Here’s some news that might be of interest to anyone who’s ever struggled to get fit—and been met with a sigh and a haughty, “Just eat less and exercise more.” Your intuition—not to mention your experience—might have suggested that things weren’t really so simple—and new research backs that up. Turns out, the science behind the slogan is much more complex than it seems. “If you just try to eat less and exercise more, most people will lose that battle—metabolism wins,” David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, tells Time.
Ludwig describes the number of people who can successfully lose weight following that advice as “exceedingly small.” Why? Ludwig and his team say it underestimates the role of how certain foods can affect weight gain—specifically, refined carbohydrates. Eating refined carbs, like certain breads, white rice, pasta, chips, crackers, and so on, raises insulin levels, which in turn can spur cells to store fat, leading to weight gain—to some degree regardless of caloric intake.
For a simple illustration of this seeming paradox, consider the work of diabetes researchers like George Campbell. In the mid-1960s, Campbell studied a community of Indian immigrants in South Africa who performed extensive manual labor and ate only around 1600 calories per day, but were, in his words, “enormously fat.” Campbell came to believe that the culprit was their diet, consisting of around 80 pounds of sugar per year (representing approximately 25% of their caloric intake) and refined carbohydrates. Another long-term research project, The Tokelau Island Migration Study (TIMS), which began in the 1960s, studied the impact of imported foods on a Polynesian community. In 20 years, the islanders transitioned from a diet nearly devoid of refined carbohydrates to one in which they played a central role: “Through the 1960s the only noteworthy problems were skin diseases, asthma and infectious diseases. In the decades that followed, just as diabetologist George Campbell predicted, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, gout and cancer appeared.”
What does this mean for us? Diet and weight loss will likely always be more complicated than “exercise more, eat less”—no matter what a well-meaning relative or personal trainer might suggest. And it’s worth considering the potential outsize, knock-on effects of refined carbohydrates on our bodies. It is perhaps more valuable to think: “Healthy diet, healthy body”—and to carefully consider whether any food that comes out of a box, as so many refined carbs do, qualifies for the former, or will help achieve the latter.
To read more on George Campbell and TIMS:
- “Obesity is a Disease—Are Refined Carbohydrates the Cause?” by Patrick Earvolino
- “Nutrition Transition” from Zeroing in on Health
- “The Tokelau Island Migrant Study: The Final Word” from Whole Health Source
How do you feel about refined carbohydrates? Do they have a place in your diet? Share in the comments below.
90 Responses
What a load of codswallop. I clicked on this thinking it may actually be
some interesting new piece of research, but no, it’s just more women’s
magazine style advice. Fail.
Which weightloss program do you run?
Are you saying that only people that run weight loss programs are allowed to state their opinion?
If you tell me my doctor is clueless you should be able to back up your claim.
With what? Stating how science works? Or by posting evidence that someone runs a weight loss clinic?
You completely missed the point. The armchair experts in here post from articles but have no clue how to actually utilize information on real people. The suggestion was my doctor is basically clueless based on a method that worked for you. Not everyone is the same. There’s a reason weightloss programs take blood samples. If it were so easy no one would need help. I kept weight on for over 15yrs. I was eating all the wrong foods. Once I changed my eating habits, the weight came off. I know of I return to eating those foods I will gain the weight back. Simple for me now that I see what works.
Sorry but we are all humans, no different. Metabolic disorders can play a role in the figures but at the end of the day we all lose weight via the same method, caloric deficit. If you eat at a caloric deficit and eat some of the foods that you call “wrong” it does not halt weight loss. Why? Because physics doesn’t work that way. Your body isn’t going to create energy out of nothing. You’re making some pretty wild assumption that many of us get our information from articles when in fact many of us study the science heavily and applied it successfully. Don’t assume that I don’t work with clients to help them lose the weight and be healthy. You are criticizing people saying they don’t know how to apply to information they’ve learned but here you are arguing against people you think know nothing, with stuff your doctor has you do. Suddenly that makes you understand how everything works? I don’t think so. People need help losing weight not because the foods are wrong, it’s because they eat to much and many just aren’t concerned with how they eat. You can sit there and believe your body defies physics but it doesn’t. Everyone wants to be special.
Here’s the reason my doctor is so successful. Her method employs using your fat stores for energy by eating low fat low sugar diet. I wasn’t told to continue eating same foods but eat less. I was always very active. You cant burn poor eating habits. Her method was simple and easy to follow. I exercised less while I lost weight. Perhaps I should give you her contact info so you can discuss.
