Page 67 - Fall2013

All Thumbs Book Reviews

tion fit a mindless beast who will eat until he does not absorb all the fat (or calories) that are
drops? Nestle and Nesheim explain the political found in the nuts they consumed. Who knows
stakes and show how federal and corporate poli- how many other Atwater values are inaccurate?
cies have come together to create an “eat more” Even the Journal of the American Medical
environment. Association (JAMA) reported in 2012 that, “The
Ben Pratt, a WAPF chapter leader from the results of our study challenge the notion that a
UK and a fitness professional who presented a calorie is a calorie from a metabolic perspective.”
lecture at Wise Traditions 2011, in Dallas, on Researchers found that volunteers on a very low
“Paradoxical Obesity,” included a thorough and carbohydrate diet with high fat burned up more
extensive review of the literature on obesity in energy than those on the lowfat, high-carb diets.
his talk. He demonstrated, without a doubt, that Despite this recent evidence from the two
cutting calories plus eating less fat rarely equals 2012 studies on calories, Marion Nestle and her
successful weight loss, and that adding exercise co-author defend their original positions in Why
is not always a successful strategy either. “Re- Calories Count in a PBS.org blog (09.20.2012).
duced fat and calorie intake and frequent use of They conclude: “To lose weight, eat less; it works
low calorie food products have been associated every time. Choose smaller portions.” (Smaller
with a paradoxical increase in the prevalence Twinkies?) And finally they state: “Until research
of obesity.” Moderate daily exercise may be a convinces us otherwise, we believe a calorie is a
good practice but it won’t result in permanent fat calorie.”
loss. As Gary Taubes writes in Good Calories, But a very recent study published in PLoS
Bad Calories, “Expending more energy than One (an open access peer-reviewed scientific
we consume does not lead to long-term weight journal published by the Public Library of Sci-
loss; it leads to hunger.” You can work up a big ence) on February 27, 2013, hammers a big
appetite on the treadmill. nail in the coffin of the “calorie is a calorie” In fact
The calories in the food that Weston Price mantra. Researchers combined major interna- scientists are
observed in the diets of healthy native popula- tional databases on food availability and diabetes calling for a
tions were of a much different source from the prevalence to assess all sources of calories. They
calories eaten in the foods of ill populations that determined that “total caloric availability was revision of the
he documented in his book, Nutrition and Physi- unrelated to diabetes prevalence; for every extra methods now
cal Degeneration. 150 calories per day, diabetes prevalence rose by used to
In fact scientists are calling for a revision only 0.1 percent. But if those 150 calories per day
of the methods now used to measure calories happened to be in a can of soda, diabetes preva- measure

because those methods may not be accurate lence rose 11-fold, by 1.1 percent. This effect of calories
when it comes to high fat and high fiber foods. sugar was exclusive of obesity and controlling because those
Atwater’s methods are very dated, not up to for body mass index did not negate the effect.”
today's rigorous standards, and were tested on Despite all the tedium and reluctance to methods may
only three persons (his lab technicians), say his challenge their credo, the authors neverthelss not be
critics. have a few good things to say on other topics: accurate
Novotny, Gebauer and Baer, scientists at the “We need a farm bill that’s designed from
USDA, recently published (2012) a study that top to bottom to support healthier diets, one when it
finds that almonds have about twenty percent that supports growing fruits and vegetables and comes to high
fewer calories than determined by the Atwater making them cheaper. We need to fix school fat and high
method. They found that fat shows up in the feces lunches so they’re based on fresh foods, and fix
of almond eaters, indicating that the human body food assistance programs so people have greater fiber foods.
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