Traditional Diet Advice
I was listening to Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat on a podcast this morning and he made a very interesting point about conventional lifestyle advice. Throughout medical school, residency and early practice, I was always under the assumption that we just need to eat less and exercise.
What Taubes says is to imagine that you were being invited over for a large dinner that was going to be amazing, and to make sure that you bring a very large appetite. What would you do to prepare for this? Most likely, we would eat very light for breakfast and even lighter, or not at all for lunch. We may even increase our activity level to create an even greater hunger. This would most likely have us ravenous by dinner time.
Why are the same things we recommend in conventional diet advice the same exact things we would to create a huge appetite. Isn't this counterproductive? It's one of the thoughts behind moving away from a calorie not really being a calorie. Simply dropping your calorie count low and increasing exercise will ultimately drive increased hunger and consumption. It's really important to be eating, and eating the right foods. Foods that your body knows what to do with. Foods that energize. This is the path to long-term health. Healthy fats from wild fish, grass fed beef, raw nuts, avocadoes and eggs. Healthy protein comes from those same sources. Then keep your carbohydrate intake to vegetables and some berries. No more hunger, no more brain fog, no more waistline. Welcome to nutritional peace.
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Dr. Jeffrey Gladd
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Dr. Jeffrey Gladd graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 2001. He then went on to train in family medicine...
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