SANE Science

Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Jonathan Bailor: The Backstory, From His Doctor

 

My long-time physician was kind enough to provide some 3rd party context around me and SANE. I thought a personal and medical look at the backstory behind the research and experience that resulted in SANESolution would be useful (or entertaining 🙂 ). – Jonathan

By Dr. Scott Ripple, Family Practice physician

During my 20+ year medical career I have treated thousands of patients ranging from individuals carrying more than 200 lbs. of excess body fat to professional bodybuilders with 2% body fat. It was clear from my first appointment with Jonathan nearly a decade ago that he had a unique approach to health and fitness.

When we first met, Jonathan was an experienced personal trainer and had educated himself extensively on traditional approaches to health and fitness. Almost obsessive in his implementation of typical diet and exercise approaches and spending around 20 hours per week on this effort, Jonathan achieved good results. In fact, I mentioned to him that I thought he could do quite well in an amateur bodybuilding competition without any further preparation. This suggestion generated little interest as Jonathan was more interested in focusing on ways to make health and fitness more practical so that he could focus his attention on other goals in his life.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

A few years into the scholarly research that would later become SANE, Jonathan became further dissatisfied with the impracticality of hours of weekly exercise and the discomfort and bloating accompanying the traditional starch-based diet he was consuming. He eventually reached a plateau and began to see diminishing returns from all his time and effort. Then came the setbacks: shoulder pains, a hamstring injury, and finally a torn pectoralis muscle in his chest.

Feeling burned out after 10+ years of following the traditional “eat less, exercise more” approach, he made a full-stop switch to the eating and exercise practices now filling the pages of SANE.  I was surprised to see the effects during his recent visit. His waist shrunk by three inches, he is significantly more toned and defined, his strength, energy, and endurance are better than ever, and he is free of injuries. Even more surprising was that this resulted from exercising once per week and following simple nutrition principles rooted in even intake of protein, carbohydrate, and fat from natural foods.  With fasting glucose (an indicator of propensity for diabetes) and cholesterol (an indicator of propensity for heart issues) at levels that are extremely healthy and a physique on par with some famous fitness professionals (and superior to that achieved by his 20-hours-per-week traditional routine years prior), it seems unarguable that Jonathan achieved his goal of discovering a more practical approach to sustainable fat loss and wellness.

As a doctor, I know that people frequently go out of their way to avoid the topic of health and fitness. It is likely that you have tried to change your eating and exercise habits before and not seen the results you hoped for. It is natural to feel guilt and anxiety after such an experience. I hope that the research, medical support, and experience Jonathan brings to SANE living will alleviate your doubts and allow you to be inspired.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Is Jonathan Bailor Lipophobic?

 

Also enjoy this segment from the Balanced Bites podcast

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Jimmy Moore and his listeners on Jimmy’s “Ask the Low-Carb Experts Show.” Wanted to share the show here as well as some commentary that took place afterwards. Thanks for the great show Jimmy!

Comment 1

Did anyone notice the contradiction in what Jonathan said? His ‘SANE’ system suggests that vegetables and protein are the most satiating of foods; but he said to Jimmy that there’s nothing more satiating than fat, admitting that he never feels quite satiated without it! Umm, Jonathan, what about all that water and fibre that you claimed would sate you?

So, why does he constantly de-emphasise fat? Well, he still *does* have a remnant of fat phobia. It’s not the Ancel Keys full-blown variety (“don’t eat fat or you’re gonna die!”) but a more subtle version of it, where fat is treated with careful suspicion. Notice how many times Jonathan referred to how easy it is to “overeat” fats. Has anyone noticed a huge contradiction in his statements? Firstly, he says “you don’t need to count calories; calories-in/calories-out is falacious”. Then he says “Fats have so many calories you need to be careful not to eat too much of it” (ie: you need to count your calories!)

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

As Jimmy and so many others have found out: there is NOTHING as satiating and as metabolically-regulating as dietary-fat.

Finally, I was pulling my hair out when he talked about getting low-fat, processed Greek Yoghurt instead of the natural, full-fat variety, and then *adding* additional processed fats to it! And then recommending egg-white omelettes! This is not the language of someone who believes in genuine whole-food, sane eating, but of an obsessive who’s just doing calorie-counting through the back door, who works hard to tailor his plan so that it offends the sensibilities of conventional wisdom as little as possible.

