my two cents, for what it's worth
I've been studying nutrition for years, both in college, and on my own. Both thru diets, (how they work and how they don't), and thru actual food chemistry and how bodies break down food on a molecular level.
Still I find it interesting how people get to where they want to be (or don't), based on what they eat.
I was "trained" that the complex carb/mid protein/low fat diet was the way to go. Food has just gotten too complex to break it down that simply though. It no longer works to say, more calories burned than consumed, or vice versa. You have to have a chemistry degree (which I do not possess) to understand what food manufacturers are putting in our food, and how your body breaks it down (or, doesn't). I read, study, analyze the makeup of foods on my own and what food manufacturers are putting in food. I have begun to especially scrutinize foods as it relates to my sons allergies.
A very simple adage to follow is to not eat processed foods. Period. Now, this is not easy to do, in fact it is almost impossible unless you live on a farm. But you can avoid fast food (someone mentioned going to Mc'D's and eating the meat, not the bun). Honestly I'd feel safer eating the bun than anything that Mc'd's or BK calls "meat". We eat 98% of our meals at home. 90% of those meals are made with organic, grass fed, pesticide free, minimally processed etc foods. On the rare occasion we go out, regardless of the restaurant, I feel "polluted" when I wake up in the morning. Headaches, body aches, swollen puffy body. You think I am kidding, try it. Go even 80% organic, no pesticides, dairy with no steroids or growth hormones, grass fed meat and fish whenever possible (cows, fish, they weren't meant to eat corn--it makes them sick, and then we eat their flesh, the flesh of sick animal), minimally processed. Do this for a month. Then after that month, go out to eat. Anywhere. And tell me how you feel the next morning. I feel like a trainwreck. So does my husband. The people who live on a diet of cheeseburgers, pizza, highly processed whatever, you can pick them out of a crowd just by looking at the skin on their face. I don't mean to be judgmental. The problem isn't the people, or lack of willpower. It's the manufacturers. It's what they do to our food, to the animals.
Now, back to protein vs carbs. My husband and I have been married 12 years. He has no nutrition education, but he has a background in gymnastics and competitive, drug free body building. He knows how to build a muscular, extremely lean, physically fit body. We were at odds for years about eating. Not in a bad way, but me always telling him what I learned "complex carbs are what the body uses to break down for energy, etc, etc" We'd talk about how the body breaks down proteins, how the body sources out for energy within the body when you aren't feeding it, etc.
But an interesting thing happened to me recently. He said, just try this. Try increasing your protein level. You already know it isn't the fat you eat that makes you fat. Yes, I did come to that conclusion some time ago. For years I would look at the fat content only, and that was how I fed myself. It worked when I was in my 20's. Cut out fat. Lose weight. Now I am in my 40's. Doesn't work anymore unless I STARVE myself. So I said hey, duh, its what your body DOES with the food that matters. If I eat a stick of butter it's not like that stick finds it's way to my hips as a stick of butter. The body breaks down the food and CONVERTS IT.
Sugar. That's the devil's food! Ok, no, not really. But I realized that it's the sugar content that I need to look at. And sugar comes in so many forms. And it converts into fat almost completely. So, cutting down on sugar helped me lose weight. But....I was still in carb mode. Back to increasing protein. (I know this is rambling, but stay with me). Muscles tend to atrophy as we get older. What builds muscles? Protein. But you can only store as much protein as you body needs. You don't have protein "cells" just filling up with protein waiting to be used. Your body doesn't create more protein "cells" because you just ate a 14 oz porterhouse. If it did, every guy would like Ahnold.
As a woman, we tend to want to be "slender". Not muscular. So as we get older, our muscles atrophy, we store less protein because we have less muscles to store them in, but boy oh boy will your body keep making those fat cells! And fat holds water. And so does carbs. Get where I am going? My husband says, don't you realize, the more carbs you eat, the puffier your body gets? This isn't a chemist talking, or someone "schooled" in food science. But when a woman hears the words "...the more puffy you get" it doesn't matter what she THINKS she knows, she just wants to hear how you get "unpuffy". Mind you, he didn't say fat, and he didn't mean "fat". He meant exactly what I felt. Why is it that in the morning I can put on a pair of shorts and look lean and trim, and by the end of the day my mid section is bulging out over the waistband? Yet tomorrow I can put on the same pair of shorts and they are comfy again. Puffy.
So I tried it. I tried increasing my protein. I tried just eating the burger without the bun (or half the burger with the bun, and the other half without). For breakfast we'd make a 3 cheese omlette. Part egg, part organic "egg beaters". (but real cheese, not the processed junk) Instead of reaching for a carb for lunch, I would eat a plate of lean( organic) meat and cheese and a salad. A couple crackers, but not a big sandwich with two slices of bread. And wow. I absolutely noticed a difference. I was less "puffy". I can't say the scale changed a whole lot, because I didn't make some huge lifestyle change. I also didn't continue it for long, couldn't, because DS was diagnosed with food sensitivities to almost every protein except dairy, pork, turkey and fish, so I find myself struggling now with what to eat again, and have found myself reaching for the carbs--albeit gluten free ones! Anyway, I am fortunate that I am a weight and height that I do not need to care what the scale says. I've never cared what the scale said. I've only cared how I looked and felt. My "numbers" are perfect. I am not twiggy, more like a curvy type, but as long as my pants button nicely and I can wear a bikini with no shame, I'm good to go.
I didn't go all crazy with what I ate. The hamburgers we buy have less fat and calories than ground turkey. We don't eat bacon, don't eat fast food, etc. We stuck with chicken, lean beef, eggs, some fish (kids turn their nose up at it most of the time), and cheeses/yogurts.
A few weeks into this "lifestyle change" I happened to have a conversation with a mom that was debating with her daughter about what she should eat as a quick snack at a swim meet. She was diligently trying to steer her daughter away from the protein bar, and into a soft pretzel. She commented to me that she thought this craze of eating alot of protein was really bad for you. I commented back that I used to feel that way, but I am starting to take a second look at how I eat, and left it at that. But I did take note that the mother was probably my age, much more slender than me, but was already starting to get that middle aged atrophied look that women sometimes get when they don't keep their muscle mass up.
I used to hit the weights hard in the gym. I used to move some pretty big weights. I backed off it big time in my late 20's to 30's, and just went to a zillion reps each with little 10 lb and 20 lb dumbbells because I got tired of comparing myself to the skinny chicks. After I had my son a few years ago I felt like a great big weakling. It's not good to be 180 lbs postpartum with the strength of someone who weighs 100-120! I decided sometime later that the best thing I could do for me for my later years, was to get back some of that strength I used to have. I don't want to be in my 60's and frail, so I decided to embrace being muscular again. It's kind of liberating actually. Ladies, I highly recommend increasing your protein level and cutting down the sugar immensely. And hitting the weight machines. Push yourself. You won't regret it.
