Why Eating Fat Doesn't Make You Fat: Sources

Carbohydrates are the most accessible source of energy for your body, but they aren't the only one. For those interested in the mechanics of how fat can be used as an energy source instead of carbohydrates I recommend looking up Ketosis.<p>It is a huge misconception that "the more fat you eat the more fat you get." Simply having excess energy intake (from any source) will gain you weight -- although the energy requirements for body maintenance is different for everybody. Having a deficit will lose you weight. Of course it is a little more complex than this, but generalising like this makes it simpler to understand and follow.<p>Personally I keep a moderately low carb diet (I eat most of my carbs before strenuous exercise) and eat high protein/fat.<p>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis</a><p>- Alternate infographic about drinking carbonated drinks: <a href="http://imgur.com/w6C0s" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/w6C0s</a>

Sand.<p>Interestingly, I was recently on a diet that (along with some basic points system that reflected glycemic index/load goals) utilized some innocuous looking pills... which had, as a main ingredient, silica.<p>These pills worked... when I ate them regularly, I ate less without effort. On reflection this makes sense... perhaps our overly-cleansed (and refined) diet lacks a very basic ingredient that our digestive tract had evolved to utilize (not unlike birds' gizzards) and is now lacking?

This is the same thing UCSF Professor, Dr. Robert Lustig, says in his presentation, "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM</a>).<p>There is also a New York Times article on this entitled "Is Sugar Toxic?" (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.htm...</a>).

Whenever i read much of this anti-carb stuff, i'm always concerned about how different carbs affect the body. Taubes always blames the whole lot, but people like Lustig distinctly go after fructose. I get that carbohydrates probably affect the body in a negative light, but I certainly wish they would study sugars independently.

Excellent to see this, it's a western myth that eating fat makes you fat. It's carbs.<p>Carbs are cheap, carbs are bad for you and carbs are often marketed as health food.<p>We don't need carbs. We evolved eating meat and veg. Meat, veg and water is the perfect diet. It's hard to stick to that diet though as carbs are so highly accessible.

While Fat may not make you fat, all fats are not alike and some fats may be responsible for heart disease and cancer while others may actually be beneficial. This post by Kurt Harris does a good job of explaining why lumping together all fats is not a good idea: <a href="http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/1/29/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-macronutrient-part-i-fats.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/1/29/there-is-no-s...</a> (PS: Unfortunately, he doesn't cite studies, but with some googling you can find most of the studies).<p>Obesity itself is a complex topic and blaming it all on carbohydrates seems too simplistic. Over at whole health source, Stephen Guyenet has written a series of articles on the current state of research on insulin resistance - <a href="http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-causes-insulin-resistance-part-i.html" rel="nofollow">http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-causes-in...</a> Worth a read if you're interested in this topic.

For those who have not seen it, I highly recommend the documentary "Fat Head (2009)". It covers a wide variety of these issues in great detail but in very entertaining way!<p>Here's a Youtube link to it: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVEiYwFvKvU" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVEiYwFvKvU</a>

East Asians who eat two bowls of rice everyday must be the fattest people in the world then.<p>This article is so ridiculous.

<i>sigh</i> yet another chapter in "X is bad for you! No, wait, X is good for you! it's actually Y that's bad for you. No wait, it's actually Z!"<p>After decades of this I've decided they're all full of shit until someone can come up with extraordinary evidence to the contrary.

It's ridiculous to claim that you can eat as much protein and fat as you desire and not gain weight.

Technically, it is energetically easier to store dietary fat as adipose as opposed to carbohydrate.<p>The problem most people have is that they eat enough carb to satisfy their daily energy demands, and the fat they've eaten will be stored. Keep in mind that almost all muscle tissue and the brain prefer glucose (which usually comes from starch) over anything else, although some vital organs run mainly on fat, particularly at night.<p>Our digestive system is very efficient. The bottom line is this: if you eat more calories than you expend, you will gain weight.

We've known fat isn't fattening for years.<p>Its nonsense.

Insulin.