Comment 2

Jimmy,
I’m very glad that some of your questioners called Bailor out on the low-fat nonsense that pervades his book. It’s amazing that he pretends that the diet recommendations in his book have anything to do with either low carb or paleo – most of them are based on completely conventional dietary advice (egg whites, etc.) which is how he managed to get so many endorsements from the mainstream medical community. In your podcast he comes over just like a politician saying whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear, but if you read his book the diet he actually advocates is 33% carbohydrate and 33% protein. His emphasis on whey protein, egg whites, fat-free yogurt and cottage cheese is really problematic.

My Reply

Thank you for your feedback.

As I mentioned on the podcast I think all of our time is much better served celebrating our similarities rather than attacking our differences. I’m really glad to hear that low-carb/high-fat is working for you and hope that you would acknowledge that science and billions of people have shown that it is possible to be quite healthy and slim while getting less than 60% of one’s calories from fat. I think our shared effort of getting the mainstream to consume less carbohydrate would be furthered if we avoided perpetuating the very dietary prejudice (aka prejudging a way of eating based on one characteristic that differs from our own way of eating) that frustrates us so much (aka when many mainstream “experts” dismiss a well formulated low-carb/high-fat diet as unhealthy based on their fat content and lack of healthy whole grains).

To briefly note some of the “contradictions:”

  • We don’t need to count calories when we eat SANEly. That doesn’t mean calories don’t count. If we metabolize more calories than our body can eliminate, we will gain fat. Calories count. However, that can’t mean that humans have to count calories to be healthy and fit considering that the concept of a calorie didn’t even exist in until 1824…while humans were healthy and fit long before then.
  • You may note from The Smarter Science of Slim text and from the podcast that I explicitly say it’s not a low-carb/high-fat diet. This doesn’t mean I’m against low-carb/high-fat, it’s just that it’s not what I’m writing about nor have I ever claimed it is. With this in mind, I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise that what I recommend isn’t 100% in line with the low-carb/high-fat way of eating.
  • While fat is satiating (as I mentioned in the podcast), water, protein, and fiber also play critical roles. http://thesmarterscienceofslim… & http://thesmarterscienceofslim….
  • For those of us who are struggling with fat loss, it may not be necessary for all of us to go out of our way to eat more fat, as our body can always eat more fat from the stores we’re carrying around with us.
  • I hope we don’t stereotype anyone who thinks people can be healthy and slim while getting less than 60% of their calories from fat as fat phobic as doing so risks alienating a lot of brilliant researchers, many of whom we may otherwise really enjoy (ex. Cordain, Eaton, Konner, Kresser, Guyenet, etc.).

Sorry I haven’t provided a more detailed reply here. I’ve referenced the research supporting my recommendations extensively in my book, think a well formulated low-carb/high-fat diet is wonderful for many, and am delighted that you have found a way of eating that works for you. Here’s to working together to help others enjoy the health benefits of a grain-free, sugar-free, and seed-oil free lifestyle rather than tearing each other down for not recommending a one size fits all diet. – Jonathan Bailor

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Forks Over Knives and The China Study’s T. Colin Campell Chats with Jonathan Bailor

T. Colin Campell (from Forks Over Knives and The China Study) and I recently had a conversation on a public Amazon discussion board. Our chat started a bit rocky, but then became quite useful.

Context

The research supporting SANE was brought up by a reader on the aforementioned discussion board. T. Colin Campell then wrote (http://amzn.to/JtSwt5): “But fortunately, science will prevail over ad hominem attacks.” When this was brought to my attention I was quite startled as thousands of pages of peer-reviewed academic research do not agree with Campell’s recommended “low-protein, low-fat” and therefore unnaturally high-carbohydrate diet. To ensure that a diverse set of research was represented within the discussion, I shared a set of studies showing that natural fats are not harmful (http://amzn.to/K3EHoj) along with the short editorial: “You were right. Science prevailed.”

