ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Latest Science on Losing Weight | Calories Not Important

Updated on October 18, 2014
Chuck Bluestein profile image

At age 16 I was a volunteer at a hospital bacteriology lab. I became a chemist for U.S. government. Then I studied health & related fields.

Woman lost weight with raw foods diet

Besides losing weight Megan Elizabeth got rid of weight loss problems, severe adrenal fatigue, leaky gut syndrome, falling hair, acne, anxiety, headaches, insomnia and allergies.
Besides losing weight Megan Elizabeth got rid of weight loss problems, severe adrenal fatigue, leaky gut syndrome, falling hair, acne, anxiety, headaches, insomnia and allergies. | Source
Megan Elizabeth lost 55 pounds by switching to a raw vegan diet. See before and after picture below.
Megan Elizabeth lost 55 pounds by switching to a raw vegan diet. See before and after picture below. | Source
Close up of Megan Elizabeth to show that raw foods are great for health and work for losing weight also.
Close up of Megan Elizabeth to show that raw foods are great for health and work for losing weight also. | Source

Losing Weight | Calories Do Not Matter

If the current theory of eating less calories and exercising more were right, we would not have an epidemic with our society gaining weight, instead of losing weight, where 35% of Americans are obese.

Olive oil is pure fat yet consuming extra calories from it helps you to lose weight. The omega-9 unsaturated fat in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) reduces your number of fat cells so olive oil helps in losing weight.

Nutritionist Sonny Bowden (Dr Bowden has a PhD in nutrition) says that exercise itself is not enough to reduce weight since you do not burn enough calories. Although if you do some exercises, like resistance exercises, they increase muscle causing you to burn more calories 24 hours a day and lose weight. Body fat does not burn any calories. Also exercise has an anti-inflammatory effect. What does that have to do with losing weight or anything?

Recently I wrote an article about The Great Cholesterol Myth. The book by this name was written by an M.D. and Dr Sonny Bowden (whenever I hear this I wonder what they are a doctor of-- see above for that answer). They were on the Dr Oz TV show talking about this. On the show Dr Bowden gave an analogy about cholesterol. He said that being concerned about cholesterol is like taking lettuce off of a hamburger to lose weight.

Now taking lettuce off of a hamburger will reduce the number of calories in it. So does that help in losing weight? Using that old theory lettuce has fiber and little calories. So you get less calories but you are less full. So if you replace that with a high calorie food, then that makes it worse. So for losing weight, add a lot of lettuce to the hamburger so you feel more full with less calories.

They said on the Dr Oz show that what damages the arteries is inflammation, not cholesterol. Also another theory is that not all calories are the same. The calories from sugar that enters your body is more fattening the quicker the sugar goes into your blood causing an increase in insulin. So low glycemic load and glycemic index foods are better for losing weight.

The latest theory about losing weight is in the book, The Fat Resistance Diet: Unlock the Secret of the Hormone Leptin to: Eliminate Cravings, Supercharge Your Metabolism, Fight Inflammation, Lose Weight & Reprogram Your Body to Stay Thin by Leo Galland M.D. He has a great article in the Huffington Post about how cherries are better for pain than aspirins. It says:

Cherries are important for their ability to control inflammation. A growing body of scientific research indicates that inflammation contributes to diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, and obesity.

Cherries Better Than Aspirin for Pain

It is a great article whenever you want to read it. I love eating fresh cherries so much that I can make that a meal. So we already know about heart disease and inflammation from the above, but what does inflammation have to with obesity, losing weight and what is the hormone leptin mentioned in the title of the above book. Dr Leo Galland says in a 2007 article called The Fat Resistant Diet in Bottom Line's Ultimate Healing Volume II (a 560 page book):

Surprisingly, we gain weight when natural weight-control mechanisms are disrupted by inflammation, a low-grade inflammatory response caused by poor diet and environmental toxins.

When people gain weight, the extra fatty tissue produces leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite and speeds metabolism. In theory, this should cause people to lose the extra weight.

Instead, inflammation in fat tissue and blood vessels stimulate the production of anti-inflammatory chemicals. Those chemicals disable leptin's ability to suppress appetite and speed metabolism. This is called leptin resistance.

So calories and cholesterol is not important to losing weight and clogging arteries, but inflammation is what is important according to 2 different books by MDs. Now Megan Elizabeth in the pictures above switched to a raw vegan diet and besides losing weight, lost severe adrenal fatigue, leaky gut syndrome, falling hair, acne, anxiety, headaches, insomnia and allergies. So is it possible that those things are also associated with inflammation besides losing weight. Well we do know that people take aspirin (or now cherries) for headaches and it reduces pain and inflammation.

