Health

Why counting calories and clean eating might not be the key to losing weight


When it comes to losing weight, we are bombarded with different types of diets, all promising to help us shed the pounds. Here, geneticist Dr Giles Yeo busts some common weight-loss myths.

Myth 1 – Counting calories is all you need to do

The basic truth of dieting holds true – to lose weight, you have to burn more energy than you eat.

Unfortunately, calorie counts aren’t an accurate way of knowing how much you’re taking on, says geneticist and BBC presenter Dr Giles Yeo.

Calories listed on the pack aren’t the same as the calories you can actually extract from food, which is something that varies hugely depending on how a food is processed.

Your body stores more calories at different times of the day

 

For example 100g of sweetcorn and 100g of ground sweetcorn turned into a tortilla have the same calories, but your body absorbs far more of them from the latter.

Time of day matters too.

You can eat the exact same meal for lunch or dinner, but your body is more likely to store the calories from the later meal as fat, because your metabolic rate is slower at night.

‘So don’t blindly count calories,’ says Dr Yeo.

‘Boring and difficult as it is, eating a little less of everything is still the answer.’

Myth 2 – Our bodies are designed to eat like our ancestors

One of the biggest weight loss trends is the ‘Paleo Diet’, which claims we should be eating like our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

This means consuming lean meat, fish, fruit and non-starchy veg, and avoiding ‘new’ foods, like dairy, grains and sugar.

The theory is, it’s compatible with our genetic make-up.

A big weight-loss trend is the Paleo Diet

 

However, it doesn’t add up, says Dr Yeo.

‘Humans didn’t evolve to eat only meat, we evolved to eat whatever was available.’

Grains aren’t a relatively new addition to our diet either – there’s evidence we were eating them 30,000 years ago.

And even if you did eat an animal-based diet, the meat you get in the supermarket is nothing like that hunted down by our ancestors.

That’s not to say you won’t lose weight on the diet, but Dr Yeo believes it’s largely thanks to its high protein content.

Protein is filling and has lower available calories – you use up nearly 30% of calories from protein just in digesting it, compared to 5-10% with carbs.

Myth 3 – You need to shift your fat cells

When you diet, you don’t actually lose fat cells.

The ones you have simply shrink.

We never lose our fat cells, even when we lose weight

This is good for you beyond how you look in the mirror, because fat cells don’t have an infinite capacity.

When you put on weight, they swell like a balloon until they’re full.

Any further fat has to go somewhere, so it ends up in places it’s not meant to be, such as your liver or muscles.

This then affects the function of these tissues and organs.

‘The body is being poisoned by fat,’ says Dr Yeo.

It’s why having liposuction is ‘one of the dumbest things you can do’, he adds.

When you remove fat cells, you’re reducing your body’s capacity to safely store fat and increasing the risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Myth 4 – Gene tests have all the answers

Genes definitely play a big role in our size and shape, says Dr Yeo.

There are more than 100 genes associated with weight

We now know there are more than 100 genes associated with weight, influencing everything from how hungry you feel to how quickly you burn calories.

It’s no wonder there’s been an explosion in genetic tests, which promise to get you one step ahead of the slimming game by offering personalised diet advice.

‘I do believe that “the perfect diet” for each of us is somewhere to be found in our genes,’ says Dr Yeo.

Sadly, right now, he thinks we’re a long way from getting that info from a test.

He points out they only test for a handful of genes for any one trait, and they’re not sophisticated enough to account for the way our genes interact with the environment in different ways.

Myth 5 – You need to eat clean

Ignore those bikini-ready women extolling the virtues of ‘eating clean’ and detoxing your body.

Gene Eating by Dr Giles Yeo

‘There is no scientific evidence to support the supposed benefits of detoxing,’ says Dr Yeo.

You don’t need to buy into expensive ‘cleansing’ regimes for the simple reason that your liver is already detoxing you – for free!

In fact, some ‘clean regimes’ may even make it harder for your liver to work.

‘Fruit juice contains a lot of sugar, and the fact it’s “natural” doesn’t make it better for you than the refined stuff from fizzy drinks,’ he says.

‘If you’re knocking back serious amounts of sugar, you’re actually putting your liver under extra pressure.

‘Ironic given that one of the juice cleanse claims is that it’s giving your liver a break.

‘Nothing could be further from the truth.’

Read More

Sunday Magazines





READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.