Ever wondered which country holds the title for the largest population? That honor goes to India, boasting a staggering 1.417 billion people—roughly 157 times the population of Austria.
Now, let’s talk about another weighty statistic: approximately 2.6 billion people worldwide are overweight. To put that into perspective, it’s twice the population of India. Let that sink in for a moment.
So, how do we tackle this epidemic? Many advocate for exercise and sports as the solution. However, I propose a different approach: focusing on what we eat. Allow me to elaborate on this notion in my VWA titled ‚The wrong view on our diet and how to fix it“.
Food pyramid
Let’s go 54 years back. It is the year 1970, in Sweden, the first food pyramid was invented and later adapted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Today, this pyramid does not look much different. Interestingly, the original creators weren’t scientists or doctors, but rather the Ministry of Agriculture, aiming to feed the ever-growing population affordably. Carbohydrates seemed like the easiest and cheapest solution to integrate into people’s diets. Since the introduction of the food pyramid, there has been a significant global increase in overweight individuals.
→ One contributing factor could be the rise of a so called „anti-fat movement,“ which led to people boycotting products high in fat. Consequently, the food industry responded by producing low-fat alternatives. By 2005 this fat-free products market was worth 35 billion dollars. Yet, the industry had to somehow make the food taste good, which resulted in adding sugar and carbs in almost every product manufactured.
The problem is that such a diet causes more harm than good, which is something the very food pyramid is supposed to prevent.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates can be found in almost everything we consume → Grains, vegetables, rice, etc. Moreover, they are an important energy source.
However, it is important to distinguish between complex and simple/ refined carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates can be found in products such as broccoli. Refined carbohydrates, like flour, are processed carbs from which all vitamins, minerals, and fiber have been removed.
A teaspoon of sugar causes more harm than broccoli. Yet, both of these are carbohydrates. The question is, how do we distinguish them?
Glycemic index and glycemic load
For this we will need the glycemic index. It tells us to what extent our blood sugar levels rise after a meal high in carbohydrates. The glycemic load, on the other hand, indicates the concentration of carbohydrates in one’s blood. If you take, for example, a watermelon that has a high glycemic index of 80, but a low glycemic load of five, it becomes clear that diet is far more complex than you think.
However, carbohydrates are not originally responsible for weight gain, it is the way they are processed that makes the difference.
Fats
As mentioned before, there has been a kind of “anti-fat movement” for a long time. Why? Because many fear that a high-fat-diet will lead to various diseases, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer. Many also believe that a low-fat diet helps to lose weight. Unfortunately, or fortunately, scientists refute this theory. Because even if you lose weight at first, after a while you gain that weight back and after a year, of such a diet, there is almost no difference to the initial body weight.
There is also no evidence that eating fatty foods affects high cholesterol levels and causes heart disease. Numerous studies have even confirmed that a “low-fat” diet favours the deterioration of cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease. There are different categories of cholesterol, and almost all of them are beneficial or have no negative or positive effects. Low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density Lipoprotein (HDL) are the two most discussed and are needed for the formation of cells and hormones.
Low HDL levels play a role in heart health. If you compare mortality and illness rates, it becomes clear that people with low HDL are significantly more susceptible to heart disease. It follows that high HDL levels are beneficial to health. If the goal is to find the best diet to avoid heart problems, you should focus your diet on increasing your HDL levels by consuming full fat and not HDL-reducing starch.
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