I sincerely doubt your doctor actually believes dietary fat leads to body fat independent of total calories consumed. She has, however, apparently mislead you into believing this.
And now you perpetuate this misinformation here.
And this is why people fight the misinformation.
So your doctor is telling you to eat low fat as if we were in the 1980’s? Interesting. Of course you mentioned nothing about eating at a deficit that I mention, which is the reason you lost weight. FYI – Eating low fat and low sugar isn’t the reason you dip into fat for energy, once again, caloric deficit makes your body do that. If your doctors method was based on that whole low fat low sugar as being the reason you burn body fat then none of us that lost weight while doing that exact opposite would have never succeeded. At the end of the day it’s caloric deficit but you can wish to believe whatever you want. Also, no thanks, I don’t need the number, I lost weight weight already, with no frills.
If you eat under your TDEE you will lose weight. This is a true statement. Any other opinion is bad science. If you eat a little less than your TDEE, you will lose weight slowly. If you eat a lot less than your TDEE, you will lose weight quickly. There are no magic foods that will violate this. It’s physics. If your doctor is telling you differently, then your doctor is not being truthful with you.
Part of weight loss means making sure that you’re eating nutritionally dense foods, to make sure that every calorie carries the maximum nutrition, but this whole business about eating 100 calories of cookies or 100 calories of tofu where one makes you gain weight and the other lose, that’s nonsense. It’s baseless. If you exercise, the calories you burn through moving your body can be added to your TDEE effectively meaning that you can replace those calories with something else and still lose weight.
Eating less is mandatory. Moving more is optional. But there are no “eat this, not that” foods that make you lose weight. That’s baloney. There are no other valid opinions on the topic.
If I ran a weight loss clinic, I would advise people that certain types of foods were “evil” and to cut them out…because it sells better.
It’s total BS, of course, but a weight loss clinic is a business. The better the approach sells, the more successful it will be. Same with diet books, popular weight loss, etc. They’ve made people billions with their short-term success and repeat customers.
my Aunty
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Calling BS on that study. There’s no way.
This is a borderline orthorexic article. I am blown away that it was allowed to be featured on this site. Shame on you.
I liked it better when there was no official MFP blog.
Yes, actually. I’ve always eaten sparingly and have never been able to lose weight. I actually increased my caloric intake and cut out 90% of the carbs I was eating and I’ve been losing steadily ever since.
So this is where all the crap that clogs the forums comes from.
Seriously?
Fatlogic
What usually happens is people stall then quit and binge. If you power through, you’ll manage it just like any anorexic or cancer patient on a chemo cycle. Eat less, move more.
No. Eat more sensibly, move more.
The only link I have found between simple sugars and weight loss is the hunger pangs I get about an hour following ingesting them. Those hunger pangs, in turn, lead me to pig out, thus ingesting more calories than I should. My guess is that the spike in insulin that results from the sugar slamming into my system causes a drop in blood sugar, which then leads to my brain telling me I need to eat. It still comes down to calories in vs. calories burned.
Wow i am shocked, I ate a lot of sugary foods, food’s that are highly processed and lost 192lbs. I guess I was doing it wrong.
For real? How?? If I could do this diet I would never fail lol sugars and you lost 192lbs? No way
preach….I made it to 172 lost and eat whatever kind of food I want
I dieted the same way, and lost weight but always gained it right back. Eating a tiny snack bag of mini Oreos, etc….does not satisfy or keep you full. Protein and fresh vegetables do keep your blood sugar level.
Oh Dear
It’s eat less SUGAR, not just eat less. The bulk of my meals are veggies, but the bulk of my calories come from fats. Those two working together allow me to eat more with fewer calories. I love the paradox.
This article is basically everything I hate about MFP in one handy location.
Congratulations MFP on trolling your own users.
I am Jack’s total lack of surprise
I am Jill’s agape mouth.
My mother is deathly allergic to anything that has wheat, gluten, corn, sugar or yeast in it. Since she’s cut out those five things in everything she eats in 6 months she got back to what she weighed in college and she’s 65 years old and have had weight problems for over 22 years.
You can’t be allergic to sugar. There are human metabolic processes that require sugar.
And the human body requires water… and yet there are people, very rarely, who have allergic reactions to it.
No. There are about 50 people worldwide with aquagenic urticarial. That is not an allergy, it does not involve histamine. And all those people still consume water even if forms of mixtures. They do not have anaphylactic shock from drinking substances containing water.
Nice try to grab at a technicality when you’re already someone that thinks an allergy has anything to do with weight loss.