The Discussion

Note: If you visit the discussion board, you will see that many others contributed to this conversation. I’ve included only my chat with Campell here as I’m frequently asked what I think about Forks Over Knives and The China Study and this provides a useful answer.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

Campell’s reply (http://amzn.to/KsXFlW):

I previously said, “…science will prevail”. I said what I mean and mean what I said. But this can have meaning, I suspect, if only the would-be scientists and their minions in this discussion group would agree to really learn some science.

John Bailor’s post is a beautiful illustration of the problem. He certainly is clever in creating a list of studies, some quite well known, supporting the hypothesis that it is not total fat that has caused our high rates of heart disease, obesity and related ailments.

I agree that these studies, mostly all published in the peer-reviewed research literature, certainly support this hypothesis. Moreover, I not only support this hypothesis but said so, publicly, BEFORE any of these studies were conducted!!!!!!!

I suspect that this comment of mine may be surprising for those of you who post so many silly `storeys’ in this discussion group. I believe that this is because these individuals do not understand science, have not been trained in the field of nutrition and/or have inadequate access to the literature.

I personally know several of the investigators involved in these studies and spoke about their shortcomings on the dietary fat question even before they were organized. I lectured three times at Harvard when the Nurses’ Health Study was initially being organized and once at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who organized the mammoth Women’s Health Initiative, each time offering that it would be a shortcoming to investigate the role of total fat in the etiology of these diseases with the cohorts and the protocols that they were using (all the other studies cited by Bailor also had the same shortcoming).

Namely, I have always been unwilling to assume that single nutrient adjustments in an exceedingly complex nutrient diet would show much of anything. It is unlikely to see a meaningful single nutrient effect within such complexity because of the interacting and compensatory effects of countless-and co-linear-nutrients (e.g., of fat) having similar disease producing effects. Even more importantly, in these studies cited by Bailor, these countless other factors will have already `maxed out’ their deleterious effects. Removing or decreasing one dietary item, e.g., total fat, has very little, if any, chance of working. This is similar to the use of nutrient supplements that we now know do not work, and in some studies actually do the opposite of what wa intended.

In short, in ALL these studies, trivial changes are being studied. This is NOT the way that nutrition works. For example, in NONE of these studies, were their subjects consuming a truly low fat, low protein, whole food, plant-based diet (never mind the superficial and really stupid characterization of `low fat’ as being something like 25-30% of total calories-read again my commentary on this book). This is where truly large and sustaining effects are observed.

As far as I am concerned, the evidence now available for a low fat, low protein whole food, plant-based diet is irrefutable. What these studies listed by Bailor prove-and this is the best of science!-is that adjustment of fat alone in Western type diets will have little or no effect. I have spent far too long (more than a half century) doing the experimental research, publishing the results in peer-reviewed literature, and helping to develop national food and health policy to believe otherwise. It simply works when people do it the right way. This is the future history!

 

My reply (http://amzn.to/IurkjH):

T. Colin Campbell says: “I have always been unwilling to assume that single nutrient adjustments in an exceedingly complex nutrient diet would show much of anything.”

Well stated. I appreciate all of your work in this field and your focus on whole foods. My research 100% agrees that eating dramatically more non-starchy vegetables, more nutrient dense fruits (ex. berries and citrus), and more nuts and seed is critical to health and fitness. You are 100% correct that eating a lot more of the *right* plants is critical to long-term health and fitness. Great work and thank you.

Given that you are “unwilling to assume that single nutrient adjustments in an exceedingly complex nutrient diet would show much of anything,” why the recommendation to adjust the single nutrients protein and fat down? Data unquestionably show there are healthy and unhealthy plants as well as healthy and unhealthy non-plants. Sugar is a plant. Wild caught salmon is not. The evidence now available irrefutably states that given the choice between sugar and salmon that the plant is preferable. Tombs of research, including your work in China, suggest that the consumption of seafood (a non-plant) dramatically improves health.

Why not find the best plants and best animals and focus on consuming those rather than making polarizing statements along the lines of plants are good and non-plants are bad? As you state so well, the answer in this exceedingly complex area is more nuanced than that.

The broader research community 100% agrees that consuming more non-starchy vegetables, more nutrient dense fruits (ex. berries and citrus), and more nuts and seed is critical to health and fitness, so why not focus on that rather than making scientifically-unsupported statements against the consumption of healthy non-plants such as seafood? The data is equally clear for those foodstuffs.

