David Crandall

Dieting: Carbs and Fats

This isn't my first time dieting.  In fact, several months ago, I went on a very strict diet and lost a good 15-or-so pounds.  However, I ended up leaving my diet when I got my last wisdom tooth pulled and was forced to eat nothing but cold and soft foods.  Now, I'm not a soup person, nor do I enjoy applesauce, so I ended up on a steady diet of slimfast, pudding, and ice cream.  Needless to say, it was difficult for me to return to my old healthy lifestyle after that.  However, after weighing in at 203 pounds (about 10 pounds MORE than I was when I first started dieting), I decided to hop back on track.  Now I've lost about 20 pounds in about a month, and weigh about the same as my thinnest point when I first dieted.

Over the course of my diet, I've learned quite a bit about foods, and the misconceptions people have about carbs, fats, and calories.  It can be frustrating, because usually, if you read about how bad carbohydrates are, you don't hear the negative effects of too many fats - in fact you're encouraged to eat fatty foods.  Likewise, nonfat diets usually encourage carbohydrate rich foods - which isn't necessarily good for you either.  So, who's right?

 Well, both are.  To have too many carbs is most definitely bad.  Why?  Well, put simply, your body uses carbs and sugars for energy, and what it doesn't use, it stores in your body as fat.  More fat = more weight and health issues.  Not to mention the health risks associated with too much sugar.  Likewise, too much fat is bad for your body as well.  There are many health risks involved other than weight gain when consuming too much fat including pancreatic failure - which could potentially kill you.  However, both natural fats and carbohydrates are very good for you!

Natural fat (animal fat) can lower cholesterol, fight disease, help absorb vitamins - your body burns and uses the nutrients found in natural fat.  Likewise, carbohydrates turn into glucose which cells use as a source of energy, and fiber (while undigestable) clings to fatty substances and brings them out as waste (or poopoo ) which lowers your "bad cholesterol" level.  You can't single one out as a problem.  In fact, while you may lose weight eliminating one substance, your overall health will decrease.

The problem is not just fat or carbohydrates, it's the over-consumption of either or both substances to blame for weight gain and given health issues.  What your body doesn't use, it stores as fat in your body.  The only way to lose the fat is to force your body to use its own fat as a source of energy, thus burning the fat.  Staying on a healthy, natural diet with some exercise will be a key roll in weight loss.