Six common beliefs addressed, Part 197

1. People who consume artificial sweeteners tend to be fatter than people who still use sugar.

I am not sure the statistics on this but if it’s true, it should not be surprising. When people consume real sugar, and are also health conscious, they tend to avoid it. This means they eat less sweet things over all, either because they are watching calories or sugar's effect on blood glucose. The people who use artificial sweeteners, tend to add them to everything, since they believe they are a "free food", as not only are they void of calories but also of any immediate effects on blood glucose.

There is just one caveat which they miss - There is no such thing as a "free food". The taste of sweet shifts the dopamine/leptin axis towards the conservation of fat, and the storing of more of it, irrespective of calories. This means that as long as there is a sweet taste more fat storage will occur, even on calorically restricted diets.

Many items which are sweetened with artificial sweeteners, like sodas, still have caffeine. Caffeine disrupts proper blood glucose regulation so the problem continues. 

2. Calorie restriction should no longer be recommended.

That will never occur. Over all calories are simply easier to track and the easier something is, the more it will be followed consistently. Calories are also easy to understand so it’s fool proof. Calorie restriction does not eliminate any food item so it's a much easier sell. This is why most programs take the calorie restriction route.

Aside from that, there are a lot of politics involved in advising people, especially from wealthy countries, to simply consume less of everything. There is a large group of people who believe in flogging as a means of achieving equity and relieving their psychotic level of guilt so ad libitum consumption of anything is always deemed a "moral flaw". 

3. If I’m already watching calories, why does my coach insist on prioritizing protein and empty foods like vegetables? Why would it matter where my calories came from?

Exactly. It wouldn’t matter one bit but calorie centered programs are well aware that calories don’t work so they pair calories with “healthy eating” to maximize their results. Of course, their healthy eating is usually nothing more than some iteration of a protein sparing modified fast.

They will insist this "healthy eating" is for "nutrients" but we all know what it is - a very effective way of manipulating the metabolic hormones responsible for muscle building, fat burning and appetite control through macronutrient composition, once again, since calories do not effect them at all. Macros still reign supreme in getting the body to loose fat and keep it off.

4. Meat based pizza crusts are a good low carb option.

You have to be very careful with these type of novelties as some of these recipes are extremely heavy on the fat content. Usually these crusts are mixed with cheese which is mostly fat, not protein. You must keep your macros in mind when consuming these items.

5. If a person is "eating healthy" they should not be obese.

Choosing "healthy" foods is an incorrect method of tackling obesity. This is because "eating healthy" does not resolve obesity as there are many "healthy" foods that still disrupt blood glucose regulation. For some people, "eating healthy" simply means avoiding fast food and candy. They don't deem something like oats, for instance, as unhealthy. There is much more to obesity than "unhealthy" foods.

So the solution does not lie in eating healthy or not. The solution lies in eating appropriately or not. These are two very different concepts. The only diet that is appropriate, is one that prevents/minimizes blood glucose dysregulation.

6. There must be a "cell" or hormone that causes people to prefer and seek out sweet tastes.

There is no particular "cell" that causes this. It’s mostly caused by exposure. The brain becomes trained to prefer the tastes it's exposed to over time. People who claim to have a "sweet tooth", have simply trained their brain to prefer sweet from eating it so much. They have also trained their brain to seek it out through a dysregulation of dopamine. So if you are going to single out any one hormone/chemical that would cause someone to "seek out sweet tastes", it would be dopamine.