Thank you for dedicating your life to making the world a healthier and happier place. We share that goal.

– Jonathan Bailor

 

Campell’s reply (http://amzn.to/II0PXG):

Jonathan Bailor says:

Given that you are “unwilling to assume that single nutrient adjustments in an exceedingly complex nutrient diet would show much of anything,” why the recommendation to adjust the single nutrients protein and fat down?

When I did the experimental research on protein and fat (mostly protein), I was doing it in a way that was generally accepted (i.e., nutrient by nutrient)–keep also in mind that this is the way that we got funding from NIH to do research because this the way that we think. As I got into this research during a 27-year project doing hundreds of studies, I found the responses to be so provocative, almost unbelievable (both because of my personal and professional backgrounds). Gradually I was accumulating a series of what were regarded as heresies, at least for me.

It was then that I started asking about the properties of other nutrients, other disease endpoints and, most importantly, other explanatory mechanisms, as well as becoming concerned about the relevance of this information for humans instead of experimental animals. This is when I began 1) to realize and to demonstrate that nutrient compositions characteristic of WHOLE plants aggregated together, both in kind and in amount, had what clearly was the centuries old idea, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. It then became more of a question how and whether the effects seen individually could be accommodated within a whole diet framework.

There’s far more to this story that will be published in a new book that I am just now completing, “Whole”, due in January 2013.

By the way, sugar is not a plant, it is a fragment of a plant and, as such, it behaves very differently (in size and kind of effect). Yes, salmon is a whole food but it does not accommodate information showing in a rabbit experiment that its protein increases serum cholesterol more than any plant protein source. Also, salmon has very small amounts of the large group of antioxidants and none of the complex carbohydrates, both of which are the core of the benefits of whole plants.

When I draw generalizations between plants and animals, I do so partly on the totality of the evidence on nutrient composition, partly on the biological plausibility of the evidence and partly on the results that are obtained in human trials–and more.

 

My reply (http://amzn.to/JFnbYN):

T. Colin Campbell – The explanation of your focus on protein makes sense. Hopefully it also makes sense that your statement “I have always been unwilling to assume that single nutrient adjustments in an exceedingly complex nutrient diet would show much of anything,” and similar sentiment provided in your popular text, are contradictory with your message to essentially avoid protein, as doing so is a single nutrient adjustment.

I am aware that sugar is not a plant 🙂 I hope my point was clear and reasonable. Tobacco is a plant, and I suspect that you would not recommend eating large quantities of it. If anything other than the importance of water consumption is close to unanimously agreed upon in the broader nutrition research community, it must be that there are healthy and unhealthy plants as well as healthy and unhealthy non-plants.

You are a very influential man and if I may be so bold, I would urge you to use that influence to encourage people to consume whole foods that help us avoid overeating (have high satiety), do not have a detrimental impact our blood sugar or hormones, provide an abundance of nutrients etc. per calorie, and do not promote the storage of excess fat, rather than trivializing what you rightly call an “exceedingly complex area” by suggesting that all plants are good and all non-plants are bad. I realize that some of the correlations found in your research may not agree, but I do hope you acknowledge that there are tombs of research from highly respected institutions demonstrating the health benefits of non-plants fitting the criteria I outlined above.

Best of luck with your upcoming work and I do hope that our paths cross in the future.

– Jonathan Bailor

 

Campbell concluded our discussion with (http://tinyurl.com/6pqecxj):

Jonathan,

I must emphasize the rationale for doing the research the way we did, not only because it was opportunistic and potentially rewarding but also, because of the funding, we focused on protein as researchers did and still do with focused hypotheses and study designs. As time passed, the very provocative findings with protein prompted me to go further to see the extent to which similar phenomena existed with other nutrients. This is where w discovered lots of interesting things that pointed to the benefits of a whole, plant-based foods diet. I then suggested that the “closer we get to a whole foods plant-based diet the greater the health benefits.” Ever since, I have pointed out that I do not know of scientific evidence showing that going 100% the whole way is better than, say 95% or so. Therefore, I have never said that 100% plant based is a proven scientific fact and that every last drop or crumble of the difficult foods need to be excluded. This is what others have said about my findings. However, I also have said many times that 100% nonetheless is, for me, advisable because it allows our taste preferences to adjust and within 1-3 months, sufficiently adjusted to a point where we do not want to return to our old ways. It is analogous to telling heavy smokers to stop smoking but letting them have a cigarette or two a day. It really doesn’t work because of the tenacity with which old preferences keep us hooked. On this point, I believe people have told more than a few times that I am some sort of inflexible activist.

