Ray's Take

Background:
I went to medical school - they taught zero about nutrition.

I experimented on myself - I learned a lot about what works for me.

I made the most used health and weight loss social network - I learned when/how/why people "social" when they are trying to lose weight. I also saw all the crazy shit people would try and get excited about, when I knew there was zero chance it would work (shakes, tea, cleanses, etc).

I made a "healthy" keto program (mediterranean low carb) with a breath sensor that gave people feedback - I saw the value of low carb, fast feedback and even proved in a randomized controlled trial how effective it was (link). However, I also never did keto long-term myself (too hard, didn't have to, not sustainable for me) and do not believe anyone needs to do this (though it works very well if you actually want to do it).

This is my way of saying, other than med school which was useless for this topic, I have lived the hard knocks of real world nutrition and diet programs.

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I've also stayed up to date in all of the nutrition research from the top institutions (NIH, Harvard, etc.).

Let me tell you, this world is fucking crazy. It's literally a circle jerk combined with a religious war. Oh wait, thats basically just a religious war.

Let's start with what everyone agrees with:

"All theoretical models of obesity, must satisfy the principle of energy balance to avoid violating the laws of physics." (link)

What is the principle of energy balance and how does it apply to humans?
Energy balance is based on the first law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can can transferred.
(link)(link)

We humans can take in energy through food and drink, and expend energy through resting metabolic rate (RMR)—the thermic effect (TEF) of food and physical activity.

If we take in more energy than we burn, we need to store it. The primary storage place is fat.

If we burn more energy we take in, we need to get it from somewhere. We get it from glucose (eaten carbs), glycogen (stored glucose), and then fat.

Thus, you want to lose weight (amd fat), you have to consume (eat or drink) less calories than you burn. This is known as a "law of physics" and no one disagrees. You may know this as calorie in / calorie out. (link)

What else does everyone agree with?

Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram. (link)

The way different foods are metabolized (processed by your body) are different. Protein is metabolized differently than fat which is different than carbohydrates.

The thermic effect of protein is higher than fat and carbs (it takes more energy for your body to process protein than carbs and fat). You need to get enough protein to preserve muscle, but not too much.

If you eat carbs, especially simple carbs (IE sugar or processed carbs), your body will produce more insulin. If you eat less carbs, your body will produce less insulin.

Too much insulin is generally not good bc it leads to insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes) and fat storage.

Fiber is from carbs that are not digested and is good (there are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble).

Refined carbohydrates aka processed foods aka white bread, white rice, pasta, sugary drinks, candy, chips, cookies, ice cream, etc. are bad.

What are the competing religions?

Ok, now here is when things get really fucking confusing, and frankly annoying.

There are multiple "models of nutrition" coming from heavyweights in the "elite" academic institutions.

First, we have the Energy Balance Model (EBM), not to be confused with the principle of energy balance, which is spearheaded by Dr. Kevin Hall, who works for the National Institutes of Health (NIH / NIDDK), the top US governmental public research institution.

What is the EBM? (link)

• Calories in being greater than calories out leads to weight gain
• HE DOES NOT say that a calorie is a calorie. However, he does say that cals in vs cals out is a "law of physics."
• EBM says that the central nervous system (brain) has the largest effect on what you eat and how fat you are through complex signaling.
  
• EBM says there are complex environmental factors at play that lead people to eat more of certain foods because of biology (dopamine aka food rewards), social pressures, habits, cost, and availability

The upstart model is the carbohydrate insulin model (CIM), which is promoted by Dr. David Ludwig from Harvard, and Gary Taubes, a best seller author.

