WASHINGTON, 11 May — People who have tried to lose weight over the years — and have tried dozens of the latest crash diets — tend to think that the reason they cannot lose weight, and keep it off, is because their genetic make-up is impossible to change. So if they are heavy, they are doomed to be heavy for the rest of their lives.
Dr. Neal Barnard, head of the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, disagrees.
In his latest book, Turn off the Fat Genes: The Revolutionary Guide to Taking Charge of the Genes that Control Your Weight (Harmony Books, February 2001), Dr. Barnard, author of Foods That Fight Pain and Food for Life, explains how through the use of food and easy exercises one can suppress the body’s fat genes.
For vegetarians, the dietary rules described in this book offer no surprises. For carnivores, it may rattle some long-held beliefs.
Basically, Dr. Barnard offers insight on genetic research regarding weight and weight gain, and offers an easy method to lose weight, while stabilizing ones appetite.
The book stresses the importance of understanding and controlling five key gene groups: The taste genes, the appetite-taming hormone, the fat-storing genes, the fat-burning genes, and the exercise genes.
“Heredity plays a role in determining your shape, metabolism, taste and appetite, but the key factor is the way you eat,” says Dr. Barnard, who is director of the Washington, DC-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. “Many women with an inherited tendency to gain weight bounce between diets and binging, which sends fat genes into overdrive, causing the body to store fat and drop its metabolism, while triggering hunger.”
Barnard says that the type of cell that predominates in your muscles — Type I or Type II — is not a matter of choice. It is, in large part, genetic. “Not surprisingly, these genetic traits determine your athletic aptitude.
“Believe it or not, you can change your muscle fibers to make up for what is missing in your chromosomes.
“While exercise will not turn Type II cells to Type I, it will do the next best thing. If you start an exercise program and stick with it, it will increase the number of capillaries reaching each muscle cell by as much as 40 percent. Within a few months, the Type II cells will become almost as vigorous as Type I’s.”
Throughout the book Dr. Barnard tries to educate us about health and dieting: “Some popular writers have pushed ultra-high-protein diets on the theory that, since meat has no carbohydrate at all, it should not have any effect on insulin. Research has shown otherwise. Protein is a powerful stimulus for insulin release, just as sugar is. In fact, fish produces a bigger insulin release than popcorn. Beef and cheese cause a bigger insulin release than pasta. A better answer is to chose high-fiber, natural plant foods.”
“Virtually everyone can pump up insulin sensitivity by getting away from animal products and their load of fat, keeping vegetable oils to a bare minimum, and exercising regularly.”
Dr. Bernard, a vegan (non-dairy vegetarian) himself, uses convincing examples as to why dieters might want to consider giving meat a miss:
“Vegetarians are usually slimmer than meat eaters. However, because the non-vegetarian men had more body fat, they ought to have had a higher metabolism. But the surprise was that the vegetarians’ metabolic rates were actually higher. Something about their adopted diet kept their [metabolism] flame turned up a notch.”
Dr. Barnard also offers valuable dietary tips that are also quite educational, throughout the book: “A slice of white bread behaves differently [than beans and grains]. It’s starches break apart quickly, and sugar rushes into the bloodstream.
Insulin tries desperately to shove this influx of sugar into the cells of the body and will likely overreact, pushing too much sugar out of the bloodstream.
The result is a rapid rise and fall of blood sugar. And that is where the trouble starts. This rapid rise and fall signals you to eat again, and your refrigerator suddenly becomes irresistible.
“It is reasonably easy to divide foods into those that release sugars slowly and those that release them quickly. The best choices for a slow, steady energy release are beans, vegetables, fruits, and certain grains and grain products: Pasta, barley, bulgur, and whole-grain bread, such as pumpernickel. In contrast, refined grains (e.g. white bread), potatoes, and some sweeteners, such as honey, release their natural sugars more rapidly.
“A new potato releases its sugars fairly slowly, but a russet potato does so quickly, faster even than white bread. The difference is probably in the more glutinous texture of the new potato, in contrast to the more powdery russet.
“As you might guess, a banana yields its sugars faster as it ripens, and in general, the more you cook a food, such as pasta or rice, the more quickly it releases its sugars. This may explain the remarkable weight loss often seen in people who consume large amounts of raw foods: Melons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, carrots, apples, oranges, etc. These foods may contain substantial amounts of natural sugars, but they release them only gradually.”
And, as we all know (although some of us may be reluctant to admit it), exercise does play an essential part in weight loss:
“Exercise can even help make up for the low metabolism your genes may have given you. Researchers have tested the effects of a long bout of aerobic exercise finding that it pushes your metabolism up — and it stays high for a least a day after the exercise,” writes Dr. Barnard.
“After a workout, your body strengthens your tired muscles and repairs their stresses and strains, like mechanics working furiously to repair a care after a race. Building new proteins burns a lot of calories and can account for 10 to 15 percent of your RMR. Exercise protects you from the gradual fall in metabolism that happens to many people as the years go by.”
For those fighting food binges, Dr. Barnard offers a sensible alternative: “...Exercise also helps control your appetite.... Exercise takes your body out of the mode of eating and digesting and makes you unlikely to binge.”
Like a horse and carriage, diet and exercise belong together: “To be effective, exercise must be used with changes in your diet, not in place of them... A study of weight-loss programs showed that those using exercise alone led to an average weight loss of only six pounds in sixteen weeks, while those using diet alone cause an average weight loss of about twenty-four pounds on the same time. Using diet and exercise together helps you maximize your results and makes it easier to keep the weight off over the longer term.”
My guess is that people who read this book will become motivated enough to make significant changes in their diet... maybe not the complete change recommended by Dr. Barnard, but enough to make the marked changes in their eating habits that will affect their weight and benefit their health.
Concerned about what you can eat on this diet? Not to worry, more than 150 recipes are included in the book.
Those who are not vegetarians, however, may have some problems following the finer points in the book. When I reviewed parts of this book with a group of meat-eating friends, they had valid questions grasping some of the explanations made by Dr. Barnard.
As a result, we all agreed that the next time Dr. Barnard publishes a book; he should have it proofed, or edited, by non-vegetarians.
• Foods that outsmart your fat genes:
The key to outsmarting your fat genes is to eat foods that enhance the body’s ability to burn fat. For this reason, experts recommend building menus around foods low in natural sugars, high in fiber and low in fat.
Dr. Barnard recommends a diet free of meat and dairy products. And, as with all diet plans, drink 8 (8-oz.) glasses of water a day.
• Fruits:
Apples, lemons, cherries, berries, kiwi, apricots, grapefruit, cantaloupe, tangerines, oranges, limes, mangos, peaches, dates, honeydew, grapes, plums, avocado, pears.
Vegetables:
Beans, lentils, peas, spinach, greens (including all lettuces, turnip, greens, kale, etc.) asparagus, squash, zucchini, dill pickles, garlic, bell peppers, onions, artichokes, cabbage, cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, cauliflower, mushrooms, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, eggplant.
• Grains & cereals:
Whole-grain products, including reduced fat crackers, whole-grain breads, whole-grain pasta, wheat-bran cereals, oat-bran cereals, oatmeal, and brown rice.
Extras:
Balsamic vinegar, mustard, artificial sweeteners (avoid products with aspartame, try Stevia), all-fruit jams and jellies, Tabasco sauce, coffee, tea, natural peanut butter, olive oil, canola oil, nuts, herbs and spices, broth.