 

I hope this was useful or at least interesting 🙂

I covered The China Study briefly a few months back and a quick web search will provide much more thorough China Study commentary if you’d like to read more.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

SANE Peanut Butter Pie. Go Ahead. Eat Dessert First.

Many members of SANE Community have shared all sorts of delicious ways to enjoy plain Greek yogurt. One way that I recently discovered involves using plain Greek yogurt to make what tastes like the filling of a peanut butter pie. The neat thing is that while this mixture can be put into a SANE pie crust, if you enjoy it right out of the bowl, it’s 44% protein, 42% healthy fats, and 14% carbohydrate. To put that in perspective, eggs are 29% protein, tofu is 37% protein, and salmon is 48% protein. That peanut butter pie sounds more like a SANE meal than a dessert.

Of course it’s not going to be as good as actual peanut butter pie filling, but getting as close as this gets while staying SANE makes me happy 🙂

Topping

  • Non-fat plain Greek yogurt + non-caloric sweetener of your choice
Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

Filling

  • 2 cups non-fat plain Greek yogurt
  • ½ cup + a tablespoon of natural peanut butter
  • What would be equivalent to approximately 2 tablespoons of sugar worth of the non-caloric sweetener of your choice (start with less and add more according to your desired level of sweetness)
  • 3 scoops vanilla whey protein isolate
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Crust

  • Grain-Free Honey Graham Cracker Pie Crust I recommend leaving out the honey

Enjoy!

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Science Sound Bite: NYTimes’ “Fat Trap,” Tara Parker-Pope, and Unclogging Sinks

 

Update: Let’s repurpose this post to speak to Tara Parker-Pope’s recent NYTimes post “The Fat Trap” regarding the futility of traditional fat loss methods.

Parker-Pope is exactly right that studies show eating less of the typical diet and doing more of traditional exercise does not work for the vast majority of people. However, that does not mean we need to be “trapped” by body fat. Myriad studies show that by changing the quality of one’s diet and the quality of one’s exercise (vs. quantity of eating and exercise) long-term fat loss is not only possible, but practical.

Think about trying to burn body fat after years of the traditional American diet like trying to drain water from a clogged sink. Eating less of the same quality of food is like turning down the faucet. Doing more of the same quality of exercise is like scooping out the overflowing water with a teaspoon. Both are temporary ways to deal with the symptoms of the problem (too much water in, not enough water out). Neither does anything about the root cause (a clog blocking the sink’s natural ability to automatically balance “water in” with “water out”). That is why studies show eating less and exercising more failing long term 95% of the time.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

The problem is the clog. The solution is clearing the clog. And clearing the clog requires thinking in terms of food and exercise quality, not quantity.

Reducing the quantity of food which lead to the clog and increasing the quantity of exercise which ignores the clog doesn’t really help us. That simply reduces the symptoms associated with the underlying clog. We remove clogs–and “drain” body fat long term–by putting the right quality in, and keeping the wrong quality out.

It’s not about less in and more out. It’s about higher quality in and higher quality out.

The only “fat trap” is being unable or unwilling to escape quantity-based fat loss theories which have been proven wrong.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Why Do I Feel So “Blah” During Winter and What Can I Do About It?

 

by Catherine W. Britell, M.D.

The alarm clock rings.  It’s pitch black outside.  It’s so cold out there; so warm under the covers.  You roll over and hit the “snooze” button.  After the third “snooze” you reluctantly slip out of bed and into the shower,  get dressed, eat a quick breakfast and rush out the door for work, driving in the dark.   As midmorning rolls around, you can think of nothing but that gooey apple fritter you saw at the coffee stand in the lobby.  Noon brings a trip across the street for lunch.  Oooh…they have big soft hot pretzels and cream of tomato soup…you resist that, but decide on the whole grain grilled cheese sandwich.  So warm and soft and delicious.  By 2PM your eyes are droopy and you can barely concentrate on your work. A co-worker tells you he’s getting a Cinnamon Dolce Crème Frappuccino from downstairs and asks if you want one.  That sounds like the only way you’re going to get through this day.  Finally work is over, you drive home in the dark, and eschew your regular workout…you’re just too tired.   Your planned dinner of steamed veggies and that salmon fillet in the freezer doesn’t seem very appetizing, so you order in a pizza, watch a little TV, and turn in early.