Also on Youtube you can see lots of videos of Leelee (leelea) who lost a lot of weight. She is thin and eats more food than any woman on the planet. She eats 30 bananas a day and had a 22 pound watermelon for breakfast. All the foods that she eats are raw and 97% of it is fruit.

So Dr Leo Galland has a diet to reduce inflammation for losing weight. He says that fiber (in plant foods) control appetite and reduce inflammation. He suggests eating colorful fruits and vegetables, crucifers like cabbage and kale, alliums (like onions and garlic) and herbs and spices. Also he explains that egg yolks that are broken before cooking creates oxidized cholesterol and inflammatory by-products so avoid scrambled eggs and omelettes (or omelets).

Note that the spice turmeric has curcumin in it making turmeric the most anti-inflammatory food. Also green tea may be the second most anti-inflammatory food. It also contains EGCG that helps people in losing weight. Also it is important to get enough omega-3 in our diet to reduce inflammation. Also it is known that not getting enough omega-3 essential fatty acids contributes to many health problems.

A great exercise for losing weight and general health is yoga. Dr Oz has all of his patients doing yoga. I have been doing yoga since age 12. Yoga is the best exercise to reduce inflammation and it can also increase muscle depending on the type of yoga. Bikram's hot yoga appears to be the most therapeutic for the body. Note that yoga has also been used with mental or emotional problems like anxiety, depression and insomnia.

A 2004 Time Magazine article entitled, The Secret Killer, suggests inflammation may be the engine that drives many of the most feared illnesses of middle and old age including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's.

Here is a website (MetabolismAdvice.com) with more information about this with a list of anti-inflammatory foods. It says:

Three of the hormones that play a role in metabolism are leptin, resistin and adiponectin.

  • Leptin is involved in appetite control.
  • Resistin is a hormone that increases insulin resistance.
  • Adiponectin lowers the blood sugar by making your body more insulin sensitive.

The fact that it is the fatty tissue that produces these hormones makes the fat self regulating, as the hormones should act to bring the increased fat under control. Bodies with more fat will produce more leptin bringing the appetite under control. However in cases where the body is inflamed there is often a problem with leptin resistance, and the self regulation of fat does not occur. Leptin resistance is where [the] body stops responding to the appetite controlling effects of the hormone.

Here is a list of 70 anti-inflammatory foods that I found to help in losing weight: alfalfa, alfalfa grass, almonds, almond butter, artichokes, asparagus, avocado, barley grass, basil, bee pollen, bell peppers, black radish, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, buckwheat, cabbage, caraway seeds, carrots, cauliflower, cayenne pepper, celery, cherries, chives, cilantro, coconut (fresh), cucumber, cumin seeds, eggplant, endive, fennel seeds, figs, garlic (fresh), ginger (fresh), green cabbage, horseradish, jicama, kale, kamut, leakes, lemons (fresh), lentils, lettuce, limes (fresh), mustard greens, navy beans, onion, oregano, parsnips, peas, pumpkins, red beets, red cabbage, red radish, rutabaga, savoy cabbage, sea vegetables, seaweed, sesame seeds, spelt, spinach, sprouted seeds, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnip, wheat grass, white radish, yams and zucchini.

Many years ago I knew the calorie theory was wrong since my mother and I could eat massive amounts of fattening foods or eat very little with no significant change in body weight. So I knew that the body had the ability to burn up all the calories consumed. Please note that it is the same with blood sugar. If someone is healthy then if they consume a lot of food or go all day with no food then their blood sugar stays the same within the normal blood sugar range. That is to address the idea of eating many meals a day for losing weight. For many years I have eaten only 1 meal a day. That is the same with Buddha and Bernarr Zovluck D.C. who is 84 now and never overweight, but is muscular. [D.C. is doctor of chiropractic.]

Book on Losing Weight and More

The Fat Resistance Diet: Unlock the Secret of the Hormone Leptin to: Eliminate Cravings, Supercharge Your Metabolism, Fight Inflammation, Lose Weight & Reprogram Your Body to Stay Thin-
The Fat Resistance Diet: Unlock the Secret of the Hormone Leptin to: Eliminate Cravings, Supercharge Your Metabolism, Fight Inflammation, Lose Weight & Reprogram Your Body to Stay Thin-
"Cutting-edge research shows that losing weight is not about carbs, calories, or even willpower—it’s about a hormone called leptin, and how it functions in your body." "With over 100 delicious recipes designed for maximum satisfaction and eating pleasure, the Fat Resistance Diet is the only diet you’ll ever need—a brand new way to eat that will transform your body into a lean, fat-fighting machine."
 

Best Juice according to Megan Elizabeth. Contains Cherries. Good for Losing Weight also.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)