Thursday, March 5, 2009

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...

Alrighty, folks. We've changed plans once again, and are now back to our original course of action, staying with Jesse's parents. I am completely ok with that, because hopefully we can build up our finances in a couple months, and find a house of our own. I have the truck rental all scheduled, now I'm waiting to hear back from a storage facility and we need to book Jess's plane ticket. We have to wait on the ticket for a couple days because we're still not sure about when he starts work.

How many of you out there are following the low calorie vs. low carbohydrate wars out there? Man, people really love their dogma, whichever side they are on. I, as most of you know, fall on the low-carb side of the line. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a two-year-long study comparing the macronutrient differences on a low-calorie diet. Their conclusion? That no matter which ratio of macronutrients you eat more or less of (proteins, fats, carbs), low-cal is the answer to all. (You can read the original article here.)

There are so many things wrong with this study, I don't even know where to begin! Anyway, the Today show and various others picked up this "study" and ran with it, touting it as a great study that "proves" low calorie is the way to go. This is a great disservice because for people who don't want to take the time to do the research for themselves will take this study as gospel.

Now, finally, some well-respected voices in the medical community are speaking out about this study. You can read Fred Hahn's article in the Huffington Post here. Michael R. Eades also wrote an article about the study; you can read it here.

It frustrates me that there are so many great studies out there that show the whole "calories in, calories out" mantra is not the best way to lose weight or regain optimal health. Anyone who wants to learn more about this should read Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories.

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