If some or all of these things sound all too familiar to you, you’re not alone or abnormal.  You’re experiencing your body’s reaction to the winter, and specifically lack of light.  Over the millennia of human existence, these behaviors probably evolved as a mechanism for our bodies to conserve energy, increase fat and prevent wintertime starvation. (1)  As the days have less and less light, your brain makes less of an important neurotransmitter called serotonin.   Serotonin indirectly or directly controls most brain functions, including mood and sleep cycles.  Serotonin levels are highest in the brain when you are awake and active, and almost completely absent when you enter the deepest stage of sleep. During sleep, another neurotransmitter, called melatonin, rises sharply.  Melatonin is made in the pineal gland, and is regulated by serotonin. Light increases the production of serotonin,  while darkness increases the synthesis of melatonin. Thus, these two neurotransmitters maintain balance in the sleep cycle, determining how sleepy or how alert we feel.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

As the days get shorter and darker and serotonin levels fall, most people crave carbohydrate-rich foods.  Eating  sugary or starchy foods boosts serotonin in the following way.  First, the sugar or starch causes insulin to be secreted. The insulin, in turn, increases tryptophan in the brain.  This is a major building block for serotonin.   Unfortunately, the secretion of insulin drives down our blood sugar, making us even more hungry for sugary and starchy foods.  In addition, the increased insulin causes more of the food we eat to be turned into fat.  And the elevation in serotonin doesn’t last very long; so the cravings are almost constant.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a condition where the decrease in serotonin in response to low light is exaggerated.   For people who suffer from SAD, symptoms appear during late fall or early winter and go away during the sunnier days of spring and summer.  The symptoms of SAD include:

  • Depression
  • Fatigue
  • Anxiety
  • Heavy, “leaden” feeling in the arms or legs
  • Oversleeping
  • Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
  • Weight gain
  • Difficulty concentrating

If these things are happening to you, it’s important to see your doctor and get some specific treatment recommendations.  Interestingly, people who have Seasonal Affective Disorder also have decreased leptin response, and therefore do not regulate their appetite normally in response to body fat.  (2)

But even without SAD, a tendency to gain weight when the weather turns cold and dark is a well-known phenomenon. (3)  In  winter, a person’s weight creeps up on average by about 0.5kg.  Also, in many individuals lipids in the blood change, with increasing triglycerides and LDL, and decreasing HDL. Hemoglobin A1c also increases.   (4,5)  And everything just seems to s-l-o-w   d–o–w–n.

So, how do you keep your body from succumbing to the “winter doldrums”?   Enter (TA-DAAA!)   SANEity!   (6)  SANE eating and smarter eccentric exercise is the very best way to keep your body in “summer mode”, stave off carbohydrate cravings, keep your energy level high, and keep your body burning fat and building muscle.  Here are some specific recommendations:

  • Eat  SANEly, with macronutrient balance of lean complete proteins, non-starchy vegetables, and healthy fats.  This will maximize manufacture of serotonin from tryptophan, and keep the carbohydrate cravings at bay.  When you are full of lean protein and non-starchy vegetables, cravings go away.  And healthy fats feed your “neurotransmitter factory”.  Particularly, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to help regulate the brain’s serotonin levels.
  • Light up your life!  Take advantage of the sun when it shines by going for a walk outside at midday if possible, and consider using full-spectrum work lights on cloudy days or when you can’t go out.
  • Don’t forget Vitamin D.  This is essential for healthy bones, but may also affect fat metabolism.  If you live where there is very limited sunshine and you can’t get outside, you may want to consider a vitamin D supplement in the winter.
  • Exercise!  Smarter eccentric exercise as described in your SANE Solution will markedly increase your fat-burning hormones and your feeling of general well-being. It’s  particularly important to keep up with your exercise program in the winter in order to continue burning fat, building muscle, and feeling good.
  • Be active; have fun.  Meditation and yoga, dancing, taking a walk, playing at a sport, listening to music, playing an instrument or singing in a choir can also increase serotonin levels. (7)

 

So, turn up the lights, turn on the music, eat SANEly, exercise ECCENTRICally, and create a little bit of SUMMER in your metabolism!


