Beginner's Fitness Programs

One main cause of failure in dieting is hunger. Cutting your caloric intake makes you so hungry that after one week of dieting, you cannot stop yourself from eating a huge hamburger…
That is one reason why many people are attracted to high-fat/high-protein diets like the Atkins diet. Foods which are low in carbohydrates do not cause the blood glucose levels to fluctuate too much, and people don’t feel hunger as much as they might while on a high-carbohydrate diet. Many people successfully lose weight without many apparent side effects.

Does this mean that we all should eat a high-fat/high-protein diet? Well, it may not be a good idea. According to one study done by McMaster University researchers, although the high-fat diet initially stimulates muscle growth as it burns more calories from fat, if you take in more fat than the muscles can handle, the muscle function starts a downward-spiral decline.

In another study done by the Buck Institute for Age Research, researchers showed that a low-protein diet makes fruit flies live much longer than those in the high-protein diet group. This is because mitochondria in the cells, which control energy usage, show higher activity levels and signal cell growth when in the low-protein group; the process is similar to that of a restricted-calorie diet.

So what should we do? I think that if you are overweight, you may want to try high-fat/high-protein diet to lose weight (and, of course, work out) initially, but after achieving your desired weight loss, you should change to a healthy, balanced diet similar to the Mediterranean diet (without too much calorie restriction).

By the way, many of these diet studies are still debated in academia and the final conclusion may change in a few years. So keep paying attention to the science of weight loss!

source: October 2 edition of Cell, Buck Institute for Age Research,
McMaster University (PLoS ONE, 2009, October).

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