Is Your Diet Making You Fat?

It all started in the 70's, Americans, especially women, started getting into cardio and watching what they ate. But something else happened with the backing of the Government, Americans started equating fat with eating fat and poor health, so a revolution began, 'What we did when we got off the fat is we got into carbohydrates and sugar then became part of the carbohydrate picture which is the absolute worse carbohydrate.'

Dr. Stanley Gardner of the Preventative Medicine Group in Westlake, Ohio says all of our nutrition comes from only 3 sources; protein, fat and carbs. When you eliminate fat, you have to replace it with something else, 'We have dropped our fat intake approximately 30% in this nation, the obesity has risen dramatically, heart disease has now slowed down it's as much as it ever was.'

Endocrinologist Armand Kirkorian says he's noticed the shift to carbohydrates as well, and that is not good for portion control, 'An old saying is carbohydrates beget carbohydrates, where you eat some and you can't stop you want to eat more ends up a huge amount of calories again.'

When it comes to low fat, think about how many choices are out there, but watch out. Products like low-fat yogurt can actually have more calories than the regular stuff, 'Because you have to compensate for the taste, so you lose the taste of fat, you have to add something else.'

Something else, like sugar, which adds calories.

But Dr. Gardner says the real 'saboteur' of our diets are those processed foods. They are convenient and well market, 'Basically processed food is taking out 80% of the nutrients in the process of processing and then putting a few back in at the end and calling it enriched and then selling it as if it was real food.'

He also says find real food by shopping around the edges of the grocery store. And says that foods that come in boxes and cans have chemical additives to heighten smell and taste, which makes you crave more of the same, 'What our body is craving is to have our nutrient needs met. When the nutrient needs are met in a healthy individual, then that person will eat what they're supposed to eat.'