  1. Davis C, Levitan RD. Seasonality and seasonal affective disorder (SAD): an evolutionary viewpoint tied to energy conservation and reproductive cycles. J Affect Disord. 2005 Jul;87(1):3-10
  2. Cizza G, Romagni P, Lotsikas A, Lam G, Rosenthal NE, Chrousos GP.  Plasma leptin in men and women with seasonal affective disorder and in healthy matched controls. Horm Metab Res. 2005 Jan;37(1):45-8
  3. Yanovski JA, Yanovski SZ, Sovik KN, Nguyen TT, O’Neil PM, Sebring NG. A prospective study of holiday weight gain. N Engl J Med. 2000 Mar 23;342(12):861-7
  4. Donahoo, William T, Dalan R. Jensen, Trudy Y. Shepard and Robert H. Eckel. Seasonal Variation in Lipoprotein Lipase and Plasma Lipids in Physically Active, Normal Weight Humans.  The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism September 1, 2000 vol. 85 no. 9 3065-3068
  5. Bardini G, Dicembrini I, Rotella CM, Giannini S. Lipids seasonal variability in type 2 diabetes. Metabolism. 2012 Dec;61(12):1674-7
  6. Bailor, Jonathan. The Smarter Science of Slim: What the Actual Experts Have Proven about Fat Loss. Aavia Publishing, 2012
  7. Young, Simon N.  How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2007 November; 32(6): 394–399.
Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Science Sound Bite: A Scientific Look at “Young, Obese and in Surgery” by Anemona Hartocollis

 

This post is a response to Young, Obese and in Surgery by Anemona Hartocollis of the NYTimes

In the majority of cases, trying to “cure” obesity with surgery to shrink the stomach is like trying to “cure” allergies with surgery to shrink the lungs.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

Why?

Researchers have proven that overeating isn’t the cause of obesity. Overeating is a symptom of a deeper hormonal issue, which is caused by low food and exercise quality. Obesity is no more of a quantity problem than allergies are. The cause is quality of what’s going into the body…not the quantity.

Regardless of the size of a person’s stomach, if it’s filled with low-quality food, that person’s health will suffer and their body fat percentage will rise in the long term.

We don’t solve problems by treating symptoms (overeating). We solve problems by fixing causes (repairing hormones). Fortunately, researchers have proven that we solve the hormonal problem causing obesity by eating more—but higher-quality food—and doing less—but higher-quality—exercise.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Eat Flaxseed Oil, Gain 100 Pounds?

Flaxseeds are one of the highest-quality and most SANE foods around. Their high fiber content makes them Satisfying…they fill us up quickly and keep us full for a long time. They’re completely unAgressive, and are therefore unlikely to be stored as body fat. They’re also Nutritious thanks to all the clog-clearing and fat-burning omega-3 fatty acids in them. Finally, their high fiber content makes them inEfficient…we burn a bunch of calories digesting them.

Milled flaxseeds are the best way to get flaxseed oil (thanks to all the fiber, lignans, and nutrients found in the seeds themselves), but for the point of this post let’s focus on flaxseed oil.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

Some people with very strong opinions about nutrition assume Calories In – Calories Out is all that matters because they assume all calories are the same and that calories are all that matter. Thousands of pages of academic research prove that opinion incorrect. Consider this flaxseed oil example.

Ask someone who has strong opinions in favor of eating less of our existing diet and doing more of traditional exercise if it is healthy to supplement your diet with a tablespoon of flaxseed oil per day. They will say yes.

Wait one week and ask them what they think causes us to gain body fat. They will say something like “An imbalance of Calories In – Calories Out…which is easily remedied if one exercises some discipline and eats less and spends more time on a treadmill.”

