Befriend the devil and accept that fat isn’t bad

Fat has been demonised for decades, but if you are trying to shed those extra kilos then you should consider befriending the ‘devil’, because according to a leading doctor and nutritionist “fat is anti-fattening”.

Backed by four major studies, Dr John Briffa also insists there is no good evidence showing saturated fat, the so-called baddy in diets, causes heart disease.

“Individuals with heart disease do not eat more saturated fat than those free of heart disease – about 30 studies have looked at this, and only a handful have found any association,” he said.

Dr Briffa yesterday took his paying lecture audience – of mostly slim women, and one man – on a mind-bender where he turned traditional health advice on its head.

The day seminar, entitled ‘Escape the Diet Trap’, was presented jointly by Dr Briffa, a regular contributor to top magazines and newspapers in the UK, and Bryn Kennard, a popular pilates instructor in Malta.

Throughout his animated session, Dr Briffa stressed the importance of never going hungry as diets and calorie restriction only served to slow metabolism and make people feel deprived.

He pointed out that while the argument of eating less and exercising more was very persuasive, these principles failed to work for the vast majority.

To support this argument, he referred to what is known as the Minnesota Experiment, a study carried out in the US after World War II at a time of starvation and published in 1951.

The aim was to find the best way to get the weight back on people so they got 30 psychologically-robust men to follow a restricted diet of 1,600 calories for 24 weeks that was high on carbs and low on fats.

The average weight loss was 20-26 per cent of their weight but their metabolism was reduced by almost 40 per cent, which meant their bodies tried to restrict weight loss.

The effect of hunger on these men was profound. They were obsessed with food and thought about little else.

They lost their sense of humour, interest in life, social connections and ambition and started chewing gum and drinking coffee incessantly.

“When people go hungry it has implications on their mental well-being,” Dr Briffa said.

“This is another principle why diets won’t work. Hunger is not a prerequisite for weight loss.”

After 24 weeks, these men were given unlimited amounts of food and in response they went from famine to feast, gobbling 4,000 calories a day.

The men started to put on weight and they only started to eat normally once their fat stores were replenished.

But the body fat levels were seven per cent higher than when they started, showing that calorie restriction and low-fat dieting seemed to do more harm than good.

“We’ve known for a half a century it cannot work but we persist at it,” he said.

Asked about the conflicting studies out there, Dr Briffa pointed out that there was considerable discrepancy between the results obtained by industry and non-industry funded research.

Dr Briffa spoke at length about the biological effect of carbohydrates, protein and fat on the body.

Ironically, fat was the one that does not stimulate insulin secretion – which determines whether fat flows into fat cells and stays there – with carbohydrates emerging as the main culprit.

He referred to a 1992 report where an American scientist fed his clients nothing for 3.5 days and instead hooked them up to a saline drip. They lost fat from their fat cells at a fair rate.

These same individuals were then fed just fat for 3.5 days and the fat loss from fat cells was identical to when they were fed nothing at all.

The secret is balancing blood sugar and insulin. Put an emphasis on foods that release sugar relatively slowly into the bloodstream, and drink plenty of water.

The focus should be on the quantity of the food you eat, not the quality, with an emphasis on protein, fat and less on carbohydrates.

Do’s and Dont’s

Do’s – Ensure 80 per cent or more of your diet comes from ‘primal’, natural, unprocessed foods, such as fresh meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, non-starchy vegetables and some fruit.

Eat mindfully, chew thoroughly and savour your food.

Balance alcoholic drinks with water as it appears the ‘benefits’ of alcohol have been over-stated.

Walk regularly and supplement this with brief resistance exercise session.

Ensure your appetite is well under control.

Don’ts – Don’t consciously restrict calories or go hungry.

Don’t judge your weight according to the body mass index.

Don’t buy into erroneous and misleading marketing messages.

Don’t see the changes you make as a ‘diet’.

Don’t consume aspartame, which is used as a sweetener and found in soft drinks, among other things. Aspartame contains molecules that are converted into formaldehyde – used to preserve the dead – in the body.