Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish and LEARN Diets for Change in Weight and Related Risk Factors Among Overweight Premenopausal Women – Research Review

Which brings us to this week’s study. The researchers set out to compare 4 diets of drastically different carbohydrate intake. The first was Atkins which is a very low-carbohydrate diet. The second was the Zone which is a moderate carb diet (40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat). The third is something called the LEARN diet which is your basic food Pyramidy type of diet with 55-60% carbs and saturated fat below 10% of total calories. Finally was Dean Ornish’s extremely high-carbohydrate, very low-fat (10% or less) diet. These diets were chosen to represent the spectrum of diets from very low carbohydrate to very high carbohydrate.

Impact of the Menstrual Cycle on Determinants of Energy Intake – Reseach Review

That’s what today’s research review is about, a look at how things such as energy intake, appetite, energy expenditure and body weight change throughout a woman’s cycle, as well the impact of birth control is briefly examined along with some issues related to PMS and food cravings.

Ketogenic Low-Carbohydrate Diets have no Metabolic Advantage over Nonketogenic Low-Carbohydrate Diets – Research Review

Now, before I continue let me say that I have nothing against low-carbohydrate diets. My first book The Ketogenic Diet was about nothing but and many of my dietary approaches often have low- or at least lowered carbohydrate phases to them. Research clearly shows that, for some people, lowering carbohydrates can have profound health benefits and in some cases a near removal of dietary carbohydrates (except for things like fruits and vegetables) may be profoundly beneficial.

Hormonal Responses to a Fast-Food Meal Compared with Nutritionally Comparable Meals of Different Composition – Research Review

Fundamentally, my belief is that, given identical macro-nutrient intakes (in terms of protein, carbs, and fats) that there is going to be little difference in terms of bodily response to a given meal. There may be small differences mind you (and of course research supports that) but, overall, they are not large. And certainly not of the magnitude that many make it sound like.

Why Do Obese People not Lose More Weight When Treated with Low-Calorie Diets?

Over decades of their use, the simple fact is that low calorie diets (LCDs) mostly fail. And I’m not simply talking about the fact that most people will regain any weight lost. The simple fact is that even the total weight loss seen with such diets is often fairly small. A total loss of 5-10kg (roughly 10-20 lbs) over a year’s span is a typical result. And while that might be great for someone who who is lean, for someone at 250-300 lbs, it’s not terribly significant.

Meal Frequency and Energy Balance

Perhaps one of the longest standing dogmas in the weight loss and bodybuilding world is the absolute necessity of eating frequently for various reasons. Specific to weight loss, how many times have you heard something along the lines of “Eating 6 times per day stokes the metabolic fire.” or “You must eat 6 times per day to lose fat effectively.” or “Skipping even one meal per day will slow your metabolic rate and you’ll hoard fat.” Probably a lot.

Homeostatic and Non-Homeostatic Pathways Involved in the Control of Food Intake and Energy Balance.

The homeostatic system has to do with the idea that the body tries to maintain some specific ‘set point’ in terms of bodyweight or body fat. Basically this system takes incoming signal (from hormones like leptin, insulin, blood glucose, ghrelin, peptide YY and a host of other stuff) and makes adjustments in appetite, hormones, metabolic rate and activity to compensate.

Effects of Exercise Intensity and Duration on the Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption

In the last year or three, exercise programs for fat loss have been geared around the concept of using certain types of training (either interval style cardio or highish rep/short rest weight training) to cause fat loss through an ‘afterburn’ effect where calories are burned after workouts to a greater degree than following standard training styles (esp. low intensity cardio). Clearly from a real-world perspective, this type of training ‘works’.

Endurance Training and Obesity: Effect on Substrate Metabolism and Insulin Sensitivity.

As a bit of introduction, it’s recently come to light that one major cause of insulin resistance in obesity has to do with the accumulation of fat within skeletal muscle. Referred to as intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG), fat stored within skeletal muscle appears to play a big role in how well (or poorly) the muscle can utilize glucose and respond to insulin. I’d note that it’s a touch more complicated than that for reasons I don’t want to get into.

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