Eating, and eating well

Eating, and eating well

turk
Credit: tuchodi

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all the Americans out there. This is a day to loosen the belt a bit, but after the Holidays you probably want to think about slimming back. So, ScienceDaily, Obesity Riddle Finally ‘Solved’, and, Diets with High or Low Protein Content and Glycemic Index for Weight-Loss Maintenance. The upshot seems to be that a high protein-low (refined) carb diet worked best in a large sample of Europeans.

Myself, I was in the 155-165 pound range between 2000 and 2007. 2008-2010 I’ve been in the 140-150 range, and usually closer to the low end than the high. I went from a waist size in the 31-33 inch range to 28-30 range (I wear 28s regularly now). I’m moderately active in that I walk a lot, but I have totally turned away from refined carbs. I am not a religious ‘Paleo’, but I do track glycemic indices and glycemic loads for various foods rather closely. That being said, different people have different biologies. I think that’s important to remember. As a South Asian I have a higher risk for type 2 diabetes, so I’m particularly vigilant about sugar and other variables which increase my probabilities for chronic diseases. If I was a Northern European I might have different priorities, and chill out a little bit about dessert. Life is about trade-offs, and pleasures do often have costs. I am not much of a sweet-tooth, and I’m genetically predisposed to type 2, so my aversion toward sweets is a rather simple calculation. Others may have different outcomes performing the same operations because of different inputs. The answer to a riddle may vary depending on who is asking.

Razib Khan