# Low-fat diets 'better than cutting carbs' for weight loss



## Northerner (Aug 14, 2015)

Cutting fat from your diet leads to more fat loss than reducing carbohydrates, a US health study shows.

Scientists intensely analysed people on controlled diets by inspecting every morsel of food, minute of exercise and breath taken.

Both diets, analysed by the National Institutes of Health, led to fat loss when calories were cut, but people lost more when they reduced fat intake.

Experts say the most effective diet is one people can stick to.

It has been argued that restricting carbs is the best way to get rid of a "spare tyre" as it alters the body's metabolism.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33905745

Sigh! Just when you thought they'd killed the low fat myth!  19 people? 6 days?


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 14, 2015)

As far as I know low fat is the way to go.  I've been doing minimal fat, no sugar and no salt.


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## AlisonM (Aug 14, 2015)

B******ks! I've lost more weight on LCHF than I ever did on low fat diets. I have reduced the amount of fat in my diet too, but when I did that on it's own, nowt happened. A more important consideration for me is the extra sugar piled into to many so-called low fat options, those are devoutly to be avoided.


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## Mark T (Aug 14, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> As far as I know low fat is the way to go.  I've been doing minimal fat, no sugar and no salt.


This infers you are on a protein only diet - chicken only?


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 14, 2015)

Mostly chicken.  Some white fish (cod, Pollack and Alaska Pollack), mackerel (omega 3, ok, some oil).  Still some beef (not corned, salt) (Fed up of diet without completely removing it.)
Peas, carrots, brockerly, tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower.  Bananas (cheapest fruit), apples, pears, occasional bit of pineapple or melon.
Potatoes, bread, rice and pasta.
Multi grain cereal, semi skimmed milk (only time I have any) breakfast only.  Or cornflakes.  Rarely porridge.  Did use to have mini shredded weat with fruit in.
No oils or fats used for cooking.  No chips, crisps, biscuits, cake, pies, pastry or pastries, James or sweets.

Ok, could be having less fat. Chicken is the largest proportion of the protein I have.  Listed largest proportion first, running down to lowest.  I've ended up having less omega 3 fish than recommended, so I'll have to look at that.

I am controlling fats and sugar more than potatoes, bread etc.  That's the advice I've had in the past.

I've lost 3 stone in the last year.  I've been doing less exercise & less strenuous exercise because of my genetic heart condition and previous silent heart attack and arrhythmias.


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## Mark T (Aug 14, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> ...Potatoes, bread, rice and pasta.  Multi grain cereal, semi skimmed milk (only time I have any) breakfast only.


These all contain sugars.  The carbohydrates breaks down into glucose which raises your BG levels.

Of course how much impact they have on you BG depends on your body and what you eat with them and can only be determined with a BG meter.


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 14, 2015)

Bloody phone changing jams to James.  Fed up of constant corrections.


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 14, 2015)

My understanding is that sort of thing is better than sugar sugar.  With sugar it just gets dumped into your blood as it doesn't need much processing.

I have been after some better & more information and advice on this since being diagnosed diabetic.  I've had nothing. Directly asked diabetes nurse. Sort of got health/balanced diet.
Diabetes UK said controlling carbs is for people who inject insulin.


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## heasandford (Aug 14, 2015)

Northerner said:


> Experts say the most effective diet is one people can stick to.



This is the most important sentence!


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## grovesy (Aug 14, 2015)

This study was on a small number of people!


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## Northerner (Aug 14, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> ...Diabetes UK said controlling carbs is for people who inject insulin.



This is true only in so far as a person on insulin needs to 'count' the grams of carbs they are eating in order to work out the appropriate insulin dose to inject. However, people who aren't on insulin still need to be aware of how much carbohydrate they are consuming - the appropriate amount will be dictated by what your body can tolerate, as I explained yesterday. For example, you may be OK with three small new potatoes, but five may push your levels too high, or a small banana may be OK, a large one a no-no


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 14, 2015)

I've got an appointment with a dietician and I'm giving Diabetes Nurse another go. Hopefully I'll get this sorted soon.



grovesy said:


> This study was on a small number of people!



Study!  Oh yes.  Small numbers (and first findings) is a reason to wait on further studies.

Individuals vary.  There was a program on radio 4 about Body Mass Index.  They said it doesn't tell you anything about an individual.  If you have 1000 people you may be able to say something about some of then.  Though not which ones.


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## Bloden (Aug 14, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> Bloody phone changing jams to James.  Fed up of constant corrections.



Strawberry james anyone? That's nothing - I don't know what phone / tablet Stephknits has got, but it comes out with some beauties. Can't remember any right now...


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## Bloden (Aug 14, 2015)

heasandford said:


> This is the most important sentence!



