Your daily bread

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Daily Dose

 

Friday September 17, 2004

 

Changing the " spare tire " syndrome

 

I normally don't shamelessly rip off other people's phraseology,

but a recent Associated Press health article by an unusually

talented scribe named Ira Dreyfuss contained what is perhaps the

wittiest and most accurate metaphor (technically, a simile) I've

ever seen for the bread-fueled obesity epidemic we've been

struggling with for so long here in the Land of the Free. The piece

begins:

 

" Many Americans are like a loaf of bread — soft, with one side

round. Their choice of bread may be part of the reason... "

 

So funny, yet so true, isn't it? And now, there's even more

evidence backing up the real, undeniable link between breadstuffs

and belt-size — a cause-and-effect correlation I've been crowing

about at the top of my lungs since before the age of disco.

 

A large-scale 2003 study conducted by nutritional epidemiologists

(translation: docs who study diseases caused by poor nutrition) at

Boston's Tufts University revealed that subjects who ate diets

heavy in refined grains and low-fiber breads experienced THREE

TIMES THE INCREASE in waist size when compared to a control

group who ate more fibrous whole grains and fruits instead.

 

This finding is significant to your health in two major ways (and

I'm not even counting the attractiveness angle). First, research

shows that weight gain from an increase in belly-fat heightens the

risk of heart disease significantly more than weight gain in other

zones of the body. That's right: That " spare tire " around the

midsection is potentially deadlier than an equal accumulation of fat

on the back of the arms, the thighs, or other areas.

 

Secondly, the Tufts research (and other studies) seem to support

the theory that abdominal fat cells are more sensitive to insulin's

effects than fat cells in other body locales. This means the more of

them you have, the more your blood insulin may be likely to

fluctuate to dangerous levels — perhaps opening the door to the

diabetes obese people fear most (or should).

 

What's the solution? Obviously, cutting out over-refined grain

foods (like white breads, bagels, and the like) and simple sugars is

the key. In fact, restraint should be exercised in the consumption of

ALL breadstuffs — even some of the so-called " healthy " ones).

Instead, eat some dried meats like jerky or complex, and less

sugary fruits like apples.

 

But breads aren't the only fixtures of the American nutritional

landscape that are causing us to pack on the pounds. There's one

darling of the modern " diet " movement that (aside from poisoning

us) may actually be causing us to overeat...

 

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Aspar-taming

 

In the September issue of my newsletter, my readers discovered

how the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet) is actually a

drug-like killer even the clueless FDA wouldn't approve for public

consumption until recently.

 

In that issue, I revealed how President Bush's cowboy-of-the-

moment Donald Rumsfeld (yep, the same one; he used to be the

CEO of a major drug company) managed to bring this poison to

market back during the Reagan administration. How? By using his

political influence to quash an FDA toxicologist's report naming

aspartame as a cause of not only cancer, but brain tumors as well!

 

But I digress. The reason I mention artificial sweeteners now is

that aside from these risks, now there's even more proof that these

toxins are MAKING US FAT!

 

Adding to the conclusion Dr. H.J. Roberts outlines in his book

Aspartame Disease, An Ignored Epidemic (a source I referenced in

my newsletter piece), some recent research conducted at Purdue

University shows that a group of test subjects fed artificial

sweeteners subsequently consumed THREE TIMES THE

CALORIES of those given ordinary sugar (not a good thing to eat,

either, by the way).

 

If this research holds true, it means some of the very things most

mainstream doctors recommend for weight loss (diet soda, Sweet-

N-low, etc.) are causing us to crave calories and binge on

unhealthy carbohydrates. No wonder we're all getting fatter!

 

Boy, I'll tell you — with friends like these...

 

Nothing artificial (or white-bread) about my sweet advice,

 

William Campbell Douglass II, MD