Question on Calories vs Nutrients

We thought we would publish this question as it is a common one. The answer is below.

Question

On a nutrition part. I got an interesting book by Mischel Montiniak
(not sure about spelling because the book is in Russian. Author makes
an interesting (to me) statement that calories are NOT why people get
overweight and that cutting calories intake is not going to change
anything. The key to lose weight and MAINTAIN your weight is to cut on
“bad” carbohydrates, such as white bread, potatoes, honey, carrot,
corn, sugar etc. and      “bad” lipids and at the same time increasing
fiber intake. In his view, an extra weight is generated due to
disruption of insulin production by our gallbladder. This dis-balance
is called “hyper-insulin” production. It generates too much of insulin
and the surplus goes into extra fat.

He also (among other things) suggests that fruits must be eaten only on
empty stomach (or at least 2-3 hours removed from our meal) because
fruits tend to be digested (properly) faster than anything else but
eaten with cheese (for instance) got blocked in the stomach and develop
additional ferments and alcohol, thus disrupting digestion.

He also suggests that some products (rice, for example) are very bad
not by nature but because of special treatment they get before being
sold to people. Only wild brown rice is good but it is very rare in
eating places.

What is your opinion?  I just began reading but the fact that calories
intake is not important in losing weight goes against the huge industry
)big surprise, huh!)

sample diet:

sardines
omelet with mushrooms
green salad
cheese

raw vegetables
lamb with beans
green salad
strawberry

tomato salad
tuna with cabbage
green salad
cheese

What do you think?

Answer

Yes, Montiniak is correct about looking to the quality of foods instead of the calories. This is a GREATLY misunderstood subject in dieting and by people generally.

For instance, a gram of fat from a hamburger or butter, is not the same as a gram of fat from a quality vegetable oil. Furthermore, quality is way important than percentage. Dietary rules in the US propose 15% of the diet come from fat. However, eskimos have over 50% of their diet from fat, yet they are not fat and do not show signs of arterialscherosis because their fat is very fresh and of high quality (freshly killed seal meat and fat). So its quality that makes the difference.

Also, high quality foods have more nutrients. It is likely that people on low quality diets are in a situation where there body makes them eat more…because the body is requiring more nutrients. That is, there are several triggers for appetite, and calories are only one trigger.

As far as white rice. White rice is a relatively simple carbohydrate no matter how it is grown. Its also weak in nutrients. Brown rice is way better. This applies across the board, white carbohydrates are bad, brown are good.

All the foods you listed seem pretty good. However, you should know that the US diet is highly denutrified. Quality foods are simply hard to get. Because of this we end up with a lot of conditions that are misdiagnosed. In our culture the first cure is considered a doctor or a pill, the underlying diet is rarely discussed. It should be the first thing discussed, because (obviously) every cell in the body and every organ is created from food in the diet.

I rely on Trader Joe’s for most my shopping, I would not shop at say a Safeway or a Krogers. They are all about processed foods and marketing over substance.

Food Intake and Dieting from CCF

We thought this was a very good explanation of how dieting affects calories consumed. It is from the Center for Consumer Freedom and their publication is named “Small Choices, Big Bodies.”

Pinky Show on GMOs

The Pinky Show is a deceptively simple presentation of very detailed information. Check it out on Genetically Modified Organisms below. 

Calorie Counting and Food Quality

There is a diet approach called calorie counting. The concept behind this is that a person can manage their food inputs based upon matching their food calories with their metabolism. We have noted a serious problem with this approach, the primary problem being that it ignores food quality. That is a calorie is not necessarily a calorie. The body not only desired calories, but nutrients as well. If a low quality diet is consumed, the body can adjust appetite up in order to obtain more nutrients. This must be one of the major reasons behind the growth in obesity. It is not only that food is more plentiful (and exercise less common) but it is also lower in quality. This includes processed foods that have been greatly de-nutrified. 

Proposal

So our proposal is that by increasing the food quality, it is not only better for your health, but it will also decrease the calories consumed….naturally, therefore, the body has a natural balancing capability. However, it can only perform this balancing if it gets enough nutrients from the foods consumed.