The first part of the BBC series The men who made us fat was great, revealing the disastrous mistakes behind the fear of fat.
This second part – on the supersizing of our food – is not as great. But it’s still interesting. The problem is that they interview mostly experts stuck in an old paradigm. They fear calories and “calorie-dense” foods. But there’s nothing wrong with calorie-dense food, as long as it’s high quality food:
Quantity or quality?
Just about nobody got fat from eating meat, fish, eggs or olive oil. In fact, when told to eat as much of such food as they like, obese people lose weight quickly. More effectively than on other diets. Even though these are some of the most calorie-dense foods there are. Much more calorie-dense than French fries or donuts.
It just doesn’t add up. There has to be a better explanation – and there is.
It’s not the quantity of calories that is a problem. It’s the quality. Why? Because eating high quality food makes you feel satisfied, makes you eat less calories voluntarily.
But eating low quality food (sugar and starch) makes you hungrier, makes you want to eat too much. And pretty soon you’re happily supersizing your food and gaining weight.
What do you say?
What did you think about this second part?
Conspiracy? Yes, of course, because we Germans are not allowed to watch the live-stream on BBC sites.... LOL!
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"If portion-size and calorie-density are the keys to obesity then surely all a person trying to gain "weight" needs to do is chug down on 2 litre bottles of olive oil... any volunteers."
So true. When I started my own journey, I began by reading Taubes. He introduced me to the study that showed how people actually won't overeat without the sugar, soda & white flour. Of course i didn't believe it - who would?
And yet I remembered when I was a child, those great holiday dinners with my family and how full I used to feel, pushing away the plate. "Don't eat too much or you'll get sick, your tummy will hurt," grandma used to say. And it was true - I would feel full. Why didn't I feel the same way anymore?
Why was I unable to finish a second plate of turkey, gravy and ham with green beans, pumpkin, and fruit salad "ambrosia," but now easily chowed down many pieces of "French" bread, pasta, potato chips, diet soda, low-fat "cookies," "healthywholegrain" granola/muesli, sugary low-fat yogurts, low-fat "ice milk"? Taubes claimed the difference was the fat, or the lack of fat, and the replacement with sugar.
So I tried the butter test. I got out 1/2 pound of butter and tried to eat it with a spoon. I highly recommend everyone actually try this test themselves. Put the butter on a plate, sit at the table. Just start eating at a normal pace, don't force yourself, have a glass of water to help you out.
i literally couldn't eat more than 4 tablespoons (1/4 c) butter. Not only did I feel full - for the first time in a very long time - I actually felt a bit disgusted. So I stopped eating.
It's really a revelation. You really can't over-eat fat. Your body won't let you, as long as don't force-feed it or cram it down. If you sit down and just eat normally, your body will stop you. Even if you don't trust your body, it will work for you. That's the amazing part.
I suggested this test to a guy a work, who managed 5 tablespoons before he too felt disgust. It really does work. And I came away convinced that for those of us trying to lose weight, fat absolutely had to be the mainstay of the diet to avoid overeating.
You can easily meet people who gain weight eating "real food." And when you talk them about what they actually ate, you'll hear they mostly ate too much protein, often nuts or processed sausages. It's possible to gain weight eating too much protein and too many nuts, so the emphasis absolutely has to be on fat at a minimum of 60%, I do believe. You will sometimes meet people who binge on fruit, but they seem to be a little more rare.
I think you have missed the point of many of the comments here: humans (and rats for that matter) do NOT eat more simply because they are confronted with larger portions.
For ALL animals when offered our natural diet, in whatever sized portions, we will naturally stop consuming when the body is satisfied -- biochemistry NOT behaviour is the ultimate driving force... physiology rather than psychology, if you prefer those terms.