Mashed Sous Veades Low Carb Logic

Well, the pudgy mirdled one, diet book author and former diet doctor Mike Eades has taken a break from changing the world** with his Sous Vide* to compose his ninth blog post of the year!  Last we heard from him here at The Asylum, he and his wife had resolved to -- yet again! -- diet in 2012.  You'll see why all of those links are relevant as we get into discussing his latest:  Are carbohydrates fattening?

His post refers to the 6 year follow-up (4 years after the initial 2 year study) from the famous diet comparison study from Shai et.al.  I discussed this study back in my more gregarious days (grin) in Gary Taube$, Shai-ster?   This study was done in a workplace setting in Israel, where through the cafeteria, they were able to assist participants in complying with the diet by offering choices labeled as appropriate for their assigned diet plan.  

In this 2-year trial, we randomly assigned 322 moderately obese subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean body-mass index..., 31; male sex, 86%) to one of three diets: low-fat, restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie.

Lest there be any confusion as to how the diets were prescribed, here is that section from the original paper:

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Weight Loss Celebs & Credibility

I’ve read that [he] has regained quite a bit of the weight. When I’ve seen him [in pictures] lately, it’s only from the shoulders up.

Questions:

1. Who is "he"?
2. Who said this?
3. What is he/she implying about the subject?

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Drs. Westman & Vernon on Gastric Bypass and Diabetes

So I was getting my morning news fix the other day and of course the new study mentioning gastric bypass as a cure for diabetes was discussed.  One of the many mainstream press articles about two recently published articles in NEJM can be found here.  The full texts of both studies are available online free:  Bariatric Surgery versus Conventional Medical Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes - Mingrone et.al. and Bariatric Surgery versus Intensive Medical Therapy in Obese Patients with Diabetes - Schauer et.al.  I've discussed some other studies previously here.  Lastly on the links for now, I have not followed all contained in this post, but from a surgery center blog we have:  Gastric bypass to ‘cure’ diabetes goes mainstream (you are forewarned that the last one is a "medical tourism" clinic in Colombia).

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Government Guidelines - Let's Get Real!!

** I'm updating and bumping this post because my omission of a link to the blog post has led to some confusion as to the reference to Dr. Jeff Volek in the second to last paragraph.

Here's the blog post I was discussing:  http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/jimmy-moores-may-2010-testimony-before-the-usda-regarding-the-2010-dietary-guidelines/10989

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So ...

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. The USDA's misguided nutritional advice has wreaked havoc on our population and spawned the obesity epidemic.

Really?

Firstly, let me state flat out that I agree that the old pyramid was misguided. And I believe the newer guidelines are even more misguided. They aren't going to solve the problem. Basing a diet on whole grains and encouraging grain consumption when whole grains equates with flour and highly processed foods is absurd.  

That said, let's be honest here. When a 275-ish pound Jimmy Moore testified before the Congressional committee and made the following statements:

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Don't be a Yo Yo! (Effect of weight change on energy expenditure)

Effects of experimental weight perturbation on skeletal muscle work efficiency, fuel utilization, and biochemistry in human subjects

Or in plain English, what happens to your metabolism when you gain or lose weight.

Maintenance of a body weight 10% above or below that “customary” for lean or obese individuals results in respective increases or decreases in the energy expended in low levels of physical activity (nonresting energy expenditure, NREE). These changes are greater than can be accounted for by the altered body weight or composition and are due mainly to altered skeletal muscle work efficiency at low levels of power generation.

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