{"id":4903,"date":"2021-10-29T12:33:22","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T12:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=4903"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:33:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T12:33:23","slug":"why-calorie-counting-doesnt-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=4903","title":{"rendered":"Why Calorie Counting Doesn’t Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A team of 17\ninternationally recognized scientists published a paper supported by more than\n169 journal references, proposing that the current obesity epidemic is not\ncaused just by taking in too many calories (Am J Clin Nutr<\/em>, September 13, 2021).\nThey believe that obesity is caused primarily by hormonal changes brought on by\neating refined carbohydrates and sugar-added foods. These foods cause a high\nrise in blood sugar that markedly:
\n\u2022 increases insulin secretion that makes you hungrier (N Engl J\nMed<\/em>, 1971;285(8):443-9), and
\n\u2022 decreases glucagon secretion that functions to make you feel full, so you\nkeep on eating (Trends Endocrinol Metab<\/em>, 2018;29(5):289-99).
\nInsulin also causes changes in metabolism that signal fat cells to store more\nfat (Obesity<\/em>, 2020;28(11):2098-106). These studies do not\nrecommend restricting all carbohydrates, just those that cause high rises in\nblood sugar (Science<\/em>, May 7. 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are Unrefined and Refined Carbohydrates?<\/strong>
\nUnrefined carbohydrates are parts of plants that have not been stripped of\ntheir other outer coatings, ground up and otherwise changed before you eat\nthem: whole fruits, vegetables, un-ground\nwhole grains<\/a>, beans, nuts and other seeds. Refined carbohydrates are plant\nparts that have had basic components removed or have been ground into flour:\nall extracted sugars, bakery products, pastas, most dry breakfast cereals and\nso forth. Fruits can contain a lot of sugar, but they are considered unrefined\nbecause they have soluble fiber and antioxidants that markedly reduce the rise\nin blood sugar when you eat them (Exp Ther Med<\/em>, Aug, 2016;12(2):\n1232\u20131242)..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Need Carbohydrates<\/strong>
\nCarbohydrates are usually the main source of energy for our bodies to function,\nwhile protein provides amino acids to grow and repair our cells. Carbohydrates\nare sugars in singles and combinations of up to millions of sugars bound\ntogether. Humans can absorb only single sugars. Most unrefined carbohydrates\ncontain many sugars bound together, and we lack the intestinal enzymes to break\nthem down. Most of the carbohydrates in vegetables, unground whole grains,\nbeans, nuts and other seeds cannot be absorbed from the upper intestinal tract\nso they pass all the way to the colon where bacteria do have the enzymes to\nferment them and break them down to short\nchain fatty acids or SCFAs<\/a> (Proc Nutr Soc<\/em>, 2015;74:13-22). These\nbyproducts of fermentation by bacteria in the colon cause good bacteria to grow\nin the colon, which reduce inflammation<\/a>\nthat contributes to heart attacks, diabetes, cancer, and obesity (World J\nGastroenterol<\/em>, 2011;17(12):1519-1528). They also lower high blood\npressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence Linking Refined Carbohydrates and\nObesity<\/strong>
\nOverweight people who eat mostly whole foods rather than processed foods can\nlose weight without counting calories or restricting portion sizes:
\n\u2022 A study from Stanford showed that restricting processed foods, particularly\nadded sugars and other refined carbohydrates, is more important for weight loss\nthan going low-carb or low-fat (JAMA,<\/em> Feb 18, 2018;319(7):667-679).
\n\u2022 A study from the University of Aberdeen showed that eating whole plants\nrather than refined plant foods, such as those made from flour or with added\nsugars, results in far more healthful intestinal bacteria than a diet with high\nprotein or added amino acids (European Journal of Nutrition,<\/em>\nFebruary 20, 2018:1-12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Recommendations<\/strong>
\n\u2022 What you eat may be far more important than how much you eat.
\n\u2022 Obesity increases risk for heart attacks, cancers, diabetes and premature\ndeath.
\n\u2022 Counting calories or trying to limit portion sizes have been repeatedly shown\nto fail to control weight in the long run.
\n\u2022 Studies on colon bacteria are showing that eating lots of unrefined\ncarbohydrates from plants and avoiding refined carbohydrates, such as\nsugar-added foods and drinks and foods made from flour, can help people lose\nweight and keep it off.
\n\u2022 I recommend eating plenty of vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts and other\nseeds, and whole fruits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of 17 internationally recognized scientists published a paper supported by more than 169 journal references, proposing that the current obesity epidemic is not caused just by taking in too many calories. They believe that obesity is caused primarily by hormonal changes brought on by eating refined carbohydrates and sugar-added foods. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[123,1045,1049,300,52,1046,1047,454],"class_list":["post-4903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-blood-sugar","tag-calorie-counting","tag-glucagon","tag-insulin","tag-obesity","tag-portion-control","tag-portion-size","tag-sugar-added-foods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}