The Healthy Indian Diet
  • Home
  • Books
  • Eat Healthy
  • Recipes
  • Blog

More important than number of calories is where they come from

7/24/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
A recent New England Journal of Medicine paper by Harvard nutrition researchers and physicians has been getting a lot of attention largely because of how it links various habits and specific foods to weight gain and loss. The NY Times recently covered it with its thesis being that more important than number of calories is the source of those calories. 

In other words, 200 calories of wild-and-brown rice will affect our bodies differently than 200 calories of white rice, although the number of calories are the same, because of the the nature of brown rice (which has fiber and nutrients like whole grains in general) is different than the nature of white rice (which doesn't, thus making it an easily-digestible or "bad" carb). Click below to read more.


The idea that the source of calories instead of number of calories is what counts for weight gain is a radical departure. To quote, "This study shows that conventional wisdom — to eat everything in moderation, eat fewer calories and avoid fatty foods — isn’t the best approach," Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the study, said in an interview.


He continues, "There are good foods and bad foods, and the advice should be to eat the good foods more and the bad foods less... The notion that it’s O.K. to eat everything in moderation is just an excuse to eat whatever you want." And weighing in the debate on whether diet or exercise matters more, Dr. Walter Willett (a researcher I'm a fan of) says, "Both physical activity and diet are important to weight control, but if you are fairly active and ignore diet, you can still gain weight." 

Although covered in a past blog post, here is the list of bad foods (in terms of weight gain) again: "Other important contributors were potato chips (1.7 pounds), sugar-sweetened drinks (1 pound), red meats and processed meats (0.95 and 0.93 pound, respectively), other forms of potatoes (0.57 pound), sweets and desserts (0.41 pound), refined grains (0.39 pound), other fried foods (0.32 pound), 100-percent fruit juice (0.31 pound) and butter (0.3 pound)."

Regarding good foods (in terms of weight loss), "[and] despite conventional advice to eat less fat, weight loss was greatest among people who ate more yogurt and nuts, including peanut butter, over each four-year period... That yogurt, among all foods, was most strongly linked to weight loss was the study’s most surprising dietary finding, the researchers said. Participants who ate more yogurt lost an average of 0.82 pound every four years." (This is why dahi (yogurt) is part of the Healthy Indian Diet. See the recipe here for a cool dahi-based summer drink.)
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Book

    Paperback book
    Amazon.com
    Barnes & Noble

    E-Book
    Amazon Kindle
    Apple iPad/iPhone
    B&N Nook
    Smashwords

    Author

    Niraj "Raj" Patel, M.D.

    Picture

    Contact

    info@healthyindiandiet.com

    Archives

    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All
    Brown Rice
    Healthy Fats
    Healthy Indian Recipes
    Interviews
    Legumes
    Lose Weight
    Low Bad Carb
    Miscellaneous
    Plant Based Foods
    Plant-based Foods
    Research
    Reviews
    Spice
    Sugar
    Talks
    Tips
    Traditional Diet
    Whole Grains

    RSS Feed

    Disclaimer: The facts, advice and opinion on www.healthyindiandiet.com are based on scientific evidence published in journals. However, no content should be construed as medical advice. You should seek the counsel of your physician before making changes based on the content, especially if you have a medical condition.  
This site is for people who want to eat healthy and love Indian food. Consult your physician before making changes to your diet. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the publisher or authors assume any liability for consequences to persons or property arising out of or related to any use of the material on this website.
(c) 2010-2016 Surya Health Press
Contact us at info@healthyindiandiet.com.
Photos used under Creative Commons from rocketjim54, Charles Haynes, cyclonebill, Svadilfari, jeffreyw, Bordecia34