Six common beliefs addressed, Part 180

1. I am 110 lbs. at 5'4 and still considered overweight according to "waist measurements and ratios".

Body mass index (BMI) is a measurement of relative body weight, not body composition. Because lean mass weighs far more than fat some people are incorrectly classified as obese based on BMI. This is particularly true for athletes and body builders. Skin fold testing provides a more accurate body fat assessment than BMI for those individuals.

Since it is not specified how you are determining your "waist measurements and ratios" I can only guess why you are being classified as obese. It can be because you have an oddly shaped body or maybe your 110 lbs. is all fat around your middle, which is not good. 

This is why there is no one marker to determine if your metabolic health is at risk. You need to know multiple markers, taken in the context of what your current issues are, including how fat is distributed on your body.

2. If sugar is truly "addictive", then why weren't people "addicted" to it 500 years ago?

Precisely! Sugar has been around for a very long time and though it does create changes in the balance between catecholamines and hypothalamic function, it is not considered a truly addictive substance. For this reason, we do not describe sugar as "addictive" on this blog.

Instead, we recommend anti obesogenic approaches in lifestyle in order to combat overweight/obesity. Considering yourself a victim of "addictive sugar" is a very pro obesogenic stance to have. After all, if sugar is addictive, and food companies put it everywhere, then you aren't to blame for your predicament. If you aren't to blame, then you can't do a thing about it. This will only keep you obese.

We not only tackle diet and exercise, but we also challenge the beliefs and behaviors that perpetuate overweight/obesity.

3. Many people, who have been successful on their new way of eating, still end up with gastrointestinal issues.

Aside from diet changes, which are the main cause for gastrointestinal issues, there are also other culprits. One of them is lower insulin levels. Low insulin levels usually cause gastroparesis.

4. You wrote before, in one of your posts, that: "If you are not losing weight or are gaining instead, then the body is in active obesity mode and the reduction of appetite is coming from a thrifty metabolism that is not burning any fuel and so does not require any more of it." So tell me again why I need to not fast longer?

Because fasting, short or long, does not address a thrifty metabolism, which is the operative word in my post. Just because the body does not require more fuel, does not mean that it will respond positively if you don't give it any.

What you need to address instead is its fuel management so it burns what it has. That is caused by improving leptin expression which is not done through fasting but through normalizing blood glucose control in order to improve insulin sensitivity. That cannot be done through fasting, as fasting disrupts blood glucose homeostasis.

5. All diets should include "carb cycling".

"Carb cycling", sometimes also referred to as "carb loading", involves going back and forth between high carb days and low carb days. You would usually have a high carb day when you plan on doing intense exercise. Supposedly, on those days, your body would require more fuel so you would need more carbs. No one who is treating their metabolic dysfunction, should be doing any exercise that would require primarily carbs for fuel as that would exacerbate their condition. So intense exercise should go out the door.

Aside from that, carb cycling is a topic that should never be under discussion when it comes to overweight/obesity and or metabolic health since it does not pertain to either. Carb cycling is a topic that belongs in athletic forums. This is not an athletic forum.

6. Nothing proves that "keto" would be better than a "clean vegan" diet.

Trying to "prove" anything of this sort is above my pay grade and a waste of time since people are usually not motivated by "what’s better for them" but by what they want to do instead. I recently wrote a post explaining what the issues are with vegan/vegetarian diets. You can read it here.

You would have to do your own research and try both diets to see which one is actually better for you, depending on the goals you have for your own health. You have to do the work. I'm not a salesperson so I don’t try to sell anyone anything.