Its carbs! No. Its fat! No. Its sugar! No. Its a sedentary lifestyle. You name it, and its been blamed for the obesity epidemic. And entire diets have been devised, and followed in order to identify and solve the cause of obesity.
Unfortunately, we, as a population are as obese as ever, and none of the diets really solve that. Actually, thats not true. All diets solve it in the short term, but very few people follow these diets in the long term.
So what is it that really causes us to get fat? Thats what Ill cover in this article, and Ill reveal that at the end. WAIT! Dont scroll to the bottom yet. I want to leave some suspense, and do a little mythbusting, before uncovering the real (obvious) reason why we get fat. Here, well cover:
- Why carbs dont make us fat
- Why fat doesnt make us fat
- Why even sugar doesnt make us fat
- What does make us fat
Why Carbs Dont Make Us Fat
Several authors and approaches have been devised around the insulin theory of weight gain (the most notable ones being Atkins, Bernstein and Poon). The theory goes like this: when we eat lots of carbs (pasta, potatoes, bread, rice, etc.), insulin spikes. When insulin rises, it traps fat inside the fat cells, so even if you eat low calories, but the carbs make up a large proportion of those calories, youll stay fat.
Good theory. Not so good in practice. Why? Because if carbs and insulin were the cause of fat gain, then lowering insulin should result in fat loss. So thats what researchers decided to investigate in this study. They recruited 35 overweight or obese participants who had high insulin levels. They divided them into 2 groups. People in one group were given an insulin-lowering medication, and people in the other group were given a placebo (they were told it lowered insulin, but in reality, it did nothing). At the end of the study (8 weeks), there was no difference in fat loss or gain between those receiving the insulin-lowering medication, and the placebo.
One meta-analysis (a study of several studies) compared low-carb to low-fat diets, and the grand conclusion was in the words of the researchers: Low-carbohydrate, non-energy-restricted diets appear to be at least as effective as low-fat, energy-restricted diets in inducing weight loss for up to 1 year. Translation: theres no difference in fat loss between low carbs and low fats.
Taking things out of the research realm, and into real life, lets think about it most of the world is on a high carb diet. Asians eat rice, Europeans eat potatoes, and South Americans eat corn and/or beans. All sources of carbs, carbs, and more carbs. And yet, Asian, European (except for UK) and South American countries on average have much lower obesity rates compared to Canada, US, and UK. Hmm I guess those other countries didnt get the memo that carbs are supposed to cause fat gain.
If you want to see more busting of low carb myths, you can read the article that I wrote on that topic here.
Why Fat Doesnt Make Us Fat
So if carbs dont make us fat, it must be dietary fat (cashews, avocados, butter, etc.). The theory goes protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram. But fat has 9 calories per gram. This is correct. But then to conclude that dietary fat makes us fat is also incorrect.
Again, looking back at the meta-analysis on low carb vs. low fat diets, the researchers found no difference. In another study, the researchers found the same thing. They concluded that there were no differences observed between the two diet groups at 3 or 6 months.
So butter up that bagel.
Why Even Sugar Doesnt Make Us Fat
By now, you must be thinking its not carbs, because there are healthy carbs out there, like whole grains, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc. And its not fat either, because there are healthy fats out there, like salmon, nuts, avocados, etc. I know its sugar! Sugar makes us fat.
Plus, there are holistic zealots out there saying that sugar has an impact beyond just the calories in it (4 calories per gram). They say that because of the hormonal effect of sugar, it makes you gain weight beyond what would be expected based on its caloric content. Nice theory. Sounds good. But doesnt hold up to scientific scrutiny.
In one study, researchers divided participants into 2 groups: one group ate a low sugar diet (10% of daily calories), and one group ate a high sugar diet (25% of daily calories). But both groups had the same number of calories. Just the composition of those calories was different. After 6 weeks on this diet, there was no change in weight between the high sugar group, and the low sugar group.
Another study found the same thing: that as long as calories are the same, there was no difference in weight between people who ate a lot of sugar or a little sugar.
Blasphemy, I know.
Now, dont take that to mean that sugar is a health food. Its not. In these studies, I only mention how they affect weight, because thats what this article is about. I dont touch on how they affect other markers of health (like inflammation, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc.). Strictly speaking about weight, when calories are controlled, sugar has no effect on weight.
What Does Make Us Fat
Its not carbs, fat, or even sugar. So what does make us fat? Its the most obvious thing in the world excess calories. It doesnt matter whether those calories come from fat or carbs. If you need 2000 calories per day to maintain your weight, and you eat 2100, youll gain it, and it doesnt matter what the composition of those 2100 calories is.
But that begs an even deeper question why do we eat excess calories? Why are we eating more calories now, compared to say, 30 years ago? Now youre asking good questions, my friend.
We know that when calories are controlled in a laboratory setting, there are very few differences between low fat and low carb diets. But thats the thing we dont live in a laboratory, so calories arent strictly controlled. We eat what we want, when we want, in whatever quantities we want. And its largely the job of the food industry to influence what we want.
So I give a nod to the spice girls for asking the question so tell me what I want, what I really really want. And if youre wondering did Igor just reference the Spice Girls in his article? Yes, yes I did. It cant just be Modern Talking all the time. Oh wait. Look what I did there.
Anyways, there are literally scientists, studying the process of addiction in the brain. They look at the brains of heroin addicts, cocaine, etc., and see what areas of the brain are responsible for addiction. Then, they try to reverse engineer that, and figure out how to make food have the same effect, so as to cause addiction. And the formula is ridiculously simple:
Sweet + rich + artificial flavours/colours = food addiction
Think about it this way: in nature, if a food is sweet (like a banana), its not rich as well. If a food is rich (like an almond or avocado), its not sweet. And there are certainly no artificial flavours/colours in nature.
But combine those 3 elements, and you have addiction. Want some examples? Ice cream! Cookies! Pastries!
How often do you sit down with the intention to have just a little ice cream, or just one cookie, and end up putting away more than you planned? Ill bet its pretty often. On the other hand, when was the last time you sat down to eat an apple, and found yourself eating 5 apples instead of the 1 that you planned? Doesnt happen that often.
So now, my enlightened friend you know the surprising truth about why we get fat. Tell your friends
