The energy balance theory of weight gain is a clever propaganda ruse. Spread surreptitiously by the food industry and the diet industry (really one in the same) deep into the subconsciousness of the general population, this theory is poison. Based on the erroneous principle that energy regulation in the human animal is simple, the energy balance theory of weight gain states that if you eat it and don’t burn it, you store it. In other words if you eat too much food, and don’t perform endless amounts of aerobic exercise, you will become fat. Like all good lies, this whoppa is based on a grain of truth, but the science surrounding its principles are so distorted and twisted that they bear no relationship to the data that is actually in the literature. The main premise of the theory is that people eat too much and do too little (hence why I also call this the ‘eat-too-much, do-too-little’ theory of weight gain) and this is why they are fat. The solution we are told is to stop eating so much food and perform aerobic exercise to burn off excess body fat.
When energy restriction and aerobic exercise fails, the blame is always placed in the hands of the overweight individual. The idea that they must have cheated and not stuck to their plan is often given as an excuse by the corporate weight loss industry for a reason as to why their ‘diets’ fail. ‘If they could just try a little harder and run a little further, they would be rewarded with achievement of their goals’. However, this is of course all nonsense and is not supported by scientific evidence. In fact there are hundreds of studies dating back decades that show that forced exercise regimens, and forced starvation (which is what dieting is) do not cause successful long term weight loss. In fact such regimens are damaging to the health and produce serious long term metabolic damage to individuals who are already in a state of metabolic turmoil. The reason that calorie counting energy restrictive diets and aerobic exercise do not cause successful long term weight loss is because eating too much is not the cause of weight gain.
That’s right I said it. Eating too much is not what causes weight gain. Weight gain is caused by eating too much of the wrong types of foods. By that I mean the low quality processed and nutrient poor foods, the very foods peddled by the food industry and the diet industry to keep us fat. These foods are physically addictive (in the same way as drugs can be) and this makes massive profits for the food industry. They also keep us fat, which means we always come back to the diet industry, and this makes them massive profits. Everyone wins but the overweight individual. Now it is not that these foods cause weight gain because of their energy content. These foods cause weight gain because of the nutrients they lack, including micronutrients and fibre, and also because of the metabolic poisons they contain. The vitamin and mineral deficiencies they cause along with the additional metabolic damage from their trans fat, chemical and fructose components leads to insulin resistance, the driver of weight gain and obesity.
If low quality foods cause weight gain, the key to weight loss is to eat high quality foods. In this respect, it has been shown on numerous occasions in the nutritional literature that weight loss is perfectly possibly by simply eating higher quality foods, even in the absence of any calorie restriction or exercise. The Mediterranean diet for example has been shown to cause weight loss in subjects without the need for any other lifestyle changes (here). In a more recent study, the Nordic diet has also shown these same properties. In this latter study1, researchers took 181 individuals with abdominal obesity (central obesity indicating the presence of insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome), and fed them either a normal Western Danish diet or a New Nordic Diet. The New Nordic Diet is characterised by high amounts of fresh fish, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and is based on the traditional Nordic diet. In contrast the Western Danish diet resembles the typical Western diet containing processed and refined foods.
The subjects were not requested to restrict dietary intake and all foods were provided free of charge for the 26 week study. Following the intervention period the researchers reported that those individuals on the Danish Western diet had lost 1.5 kg in weight. This sort of weight loss is not surprising as any intervention usually has some weight loss effects initially due to the attention presented from the researchers. However, this was small compared to the 4.7 kg lost by the individuals consuming the New Nordic Diet. Those on the New Nordic Diet also experienced significant reductions in systolic blood pressure (-5.1 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (-3.2 mmHg) compared to those on the typical Danish diet. Subjects on the New Nordic Diet also had greater reductions in waist circumference, hip circumference, sagittal diameter, and body fat mass. These subjects were all allowed unlimited access to food and yet lost 4.7 kg in weight in just 26 week, which equates to about 0.4 lbs per week weight loss.
Dr Robert Barrington’s Comments: The fallacy that energy restriction and exercise are required for weight loss is ingrained in the psyche of the general population. The belief that ‘diets’ cause weight loss are the reason for the failure of most to lose weight. The paradigm that a diet is a temporary phenomenon that can followed until a desired weight is achieved, at which point normal eating habits can be resumed is unfortunately the one adopted by the vast majority of people. Weight loss is actually very easy and takes little effort, save for the abandonment of Western foods and the adoption of traditional eating practices. Such traditional eating practices reverse the insulin resistance that causes weight gain, and allows reductions in body fat levels through the natural appetite and energy regulatory mechanisms that are present in us all. The key to weight loss is reversing insulin resistance, and the key to reversing insulin resistance is eating high quality foods.
RdB
