Living Low Carb (66 page)

Why Is Water So Important for Fat Loss?

Drinking plenty of water is absolutely necessary for fat loss. When you’re not drinking enough water, the kidneys can’t work properly, so they start dumping part of their load onto the liver. The liver is the main fat-processing plant in the body, but if it has to take over some of the kidneys’ work, it can’t work at full operating capacity. It metabolizes less fat, so more fat remains in the body and weight loss stalls.
¹²
Water is also necessary to get rid of the toxic wastes released from fat stores.

Water is also the absolute best treatment for water retention. The less water you drink, the more the body perceives this as a danger and sends signals that result in holding on to as much of that scarce water as possible. Sometimes this shows up as swollen hands, feet, and legs. When you’re drinking enough water, this doesn’t happen. There’s no more “emergency,” and the body releases stored water instead of retaining it.

How Much Water Should I Be Drinking?

More than you think. “Larger people have larger metabolic loads,” says Dr. Donald Robertson. “Since we know that water is the key to fat metabolism, it follows that the overweight person needs more water.” Robertson recommends 3 quarts a day. Many personal trainers recommend a gallon. I think the absolute minimum is 64 ounces (½ gallon) plus an additional 8 ounces for every 25 pounds of excess weight you are carrying.

How Can I Get More Fiber in My Low-Carb Diet?

If your program permits it, include a serving of All-Bran or Fiber One cereal, which are the only commercial cereals that have a significant amount of fiber. Get some wheat or oat bran (not the cereals, the actual
bran
; you’ll find it in the section of the health-food grocery that sells dry bulk items). You can mix the brans together in different proportions and cook it to make your own hot cereal mix, or you can use it as a breading or a filling. I also recommend adding fiber supplements (like psyllium husks or flaxseeds) to your program, but don’t take them at the same time as other medications or supplements, because the fiber can inhibit absorption.

What Are Sugar Alcohols? Do They Count as Sugar?

Sugar alcohols—also called polyols—are sugar-free sweeteners that are carbohydrates but are not sugar. Common ones include maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol. They have fewer calories per gram than sugar: sugar has 3 calories per gram, while sorbitol has 2.6, xylitol has 2.4, and mannitol has 1.6. They don’t cause sudden increases in blood sugar; instead, they are slowly and incompletely absorbed from the small intestine into the blood, and the portion that is absorbed requires little or no insulin. Since they aren’t technically sugar, manufacturers are able to say “sugar-free” when they use sugar alcohols as sweeteners, but they’re required to include these sweeteners in the carb count on the nutrition label (though not everybody does).

Scientists call them sugar alcohols because part of their structure chemically resembles sugar and part chemically resembles alcohol. They’re certainly a lot better for you than pure sugar. Xylitol actually has health benefits. But some of them can cause slight gastric upset for some people, like a little gas or a mild laxative effect. And you have to be careful with portion sizes—even though the food may be technically sugar-free, the calories and grams of sugar alcohol can add up. And some folks—particularly carb addicts—say that products sweetened with sugar alcohols can trigger cravings just like products sweetened with sugar.

What Are the Best Oils?

There’s a new star on the horizon: coconut oil. It can be used for anything and has amazing health benefits (also see next question).

For cooking, I recommend extra-virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil (especially Barlean’s 100% Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil), grapeseed oil, or butter (I know it’s not an oil, but it is fine for cooking and sautéing). Peanut oil is stable and can be used occasionally for stir-fries, but it is very high in omega-6, so don’t overdo. You can use sesame oil, which is very good for frying, but remember that it contains a larger proportion of omega-6’s, so don’t use it exclusively. Almond oil is good for baking.

Flaxseed oil is terrific, of course, but
never
use it for cooking. It is a great source of alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fat), but for that reason it can’t be heated (though it can be poured or drizzled on hot foods such as vegetables). Omega-3 fats are very unstable and become extremely damaged when heated. Another terrific new oil that is a great source of the same omega-3 fat is perilla oil (a plant extract), but it should not be used for cooking.

For salads, try coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, any of the nut oils (macadamia, hazelnut, almond, walnut), avocado oil, or sesame oil. You can also use flaxseed oil or perilla oil. I don’t recommend canola oil. To be used commercially, it has to be partially hydrogenated, refined, and deodorized, and in the process its omega-3’s become a potent source of trans-fatty
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If you do use it, make sure to get organic, cold-pressed, or expellerpressed canola oil (such as Spectrum), and only use it cold.

Oils you can say good-bye to permanently include safflower, sunflower, acids. corn, soybean, and cottonseed. Buh-bye.

What’s the Story with Coconut Oil? I Heard This Is a “Bad” Fat!

You heard wrong. Virgin coconut oil is a good, stable, healthful fat that actually has a number of healing properties, not the least of which is that it is anti-inflammatory.
¹⁴
The original bad rap for coconut oil came four decades ago, when researchers fed animals
hydrogenated
coconut oil that was purposely altered to render it devoid of essential fatty acids. The animals that were fed the hydrogenated coconut oil (as the only fat source) naturally became deficient in essential fatty acids, and their serum cholesterol increased.
¹⁵
Early commercial coconut oil was often hydrogenated (loaded with trans-fats), and all the good, healing stuff had been removed. That altered, damaged coconut oil
wasn’t
very good for you. But
real
coconut oil is a health bonanza. The Pukapukans and the Tokelauans of Polynesia, for whom the coconut is the chief source of energy, have virtually no heart disease, and research on these populations concluded that there was no evidence that their high saturated-fat intake (from coconut) had any harmful effects.
¹⁶
The saturated fat in coconut oil comes mainly from MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides), which are preferentially burned as energy and less likely to be stored as fat, making them a good choice for a weight-loss program.
¹⁷
Coconut oil also contains a high proportion of the antiviral and antimicrobial lauric acid, as well as the antimicrobial capric acid and the potent “yeast fighter” caprylic acid.
¹⁸
Be sure to purchase the virgin or cold-pressed kind. In my opinion, there is none better than Barlean’s 100% Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil, which I use for almost everything.