(the sentence was "the best diet is one you can stick to").

I agree! Avoid faddy diets, experiment with your carbs, and make sure you factor in some treats. My DSN is all "You can't have chocolate, you can't have cheese, you can't have nuts...EVER again!" I used to have binge-eating disorder which was caused by dieting and restrictions. My reaction to her was "You can't be serious!"

There's tons of (conflicting) dietary advice. You have to find what works for you. E.g. I read an article on mindful eating recently, which has resulted in me making more of an effort to combine flavours, textures, etc. It's not for everyone, but it's got me interested in cooking for the first time in my life. And that can't be bad!


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## Northerner (Aug 14, 2015)

Bloden said:


> ...There's tons of (conflicting) dietary advice. You have to find what works for you. E.g. I read an article on mindful eating recently, which has resulted in me making more of an effort to combine flavours, textures, etc. It's not for everyone, but it's got me interested in cooking for the first time in my life. And that can't be bad!



A few years back (before diabetes) I decided to go vegetarian - every day there seemed to be some horror story in the news and it was beginning to really put me off. So, I had to pay more attention to preparing my meals and what I was going to eat without meat being involved. I found it really useful. I did it for about two years, but then went back to meat when I broke my leg as I wanted to be sure I was getting everything I needed from my diet


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## heasandford (Aug 14, 2015)

this has turned into one of those excellent posts - where are DiabetesUK, reporting on how good the online Diabetessupport forum are!


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## Mark T (Aug 14, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> My understanding is that sort of thing is better than sugar sugar.  With sugar it just gets dumped into your blood as it doesn't need much processing...


Granular Sugar is typically 50% glucose and 50% fructose.  The glucose is used directly and the fructose has to be processed by the liver.  White bread has 100% glucose!

Not  all glucose is the same and there are things called the gi and gl index's which try to explain the impact of different types foods.


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## heasandford (Aug 14, 2015)

Whoa! White bread has anything from 35 to 50% carbohydrates which will convert to glucose very quickly ie has a high glycemic index but beware of how you say that it has 100% glucose!


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## Northerner (Aug 14, 2015)

heasandford said:


> Whoa! White bread has anything from 35 to 50% carbohydrates which will convert to glucose very quickly ie has a high glycemic index but beware of how you say that it has 100% glucose!



I think Mark meant to say that white bread has a GI of 100, whereas table sugar is about 70


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## heasandford (Aug 14, 2015)

I agree! It's easy to get carried away, says she who does regularly!


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## Mark T (Aug 14, 2015)

Yep, I should of been a bit clearer.

But just to make things complicated.  We are at different and you can't blindly say one thing will have the same effect in all cases.  So even gi/gl has its limitations.


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## Pumper_Sue (Aug 14, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> My understanding is that sort of thing is better than sugar sugar.  With sugar it just gets dumped into your blood as it doesn't need much processing.
> 
> I have been after some better & more information and advice on this since being diagnosed diabetic.  I've had nothing. Directly asked diabetes nurse. Sort of got health/balanced diet.
> Diabetes UK said controlling carbs is for people who inject insulin.



Well look at things in a logical way, if your pancreas is already up the creek with out a paddle why overload it even more and enabling it to sink?

No matter what type of diabetes you have you need to be carb aware.


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## Bloden (Aug 15, 2015)

Northerner said:


> I think Mark meant to say that white bread has a GI of 100, whereas table sugar is about 70



I was trying to explain to a very sceptical friend that white flour has more or less the same impact as sugar. Thanks for backing up my argument!


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 15, 2015)

I'm trying to get how it works with what I know (or thought I knew).  (I've have all this furniture to move and no name & number for the removal men.)
It's better to say and ask about things.


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## Northerner (Aug 15, 2015)

Ralph-YK said:


> I'm trying to get how it works with what I know (or thought I knew).  (I've have all this furniture to move and no name & number for the removal men.)
> It's better to say and ask about things.



I think that the one thing that struck me after diagnosis was that fruit juice wasn't great for diabetics as it's chock full of sugar!  And those 'Innocent' smoothies are far from innocent - absolutely loaded with sugar!


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## heasandford (Aug 15, 2015)

Yes, and the difficulty for the population at large is that 'sugar' alone is being demonised. 

If an orange had to have a label on it, it would have the same amount of sugar as orange juice, but the effect on most people's metabolism is completely different


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## Robin (Aug 15, 2015)

And fruit juice is sold in huge cartons, almost begging you to have a half pint glass of it. That's the equivalent of eating about ten oranges, I should think, ( and without the benefit of the fibre). When would you eat more than one whole orange at once?


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## Ralph-YK (Aug 15, 2015)

A couple of half pints!


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