She may not be allergic to sugar per we but intolerant. People confuse the two. I have Celiac and can’t tolerate yeast either. I too lost a significant amount of weight when I cut them out. I have been gluten free for 13 years because I have to…..no fun but I no longer have migraines, bad dermatitis or joint pain.
Check out freelee the banana girl and durianrider on YouTube. They eat high carb and low fat/protein with refined carbs just about every day day they’re very slim. I’ve adopted the high carb low fat lifestyle and have sice lost weight and increased performance in cycling and lifting.
You can’t be serious. Freelee and Durianrider are idiots who promote dangerous misinformation.
Did you start taking steroids because people mocked your bench press too, because durian also did that.
Erin, you do realize they don’t eat as they claim, right? Otherwise they’d die of malnutrition.
I don’t doubt some people can do well on a high carb diet. But they also are raw vegan, not just vegan. And many foods are not fully bio-available without cooking. Also, they have to eat almost constantly to get the amount of calories and nutrients needed. Looku p vids of raw vegans showing what they eat each week.
And it is a very first world diet reliant on fresh fruit and veggies all year long…something very recent in human history.
I have tried to look up how long the average person stays raw vegan, but no luck yet. It seems to attract many people with eating disorders as they can eat and still be very slim. Better than dying of anorexia I guess.
This article is absolutely true. I began eating a clean diet last month. My weight has dropped 10 pounds with little effort other than cutting out refined sugar, gluten and processed foods. I eat clean and feel great. Keep the articles coming. More people need to realize it’s what they’re eating that’s killing them.
You lost weight because you burned more calories than you ate, full stop. Clean eating might have helped you do that, but you’d lose the same amount of fat on a calorie and macro equivalent diet.
Been there, done that for 47 years. I was a big runner before suffering an injyry. This is good info.
Our bodies do not know how to process chemicals which we put into our bodies so it generates fats to insulate and protect us. When we start exercising, in an attempt to rid ourselves of the fat, we are actually burning g the fat we made to protect us. if you continue to fill yourself with more toxins, your body will continue to generate more fat.
I discussed this approach with my doctor. He was pleased to see my dedication to learning about nutrition and channeling it into my every day life. I still exercise but I no longer count calories.
Absolutely not what your fat cells do. If anything remotely resembling that effect existed, it would have easily been shown to happen in metabolic studies and animal studies.
It also violates thermodynamics. You’re claiming that a body can somehow produce energy to build fat while less energy comes in than is necessary to power it.
Your doctor praised you for losing weight and doesn’t care to see that reversed, or he, like a lot of doctors, is fairly ignorant of nutrition.
I went to an internist who tested by blood and urine. I was given a “clean” diet with no refined sugars. Lots of protein, fruits and veggies. No sugars. The weight fell off. I have been maintaining the weightloss by sticking with the food plan. I feel great. I always worked out but worked out less when I was on the diet. It didn’t matter. The weight came off each week. If you claim to know more than actual doctors specializing in weightloss, you should open your own clinic. Otherwise, you are just an “internet” researcher.
Appeal to authority and post hoc fallacy
You lost weight because the prescribed diet reduced your calorie intake. That is the only reason a diet will ever cause true weight loss.
I don’t know the particulars of your internist, but most medical doctors actually have about 6 hours worth of nutrition and diet training. I do, in fact, know more about diet and nutrition than some of them. I’ve read ones that have even said some rather ignorant things, such as a highly publicized endocrinologist who mentioned above (Lustig) who referred to the laws of thermodynamics as Newton’s Laws of Thermodynamics (Newton had laws of motion and died long before thermodynamics became a common field of study), and while acknowledging they can’t be violated, proceeds to espouse views that claim sugar and insulin do violate the laws of thermodynamics.
So tell me, what does being a doctor prevent people from possibly being objectively wrong? If that’s you’re world view, please say so, I won’t have to bother typing replies that go to someone with a poor, non-scientific epistemology.
Do you run a weightloss program or clinic?
Yes, I have exactly one client. Our average success is 90 lbs lost.
Thanks for the clarification. My doctor has been in business of helping people lose weight for years. You are incorrect as to the reason I lost weight as being eating less. I ate more. I was eating less when I ate pastas, rice, and starches.
No, you ate less calories. I know because your body is not the first thing in the universe to violate the laws of thermodynamics. You could definitely have eaten what felt like more.
One day, people will realize that what works for one person doesn’t work for all persons. Until then, continue on with your assumptions that calories are all equal.
You are aware that a calorie is simply a unit of measurement, right? A calorie is a calorie. An inch is an inch.
