Dr. A. Eloise Cortal | Regenerative Injection Therapies | Prolotherapy & Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections
  • home
    • Dr. Cortal bio
    • conditions treated
    • mission statement
    • publications
    • media page
  • Injections
    • other injection therapies >
      • trigger point injections
      • therapeutic scar injections
  • Physician Training
  • when & where
  • new patient
    • insurance
  • blog
  • testimonials

Why counting calories is crazy(-making)

10/30/2017

0 Comments

 
Sometimes we make assumptions that everyone thinks like us, right?
That what we "know for sure" everyone else does, right?

But then, through various avenues, we are confronted with the stark realization that others "know for sure" the exact opposite we do, and are equally confident in their position.

Enter, calorie counting.
Or in the realm of weight loss, the adage "calories in, calories out."

Now, full disclosure, I have never been a fan of calorie counting- for any outcome. I guess I've always preferred to take a more broad look at food sources, ie are they whole foods? Are they mostly processed? Instead of the micro-focus calorie counting would entail to be accurate.

Ok, so now biases aside, what I have seen clinically, too many times to count, is that the various calorie counting doctrines that my patients have described over the years invariably makes them neurotic, hungry with little to no weight loss to show for it.

At this juncture I would like to share a longish but extremely important passage from Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes:
"
In October 1917, Francis Benedict, director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Nutrition Laboratory (located, as it happens, in Boston), put twelve young men on diets of roughly fourteen hundred to twenty-one hundred calories a day with the intention of lowering their body weights by 10 percent in a month. Their diets would then be adjusted as necessary to maintain their reduced weights for another two months, while Benedict and his colleagues meticulously recorded their psychological and physiological responses. A second squad of twelve men was studied as a comparison and then they were put on similar calorie-restricted diets. The results were published a year later in a seven-hundred-page report entitled Human Vitality and Efficiency Under Prolonged Restricted Diet.

Benedict hoped to establish whether humans could adjust to this lower nutritional level and thrive. His subjects lost the expected weight, but they complained constantly of hunger- "a continuous gnawing sensation in the stomach," as described by the Carnegie report- and of being cold tot he extent that several found it "almost impossible to keep warm, even with an excessive amount of clothing." They also experiences a 30-percent decrease in metabolism. Indeed, Benedict's subjects reduced their energy expenditure so dramatically that if they consumed more than twenty-one hundred calories a day- a third to a half less than they had been eating prior to the experiment- they would begin to regain the weight they had lost. The men also experienced significant decreased in blood pressure and pulse rate; they suffered from anemia, the inability to concentrate, and marked weakness during physical activity. They also experienced "a decrease in sexual interest and expression, which, according to some of the men, reached the point of obliteration." That these phenomena were caused by the diet itself rather than the subsequent weight loss was demonstrated by the experience of the second squad of men, who manifested, according to the Carnegie report, "the whole picture... with striking clearness: after only a few days of dieting.

"One general feature of the post-experimental history," the Carnegie researchers reported, "is the excess eating immediately indulged in by the men." Despite repeated cautions about the dangers of overindulgence after such a strict diet, the men "almost invariably over-ate." As the Carnegie report put it, "the circumstances militated against" any acquisition of "new dietetic habits." In particular the cravings for "sweets and accessory foods of all kinds,"- i.e., snacks- were now free to be indulged, and so they were. Perhaps for this reason, Benedtict's young subjects managed to regain all the lost weight and body fat in less than two weeks. Within another three weeks, they had gained, on average, eight pounds more, and came out of this exercise in calorie restriction considerably heavier than they went in.
"

So, if you bore with me and read that passage, you will see that:
1) Calorie restriction causes crazy-making hunger
2) Fat/pounds can be lost during this process but return and are exceeded when the diet is stopped (the well known, yo-yo diet effect)
3) Calorie restriction causes all sorts of metabolic disease (the many unwanted symptoms arising)
4) Is overall ineffective and tortuous

These results were not only found in this study, but repeatedly over the decades to come.
So we have known for 100 years, and have proven time and time again, that calorie restriction for weight loss is ineffective and harmful.

So why do so many conventionally-trained doctors, nutritionists and personal trainers continue to recommend this?  I can only presume it is because they are parroting their trainings' nutrition education without applying their own critical thinking skills.

