Monday, June 22, 2009

A secret of the elite: staying skinny

After my intercourse amongst the wealthy and powerful, I realized I forgot to post something I promised a few of you that I'd post: the secret to staying skinny.

Many people believe what they read: what supposed doctors say, what dieticians say, what governments suggest, what TV commercials push. The lies that these conspiratorial masses vomit on us haven't changed in decades, and most people still fall for it.

The lies are the following:
1. Eating fat will make you fat.
2. Exercise will make you skinny.
3. Calories matter.

All 3 of these things is a lie. Not just a little lie, but a big horrible lie. The wealthy and elite have known about it for 200 years. Hollywood has known about it for 100. To this day, most people still believe these lies. They waste their time at health clubs, they waste good flavor for horrible-tasting cardboard, they spend time counting calories and reading boxes. All for a great big lie.

When the FDA created the food pyramid, it was based on a lie. They did it to pander to the wheat and corn industry. When doctors propose counting calories, they do it for a lie. Fat people sell more medical services, more medicines, more long term profits for the medical industry as a whole. Health clubs push the lie, as do diet book writers. But it's a lie, and it's a lie that can be confirmed with very little effort.

There is only one thing that effect body fat: insulin. That's it.

A few people over the years actually discovered this to be true, and attempted to help others to acknowledge it. Dr. Atkins of the famed Atkins Diet was one, but he didn't go far enough, or he went to far. The Atkins Diet works wonders for weight loss and health, but it was sold to consumers in a way that caused boredom. The media (part of the liars and conspiracists) also fought the lower-carb way of living.

Dr. Taubes also wrote recently about it, clarifying the case for reducing one's insulin reaction to what we eat. Insulin in the body comes from a reaction to one thing: eating too much sugar or starch. The baddies are always the same: potatoes, bread, rice, ice cream, pancakes, pasta. These things either ARE sugar, or they convert to sugar quickly. When any of them touch the tongue, the body reacts to the soon-coming sugar rush by creating an insulin rush.

Here's the problem: processed foods confuse the body into creating too much insulin. When the sugar hits the gut, the insulin battles it, but there's too much insulin left. The reaction: we get tired. Know when you hit the 2pm doldrums? That's because you ate too much sugar and starch, fatty. After you overcome the insulin-created tired phase, you get hungry. The body wants you to eat MORE sugar to clear out the insulin. So you eat again, and then you create MORE insulin.

Insulin in the body also creates other side effects, mainly weight gain. When you eat so much crap (sugars and starches) the body stores ugly byproducts of that as body fat. It feels like it can protect against starvation by loading the body up with long term energy.

The medical industry found a wonderful way to sell more services and drugs by lying to people that calories matter. Calories don't. And because people THINK calories matter, they think that working out matters. It doesn't. When I lost 35# of fat (from eating too much sugar and starch for a year), I didn't work out AT ALL.

Many people think that eating 2500 calories in a day means they can work off 1000 calories in a day and only have 1500 calories to count. Wrong. They'll still get fat. Fat people won't get skinny. Working out CAN increase muscle mass, which may stretch out some of the fat to give yout he appearance of being healthy, but the fat will still be there. It won't get burned off as long as your body has sugars and starches from consumption in the blood.

I've seen it before: people thinking they can indulge in a pizza because they worked out hard that day. Sadly, that pizza will still convert to glucose in the body, and still add fat to your ass and belly. I'm not saying you can't eat pizza, or pasta, or bread, but you have to consider the short term effects those foods can and will have on your body's insulin reaction.

There are those lucky people who have bodies that adapt very well to consuming sugars and starches. They're a rare few, and yes you should be jealous of them. For the rest of us, we need to focus on foods that are lower in sugars and starches, especially if we're obese. I'm not saying jump on the Atkins Diet (which fails most people), but seriously focus on the effects of EVERYTHING you eat, and continue to find foods that don't effect you that way.

One way I gauge the effect of certain foods is by monitoring my belly after eating. If it's bloated, I ate too much starch. Your belly doesn't get big from eating too much food, just eating too much starch. Insulin has that effect. I can eat a 2# burger and not get bloated, but if I eat a 1/4# burger with a huge pretzel bun, it will bloat. Insulin-galore.

Note that I do think that working out strenuously is wise. It's heart healthy, and it makes you stronger overall. But the way MOST people work out makes little sense. They spend 30 minutes on a stair machine, working out the same muscles that get bored of the energy expenditure. If you're not pushing your muscles to failure, you're not working out properly.

Doing repetitive exercise IS good for your heart and lungs, but it won't help your fat problem. Neither will doing a few reps that cause your muscles to fail (and grow), but it will cause you to add some muscles to areas where your skin is loose and could use some definition. Exercise doesn't burn fat enough. It makes you hungry, which causes you to eat, and if you eat the wrong foods, you'll get fatter.

It's funny that the wealthy and powerful tend to know this (especially the young gals). It's also funny that Hollywood has ALWAYS know this (they have to stay trim, so it's in their best interest to keep it a secret). I only wish that other people knew this. We'd have fewer diabetics. Health care in the country would PLUMMET in cost (fat people cost the most, because they have the most service needs and drug needs). We'd be more active individuals as a whole, producing more with less energy. Food costs would fall as we wouldn't all be trying for the same unhealthy grains.

Still, there aren't many who believe me. Even if I point them in the direction of actual medical advancement that proves that sugars and starches are BAD and make you fat and lazy, they still want to listen to those who conspire against them. Their doctors, their governments, their diet advisors, their health club trainers. These people ALL have a financial interest in keeping you fat.