Is a kiss still just a kiss? I forget.
The body treats the sources of those calories very differently, and in some people it is extreme.
The body creates an insulin response when carbs are consumed, less so for protein, and even less for fat.
When insulin is released, one of its main functions to to store that energy in muscles or fat. Insulin resistance in muscles means more storage in the fat cells. So obesity is often a symptom/result of this insulin resistance.
So, trying to reduce eating foods that generate an insulin response will be a better path than just saying “eat less, exercise more”.
1. This blog post is a repost from at least a year ago, way to phone it in
2. This is pathetic misinformation which I can’t believe is somehow the official MFP blog. It was BS a year ago, it’s still BS now
3. Ludwig is a joke
4. Seriously this is such horseshit. It’s crap, utter crap.
Great article.
It speaks to the basic error of the blind application of CICO under the limited understanding “a calorie is just a calorie”.
There is much more to a food item than the singular attribute of caloric value.
But this being MFP, it will get summarily rejected my armchair nutritionists.
Oh KittensMaster / ProfessionalHobbiest, a calorie is a calorie. If you want to lose weight, calories are what matters. No one is claiming that alone will produce optimum health, or even health, though typically, losing weight in an obese person trumps anything else in terms of improving health.
This is so sad; you apparently don’t know human physiology. That’s like saying micro nutrients don’t matter because their caloric content is negligible.
Funny, I did say calorie reduction isn’t guaranteed to produce health. It is sad that you apparently don’t know how to read.
It’s dumb blogs like this, written by dumb people that quote people are pathetic fear mongers that leave the general population and all the people that love these blogs, completely clueless as to how things work. Just look at some of the stupid things on this page alone. Toxins make you generate cat and someone’s mother is all allergic to sugar. How dumb. But wait, let me guess. Mom is only allergic to the glucose from candy and not the glucose from grapes, right? Right?
I am a part of the Wharton medical clinic research. I am class 2 obesity and wish to lose the weight. I was eating big once a day(always in the afternoons 4pm). Now I half to eat three meals and have two snacks. It’s a hard change to do but I will try anything to help keep me healthy.
Thank You! I was Bout To Close line the Next Person to Say it to Me.. LOL Thank you Ill Just Give them This Article!
Ludwig is a hack, and all of this crap was bullfeces a year ago when it was written. Still is now. Who the hell is curating this horsedung. This misinformation is being spread by a “health website.” Well done Myfitnessplan.
Not sure what the controversy is. High glycemic load raises insulin levels. Raised insuline levels incite adipose tissue to store blood sugar as triglycerides, independent of total caloric intake. So far, it’s just a summary of a couple of pages from my physiology textbook.
Having said that, I also don’t see any need to reference some research paper to make such an elementary point. It’s probably formulaic for this series. Most posts reference some generic publication in passing. I usually don’t even notice.
I’m not sure why this has got people’s goat? Surely the bottom line is we are all different and our bodies work differently. For some exercise is all it takes and others will need to really change what and how they eat including processed carbs. I’ve learnt that if I eat 1500 cals and don’t exercise I put weight on yet other women can eat 2000 and lose. For some this may be the key to success but for others it may be baloney.
Sugar is the main reason childhood obesity is on the rise. We feed our kids pounds of sugar every month and then expect them to be healthy. They are addicted to the sugar and no amount of exercise will balance it out. Even kids who are thin are susceptible to cancer and other diseases caused by excessive sugar consumption. Watch the documentary “FED UP”.
I lost 50 lbs cutting calories…. But I was a ticking time bomb. I gained it allll back I wouldn’t be able to control myself around sweets. I have insulin resistance and thyroid problems my endocrinologist said sugar is literally like cocaine to some (most) people.
The reason you lost 15 pounds in two weeks is purely based on the fact that you reduced your carbs. Carbs make your body hold water, which obviously increases your weight. In order to loose 15 pounds of fat you would’ve needed to cut 52,500 calories out of you diet, which is 99.99% impossible (unless you run at full speed for every minute of the day). Another reason you lost that much “weight” in a small time period is because you reduced your sodium intake (Sodium also makes your body hold water).
If you have a low sodium you need to watch your water intake.It can cause seizures or a heart attack if too low.
This speaks volumes to me, explains quite alot. I’ve been losing weight so slowly by just counting calories & some exercise. Watching what I eat for the most part, but have not completely cut out all processed foods.
Thank you for sharing this information!
