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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that the fat you eat is the fat you wear?

503 replies

florafawna · 30/10/2018 08:35

New study finds that fat consumption is the only cause of weight gain

medicalxpress.com/news/2018-07-fat-consumption-weight-gain.html

I know carbs are the villain at the moment, but it's only a matter of time before fat is the villain again.

I am on a low-fat diet and am sticking to that, I think, even though I am unfashionable. For the moment! Grin

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florafawna · 30/10/2018 09:52

In the 1950s, fast-food restaurants offered one portion size. Today, portion sizes have ballooned, a trend that has spilled over into many other foods, from cookies and popcorn to sandwiches and steaks. A typical serving of French fries from McDonald's contains three times more calories than when the franchise began. A single "super-sized" meal may contain 1,500–2,000 calories — all the calories that most people need for an entire day. And research shows that people will often eat what's in front of them, even if they're already full

www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-people-become-overweight

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florafawna · 30/10/2018 09:53

Some people used to depend on smoking to keep slim in lieu of eating. They were slim, but hardly healthy!

OP posts:
DonDrapersOldFashioned · 30/10/2018 09:54

Just lurking in full admiration of Lweji’s measured, sensible, factual posts in the face of the pseudoscience bollocks

IcedPurple · 30/10/2018 09:54

A typical serving of French fries from McDonald's contains three times more calories than when the franchise began. A single "super-sized" meal may contain 1,500–2,000 calories — all the calories that most people need for an entire day.

And what food group would you say the calories in a McDonalds meal typically come from?

fridgepants · 30/10/2018 09:54

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the user's request.

florafawna · 30/10/2018 09:55

And what food group would you say the calories in a McDonalds meal typically come from?

Carbs, but the point is that the old portion size used to be sufficient. What changed?

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mooncuplanding · 30/10/2018 09:56

What do you eat/drink before and during marathons mooncuplanding? I found carbs made a massive difference, like it physically wasn’t possible to fatigue

I've run marathons both ways - fueled by carbs where I will bonk at the 2-3 hour mark and need to refuel

And now I am fat adapted, I just eat normally (HFLC) and my body deals with it by using ketones. I don't need to refuel while on marathon, other than water and electrolytes.

A lot of endurance people are now fat adapted, i.e. able to use their fat as fuel, which you can take a few months after having a body that is used to being fueled by carbs.

QuimReaper · 30/10/2018 09:56

It seems to me to be spurious logic to say that low-fat eating has been the cause of the obesity crisis. I'd say the diet industry has risen in response to the obesity crisis rather than the other way around. The problem isn't that everyone's been on a diet but everyone's been getting fatter, it's that people haven't been controlling their eating, they've been eating too much bad food and getting fatter, and the diet industry is inevitable background noise.

I do think eating low-fat is poor advice, but not because it doesn't work, just because it's very difficult to stick to. It also (like LCHF, I guess) only represents half of the picture: eating low-fat by no stretch of the imagination means you can eat as much as you like, and since those awful processed low-fat "alternatives" which were peddled so much in the 90s gave you that dissatisfied, empty feeling, I think it's very easy to gorge yourself on "low-fat foods" and still not feel satisfied, which is really counter-intuitive.

I think the real problem is, and has been for decades, that people simply don't want to admit that they can't eat huge portions of calorific food and not be fat. Lots of people want to lose weight enough to stick to a diet (any diet) for a bit (hence the diet industry and eating fas), but very few manage to make a lifestyle out of it. It does seem like LCHF is a more palatable 'lifestyle' to people, which is probably why it's having such a moment right now, although personally I couldn't stick to it myself.

DaysOfCurlySpencer · 30/10/2018 09:57

I look at what is in trolleys as I pass in the supermarket, and at checkout, and see so much crap piled up that I wonder how the people aren't in hospital already. Recently I was barrelled out of the way by an obese child (in an otherwise empty aisle) and was not surprised when she wobbled up to an very obese woman. Trolley full of crap, cheap chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks, pizza, biscuits, no fruit. Fat was not the problem here, except on the woman and child and that was unhealthy fat not good dietary fat.