What Are the Good Fats?

Good fats include all the oils mentioned above as “good”
plus
natural, undamaged fats like butter, coconut, avocado, nuts, and the fat in fish.

The dietary establishment has long fostered the myth that fats are “good” or “bad” depending on whether or not they are saturated: saturated fats = bad, unsaturated fats = good. Not so. A much better way to categorize fats is by whether they are damaged or undamaged. You can damage fats in a number of ways. One way is by overheating any vegetable oil by frying at high temperatures—this creates toxic substances known as lipid peroxides. Another is through an industrial process known as partial hydrogenation, which creates something called trans-fats, by far the most dangerous of all fats. Trans-fats are found in almost all fast foods (french fries, for example, are doused in them), most margarines, virtually all commercially baked goods (including children’s cookies), and movie popcorn, and in any products containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (look for these in the ingredients list on the package). Trans-fats are the true demons of the fat world, and the ones we want to avoid completely, as they are associated with all the degenerative diseases common in the modern world.

M
ORE ON
K
ETONES AND THE
B
RAIN

Dr. Mary Newport is the medical director of the newborn intensive-care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida. And her husband Steve had early-stage Alzheimer’s. “I was watching my husband of 36 years fade away,” said Dr. Newport.

Then she discovered coconut oil.

Dr. Newport began researching clinical trials and discovered a new medication that had shown unbelievable results in clinical trials. While the best that can generally be hoped for with Alzheimer’s is to slow the progression of the disease, this drug had produced actual memory
improvement
, something rarely seen in Alzheimer’s patients. Unfortunately, her husband wasn’t eligible for the trial—according to the results of an MMSE test (a test commonly used to assess cognitive impairment), he scored too low and had too great a level of impairment.

But Dr. Newport didn’t give up.

She researched the active ingredient in the new medication and found an in-depth discussion of its primary ingredient, a particular form of fat called MCTs—medium-chain triglycerides.

This is precisely the kind of fat found in coconut oil.

She decided to try it.

She purchased a bottle of non-hydrogenated, extra-virgin coconut oil (one excellent brand is Barlean’s Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil, available everywhere at health-food stores).

She started by adding a couple of tablespoons into her husband’s oatmeal.

Almost immediately, her husband started showing improvements. He scored higher on the exam than he had scored in a year. More than 5 months afterward, his tremors had subsided and he had become more social and interested in those around him.

The secret seems to be in ketones.

The body converts some of the MCTs into ketones, which are an additional source of fuel for starving brain cells. No one is claiming that ketones—or MCT oil, a purified form of the fat found in coconut—will cure Alzheimer’s. But this inspiring story is yet another example of the way ketones can be helpful as an energy source for the brain.

“I started using 100% MCT oil for kids with brain problems about 25 years ago,” says renowned neurosurgeon Larry McCleary, MD (author of
The Brain Trust Program
). “This generates more ketones and does it faster than coconut oil (and has fewer calories for the same amount of MCTs). It was part of a vigorous nutritional support program for kids with brain issues of many sorts—tumors, trauma, drowning, hemorrhage, etc. It produced dramatic results in them and it should help older people with disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.”

Ketones also appear to help children with epilepsy. Eric Kossoff, MD is assistant professor of neurology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins and the medical director of the Johns Hopkins ketogenic diet program. He’s been using the ketogenic diet for years as a treatment option for epilepsy, and in 2003 he developed a slightly gentler version of the diet called the MAP—Modified Atkins Program.

“In 2008, the ketogenic diet is not viewed as an alternative diet any more,” said Dr. Kossoff. “It’s viewed as an option to meds, but most docs know it’s an effective therapy for epilepsy.”

Unfortunately, until recently, there has been no separation in the research between saturated fats and trans-fats, so saturated fats have been blamed for a great deal of the damage to the body that is actually the fault of trans-fats.
¹⁹
This has changed, as identifying trans-fats in the Nutrition Facts on food packaging has been required of manufacturers as of January 2006, and researchers are starting to make a distinction between the two very different classes of fats. Many labels already carry this information, so be sure to check the products you buy.

There probably
are
prudent reasons to keep saturated-fat intake at a reasonable level; for one thing, in
some
people, it can increase insulin resistance. For another, the nonorganic and fast-food meats that are our biggest sources of saturated fat are loaded with bovine growth hormone, steroids, and antibiotics, not to mention toxins from the grains that factory-farmed cattle consume. The danger is probably not so much from saturated fat itself, but from what’s
in
the kinds of saturated fat we typically consume. Also, the lack of balance in our diet between omega-6’s and omega-3’s is a big health concern that has many ramifications. Fats that are too high in omega-6’s, such as vegetable oils (corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean), just add to the tremendous imbalance between omega-6’s and omega-3’s (found in fish) and should be avoided for that reason alone.

Every time I drink [alcohol], my diet goes out the window and I eat way more than I ever intended to. Cutting out alcohol—at least for now—has been the best thing I ever did for my waistline.

—Kelley F.

What About Alcohol?

Here’s the deal with alcohol: the body has no way to store the energy in it (7 calories per gram), so all “fat-burning” is put on hold while the body burns off the alcohol. Alcohol can also produce cravings, both for itself and for carbohydrates—Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD, an expert in addictive nutrition, considers alcohol dependence simply an extension of sugar sensitivity.
²⁰
She also believes that although hard liquor is not technically a sugar, the beta-endorphin effect is a powerful trigger for cravings.
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