"Calories in versus calories out" does not offer a solution to obesity
If that statement is not controversial enough, how about (1) eating less and exercising more may never give rise to permanent fat loss, and (2) obesity is best viewed as a form of cancer as opposed to being caused by a lack of dietary willpower.
As the epidemic of obesity grows, it is obvious that simple slogans such as “calories in equals calories out” and “eating less and exercising more” neither explain the cause of obesity nor are the answer to the problem. People who become obese are genetically predisposed to do so. Those genes can be activated by recent changes in the diet that can be traced to the mid 1970s as the result of the U.S. government’s response to raise money by increasing the production cheap vegetable oils and cheap carbohydrates and then exporting it to pay for the rising cost of Mideast oil. Unfortunately, the combination of these two agricultural commodities generates increased production of arachidonic acid (toxic fat) that increases inflammation, especially in the fat cells. This increased inflammation leads to the development of a “fat trap” in genetically predisposed individuals.
With an active fat trap, incoming dietary calories are trapped in the adipose tissue (body fat) where they can’t be readily released to make sufficient ATP (energy) to drive the normal cellular activity. This causes the individual with an active fat trap to either eat more (they become a glutton), to make more ATP, or to exercise less (they become a sloth) to conserve existing ATP. Sloth and gluttony are not the causes of obesity, but the consequences of it.
Approximately one-third of obese individuals have no cardiovascular risk factors. In other words, they are fat, but surprisingly very healthy. Why? They have good fat: that is healthy fat cells that can expand and sequester increased formation of toxic fat to prevent it from attacking other organs. Unfortunately, the other two-thirds of obese individuals have fat cells that start to become sick and then die due to rising levels of stored toxic fat. The result is that stored toxic fat is released into the bloodstream like metastatic cancer cells to generate inflammatory lipotoxicity (damage) in other organs such as the smooth muscle cells, heart muscle cells, the liver, and the pancreas. Once that happens, you start to develop metabolic syndrome, heart disease, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes.
Understanding the impact of increased toxic fat on inflammation also indicates why eating less, and exercising more often fail to produce the expected results. First, the inflammation coming from increased toxic fat keeps the fat trap active. Second, toxic fat promotes the formation of hormones (endocannabinoids) in the brain that keep hunger constantly turned on. Little wonder then that virtually all long-term dietary trials demonstrate little permanent weight loss, let alone fat loss, in otherwise highly motivated subjects. And for the rest of the population, the fat keep getting fatter.
There is no drug that can reverse the formation of toxic fat, but an anti-inflammatory diet can. An anti-inflammatory diet is one that has a low-glycemic load (to reduce insulin secretion) with adequate protein (to increase PYY secretion to increase satiety which helps control hunger) and almost complete exclusion of omega-6 fatty acids to reduce the building blocks for the formation of toxic fat. When this diet is supplemented with high-dose fish oil to further dilute any existing toxic fat, then you begin the pathway back to better health.
The easiest way to reduce the glycemic load of the diet is simply to make your carbohydrates as colorful as possible. This means more fruits and vegetables and less grains and starches in your diet. The best way to avoid excess omega-6 fatty acids is to never use any vegetable oils. Simply replace all vegetable oils with olive oil. Finally the best sources of protein are low-fat protein such as fish, chicken, and very lean cuts of beef (less than 10% fat). For lacto-ovo vegetarians, they can use low-fat dairy products and egg whites. For vegans, they can use larger amount of soybean imitation meat products.
Dr. Barry Sears is a leading authority on the dietary control of hormonal response. A former research scientist at the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Sears has dedicated his research efforts over the past 30 years to the study of lipids. He holds 13 U.S. Patents in the areas of intravenous drug delivery systems and hormonal regulation for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. His research has elevated food from more than simply a source of calories to being recognized as an exceptionally powerful drug. He has written several best-selling diet and nutrition books including, The Zone, The Anti-Inflation Zone and his latest, Toxic Fat.
