Why Low Fat Diets Don’t Work

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the three main food groups and are all essential for your body to function optimally. Among the three, fats are the most vilified because many believe that eating fat will make them fat.

No-grain diet proponent Dr. Joseph Mercola tells you, “Eating fat will NOT make you fat.” Now, eating too much grains and sugar – that is what’s virtually guaranteed to make you gain weight.

Your cells need to burn fuel in the form of sugar or fat, using up all of the available sugar first before it can use fat. Imagine yourself eating a large plate of spaghetti with olive oil and meatballs. Your body burns off all of the pasta (which turns into sugar) and the fat (olive oil) goes into your fat storage.

The more carbs and sugar you eat, the more you train your cells to become more used to burning sugar for fuel, and after sometime, they will begin to crave it and prefer it to fat, Dr. Mercola explains.

The problem is, your body cannot handle all of the sugar you consume as you continue gobbling up bread, baked goods, crackers, cookies and countless other carbs. You’ll keep on gaining weight as your cells keep you alive by turning the excess sugar into fat. Eventually, even your ability to store fat will reach its limit.

This the reason why obese people almost always end up with diabetes – because there’s no place left to store the excess sugar as fat, it remains in the bloodstream, driving insulin levels up and causing leptin (the hormone responsible for regulating appetite) resistance.

Go No-Grain to Burn More Fat Instead of Sugar

You can help your body burn more fat by eliminating or at least severely restricting your intake of grains and sugars, and eating more healthy fats. This is where Mercola’s no-grain diet comes in.

A grain-free diet composed of natural foods will be naturally high in fat. If you’re eating healthy, you will always consume a lot of fat. No fat and low fat diets DON’T work because you’re forcing your body to act against you by restricting an essential macromolecule.

Consuming fats adds satiety to your meal – that feeling of having had enough to eat. If you eat fat-free and low fat foods, you tend to eat more carbohydrates – and pack on the pounds – because you just don't feel like you’ve had enough to eat, even when the volume of food you’ve consumed has been more than enough.

Fat soluble nutrients such as vitamins A, D, E, K, and B12 are best absorbed by your body in the form of saturated fats. When a food is stripped of fat, many of the fat-soluble compounds – including nutrients –are also removed.

When it comes to fats, it’s the type of fat you eat that matters, not the amount. The no-grain diet will introduce healthy fats like virgin coconut oil, animal-based fats (grass-fed meat, omega-3 fats, and raw dairy products), and nuts and seeds, and help you avoid dangerous and highly refined sources like vegetable oils and trans fats.

The fear of fats is a prescription for disaster. Fats are not the real enemy; grains and sugars are.

Can Eating Too Much Grains and Sugar Make You Blind?

It’s doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that too much carbohydrates and sugars are causing bulging waistlines.

But how is blindness part of the dangers of grains?

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss and affects one in four people as they grow old. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of vision loss in Western countries, and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in Americans over the age of 60.

The macula, which is composed of light-sensitive cones and rods and essential for central vision, is found at the back of your eye in the middle portion of your retina.

Central vision is what you use to recognize people’s faces and do detailed work. Warning signs of macular degeneration include:

•    blurred vision or a need for more light when reading
•    straight lines slowly start appearing crooked
•    dark or empty spaces begin to block your central vision

The Age-Related Eye Disease Study, which analyzed the dietary intake and other data from more than 4,000 men and women aged 55 to 80, suggests that consuming high amounts of carbohydrates that cause a rapid spike and drop in blood sugar levels – like white bread, rice, pasta and potatoes – could be a risk factor for AMD.

Protect Your Vision with the No-Grain Diet

Whether you’re in your early twenties or approaching your sixties, drastically reducing or eliminating your intake of grains and sugars will help protect your vision and do wonders to your overall health, Dr. Joseph Mercola advises.

Lutein, an oil-soluble antioxidant which occurs naturally and abundantly in raw egg yolks as well as green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, has been found to help lower your risk of macular degeneration.

Dr. Mercola’s no-grain diet will help keep your eyesight good by dropping carbohydrates and sugars from your diet and increasing your intake of vegetables to provide you with eye-protective antioxidants such as lutein.

Consuming natural foods like blueberries and foods rich in omega-fats, as well as avoiding dangerous trans fats, are also part of the principles of the no-grain diet and are additional steps you can take to prevent macular degeneration.

Don’t take your eyesight for granted. Modify your diet to preserve your good vision.