56 – Man v. food, metabolic advantage

21 November 20106 January 2011Podcast admin 4 Comments

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In this show, we follow up with last week’s episode discussing the junk food diet and calories. We also explore excessive calorie consumption in relation to Adam, the host of Man v. Food on the Travel Channel. Needless to say, “getting the t-shirt” takes a toll on the body. Did paleo humans eat low-carb? By today’s SAD (Standard American Diet) standards, yes, even though some ate moderate carb diets (~40% of calories). So, should we go on a snack-food diet in order to prove it’s bad effects? We conclude no, as we address a listener’s points, one of which was for us to increase our caloric intake to see if we’d gain body fat and adversely affect blood readings. Fortunately, such studies have been done (clinical and controlled, not just anecdotal), showing the beneficial effects of what Atkins noted as “metabolic advantage.” In other words, as long as your insulin secretion remains low (as a result of eating low carb), increasing fat intake will typically not cause increases in body fat. The same can’t be said for most people who increase their carb intake, since those extra carbs will tend to be stored as fat and kept there, courtesy of insulin.

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Items mentioned in this episode:

Adam takes a bite out of Washington, DC
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Man_V_Food/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Episode_Washington_Dc

Kevin’s new post about important blogs to follow
http://healthymindfitbody.com/2010/11/17/the-10-most-important-blogs-you-should-be-reading-if-you-care-about-your-health/

further reading on metabolic advantage…

Is a Calorie Really a Calorie? Metabolic Advantage of Low-Carbohydrate Diets
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129158/

Dr. Michael Eades has extensive and comprehensive posts on the subject of food metabolism
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/karl-popper-metabolic-advantage-and-the-c57bl6-mouse/
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/metabolism/overfeeding-and-metabolic-advantage/
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/ac-fat-loss-bible-critique-part-ii/

bumper music “All In My Head” (Remix) – http://www.kosheen.com

Feel free to rate and/or review our show on iTunes!
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=332309038

4 thoughts on “56 – Man v. food, metabolic advantage”

James

30 November 2010
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Thanks for the information Wes. I tend to be quite omnivorous day to day. I try to eat something from all the main food groups with less emphasis on the bread and grains. I think I’ll try to eat more stew based food.
- Wes
  
  3 December 2010
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  Sure thing, James. Stew is great stuff, because you can throw in lots of veggies amidst the meat or poultry. Remember to throw in some fat too or even olive oil.
James

23 November 2010
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Man v. Food is quite an entertaining show. I’m astounded that Adam isn’t bigger than he is. He actually doesn’t look that big compared to the amount of food he eats.

Healthy Mind Fit Body is very informational. I enjoy listening to it. It’s good to hear the other side of the nutrition spectrum.

I definitely have a long love with carbs because I have been eating tasty breakfast cereals since I can remember. Recently, I not been eating cereal, but I still eat unnecessary carbs, like hush puppies. I do read labels and try to consume products that have lower carbs especially with lower sugar content. I usually drink water only or the occasional beer.

The Thanksgiving holiday which means lots of delicious food will be readily available. Much of it will be carb laden. Many people are going to be a constant danger zone trying to avoid eating too much. I know I will.
- Wes
  
  24 November 2010
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  Oooh, hush puppies, eh James? Perhaps Adam’s done some sort of food challenge involving that particular southern “comfort food.” ;) I think Adam has the sort of middle-of-the-road genes that most of us have, in which the body’s response to excess carbs is to store a lot, but not all, as fat. Of course, if he keeps up his routine, he’ll continue to gain body fat, as well as do damage to his body.
  
  As we’ve noted on the show before, it doesn’t matter much how your body responds to carbs in terms of fat storage or fat burning; what matters is your blood insulin levels (of which TG/HDL ratio is a surrogate marker). Dr. Sears of the Zone Diet fame noted that he too used to eat lots of breakfast cereal, such as Grape Nuts (one of my old personal favorites, btw), and he was still pretty skinny. However, he knew that he was damaging his body and was on a collision course with heart disease, among other things (I think his dad and brother had died of heart attacks in their 40s). So, he charted a new course to consume fat for energy, rather than carbs.
  
  Regarding turkey day, it’s definitely easy to overdo it. What I’ve found helpful is to make my portions of the carb-rich foods smaller (potatoes, stuffing, yams, cranberries, etc.) and get fat from the turkey (especially dark meat) and maybe some olive oil in a green salad. Even if one over-does it with pie, the next day one can get back on track. I suppose we should be thankful that Thanksgiving feasts tend to come only once a year. :)

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4 thoughts on “56 – Man v. food, metabolic advantage”

James

Wes

James

Wes

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