Are you eating rat poison?

Traditional fitness dogma preaches that fat is the devil, however like any dogma this is an overly simplistic and dangerous conclusion. There is still much controversy as the relation of saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease is still being questioned by scientists. The ‘anti-fat for weight loss’ tirade of the past few decades has died down in favour of attacking a different macronutrient (carbohydrates). But again, the fact is that this anti-fat idea is too stubborn to die much like Keith Richards. And why would it die? It seems so simple to understand: 9 calories for every gram of fat vs. 4 calories for carbohydrates and proteins when weight loss = less calories. The truth is that cutting fats may indeed be a bad idea, as it would eliminate the ‘good’ fats that come from products like fish oil and nuts. A recent analysis that you can find here for free http://tinyurl.com/7293rxz has pointed to the fact that even the supposed ‘bad’ fats may not be linked to cardiovascular disease. As someone with experience in weight loss I can tell you that cutting fats doesn’t yield the results people truly desire to cut weight. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you should go chug a bottle of olive oil or eat fried pig fat, as is part of my heritage (ugh). 



Now we all know that the primary reason people lose weight is to look better and be biologically more appealing to whomever it is they are attempting to attract. I’m still a huge proponent on emphasizing weight loss to improve one’s metabolic profile (i.e. not being a diabetic or having high blood pressure, heart attacks etc.). The nice thing is that a great weight loss intervention makes the person losing weight happier about how they look and feel as well relieving their poor arteries of undue stress (as well as a copious amount of other factors which are beyond the scope of this post). That being said, a study (http://tinyurl.com/7fwlzt8) which came out in June fed rats traditional cafeteria food and compared it against rats that ate high fat and low fat diets as well as ones that ate traditional rat chow (mmmmm) which served as a control to the experiment.  

The other reason why they should consider a healthier lifestyle.

The reason why most men exercise and try to keep fit (to look something like that).

These were the foods available to eat for the cafeteria rats (sounds like a sequel to a Kevin Smith movie). It was all ad-libitum meaning they ate as much as they wanted when they were hungry, not too different from an eating strategy most  people employ:  

SC 7001 (Harlen)

Fruit Loops (Kelloggs)

Cocoa Puffs (GM)

Fudge Rounds  (Little Debbie)

Peanutbutter Cookies

Reese's Pieces (Hershey)

Blueberry MiniMuffins (Hostess)

Crunch (Nestle)

Cheez-it

Cocoa Puffs (GM)

Doritos Nacho Cheese (Frito-Lay)

TownHouse butter crackers (Keebler)

Sugar Wafers

Hot Dog wieners (Kroger)

Cheese -mild cheddar& monteray jack (Kroger)

Wedding Cakes

Lays Wavy (Frito-Lay)

Pork Rinds bbq (Kroger)

Pepperoni slices (Kroger)

Cheez-It: Part of a nutritionally imbalanced liver damaging diet.

The results? Rats that ate all the delicious cafeteria style foods that are available across high schools, elementary schools and from indifferent employers everywhere showed a significantly greater incidence of weight gain, insulin resistance and inflammation in fat cells. In addition, they also got fatter, had trouble controlling their portions AND had more prominent steatohepatits a.k.a. fatty liver disease, which is a typical condition in alcoholics. Poor little mammals!  The kicker? The diet was only 7 weeks! 

...because this is way cuter and much less sad than posting a picture of a real obese lab rat.

Now it’s always important to be critical of research. Rats fed ad libitum may not always have a direct correlation to humans in cafeterias. The number of rats used in this study was also not a large one; however the results remained statistically significant. More importantly, this will open the door to more research on humans (although most are already performing this study on their own without medical supervision or a control group when they make their food choices). It also gives us an idea of the effect that these types of processed foods have on mammals and their organs, endocrine system etc. As a mammal, this concerns me.  Regardless, the take home message should be that in order to ensure optimal health and weight loss, an individual needs to be vigilant in not only making better food choices, but ensuring they have more control of the foods they put in their body. Most people don’t bother to look at the ingredients in these products which at best may do nothing to your health. Fat isn’t your enemy. On the other hand, foods with ingredients that even a skilled linguist would have trouble pronouncing may prevent you from optimizing your health and well being. Maybe it’s time we all frequented local farmer’s markets again, or at the very least started packing our own lunches.