I usually tell people that “I’ve been there.” My body type is “Endomorph,” which means losing fat is not easy and my body resists as much as possible. I was once a total gym newbie. I sought quick fixes to try and cut down and “tone.” I still tell people that “I’ve been there.” For some time I was eating no carb, tried nutrient timing diets, fasted cardio, and did all of these different things in an effort to lose fat as fast and efficiently as possible. None of it really helped, and after plenty of reading and research, I found that I was getting in the way of my goals. At this point, I eat a great deal of carbohydrates, and am still leaning out at the same rate (if not faster) than I was when I was eating paleo / no carb.
I have officially reduced every aspect of my nutrition and workout program to science– No more pseudoscience involved!
I now feel as though I have had a huge breakthrough in my life, and I want to do everything I can to spread the word to as many people as possible!
. . . Most won’t listen, though. So instead, I usually leave a long winded comment in the hope that just one person will do a little research and realize that there is a better way to reach your goals. I can definitely say that I wish someone had done that for me so I could have stopped wasting my time a long time ago. Case in point, this pin on Pinterest. This isn’t the first time I’ve debunked something from Pinterest, and it certainly won’t be the last. Protip: If you found the health / nutrition advice on Pinterest, there is a 95% chance it’s completely wrong or not helpful.
The whole infographic seems like an advertisement for paleo dieting / no carb dieting, as the main goal seems to be proving that eating a lot of dietary fat is okay. For the record, eating a lot of dietary fat is not bad; there are drawback to eating fatty foods, such as their high energy (calorie) content, but overall, you need to eat dietary fat. I digress. . . The author’s plan of attack is to demonize carbohydrates so that you’ll think, “The carbs are the reason I haven’t lost weight!” This is absurd, and I can’t let this stand. So, here we go; and I’m warning you. . . This is a long one:
Debunking “Carbs are killing you!”
- Claim: Insulin turns off fat burning. Debunked: It’s true that insulin turns off fat burning, but that’s perfectly okay. Fat burning (or lipolysis), is the primary metabolic pathway for the body– During periods of exertion, such as exercise, your body burns a combination of fats and carbohydrates for fuel. The rest of the day, and while you’re sleeping, your body is oxidizing fat for fuel; thus, the amount of time spent in a lipolytic state is far more than in a glycolytic (glucose burning) state. Plus, shutting off lipolysis isn’t a bad thing– When insulin levels are elevated, that means you’re fed. Your body is now digesting the food it was given, and is determining where it all needs to go. Insulin binds to different cells as a sort of valet, telling blood glucose to enter if needed. This is important for muscle tissue repair (and growth), for glycogen storage, and for performance, if consuming carbs during a long workout. If your body has any glucose left over, then it is stored as fat.
- Claim: Thinking of eating carbs will stimulate insulin secretion. Partially Debunked: Thinking of any food can actually stimulate insulin secretion, whether there are carbs in the dream meal or not. . . This was just another attempt to paint carbs in a bad light.
- Claim: Insulin is bad because it promotes fat storage; you will get leaner if you eat less carbs. Debunked: So the whole point of the pin is to show the cycle of how eating carbohydrates can make you “fatter.” They don’t go into detail about all of the great things carbs do, though:
- Glucose is the primary metabolic pathway for anaerobic activity– If you’re lifting weight or sprinting, your body needs carbs, otherwise it may cleave skeletal muscle, which it can deaminate to create glucose; thus, carbohydrates are incredible muscle sparing. Wouldn’t you rather eat carbs than have your body eat your muscle mass? Plus, skeletal muscle is what makes you appear lean, and if your body is consuming that for energy, you may lose weight, but not fat.
- Insulin drives nutrients into cells– This is why athletes consume carbs and protein after training.
- Carbohydrates can easily be converted to Glycogen, which is then stored in the muscles for later use. This makes energy readily available whether you’re fed or not, and whether the process is aerobic (primarily fat burning) or anaerobic (primarily glucose burning).
- Claim: Carbohydrates are completely responsible for insulin secretion. Debunked: The article conveniently fails to mention that protein also stimulates insulin secretion; if you’ve ever opted for a steak without the side of potatoes to avoid insulin secretion, you did not achieve your goal.
- Claim: Fats don’t make you fat. Carbs do! Debunked: Neither fats, nor carbs make you fat. . . Calories do. So many people get so caught up in their macronutrients, that they forget the most fundamental rule to fat loss: If you consume less calories than you use, you will lose fat. If you consume more calories than you use, you will not lose fat. Just ask Professor Mark Haub, who did an experiment and lost 27 pounds by controlling his calories while only eating snack foods (Doughnuts, twinkies, chips, etc.). You can read more about it here.
This infographic is seriously flawed, and tries so hard to draw conclusions and correlations that are either fallacious, or wrong. The most important takeaway is number 5 above: You can’t blame any particular food for inhibiting fat loss. . . It all comes down to calories in / calories out.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3894001
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1886890
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dietaryproteins.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/carbohydrates.html
http://www.as.miami.edu/chemistry/2086/chap25/chap25_newversion.htm
http://www.jacn.org/content/23/5/373.long
http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2012/05/29/jbc.M112.344259
http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/fatty-acid-oxidation.html
http://biology.about.com/library/organs/bldigestliver5.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermic_effect_of_food
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html