What is the CIM? (link)

• Calories in being greater than calories out indeed causes weight gain HOWEVER, the first step is that eating carbs, or more specifically eating a diet high in glycemic load (high volume of high glycemic index foods), leads to increased insulin secretion (emphasize this is the causal first step).
• Higher insulin secretion leads to adipose tissue (fat tissue) getting bigger (more triglycerides produced from sugar eaten).
• The fat tissue takes up all of the nutrients eaten, starving the rest of the body (liver, brain, muscles) which leads to people feeling hungry and leading them to eat more. But they eat more of the same bad carbs which perpetuates this cycle -> eat more carbs that raise insulin -> those carbs turn into fat -> the rest of the body gets nothing so you eat more bc you are hungry
• In addition to the above, the CIM says that if you reduce carbs (glycemic index), there are additional benefits. 1) Metabolic advantage - this means people on a low carb / low insulin nutrition plan burn more calories, given the same total number of calories consumed. 2) Lose more fat - this means people on a low carb / low insulin nutrition plan lose more fat, given the same total number of calories consumed. 3) Less hunger - this means that people on a low carb / low insulin nutrition plan will eat less bc they are less hungry than those who eat more carbs.

What happened?

Kevin Hall did two super official studies (link) (link) in which people were kept inside of a ward, and given food that had a known amount of calories, fat, carbs, and protein aka they could not cheat or eat anything else. One showed that:
- Low carb diet did not meaningfully increase calories burned (energy expenditure)
-Low carb diet did not cause people to lose more fat

Who cares?

They do, a lot. The Low carbers protested the study. (link)

The EBMers (Kevin) replied. (link)

They each wrote "perspectives" explaining or re-explaining their models. (CIM perspective)(EBM response perspective)

What else cares?

My guess - no one. Seriously.

What else

I'm being biased here, but i'm just going to add four data points that I think actually matter:
- Protein is necessary for preserving muscle , increases satiety, and takes more energy to process (higher thermic effect). There is also a "protein leverage hypothesis" that says people eat until they get enough protein, and if they don't get enough, they will keep eating (IE chips, bread, candy, etc) until they get enough. I personally think and hope this is true. In any case, if you are strength training (and you should be), you need protein.
- Fiber is good bc its good for your gut and microbiome, but at bare minimum bc it is not digested (IE zero calories) and sits in your gut and thus makes you feel full. Water and air also make you feel full.
- There have been massive studies (Predimed) that showed Mediterranean diet prevents heart disease. Mediterranean = olive oil, nuts, fish, veggies. They could eat carbs.
- There was a year long RCT at Stanford (Dietfits) that showed low carb and low fat diets work about the same.

So what should you do based on the above.

Above all else, find something sustainable that moves you toward your goal. It's the only thing that matters.

What does sustainability mean?
- Love what you eat
- Do not feel like you are missing out on anything
- Moving toward your goal
*If you are unsatisfied for any reason (hunger, taste, social, access, etc), you will fail. You will not be able to "sacrifice" long term.

For me, thats eating maximum volume with minimum carbs. I like it because it is very sustainable for me. I get to eat a lot, food has amazing flavor, and I'm never hungry (in fact usually quite full).

Maximum volume, minimum calories:

• Eat as much high fiber low calorie food as you want --> this is almost just high fiber vegetables. Eat max of cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, greens, cabbage, spaghetti squash. So healthy, makes you so full, zero downside.
• To make the above taste good, add fat while cooking or as a sauce --> the best fat is olive oil for cooking (good for heart health as per predimed), and I like guacamole for sauce as it tastes amazing and avocados also have great fats. Note, you should not go HAM aka unlimited on olive oil or avocados bc they do have a lot of calories)
• Eat plenty of protein --> This usually comes in the form of beef, pork, chicken, fish, etc. All of these foods taste amazing, and should be eaten every single day. However, you should not go unlimited bc they all include fat and thus are med/high on calorie density. Just have a good amount until you are satisfied. Simple.
• You must enjoy life --> Life is not a nerdy research paper or science equation. You like what you like. I like what i like. Our families do what they do. There are traditions on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. You should assess what the food are that you like, that you have the knowledge to understand might not be the best for your health or physique. Quantify how bad it actually is. Then decide if its worth it to you. If so, then go for it! I do this all the time and often eat/drink foods I know are "bad." This is what it's all about. Knowledge is power.

What I do and why

How I eat
Secret to success

How I exercise
How to improve