And that's the key to living independently of those who want to control you: believe no one. Trust no one who has a financial interest in the product of services you are paying for.

Instead, stick to a diet of healthy fats: cheeses, meats, fish, heavy cream, dollops of oil on everything. Stay away from the unhealthy products: "low fat" anything, "light" anything, "skim" anything. Bundle in GOOD vegetables: the darker the better.

If you want pasta or rice or potatoes, keep them to a fist-size or smaller. Add in more fats to offset the sugar rush. Don't be afraid of red meat or greasy cheeses. Good fat in your diet won't end up on your ass, but the pasta will.

If you're going to work out, don't JUST do repetitive exercises that increase your heart rate. ALSO work out muscles independently to the point of failure: low reps of ridiculously heavy weights. If I can lift a weight more than 5 times, it's too light. I prefer to burn my muscles out doing 3 reps, 3 times. My arms or legs or abs will be broken for a day, but they'll look huge in a week.

7 comments:

the new world said...

i don't know about that. each time i've lost serious weight (5-10 pounds, which when you weigh 120 is serious weight), i did it by counting calories. i also exercised. and i didn't eat more if i exercised more, the exercise was just additional. usually i'd limit myself to 1000 calories per day, assuming i'd go over a bit and hit 1200, which is what i'd have to eat to maintain a weight of 105 (according to the internet). it worked. i've definitely never lost weight by increasing my exercise but not eating less. and i always eat healthy anyway -- i don't really liked sugar/ starchy stuff in the first place -- so maybe this entry doesn't apply to me.

anyway, i do think people are just lazy and are always looking for some excuse to eat more and exercise less. losing weight is hard and it's not going to get any easier. also i think learning healthy eating helps people KEEP weight off more than stupid fad diets/workouts. one reason i think i've never actually been overweight (just borderline anorexic & weight obsessed!) is that i was not allowed to eat sugar or junk food or fast food growing up. the habit stuck, i guess.

by the way, you need a copy editor. the sentence "All 3 of these things is a lie" should be "All 3 of these things ARE lies." and the rest of the paragraph should also be plural. subject-verb agreement is important!

Melissa said...

I'm sorry, I just can't help the way I am. Please don't be jealous :P

delilah s. dawson said...

Intriguing. Although I am curious:

1. What about fruit?
2. What about milk/soy milk/almond milk?
3. Does this mean Lean Cuisine-type meals are the antithesis of diet food?

I recently lost 15 pounds, mainly through restricted calories, exercise, and utterly dropping all extraneous grains. I would much rather be eating cheeseburgers, I promise you.

Liz said...

I've gotten behind on reading your posts. Whoops.

I'm [almost entirely] with you but the one thing you said that makes me nervous is the part about eating lots of "healthy fats", referring to meats, whole-milk cheeses, heavy cream, etc. That stuff is laden with saturated fat and cholesterol and although some people's bodies can handle it without a problem (such as yourself, I'm assuming, or the inhuman bastard who's my climbing partner), the majority of people's can't. And, while one could be skinny and fit the majority of his/her life, his/her blood vessels and heart could be under extreme duress from the excessive animal products.

It's also funny that you mentioned that you do a belly check after you eat; that's exactly what I do. I've always kind of wondered if other people do the same thing.

ChicagoSane said...

Delilah:

Fruit is OK depending on how you eat it. MOST fruit is just juice, if eaten "normally." I eat oranges with the skin peel on. Otherwise, it's all sugar and sugar = bad.

Soy milk I resist because soy causes hormonal changes in men and women. I prefer coconut milk, which has ZERO sugar and tastes great.

Lean cuisine is all calorie counting and low fat, so it tastes like cardboard and is mostly sugars. Yuck.


Liz:

Saturated fat isn't bad for you. That's a myth. The vast majority of heart problems comes more from homogenized milk than from saturated fat. People who still drink homogenized milk are forcing tiny fat particles into their blood. Bad news. In fact, arterial plaque comes from SUGAR not fat.

If you read the entire Channing Laboratory at Harvard study by Dariush Mozaffarian et. al., they write:

The X-rays after 3 years showed that those women who had regularly eaten the highest amounts of saturated fats had the least amount of additional plague buildup in their arteries.

The women who ate more saturated fat also had a healthier balance of good and bad cholesterols, as well as more desirable blood concentrations of various kinds of fats.

The women's mean total fat intake made up 25% of their energy intake. During follow up, a higher saturated fat intake was associated with a smaller decline in minimal coronary diameter and less progression of coronary stenosis.

The Harvard researchers also examined the women's carbohydrate intake in relation to plaque progression. The women with the highest amounts of carbohydrates in their diets over the 3 years had the most plaque buildup. This was especially evident among women who ate a lot of low-fiber carbohydrates and those who had less physical activity.

Harley said...

I'm with Melissa - just biologically blessed!

If I started eating vegetables and seafood above all else my body would go into shock.

cheshirecat said...

You know what. Fuck this confusing shit. Honestly! If it isn't enough that we have magazine and tv forcing new health findings down our throat, now you're posting that they're all wrong. Enough is enough! I exercise at least 4 hours a week, eat 4 serves of fruit and 5 serves of veggies at least everyday plus I am 18 so my metabolism is fast. Now I'm the lightest and most toned I've ever been. Now I'm having dinner, brie, red wine and white baguette. Chances are when I next weigh myself nothing would have changed!