Here’s some food for thought. I was reading over the American College of Sports Medicine’s recommendations for consumption of carbohydrate, protein and fat and was surprised to learn they really push the consumption of carbohydrates over other nutrients for athletic performance and general good health. The ratios are: carbohydrates 55 to 65% of daily food intake, fats at 25 to 35% and protein at 10 to 15%. Their suggestions for meals included pasta, potatoes, bread, fortified cereals, small amounts of protein and fats and there was even mention of the Zone diet (that promotes 40% carbohydrate, 30% fat and 30% protein) being non-optimum for athletic performance.
My daughter recently took a nutrition course at a local junior college and the data she was taught was very much aligned with what ACSM was promoting – high daily carbohydrate consumption and relatively low protein consumption. It leads me to wonder who is paying for the research? We know that the money in the food industry mostly comes from corporations that sell carbohydrates – Coke, Kellogs, Cadburys, Nestle, etc. Smaller food producers don’t have the kind of money available to finance longer term scientific studies. Just a thought.
On the other side of the coin, some people subscribe to very low carbohydrate diets (the Atkins Diet is a famous example). There was a study done and reported in the October 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association to determine whether low-carb diets might result in early fatigue or affect the desire to exercise – keep in mind that for people who work out, the degree of carbohydrate restriction is very important because reduced tissue glycogen stores (a form of carbohydrate that supplies instant access energy to the muscles) are known to cause increased fatigue during exercise.
There were two groups of untrained, overweight people. The ketogenic* group ate a diet very low in carbs (5% of energy), high in fat (65% of energy) with the rest of daily energy coming from protein (30%). The control group ate a conventional low-carbohydrate diet (40% carbs, 30% fats, 30% protein). At the end of the study it was found that both groups were equally effective at inducing weight loss and reducing fat mass (no data on whether they also maintained muscle mass) however, the “ketogenic” group had greater feelings of fatigue during exercise and also believed they’d worked harder than the group that ate more carbohydrates.
The researchers went on to suggest that people who want to lose weight should eat, “Moderate amounts of carbohydrate (35 to 40% of energy) from vegetables, fruit, whole grains and also should eat ample protein (up to 30% of energy).”
So what’s our recommended course of action to lose weight effectively? Definitely maintain an exercise routine (exercise has too many health benefits to leave it out of the equation, including the fact that people who exercise are more likely to maintain their weight loss than people who don’t exercise) and eat a diet with 35 to 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat – check out The Zone for a great example of how to do this effectively.
*ketogenic: describes a state in which the body, after all carbohydrate stores have been used, produces ketones (water-soluble compounds that come from the breakdown of stored fatty acids and are used as a source of energy for the heart and brain when there is no carbohydrate for the body to use as energy). It occurs when the body doesn’t get enough carbohydrate and so has to get energy from its fatty acid stores.