Now we have people with addictions to diet Coke and the like because of the sweeteners, and it is making them ill. Fat is not the cause of all this, the problem is the stuff that is used to replace the real fat. Brought up on chips cooked in lard, no obesity in the family. Now look at the big tubs of fat used in chip shops, many don't use oil, it is a manufactured gloop and it clings to the roof of the mouth. Palm oil and all manner of oils that have been processed are added to pretty much everything that is in a packet or jar. Look at what is in a jar of cook-in or pasta sauce, a packet of biscuits, bread.

Fluffycloudland77 · 30/10/2018 09:58

It might be promoting veganism, the people conducting it won’t be vegan.

The mice got whacked.

IcedPurple · 30/10/2018 09:59

Carbs, but the point is that the old portion size used to be sufficient. What changed?

Probably the fact that, with modern technology, refined carbs are very cheap and easy to produce, store and serve, and thus very attractive to the food industry, particularly fast-food 'restaurants'.

It's also much easier to overeat carbs compared to fats or protein.

florafawna · 30/10/2018 09:59

I think the real problem is, and has been for decades, that people simply don't want to admit that they can't eat huge portions of calorific food and not be fat

Agreed!

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aintnothinbutagstring · 30/10/2018 09:59

Nope don't agree with low fat diets at all, nor low animal fat. Grew up on one and would never go back, it's cruel for children especially. And skimmed milk is the work of the devil, gave me horrendous acne. Full fat all the way!

florafawna · 30/10/2018 10:00

It might be promoting veganism, the people conducting it won’t be vegan. The mice got whacked

Not eaten by the people conducting the study, I hope Wink

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florafawna · 30/10/2018 10:02

Probably the fact that, with modern technology, refined carbs are very cheap and easy to produce, store and serve, and thus very attractive to the food industry, particularly fast-food 'restaurants'

So portion sizes increased and people just ate it anyway. That's what calorie-counting is about. The old portions used to be enough, but if they were super-sized they got eaten just the same. I know I'm guilty of the same thing if I don't count it all. I could probably eat more than I do, but I have to watch it. It's a habit after a while.

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WhyDidIEatThat · 30/10/2018 10:02

Thanks mooncup, interesting stuff.

florafawna · 30/10/2018 10:04

Dammit, got work to do - sitting on my bums though, so not much calorie burn there Grin Will check thread later. Thanks everyone who contributed so far. Appreciate it all.

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florafawna · 30/10/2018 10:04

*Bums?! I've only got the one, honest!

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DaysOfCurlySpencer · 30/10/2018 10:04

By the way if anyone here is suffering with digestive issues and is on a low fat diet, perhaps do dome reading on that.

Every time I have tried reduced fat milk or cheese in an effort to wean myself off dairy gradually I have suffered. In the end I worked out what caused it and did some reading, found that I was not alone in this.

Sleeping issues - if you use reduced fat milk as a night time drink to help you sleep, the L tryptophan is removed along with the fat content. Tryptophan is what aids sleep so you may as well not bother, unless you use it as a placebo.

IcedPurple · 30/10/2018 10:05

So portion sizes increased and people just ate it anyway. That's what calorie-counting is about.

Well no. Calorie-counting is based on the assumption that all calories are equal from the weight gain perspective, ie, that 100 calorie of broccoli = 100 calories of Snickers.

Which is nonsense.

LadyRochfordsSpikedGusset · 30/10/2018 10:05

Sitting on your bums OP? You should really watch that calorie intake ;)

WhyDidIEatThat · 30/10/2018 10:05

I’ve been putting various McDonald’s meals into MFP and some (chicken selects) are over 50% fat, a little protein and 30-40% carbs, most are a fairly even split of fat and carbs. But now I feel as sick as if I’d actually eaten all that for breakfast

Lweji · 30/10/2018 10:06

If carhohydrates weren't essential for cell function, cells wouldn't have evolved alternative pathways to produce glucose.

Redundancy is key.

It's a different thing to survive with less carbohydrates

florafawna · 30/10/2018 10:06

Sitting on your bums OP? You should really watch that calorie intake ;)

IKR? Grin

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IfNotNowThenWooOoOoo · 30/10/2018 10:06

Well, fat is very high in calories. People always trot out the "it fills you up more so you eat less" thing, but that doesn't work on me.
A slice of halloumi is really calorific, and
I can eat many slices...
It's good to eat nuts, oily fish and avocados for the nutrients, and cos they make you happy, but reducing fat will most definitely reduce calories.
Low carb advocates get really cross when you say this though..Grin