Fat in Foods

For so many years, many diets have come and gone. As I write this, one of the popular diet philosophies is a "low fat, high carbohydrate" routine as written by the USDA. This diet was introduced in 1992 and it was intended to help Americans make healthier eating choices that would reduce the risk of chronic disease. It recommends that we eat minimal amounts of fat and oils and increase carbohydrate intake. The intentions were good. They were trying to simplify a diet so that Americans would understand a healthy method of eating. As a matter of fact, you are probably familiar with the ever so popular "Healthy Diet Pyramid" as shown.

What they didn't take into consideration is that yes, some fats are bad, but not all fats are bad. The American Heart Association was concerned that the public could not differentiate between the saturated fats found in man made fats and in meat and dairy products and the polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils and in fish. Saturated fats raise cholesterol levels in the blood which blocks the arteries to the heart and is responsible for a significantly higher risk of heart disease. However, the polyunsaturated fats were looked at in a controlled feeding study in the 1960's and were actually found to reduce cholesterol. Instead of teaching us the differences between the "good" fats and the "bad" fats, the American Heart Association assumed the public could not distinguish between the fats that were helpful and those that were harmful. Therefore, they systematically told us to dramatically reduce the amount of fats that we were eating. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the population listened. Between the 1970's and 1994 fat consumption was reduced by 14% however obesity increased by a full 32%! We were eating less fat, but getting fatter than ever. Not only that, but according to the March 1997 American Journal of Medicine, calorie consumption during that period was also reduced by 10-15% yet weight gain and modern diseases related to that problem including heart disease and Type II Diabetes were also significantly increased.

Food manufacturers responded to the demands for low fat, high carbohydrate eating and produced billions of dollars worth of low fat, high carbohydrate foods. And we ate those foods. And ate them and ate them and ate them. But did we get thinner and healthier? The answer is no. As a matter of fact, obesity in this country has increased by 50%. It affects over 61% of adult Americans. Overweight and obesity in our country affects over 127,000,000 adults which is 64.5% of the population. We pay a high price for this obesity as it is responsible for at least 300,000 excess deaths in the United States every year and the healthcare costs associated with obesity are approximately $100 billion and according to a 1998 study, use $51.64 billion of direct medical costs.

To determine if you are obese, overweight or not, you need to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) which is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obese, and a BMI of 25-29.9 is considered overweight. To calculate your BMI do the following:

Weight divided by height in (inches) squared x 704.5 - BMI

The question is what happened when Americans started reducing the amount of fat intake? At first, food manufacturers offered foods that were high in fiber. However, people didn't like the taste so they didn't buy these products. Then the manufacturers started producing high carbohydrate, low fat foods and consumers were thrilled. There were even waiting lists for Snackwell cookies when they were introduced! People concerned about their weight and health started snacking on rice cakes, low fat cookies, pretzels, baked potato chips and more. Sales went up and so did the population's weight! Between 1991-2000, obesity has increased by 61% according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Carbohydrates and Insulin

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, which means carbon dioxide combined with water, are derived from the starchy part of plant foods and are defined as compounds composed of sugars. They are found in breads, grains, cereals, fruits and vegetables in the plant world, but also are found in dairy and soy products. When a carbohydrate is eaten, it is turned into a form of sugar that the body can use called glucose. Glucose is carried by the blood to every cell in the body and used for energy. If too much glucose is in the blood, it will come together with other glucose units to form glycogen. The glycogen units are then stored.

How Insulin Works
When you eat carbohydrates, blood sugar goes up and insulin is produced. Insulin converts the blood sugar into usable energy which it carries to the cells that need it. Insulin also keeps blood sugar in check so that there is never too much. Carbohydrates are converted into glucose and the glucose triggers the body to release insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone. Excess insulin works against weight loss in several ways. First, if there is more insulin in the body than can be used, the body is forced to burn the cell’s glucose instead of body fat. In other words, it will burn the glucose first, and store the fat which causes weight gain and obesity. Also, any excess glucose that cannot be stored in the liver or in the muscles is converted into body fat. In other words, when there is too much insulin, not only does the body not burn fat, but it tells the body not to use the fat as energy. Therefore, the more insulin you have in your body, the more your body will resist using body fat as an energy source as it is being given the message to hold onto the fat from the high insulin levels.

This was a protective mechanism important for survival thousands of years ago when food wasn’t in constant supply. During those times, people would eat, and then might not have the opportunity to eat again for days at a time making this storage mechanism a brilliant aid in survival of the species. However, today there is an abundance of food always available. Therefore, producing too much insulin serves a double whammy against your health. Not only does it tell the body to store excess glycogen as fat, it also tells the body not to use the fat as an energy source but to store it. The excesses in today’s food supply is a relatively new phenomenon that the body is not designed to deal with. The only thing it knows to do, is to turn the excess food into fat which it can do endlessly.

In order to lose weight, its important to cut back on your carbohydrates and your calories at each meal, since both of these factors increase the production of insulin. By using Stash’s Diets To Your Door, you can learn how to make the right choices of carbohydrates and the right amounts of food types in order to insure weight loss.