August 24, 2023 — Simplistic thinking about obesity has an overwhelming appeal. Sadly, though, it has a dismal history of letting us down. “Yes, calories in/calories out really is the key to weight loss,” writes Tamar Haspel in the Washington Post. To insure we don’t miss the point, she closes by saying: “It’s the calories, people. It’s the calories.” […]
July 6, 2020 — For decades now, we’ve been debating the role of macronutrients in weight gain. But that fierce debate has yielded precious little consensus. Low-fat dietary guidance ruled the land for decades. Right now, low-carb diets seem to have the upper hand. However, in a new webinar, Kevin Hall suggests that neither calories, carbs, nor fat tell […]
September 6, 2019 — Potatoes are good carbs, but they are carb rich. A typical medium potato (150g/5oz) has around 20g carbohydrate. Most also have a high GI (averaging around 77). But there’s no need to say no to potatoes if you are managing blood glucose levels. You can reduce their glycemic load by choosing spuds with around 25% […]
June 26, 2019 — Risk-benefit ratio is a term of art that most anyone in healthcare will know. It answers a very basic question. Does this thing offer more benefits than risks? The thing might be a drug, it might be a device, or it might be an operation. But what about some of the beliefs that drive health […]
May 5, 2019 — Beating up on carbs is a popular pastime these days. The nutrition guys at Harvard seem to hate potatoes. And rice sometimes gets a bad rap – especially white rice. But at ECO 2019 last week, we heard a different story. Increasing the world’s supply of rice might actually reduce the world’s prevalence of obesity, […]
April 24, 2019 — The opening of the Sixth Canadian Obesity Summit was a bit of a homecoming for Kevin Hall. It was his first visit to Ottawa in about three decades and Obesity Canada rewarded him with its Distinguished Lecturer Award. He used the occasion to review the evidence behind the diet wars wars that rage on Twitter. […]
January 2, 2019 — Healthy lifestyles are a popular concept. But popular culture is fickle about this subject. As soon as something captures our attention in this realm, it quickly fades from view. So as we plunge into a new year, let’s take a quick look at what’s hot and what’s not, according to the culture that surrounds us. […]
December 28, 2014 — Can we just stop picking on carbs for a while? Perusing overheated headlines from a recent study in JAMA provides ample reasons to cool our passions on the topic. In a 5-week, randomized, controlled study, Frank Sacks and colleagues found little support for the concept that a low glycemic index (G.I.) diet has superior health benefits compared to […]
