Eating Fat and Carbs Together?

castelluzzo99

I have no idea if this has ever been covered before, but I recently heard of the book Trim Healthy Mama, and after reading a review of a lady who has read and is applying the book, I learned about this concept of eating fat and carbs at separate meals. A little more research yielded the fact that some body builders endorse this concept as a good way of getting a lower BF%, while others think it's hogwash.

The lady who is promoting it was on a diet for 2 1/2 months that I would call rather extreme: only lean meat and veggies and sugar-free protein powder--no carbs, and only the fat that was in the meat. She lost 32 lb during that time, but then when she reached goal weight, she didn't know how to go back to her former diet (vegetarian, btw), and was frustrated by the 5-lb weight gain she would get over the weekend (I think Sara wrote about it here a while back--glycogen stores/water weight), so she would go back on the diet to get rid of it, and spent a few weeks in this yoyo before she found THM.

Now, I am sure that her new diet is WAY better for her than the old one. I can NOT imagine eating only protein and veggies, but I'm wondering about the new diet. It seems restrictive (no butter on popcorn, no oil to keep pasta from sticking, no mayo in a sandwich).

So I'm wondering, SS & Sara, have you heard of it, and if so, what is your opinion of it? Not that I would ever try it; I am losing just fine on my relatively high-carb, moderate (30%ish) fat diet, but I am curious, since the concepts that they are presenting (such as how eating fat and carbs together affect insulin) are interesting, and I figure I can at least learn something!

chrisdavey

24hr net energy balance.

The guy who was a MASSIVE proponent of it was Dr John Berardi of Precision Nutrition. Started it about 10 years ago or so. Since, more studies have been released he has since changed his way of thinking.

In short, doesn't matter.

SideSteel

24hr net energy balance.


In short, doesn't matter.

^ That, entirely.

castelluzzo99

So then the benefit of THM would be more in the healthy, balanced meals and probably portions (I haven't seen the book, but it sounds healthy) that is why it seems to work for so many people, not because of separating fat & carbs, right? I guess I don't care if this lady sticks with it or not, but it seems like a diet that would require a lot more planning and would be hard to maintain away from home. She's a SAHM to 9 kids, so she stays home a lot. Still, I do appreciate your perspective. Thanks!

Oh, and by energy balance, are referring to calories in/calories out?

neanderthin

It's kinda based on fat storage. Of course there's the popular insulin causing fat storage and carbs being the trigger in that instance. Fat also has a hormone that stores fat called ASP and when carbs and fat is consumed together another hormone GIP is activated. This is just human physiology and the way the body works and like chrisdavey mentioned, fat storage is about energy balance but for reasons that defy logic people like to isolate a physiological activity and build a premise around, it's how the diet industry make money and will continue to do so. Nutritional dissection is like the wild west right now, everybody has a covered wagon selling their wares to unsuspecting victims, I mean people.

SideSteel

fat storage is about energy balance but for reasons that defy logic people like to isolate a physiological activity and build a premise around

^ Also that

SideSteel

So then the benefit of THM would be more in the healthy, balanced meals and probably portions (I haven't seen the book, but it sounds healthy) that is why it seems to work for so many people, not because of separating fat & carbs, right? I guess I don't care if this lady sticks with it or not, but it seems like a diet that would require a lot more planning and would be hard to maintain away from home. She's a SAHM to 9 kids, so she stays home a lot. Still, I do appreciate your perspective. Thanks!

Oh, and by energy balance, are referring to calories in/calories out?

If the diet is working for people it is because it is causing them to eat in a caloric deficit.

And re: the bold, yes.

castelluzzo99

That's pretty much what I figured. The lady had been vegetarian but decided she couldn't eat that way anymore because "there were too many carbs". I, however, am vegetarian and know many vegetarians, and I can testify that there are many slender ones, and also that when I had troubles with being overweight and trying to lose, it was because I was eating too much. It's not that beans and cornbread are fattening. It's that beans and 4 pieces of cornbread slathered in butter are fattening. Beans with 2 pieces of cornbread and only a minimal amount of butter, and a side of salad, have a lot fewer calories!

Thanks for the input, everyone! I appreciate it!

Sarauk2sf

HI!

I am a vegetarian, have been for 25 years. Never had any problem getting fat or losing weight because of it!

Locking the thread now so we can keep track of active threads. Feel free to PM myself or SideSteel is you want to comment further, with a link to this thread, and we will unlock so you can do so.