High-carb diet makes you 'slimmer' and 'healthier' UVA professor claims

September 22, 1:21 PMLow-Carb Lifestyle ExaminerJimmy Moore

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Low-Carb Lifestyle Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Dr. Gaesser from UVA says eating sugar is good

With all this preponderance of the evidence AGAINST consuming a high-carb, low-carb diet for the sake of your weight and health these days, obviously there can’t be anyone in their right mind who would dare to RECOMMEND such a diet for people seeking to lose weight and improve their health, right?  Well, I did say “in their right mind,” so that leaves the door open for people like Dr. Glenn Gaesser from the University of Virginia. He is an associate professor of exercise physiology and director of the kinesiology program in the Curry School of Education who doesn’t mind telling people exactly what he thinks about livin’ la vida low-carb as evidenced by this press release.

“That’s just nonsense,” Dr. Gaesser contended regarding the claim by people who eat a low-carb diet that it is the carbohydrates that made them fat.  He was responding to those of us who criticized this ridiculous study and his comments about it that released last year in the Journal Of The American Dietetic Association concluding that the high-carb, low-fat diet promoted by Dr. Dean Ornish was best among the most popular diets for heart health. Predictably, the Atkins low-carb diet was dead last (since they based the comparison on criteria that called for higher carbohydrate intake and lower fat intake, the result was not surprising!).  This Dr. Gaesser is a real piece of work, though. He claims there is nothing at all wrong with consuming sugar, white flour, processed and whole grains, and other high-glycemic (aka HIGH-CARB) foods as part of a healthy and fit lifestyle.

“There is no reason to be eating fewer carbs – they’re not the enemy,” he exclaimed. “People who consume high-carb diets tend to be slimmer, and often healthier, than people who consume low-carb diets.”

Oh now why did you have to go and throw in “than those who consume low-carb diets,” Dr. Gaesser? Are you TRYING to pick an idealogical fight you know you can’t win? Apparently so, because he contends there is NO COMPELLING EVIDENCE that points to carbohydrate restriction as a means for improving health. Ummm, would you care to see all the preponderance of evidence you’ll ever need, sir?  I'm happy to provide it!  It is quite obvious this professor has not done his homework and is simply adhering to the same old line of dietary convention that has led us to become the obese population that we are with declining health that just keeps getting worse. Because of high-carb, low-fat apologists like Dr. Gaesser, we have not moved the conversation about a healthy diet forward in this country because they refuse to give even a little credence to this way of eating that has helped so many of us manage our weight and health for the first time in our lives.

Of course, Dr. Gaesser has a vested interest in his hypothesis because he wrote a book in 2004 entitled It’s The Calories, Not The Carbs as well as another book called Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health that simply repeats his hypothesis regarding a high-carb, low-fat diet to control weight.  As if these written statements from Dr. Gaesser were not inflammatory enough, I have some audio from him to share with you so you can hear right from the horse’s mouth exactly what he thinks about livin’ la vida low-carb. CLICK HERE to listen to a few minutes of his argument in favor of high-carb, low-fat diets over the low-carb lifestyle.  I wrote an e-mail to Dr. Gaesser requesting an interview with him to further clarify his negative statements about low-carb, but he never responded. I was ready to give him an opportunity to state his case about why he believes what he does, but unfortunately he did not avail himself of that opportunity to speak to the low-carb community through my generous invitation.

I don't mean to be disrespectful to Dr. Gaesser or anything, but in my opinion he doesn’t deserve to be respected for espousing such ridiculous beliefs in light of the latest science. Can you believe someone who is supposed to be at least halfway intelligent as the professor of a major college in the United States of America would make the claim that eating SUGAR leads to LOWER body weights in adults? Say what? Has this professor completely lost his mind?!  The fact remains, Dr. Gaesser, whether you will ever acknowledge it or not, that there are countless examples of people like me and my readers whose lives have been forever changed for the better and living healthier than they ever thought possible.  And I have no doubt there are many more who are quietly living their lives, watching their carbs, and never regretting their decision to eat a deliciously healthy high-fat, low-carb diet.

You may try to act like we don’t exist, but the reality is clear–WE DO EXIST! And the good news is we ain’t going anywhere anytime soon either, so expect us to continue to challenge people like you, Dr. Ornish, and anyone else who would dare disrespect us as human beings like you have because we have chosen a nutritional path that runs counter to what you believe.  As participants in the conversation about weight and health, wouldn’t you want people to find their own customized pathway to success? That’s my philosophy, Dr. Gaesser, and I challenge you to do the same for the sake of helping people beat their obesity and get healthy. It’s for the greater good!