Dr Whiting on Weight Loss and Weight Gain

In a recent article appearing in Prevention Magazine, the author suggests that we gain weight because of the amount of fats we consume. He also claims in the Prevention Magazine article that our fat cells literally open up and gobble up the fat circulating in our blood stream. Nothing could be farther from the truth!! Sadly Prevention Magazine has become a voice for drugs and dietetics and true nutrition rarely appears between their covers. Fat, in and of itself, does not make us fat. While it is true that fats provide more calories than any other food, they are only fattening when consumed with carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates. When carbohydrates are converted to glucose or blood sugar, excesses are eventually converted to triglycerides and stored in the fat cells. Triglycerides only come from the action of insulin on blood sugar. Insulin converts blood sugar from carbohydrates to glycogen and then to triglycerides and stored as fat. Evidence of this may be seen in such indigenous peoples as the Eskimos and many tribes of Africa, who often go through their entire lives consuming almost no carbohydrate foods at all. There diets are made up of proteins and fats. Yet in every case, these people are trim, fit and very athletic. Carbohydrates become even more fattening when consumed with fats as the body uses fat for energy and stores the carbohydrates in the form of triglycerides.