How can I lose weight quickly?
How can I lose weight quickly?
These science-backed tips can help you lose weight sustainably
Even saturated fat – the kind found in steak, butter, and ice cream and long considered a dietary villainmay not be quite as bad for us as we thought. Recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine and elsewhere have found that the Atkins Diet, rich in protein and saturated fat, promotes more weight loss and better cholesterol levels than high carbohydrate, low-fat diets. See Losing Weight Naturally - Diet Books - Worth Their Weight.
The bottom line. “Not all fats are bad, and some are absolutely essential,” says Dr. Willett. Numerous studies of healthy populations in places such as the Greek island of Crete have convinced him that you can safety get a whopping 40 percent of calories from fat – as long as nearly all of it is “good” fat from fish, avocados, nuts, olives, flaxseed. Not all experts agree on that point, but just about all are in accord that some fats are indeed good for your heart and your waistline, so they shouldn’t be relegated to the pyramid’s tippy-top.
There is one kind of fat that just about everyone now agrees we should avoid: the synthetic type known as transunsaturated fatty acids, or trans fats. Harvard studies conducted during the 1990s revealed that these fats, found in margarine and countless packaged foods, may be especially bad for the heart. Trans fats, which are produced when liquid vegetable oil is hydrogenated to make it solidify, are used to prolong the shelf life of processed foods and contribute to the taste and texture of the crackers, chips, baked goods, and fried foods that so many of us know and love.
Until the 1990s, we were told that such man-made trans fats were healthier than saturated fats, so many people switched from butter (a saturated fat) to margarine. Yet Dr. Willett and his colleagues showed that trans fats raised levels of LDL and triglycerides, the molecules that make up fat, while lowering levels of HDL. Raising the ratio of LDL to HDL increases the risk of heart disease. Although controversial at the time, the “trans fats are bad” message is now mainstream. In late 2002, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) declared trans fats unsafe, and the FDA now requires manufacturers to list the amount of trans fats on labels of packaged foods.
Carbs: No longer all good.
When people cut back on fat during the 1990s, many replaced it with carbohydrates. That would have been fine if the carbohydrate foods had been mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, but they weren’t. Instead, a lot of people reached for processed foods such as white bread, bagels, candy, snack chips, fat- free cookies, and soft drinks.
“It doesn’t do any good to replace the fat in your diet with foods that are high in sugar or refined carbohydrates,” says Dr. Willett. “A lot of people think that a plain bagel with jam can be a healthy thing to eat in the morning, but actually that’s one of the unhealthiest breakfasts you can consume. You’d be better off with scrambled eggs.”
Just as you can split fats into “good” and “bad” categories, you can now do the same with carbohydrates. Unprocessed carbohydrate foods that are high in fiber – such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains – generally rate as “good.” Those that are processed, low in fiber, and digested quickly such as sugar, soft drinks, white pasta, and jam on a bagel or any other bread made from refined flour – fall into the “bad” category.
