Fat Tuesday

May 15, 2012


The saying the "fat you eat is the fat you wear" maybe true and eating more fat is good way to lose weight.  Confused? Welcome to the wonderful world of diet information.

But first:

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  103 mg/dl.
• Weight:  188ish lbs. 
• Exercise:  45 minutes.  I tried the interval approach this morning.  More below.
• Mood:  7.5.  I am better than I thought.

The Menu:

• Breakfast: Baked oatmeal and fruit and the usual morning fruit medley.
• Lunch:  A potato salad sandwich and leftover cole slaw.  Easy to make and very filling. Carb mania.
• Dinner:  Leftover brisket from Sunday and salad.  
• Snacks:  A small piece of desert the Charming Mrs. SWMBO made on Sunday.  I can't east this stuff anymore.  I get a terrific sugar buzz.

High Intensity Interval Training Update

This morning I tried the one minute interval training I read about yesterday called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  It's making the most of a small amount of time and it's easy to do.  One minute of high intensity peddling (it works well for the bike and should work well for any aerobic exercise) followed by one minute a low intensity peddling.  What I realized is that my high intensity peddling is my normal pace when I get the groove going.  My normal rate is a high intensity rate.  So I finished by doing what I normally do.

I am so proud of me, but you don't know until you try, right?

The Fat You Eat is the Fat You Wear

Or,  moments-on-the-lips, years-on-the-hips may be true.  People who eat a big, high in fat meal may find the fat they consumed showing up on their waistline within three or four hours after they finished eating according to an Oxford University study.  Your waist is where your body stores fat for the short term.  Ideally, it goes from there to to burned off as energy.  A good reason to be proficient at (HIIT) or doing some physical activity for at least one hour per day, six hours per week.

The surprise is that it was stored so quickly.  Most had assumed that time required was a lot longer, but fat seems to get stored quickly.  If not burned off, the fat is eventually moved from the waistline to the the hips, or thighs or buttocks.  Eat enough of large, high fat meals and you get fat. What a surprise.

Except...

Diabetics did better on a high-fat, low carbohydrate diet

Fat may be good for diabetics looking lose weight and improve their hear health.  From a study done at the Linkoping University in Sweden, 61 type 2 diabetics were randomly placed into one of two groups.  One group was placed on a more traditional low-fat diabetic diet.  The other was placed on a high-fat, low carbohydrate diet.

Both groups lost about the same amount of weight.  The group eating the high-fat diet did have lower blood glucose levels.  The saturated fats in the blood were about the same for both groups, despite the one group eating more fat and the good cholesterol of the high-fat group was actually a bit better than the low fat group. 

The low-fat diet offered no statistical advantage over the high fat group. 

So what does this mean?  I don't know.  My is guess is portion size matters.  The key I think in the first study is the meals were large and had high in fat. In the second, I am guessing the portions were limited and that made all of the difference. If that was the case, makes the Twinkie Diet all the more believable.  I bet this also applies to non-diabetics as well.