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.
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.)
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.)
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