Posted on 01/31/2014 11:51:14 AM PST by nickcarraway
Sugar vs fat: Chris and Xand Van Tulleken, both 35, spent a month following restrictive fad diets to see if one food group is behind the obesity epidemic.
Is a high-fat, low-carb diet better for you than a high-carb, low-fat one? A pair of British brothers set out to end the fat versus sugar debate.
Alexander (Xand) Van Tulleken, a senior fellow at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University in New York, and Chris Van Tulleken, a physician at University College Hospital, London, each agreed to stick to a specific diet for one month.
Chris followed a super-low-fat plan, while Xand cut out carbs, and their journey was documented for BBC’s Horizon program.
The 35-year-old identical twins were the perfect guinea pigs, Xand said. They had the same genes, lived similar lifestyles and had comparable exercise habits, so any changes would be the result of their new diets. They were allowed to eat whatever they wanted, both brothers said cutting out such a big food group was no picnic.
“I thought I'd got the better deal: I could eat meat, fish, eggs and cheese,” Xand wrote in an article for the Daily Mail. “But take away carbohydrates and the joy goes out of meals. And remove all fruit and veg — they all have carbs — and you get constipated."
Xand said the diet filled him up, but he felt slow both mentally and physically. Chris, who was always snacking because he was never full, blew past his brother in an uphill bicycle race.
“He just keeps getting further away and I cannot make my legs go any faster,” Xand told the camera during the race. “It’s like I’m stuck in one gear.”
Chris also crushed him in a fake stock trading competition.
"I just couldn't remember anything," Xand said in an interview with the Daily News.
Both brothers did drop some weight at the end of the month, but Xand explained to The News that his weight loss came from losing muscle ("Losing muscle is bad news," he said). He was also closer to being diabetic.
"I was significantly less healthy than my brother was," he said. But Chris’ low-fat diet could also have negative health consequences, so neither is good for you in the long run.
“The most interesting thing we found was that we were asking the wrong question. It's not which is worse for you, fat or sugar, but rather which foods are making so many of us gain weight and why?” Xand wrote.
Their advice? Stay away from processed foods that are loaded with sugar and fat.
Saw a Breatharian on Tom Snyder about forty years ago. He was extremely slow [and slightly slurred] in his speech, and looked like he’d just been rescued from Andersonville.
So, that all said, I swear by the low carb diet ... but ... Your brain needs carbs. I'm not sure a lot of doctors would recommend you be under 20g/day. This guy was clearly not getting enough complex carbohydrates for this brain if he was experiencing forgetfulness and so on. Be advised...
An extra slash on the opening tag. You banished the Italians twice. :=)
How true, The other day on the local news some spokeszombie for PETA called on the FLA dept of corrections to serve the inmates vegan diets. She sounded like knocked back a few too many Quaaludes.
Not veggies. Starches are the culprit. Wheat, grains, potatoes. Veggies are fine as are fruits in moderation after the first week.
Grandma put meat, potatoes, vegetables on the table every night along with a couple of Rheingolds. My Grandma died at 99 after mowing her brothers lawn in her own apartment in front of her own TV neither over nor underweight.
It takes most people two to three weeks to adapt to a low-carb diet, so a one-month study may not be long enough to show any real effects.
Second, there’s no discussion of what they replaced what they weren’t eating with. A lot of people who try low-carb don’t seem to understand that they need to eat a lot more fat. Meals that are low in carbs and are low in fat are dry and tasteless. Meals that are high in fat are not.
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