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Ask the Expert
June 21, 2003
Question:
Could a person who would gain weight on a 2,000-calorie diet heavy in grains lose weight on a 2,000-calorie diet composed mainly of protein and fat?
Answer:
This is an interesting question that has no definite answer. However, it is likely that a person eating a diet heavy in grains would have a hard time losing weight. Our bodies can only use only a very small amount of sugar, which grains are converted into in the body, and the liver is forced to convert any extra that we can’t use into fat, either in the form of cholesterol or triglycerides.
An excess of sugar also allows the body to produce high levels of insulin. Most people who are overweight or have diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure have high insulin levels and will respond negatively to increased carbohydrate content.
However, if you have low insulin levels, you would be able to tolerate more grain carbohydrates (whole, unrefined grains are always preferable to refined grains). People with low insulin levels are by far the minority--I’d estimate that only 10 percent to 15 percent of the U.S. population belongs to this group. Most of these individuals are likely at their ideal weight and exercise regularly.
On the other hand, I have seen many of my patients sabotage their weight loss efforts by eating nuts, a high-protein food.
This may be explained by another factor that controls how readily you convert excess carbohydrate to fat or how able you are to digest protein efficiently--your metabolic type. People who are carbohydrate metabolic types will be able to tolerate grains far better than protein types, who are naturally suited to a diet with little or no grains.
Once you determine your metabolic type, whether it is carb, protein or mixed (a combination of the two), you will be able to find the ratio of protein, carbs and fat that is right for your diet. We each have our own unique biochemical make-up, which means we all process foods and utilize nutrients differently. When you adopt a diet based on your specific metabolic type, you will resolve most health disorders, including weight issues.
If you haven’t yet read the book The Metabolic Typing Diet, by William Wolcott, I would strongly encourage you to do so as it reviews these topics extensively (it is definitely a book that belongs on the shelf of anyone with any interest in nutrition).
