In the table above, our two women both eat 2,000
calories.
1) The first truth about calories tells us that, from
the same 2,000 starting calories, Ms Government
Advice has 1,826 calories available to the body
and Ms Real Food has 1,662. This is a substantial
difference. This means that two people can both
eat 2,000 calories a day and the high
carbohydrate person is effectively getting nearly
200 calories more than the high protein person.
Anyone still wonder why low-carbohydrate diets
have a built in advantage?
2) The second truth about calories tells us that
Ms. Real Food doesn't quite have enough fat and
protein calories (585 + 798 = 1,383) to do her
BMR work. Ms. Government Advice has
consumed barely half of the fat and protein
calories that she needs (803 vs. the 1,500
needed). Hence Ms. Government Advice could
have consumed another 700 fat/protein calories
and the body had a use/need for them straight
away – a missed opportunity and the fast track to
disease.
Both women needed approximately 500 calories
for energy. Energy can come from carbohydrate
or fat (this is often forgotten or not known - it is
usually assumed that activity must be fuelled by
carbs). Fat is actually the most versatile
macronutrient. Ms. Real Food didn't consume
enough carbohydrate calories to fuel her energy
needs and she had no excess fat calories to
provide energy. Her body will have to break down
triglyceride i.e. burn body fat, to meet her energy
requirements. This is exactly what a slimmer
wants to happen.
Had we realised that a calorie is not a calorie and
that some calories have jobs to do, we could have
avoided making two thirds of our fellow citizens
overweight and sick. This will surely go down in
history as one of the gravest errors ever made.
References:
1
Eric Jequier, “Pathways to Obesity”, International Journal of
Obesity, (2002).
2
Richard Feinman and Eugene Fine, “A calorie is a calorie
violates the second law of thermodynamics”, Nutritional
Journal, (2004).
3
Harris J.A., Benedict F.G., “A biometric study of basal
metabolism in man”, Carnegie Institute of Washington,
Publication no 279, (1919).
4
Dietary Goals for the United States announced by Senator
George S. McGovern, chair of the Senate Nutrition
Committee. (1977)
5
Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy, “Diet and
Cardiovascular Disease: Report of the Panel on Diet in
Relation to Cardiovascular Disease”, (1984).
Zoë Harcombe is an author
and obesity researcher and
creator of The Harcombe
Diet®.
Further information at
www.zoeharcombe.com and
www.theharcombediet.com
Ms Government Advice, on the other hand, has
twice as many energy calories as she needs, so
she stores fat rather than burns fat.
People eating real food get slim and healthy.
People eating the way the government advises
get fat and sick. This is why we have seen an
epidemic of both obesity and ill health since the
USA 19774 and the UK 19845 changes in dietary
advice. These were the catastrophic dates, when
we first started telling people to avoid fat and eat
carbs instead and the obesity graphs took off like
airplanes in the years that followed.
Diet & Health Today
6