Wait one more week and ask them what they think about the 100 pounds of fat you’ll gain if you follow their advice about flaxseed oil for eight years. They will look stunned. They shouldn’t though. According to the traditional calorie quantity theory they have such strong opinions about, here’s what adding a tablespoon of flaxseed oil per day to your diet will cause: 119 calories in a tbsp. of flaxseed oil X 365 days per year X 8 years = 347,480 / 3,500 calories in a pound of fat = 99.28 lbs. of fat gained

That is how math works, but that’s not how biology works. We’ll step through myriad studies proving the difference between math and biology (and deal with the “Law of Thermodynamics” argument) in the coming weeks.

“The amount of misinformation about nutrition that is circulated widely, especially by those who profit from doing so, is overwhelming.” – researcher A.E. Harper, University of Wisconsin


[i] Harper AE. Dietary goals-a skeptical view. Am J Clin Nutr. 1978 Feb;31(2):310-21. Review. PubMed PMID: 341685.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

Study Shows Obese Teens Eat **Fewer** Calories Than Peers

 

“Overweight children aged from 9 to 17 years eat fewer calories than kids of normal weight in the same age group, researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine reported in the journal Pediatrics.”

In other news, rather than digging deeper and seeking out the hormonal issue that explains this elegantly, researchers search for way to cling to their preexisting manual calorie balancing hypothesis concluding: “One explanation for this would be that increased energy intake in early childhood is related to the onset of obesity, but other mechanisms, such as differences in energy expenditure, may contribute more to maintaining obese/overweight status through adolescence.”

D’oh!


The study – http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/09/04/peds.2012-0605.abstract

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES
Starvation Is NOT Healthy. Stop counting calories & go #SANE w/me at http://SANESolution.com

A Few BMJ Researchers Conclude: Eating More Protein Requires a Reduction in Vitamin, Mineral, and Fiber Intake. What?!

<Unedited Rant Warning :)> The BMJ recently gave science a bad name reporting online that avoiding an extremely high-carbohydrate diet increases heart disease risk. Thankfully, we’ll likely avoid another Ancel Keys-esque “get data from 22 countries and only report the 6 that support your preconceived notions” as other researchers are already publically pointing out the flagrant flaw in the BMJ researchers’ conclusions.

Quoting the BMJ researchers in regards to avoiding an extremely high-carb diet: “…implies low consumption of whole-grain foods, fruits, and starchy vegetables and consequently reduced intake of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. A high protein diet may indicate higher intake of red and processed meat and thus higher intake of iron, cholesterol, and saturated fat.”

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES

Can you see the massive flawed assumption there? Assumption: Increasing protein intake above the poultry (10%…pun intended 🙂 ) recommended by politicians means that *you have to* reduce your intake of fiber, vitamins, and mineral.

What?!

Couldn’t we *increase* our intake of non-starchy vegetables and low-sugar fruits while eating a more natural and balanced diet? Of course. Go SANE. Eat so many non-starchy vegetables, lean proteins, natural fats, and berries/citrus, that you are too full for hormonally-harmful and nutritionally-neutered starches and sweets.

This study should have concluded: Replacing SANE high-quality food with inSANE low-quality food increases disease risk. And of course that’s true. But I guess that’s not headline worthy enough.

Any diet that reduces the intake of fiber, vitamins, and mineral is inSANE and should be avoided. However, a diet with those characteristics is most often high in starches and sweets (aka higher low-quality carb) not high in protein.

The fact is that an absurd number of studies have shown that avoiding an imbalanced and unnatural extremely high-carb diet by eating more high-quality SANE proteins and fats improves health and body fat levels dramatically. One example is the Nurses’ Health Study, a longitudinal study of 82,802 women who have been followed since 1976. Hundreds of others are available in The Smarter Science of Slim. (more on fat here…more on protein coming in the next few months)

Bottom Line: There are high-quality SANE proteins, high-quality SANE carbs, and high-quality SANE fats, long-terms health and fitness is achieved by eating more high-quality food so that we’re too full for low-quality inSANE food. No sensationalized headlines need. No polarization needed. Just a bit of common sense backed by a massive meta-analysis.

Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your free Weight Loss Food List, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Plan, and the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE FOR FREE “HOW TO” WEIGHT LOSS GUIDES