Weight - WKTV Journal

Whole grain avocado toast with tomato and an EVOO-based vinaigrette is a great way to start your day with all three macros.. (Supplied)

Dr. Erik Johnson DC
Love and Health Chiropractic

Did your New Year’s resolution to lose 2020’s COVID weight gain stall out by the end of January? Maybe you need a new approach. I’ve been impressed with the macro approach to weight loss. You only have to think about the three macros, short for macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are the nutrients your body needs in smaller amounts. Whether you follow a vegan, paleo, Mediterranean, or USDA MyPlate diet, you can make macros work for you.

With a macro diet, you focus on getting a certain number of grams from each of the three macros. This approach helps ensure that you are getting the nutrients your body needs—the best way to use macros to lose weight is to choose healthy, whole foods.

Fats have gotten a bad rap but your body actually needs them – but hold the fries. Healthy fats help your body convert calories to energy, support organ health, and cell growth, and enable your body to absorb vital nutrients. Chow down on avocados, tree nuts, and seeds. (We love pepitas—pumpkin seeds.) Cook with olive or grapeseed oil. Experts now tell us that bacon fat is OK, as long as the bacon is uncured, preferably from free range pork, and has no harmful additives like nitrates and nitrites.

Healthy carbs provide fiber, naturally. Dig deep on the grocer’s shelf for 100% whole grain breads. Fresh fruits and veggies are also fiber-rich carbs, especially dark, leafy greens. Cook up a pot of black beans and brown rice with a side of home-cooked collards or kale. Now we’re talking healthy carbs.

When you think “protein,” your first thought might be meat. And you’re right. Lean cuts of chicken, turkey, or beef and fatty fish (think salmon or mackerel) are great meat-based proteins. Eggs, milk, and cheese also provide a good amount. Plant-based protein options offer an inexpensive way to meet your body’s protein needs. Legumes (like black beans or unsweetened peanut butter), tree nuts, tofu, and seitan are a few examples.

So how do you count your macros? How much do you need of each? That depends on your weight loss goals and physical activity. You can find a great macro calculator at FreeDieting.com that even lets you figure in the kind of diet you want to follow, e.g., keto. In general, you should eat 30% fat, 30% protein, and 40% carbs if you exercise an hour or less every day. Those numbers shift to 25% fat, 30% protein, and 45% carbs if you exercise one or two hours every day.

Maintaining your ideal weight and eating nutrient rich foods are two ways you can achieve optimal health. But sometimes, doing those two things can be difficult, especially if you have other health concerns. Before you start any diet, check in with your medical doctor or a certified nutritionist to get the go-ahead. And don’t forget to get adjusted by your chiropractor on your journey to better health. An aligned spine improves the function of your nervous system and supports the health of your body’s organs, which in turn can impact your metabolism and cravings.

Dr. Erik Johnson DC is a chiropractor at Love and Health Chiropractic in Wyoming at 1586 44th Street SW.

Study shows a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetable fats such as olive oil and nuts had little effect on body weight or waist circumference compared to people on a low-fat diet. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

An eating plan that includes healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts isn’t likely to cause weight gain, a new study finds.

That’s good news for people who’d prefer to try the Mediterranean diet—which includes healthy fats—over a diet that’s low in fat. And the study authors suggest that current health guidelines may be creating an unnecessary fear of these healthful fats.

“More than 40 years of nutritional policy has advocated for a low-fat diet, but we’re seeing little impact on rising levels of obesity,” said study lead author Dr. Ramon Estruch, of the University of Barcelona in Spain.

“Our study shows that a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetable fats such as olive oil and nuts had little effect on body weight or waist circumference compared to people on a low-fat diet. The Mediterranean diet has well-known health benefits and includes healthy fats, such as vegetable oils, fish and nuts,” Estruch explained in a journal news release.

However, he also pointed out that not all fats are created equal. “Our findings certainly do not imply that unrestricted diets with high levels of unhealthy fats such as butter, processed meat, sweetened beverages, desserts or fast-foods are beneficial,” Estruch added.

The study included more than 7,400 women and men in Spain, aged 55 to 80. The study participants ate one of three eating plans: an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil; an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet rich in nuts; or a low-fat diet meant to avoid all dietary fat.

All the participants had type 2 diabetes or high heart risk. More than 90 percent were overweight or obese, the study authors noted.

After five years, total fat intake fell from 40 percent to 37 percent in the low-fat diet group, and rose in both Mediterranean diet groups, from about 40 percent to 42 percent. The percentage of proteins and carbohydrates decreased in both Mediterranean diet groups, the findings showed.

People in all three groups lost some weight: an average of almost 2 pounds (0.88 kilograms) per person in the olive oil group, 1.3 pounds (0.60 kg) in the low-fat diet group, and 0.9 pounds (0.40 kg) in the nut group, the researchers said.

Waist circumference did increase slightly in all three groups, though less so in those on the healthy fat diets. The low-fat group had an increase of about a half-inch (1.2 centimeters) per person. The olive oil group saw an increase of about one-third of an inch (0.85 cm), and the nut group only saw an increase in waist circumference of 0.14 inches (0.37 cm), the study authors reported.

The report was published June 6 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

“The fat content of foods and diets is simply not a useful metric to judge long-term harms or benefits,” Dariush Mozaffarian, professor in the School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University in Boston, wrote in an accompanying commentary.

“Energy density and total caloric contents can be similarly misleading. Rather, modern scientific evidence supports an emphasis on eating more calories from fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans, fish, yogurt, phenolic-rich vegetable oils, and minimally processed whole grains; and fewer calories from highly processed foods rich in starch, sugar, salt, or trans-fat,” Mozaffarian explained.

“Dietary guidelines should be revised to lay to rest the outdated, arbitrary limits on total fat consumption. Calorie-obsessed caveats and warnings about healthier, higher-fat choices such as nuts, phenolic-rich vegetable oils, yogurt, and even perhaps cheese, should also be dropped,” Mozaffarian wrote.

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.