Interview with Atkins CEO Monty Sharma

Just wanted to thank Mr. Sharma for making it clear that Atkins is not Bacon and Eggs. As I have pointed out many times on this blog, Atkins is a diet consisting of all of food groups with lots of Vegi's, some fruits and Dairy and limited Breads, Cereals, Pasta and Rice.

He also pointed out that like any other diet MODERATION is also a component.

"

Ultra or Bust Week 7!

Time is not standing still as I would have hoped for the purpose of preparing for this race. However, I am moving along on my plan with a few missed runs but getting my long ones in which are the most important of them. Total mileage for week 6 of 32.86 miles.

Pure Screamin’ Hell Race Report

The run started on the street with a mad dash to the woods. I got in behind a pretty slow group and since it was single track in the dark passing was more or less impossible. The first 2 miles were around 12 minutes each but when we got to the bottom of the hill there was a street crossing that allowed me the opportunity to pass about 10 people.

Plenty of room to run now but this is was also the base of the first major hill climb. I debated on running the entire hill but decided I would walk about 1/2 way up. Surprisingly I did not lose much ground to the bouncing lights I could see 100 feet in front of me.

Thinking the worst was behind me I settled down a lot and started to cruise. As it turned out the worst was yet to come. No more big climbs but constant up/down/up/down was exhausting. This little 6 to 12 foot moguls are a blast on a mountain bike...on foot, not so much. Really started taking a toll on my feet and knees about mile 5 and my legs were getting more jelly like with each pounding down and back up.

The other part that I struggled with was going downhill. As it turns out this is much more difficult to do that up. The trail was mostly covered with leaves which hid all of the roots, outgrowths and other things that laid in wait to send you head over heals. No way to open it up on the downhills for fear of twisting/breaking a limb. I managed to only fall once when my shoe caught a root and did not let go. Tore a hole in my shoe, brand new ones by the way, and sent me toppling down. This is the one time where the short downhills where a blessing as I stopped in the valley between them limiting my travel to only a few feet.

All in All a great race and I had a ton of fun. A little disappointed that my Garmin read 6.86 at the end instead of 6.66 but close enough.


This week includes the following runs.

Mon: 1.25 hours
Tues: .75 hours
Weds: 1.25 hours
Thurs: 1.25 Hours
Fri: Off
Sat: Siltstone Half Marathon – I don’t plan to “Race” this event since it falls into my training plan. Really just want to go at a nice and easy training pace and get familiar with what will be part of the final leg of my 50K. 3500 Feet of elevation change in this one so going fast is not really an option anyway. Should finish around 2:30 considering the elevation changes and plan to walk up the steeper ones to avoid injury. Calling for rain on Saturday at some point, hopefully it will hold off at least until I am done.

Have a good week

Ultra Marathon Plan

I have found my “A” Race for the Winter of 2011. Louisville’s own Lovin’ The Hills! It’s a 50K Ultra Marathon that winds through Jefferson Memorial Forest in Mid Feb. (date not set). Looking at an elevation chart that was posted online from a previous year it has roughly 14K feet of elevation change which I am honestly not even sure how to tackle at this point.

My current plan is to train as if I were running a Marathon and include lots of hill repeats and trail runs. In addition some light weight large rep/set leg strength exercises at least 1 time per week. Mostly I plan to “wing” it, because honestly where is the fun in having a detailed plan with no deviation. If you know me at all you know that I am not a Type A person so I built a plan as a guide and I have to meet the goals each week but things may change or come up during my training that keep me from doing it exactly as written.

I am on Week 2 now which is as follows…

Mon: 5 Mile Fartlek
Tues: 3 Mile Easy
Wed: 5 Mile Trail
Thur: 3 Mile Easy
Friday: Rest
Sat: 9 Mile Trail
Sunday: Off

Total: 25 Miles

I will likely mix in some swimming, cycling and other fun activities in there including doubling up on my weekday runs. Based on previous years results I am thinking that my finish should be around 6.5 to 7.5 hours. A trail race such as this with so many hill climbs and descents along with stream crossings and the possibility of inclement weather will require training to be on my feet as much as covering the distance.

With that in mind I will try to spend more time standing and walking during the training including at home avoiding the couch when I can. Difficult to do at work because of the type of job I have but I think I can make up for it partially by just staying on my feet at home.

If you would like to see my Official Plan you can follow the link below. Please feel free to comment as well since I admittedly know nothing of what I am getting myself into. 

http://www.theurbanprimate.com/p/marathon-plan.html

I will welcome sponsers if you are so inclined...:)

... vs. Cupcake

Confessional time...perhaps this will snap me out of my funk.

I have been at goal for about a year now. After review in Jan I determined that I could easily lose another 15 pounds or so. Well after about 8 months of trying and dropping at most 2 lbs to 173 I just cannot seem to drop it. More or less threw in the towel and spent the last couple of weeks sulking and whining. Back up to 177 this morning and have been eating things like popcorn and even had a cupcake yesterday! This was the first time any such treat has passed my lips in over 2 years.

Stepping back and look at this logically I can see that this is the part where many people start packing on the pounds again. How easy would that be to do at this point. I find myself trying harder each time some opportunity for a treat to say no and even then it no longer feels like a natural response but rather a forced painful decision. Why can’t I have a piece of cake? WTF! I mean I eat right all the time and coupled with exercise I should not have any problem managing a piece of cake or some ice cream.

Of course the logical side of me know exactly why I cannot afford to indulge but the human side is growing restless. That slope is not that steep, I pulled myself out once, I can certainly do it again?

In addition to getting lazy on my WOE I also finished up my last race for 2010 which has me a little in the dumps as well since there is really nothing to train for. Since I only found the time to do 1 Triathlon so it just seemed somewhat bitter sweet to cross the finish. Ughh…

Overall I am pretty disappointed in my progress this year regarding fitness and weight loss.

So as much as I enjoyed that brief slide down towards the abyss, I decided it was time to grab a root and hold on before it gains momentum. For now I have conceded to continuing by training to maintain fitness at a relatively moderate level. I will race the Hangover Classic 10 Miler on New Years Day again which gives me something to look forward to as well. Amy and I will be discussing in January on whether or not I will be doing a Full Ironman next year or limit it to a Half Iron. While both would be a lot of fun and I am not opposed to waiting on IM I just feeling a little lost on what the heck I am doing all of this for right now. IM is such a huge commitment of time for not only me but the entire family and there no way I would do it without knowing they were all onboard.

My favorite saying of late has been “Nobody goes to the park for a picnic and sets out their spread right next to a pile of dog shit on purpose. Stop worrying about the details and enjoy the good stuff”. While unintentional, I think I found the pile of poo and I need to find a clearing again.

BTW…that cupcake was gooooood! ;)