Studies of 120,877 people found weight creeps up about 0.6% a year. French fries and chips added the most, vegetables, nuts and yoghurt the least. Eating right matters more than eating less. Take out the worst foods and habits.
About 100 trillion microbes, weighing around 2kg, live in and on us. They affect nutrition, obesity, allergies and autoimmunity. Researchers are still learning, so the practical advice is to feed them well by cutting sugar and refined carbohydrate, and not to meddle.
Fast food supplies 47% of an adult’s daily energy and eating with others raises intake by 44%. Diets fail because they ignore the social side of eating. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants, and plan around the places you eat.
Insulin is the main balancer of blood sugar. High glucose acts like a slow poison, and the usual targets may be too generous. Fasting glucose near 95 tripled diabetes risk in one study. Lower levels appear better, even for people without diabetes.
Ghrelin turns hunger on and leptin turns it off, with insulin and PYY in between. Chronic calorie excess breaks the system: leptin and ghrelin resistance develop and fructose interferes. Wait 15 to 20 minutes after eating before deciding you are still hungry.
Sugars and carbohydrates are the same chemical family. Fructose is 60% sweeter than glucose and goes straight to the liver, where it can drive fatty liver and insulin resistance. The simple versus complex split says little about food quality.
Removing added sugar is the first and most important step. The author treats added fructose like alcohol, with no safe level, and links sugar to six chronic diseases. Critics say the research is mixed. Here are both sides and a simple action list.
Your subconscious may fight your diet. Last Supper, What the Hell and restraint effects cause mini-binges. The low-sacrifice approach gives up only foods you will not miss, and keeps the ones you love at the right time of day.
Changing your diet is a change-management project. You need a strong reason, a baseline, SMART goals and a plan for the pain phase. Small take-out changes, such as skipping the daily muffin, often work better than a full diet.
Sugary drinks before and during pregnancy raise the risk of gestational diabetes by 22%. Diet in pregnancy and infancy may set up obesity for life, so this is one group where getting weight gain right matters most.