Not everyone can exercise to the degree of burning off all the fat! If you’ve had neck or back surgery, you are limited. So yes, read labels, but sometimes the work must be done by eating the correct things alone. I think this article is correct about refined carbs!
I find I lose more weight when I don’t eat a lot of refined carbs and extra added sugar. BUT that is because I replace them with high quality lean proteins and A LOT of vegetables and fruits. I also do not eat fast food (YUCK!) and have also developed a distaste for carbonated sodas.
The reason I stopped reading this blog has nothing to do with the articles, in fact I really appreciate them, but it’s because of negative people who thrive on putting others down just to make themselves feel better. I will remember from here on to only read the article and not comments, although in the past I’ve found some of the comments to be quite insightful and encouraging. Sad day.
Ignore the negatives & only focus on the constructive criticism and use it to help come to your own conclusions.
I don’t eat cereal, bread, crackers anymore, and no sugar if at all possible. It just makes me feel bloated and hungry. I really don’t even miss them at all.
I see my comment and several others made by other people were deleted yesterday so I shall repost:
1. This blog post is a repost from at least a year ago, way to phone it in
2. This is pathetic misinformation which I can’t believe is somehow the official MFP blog. It was BS a year ago, it’s still BS now
3. Ludwig is a joke
4. Seriously this is such horse hockey. It’s crap, utter crap.
There, I even removed the bad word from my original comment. However I won’t hesitate to repost this comment again if it gets deleted again.
I followed this exact diet and lost over 30 lbs. It wasn’t until I cut out sugary foods and “white” and processed foods that I began to lose weight. I ate more fruits, veggies and lean meats. I always worked out but even if I reduced caloric intake I stayed the same or gained. Once I changed my diet, the weight melted off. I went to a weightloss doctor for anyone here saying this is BS. I wonder how many of you run a successful weightloss clinic.
I have not cut out foods. I have moderated calories, and tracked my calories.
I have lost over 90 lbs, and can lift more than when I started, which implies my total fat loss may be higher.
I have no need to start a clinic. I’ll disseminate information for free.
Please don’t convince people that “eat less, move more” does not work. In general it must do, it may be complicated by refined carbohydrates but anybody who keeps fit knows to avoid these like the plague.
Huh?
I’m fit. I don’t avoid refined carbohydrates at all. I do, however, monitor my overall calorie and nutrient consumption.
Am I doing it wrong?
Nope, sorry, many of us that keep fit actually don’t avoid them, like the plague. What we do avoid is false dear mongering information.
Some or all of this will be true for some or all of us – and vice versa. I have found that by eating a calorie controlled low carbohydrate high fat diet I’m losing weight at about a kilo per month. I use MFP to set my calorie goals and link it to my Fitbit Flex so I don’t over-estimate the impact of exercise. I’m Type 2 diabetic so avoid simple sugars and also find that even so-called low GI foods spike my blood glucose levels unacceptably. I realise that others will be different.
The old advice of eating less and exercising more has been put out there for decades, and obesity went up.
It is only PARTIALLY useful.
Humans are not robots where the laws of thermodynamics work perfectly. For some, the body wants to store the calories rather than use them for energy/fueling cells (Think insulin) thus the person has less energy and is in hunger when they shouldn’t be, because those cells still need fuel.
People then may try to eat low fat (thus higher in sugar) foods to reduce calories…thinking they are doing the correct thing and still failing.
By making calories the ONLY thing to look at, people are not understanding how carbs, fats and protein are treated differently by the body. They are not the same calorie for calorie. You need protein and fat…you don’t need carbs. Anything that you can get from carbs, you can get from protein or fat or your body can make it itself. So reducing especially processed carbs has no health downsides and great upsides like improving insulin resistance and reducing the amount of insulin released in your body trying to store those carbs you ate.
It is great if many of you can lose without caring about carbs, but many people are more carb sensitive and have insulin resistance, meaning those carbs get stored as fat. And this can get worse as people age or have issues with hormone levels.
If you think insulin isn’t a factor, look up pictures of children with diabetes before insulin was discovered and manufactured. Without insulin, no matter what they ate, they could not gain weight/fat. Because that is one of the things insulin does…stores fat.
Do you have any links regarding “The insulin THEORY of obesity has been disproven”?
no I ate well from early age we had boiled pinto beans everyday we did not have $ for meat, vegs,fruit! That started at 19 excerise at 12… and now very strict becuz DM,HBP,Atheroscolorsis,arthritis neuropathy which seized my ability to walk gained 60lbs have lost 48 working on another 20
Interesting post – tried to connect on twitter and Instagram, both links are dead FYI