It’s nearly the end of January… and for most people, that means their New Year’s Resolutions to eat better and lose weight have already fallen by the wayside.
That’s if they made any New Year’s Resolutions at all, of course. Many people have tried every popular diet, every meal replacement formula, every home delivered meal service, every bootcamp, every drug (legal or otherwise!), and even weight loss surgery, and have essentially given up on ever being successful at the weight loss game for longer than a couple of months.
The statistics on overweight and obesity in Australia are frankly terrifying. In 2014–15, the latest year for which we have reliable data,
- Almost two-thirds of Australians aged 18 and over were classified as overweight or obese (36% overweight but not obese, and 28% obese).
- Just over a quarter of kids aged 5–17 were overweight or obese (20% overweight but not obese, and 7% obese.
- 48% of men aged 35–44 were overweight but not obese.
- 38% of men aged 65–74 were obese.
- 41% of women aged 75–84 were overweight but not obese.
- 35% of women aged 55–64 were obese.
While the prevalence of overweight and obesity combined has not increased much since 1995 (rising from 57% to 63%), the percentage of obese adults has risen dramatically – from 19% in 1995 to 28% in 2014-15.
The statisticians also confirm what those of us who still have our school photos from the 1970s have been saying for years: the one ‘fat kid’ in the classes that we remember has multiplied exponentially.
Whereas just 4% of kids who were aged 2-5 in 1995 were obese, an astonishing 9% of children who were in that age group in 2014-15 were obese.
And while 19% of those born in 1978–1981 were overweight or obese at age 14–17, 30% of adolescents born in 1998–2001 were carrying more kilos than was healthy for them. For the record, I never encountered an obese child until I hit high school, and the kids who were called ‘fat’ in those days would now be viewed as mildly chubby!
So the stats are clear: Australians are getting substantially fatter, and it’s starting at a worryingly young age.
The paradox is that it’s never been easier, in all of human history, to acquire information on how to eat healthfully. Sure, there’s a lot of misinformation out there too, but my 20+ years in clinical practice have amply demonstrated that most people who are struggling with their weight are not suffering from a deficiency of information about how to lose it.
Their struggle is with implementing that information. And one of the most daunting hindrances to implementation is the powerfully addictive effect of the processed foods that made them overweight in the first place.
(Side note: There’s considerable debate among addiction experts as to whether the inability to curtail overeating of processed foods ‘qualifies’ as a true addiction. I’m using the term in a lay sense, to describe the inability to stop engaging in a harmful activity, even when you’re fully aware of the damage it’s inflicting on you.)
I’ve written previously about the scientific evidence that clearly demonstrates that foods rich in fat, refined carbohydrates, salt and overall energy density drive overeating (see The pleasure trap – or how your brain gets tricked into thinking BAD is GOOD and Why are salt, sugar and fat so addictive?).
Having had their brain chemistry (and gut brain chemistry) hijacked by these triggers of overeating, when dieters attempt to follow the conventional advice to ‘eat less’, they are likely to experience an almost overwhelming drive to eat more.
Those with iron will power might be able to tolerate tiny portion sizes for a couple of weeks, but at some point, the scream from their tortured brains and bodies becomes unbearable, and they end up bingeing. And yet another diet ends in failure – which the dieter almost always blames on themselves, rather than on the diet itself.
OK, so that’s the depressing part: Australians are getting fatter, and diets don’t work. Ready for some good news?
A diet comprised of minimally processed plant foods – vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes – not only facilitates weight loss because of its low energy density, which allows you to eat a greater volume of food while taking in fewer kilojoules.
No, it’s way more interesting than that. According to newly published research, plant-based meals change the secretion of hunger hormones, which means that you feel full after eating fewer kilojoules of plant food than animal food, and feel full for longer.
And even more importantly, switching to a plant-based diet may prevent the rebound increase in appetite that causes weight regain in the vast majority of people who temporarily succeed with conventional dieting (see The Biggest Losers lose out – big time).
In the study, 3 groups of men – 20 with type 2 diabetes, 20 who were overweight but not diabetic, and 20 healthy men who were age-matched to the other 2 groups – were fed 2 different test meals (a processed meat and cheese burger and a plant-based tofu burger), in random order. Crucially, the meals were energy- and macronutrient-matched – that is, they contained the same number of kilojoules and the same ratio of protein:fat:carbohydrate as each other.
Levels of three gastrointestinal and appetite hormones were measured after the men ate each of the two test meals:
- Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which enhances insulin secretion, helps maintain glucose homeostasis, and increases the feeling of satiety (fullness or satisfaction after a meal);
- Amylin, which also causes satiety and regulate appetite and energy homeostasis; and
- Peptide YY (PYY), which has similar effects as amylin.
The results were striking: the men in all three groups reported feeling more satiated after the tofu burger than the cheeseburger, even though each meal contained the same number of kilojoules. Backing up their self-reports, the plant-based burger resulted in significantly higher levels of GLP-1 and amylin all three groups than the cheeseburger, while PYY levels were significantly higher only in the healthy (non-obese, non-diabetic) men.
Of particular note was that levels of the insulin-sensitising hormone GLP-1 were 30.5% higher after type 2 diabetic men ate the tofu burger compared to when they ate the meat and cheese meal, whereas in healthy men, GLP-1 rose by 15.8%. In other words, the men who most needed a boost in their insulin sensitivity got it, in spades, just by eating a single plant-based meal!
Likewise, diabetic and obese men got a relatively bigger boost in appetite-suppressing amylin than healthy men after downing the tofu burger.
And this was after just one plant-based meal, which had the same number of kilojoules as the meat and cheese burger!!!!
Imagine the impact of eating plant-based meals day after day, week after week, on your perceived satiety and actual levels of gut and satiety hormones.
This study helps explain why thousands of people all over the world who’ve struggled with their weight for their whole lives – often losing and regaining 20-100 kg repeatedly – finally find lasting success when they switch to a wholefood plant-based diet.
And it builds on earlier research, like the 2013 study that provided tantalising evidence that a compound in brown rice, gamma oryzanol, reduces the desire to eat high fat meals… at least in mice, who show similar preferences for a high fat diet as humans.
The bottom line: if you want to get off the diet merry-go-round, conquer your food addiction once and for all, and finally make friends with food, and with your body, a wholefood plant-based diet is the way to go.
No more dieting, no more going hungry, no more restrictive rules about when and how much you can eat.
Just Eat Plants – fruits, vegetables, whole grains (not flour products or processed cereals) and legumes, and over time they will restore your body’s appetite control and insulin sensitivity mechanisms, no matter how messed up they’ve been by your previous eating habits and dieting practices.