So if under-eating, calorie counting and "points-based systems" (another gripe for another day) aren't working for you, let me show you how to eat and feel full and satisfied while improving your metabolism, weight loss included.
0 Comments

Level Up Your Health & Fitness educational series

10/18/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
I am excited to announce that I will be instructing an educational series at Mahoney Crossfit School of Fitness (in Salem) the next few months. 
Each monthly talk will emphasize a different area of health as it relates to physical fitness, stamina, strength building and recovery. 
The first talk starts in just 3 weeks, so sign up if you are in the Keizer/Salem area and interested in these topics. 
Each talk is on a Thursday  night, from 6:30-7:30 pm.
Below are the full details, and you can register at the Mahoney website.

Picture
0 Comments

2018 Food as Medicine Symposium

10/11/2017

0 Comments

 
I am very glad to be sharing with you that I will be one of only 6 professional track presenters for NUNM's 5th Annual Food as Medicine Symposium.
My presentation will be on Nutritional Interventions for PCOS, a topic near and dear to my heart.  Full conference details here.
0 Comments

Holiday Closures

10/1/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments
    Picture
    I'm Dr. Eloise Cortal, and I want to help you and your joints feel their very best.
    Get on my email list!

    Archives

    August 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    August 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Acupuncture
    Acute
    Advertising
    Allergies
    Alternative
    Alzheimer's
    Anti Inflammatory
    Anti-inflammatory
    Antipyretic
    Anxiety
    Appreciation
    Asprin
    Attention
    Autism
    Babies
    Birth Defects
    Bitters
    Blood Sugar
    Body
    Bone Density
    Bone Fractures
    Calcium
    Cam
    Cancer
    Carcinogen
    Cell Phone
    Chemicals
    Children
    Chronic
    Chronic Disease
    Cortisol
    Crops
    Day
    Daylight
    Dementia
    Depression
    Diabetes
    Diet
    Digestion
    Disease
    Dry Cleaning
    Eating
    Energy
    Environmental Exposure
    Epilepsy
    Exercise
    Exposure
    Fever
    Food
    Foster United
    Fruit
    Functional
    Genetics
    Global Health
    Glycemic Index
    Glycemic Load
    Grocery
    Health
    Healthcare
    Healthcare Reform
    Healthcare Workers
    Healthy
    Heart Disease
    Heart Failure
    Heartmath
    Herbicide
    High Blood Pressure
    Hippocrates
    Hospital
    Hypertension
    Illness
    Immune Function
    Immune Response
    Infants
    Inflammation
    Insurance
    Intention
    Iq
    Iron
    Legislation
    Lifestyle
    Lunch
    Marketing
    Meals
    Medicine
    Meditation
    Melatonin
    Metabolism
    Natural
    Naturopath
    Naturopathy
    Neighborhood
    Night
    Nutrition
    Obesity
    Oregon
    Organic
    Pain Management
    Paleolithic
    Pesticide
    Pesticides
    Portland
    Pregnancy
    Primary Care
    Produce
    Publicity
    Quality
    Quiz
    Radiation
    Research
    Rhythms
    Rose City Health Clinic
    Roundup
    Seizure
    Sleep
    Stress
    Sugar
    Supplements
    Sweets
    Tai Chi
    Time Management
    Vegan
    Vegetables
    Vitamin D
    Vitamins
    Weight Loss
    Well Being
    Well-being

about the doc

Dr. Cortal's bio
Regenerative Injections Therapies (Prolotherapy & PRP)
Other Injection Therapy Services

patient info

new patient page
insurance/payment

contact

when & where

verified by healthprofs.com
Privacy Policy
© Copyright 2011-2024, Dr. Eloise Cortal

website content is for educational purposes only and is no substitute for medical advice
(see the Terms of Use Agreement for this site),

you must establish a doctor-patient relationship to receive that!

Photos from Gane, taylor dahlin, kcxd, philwirks, BaileyRaeWeaver, skampy, Christofer Andersson
  • home
    • Dr. Cortal bio
    • conditions treated
    • mission statement
    • publications
    • media page
  • Injections
    • other injection therapies >
      • trigger point injections
      • therapeutic scar injections
  • Physician Training
  • when & where
  • new patient
    • insurance
  • blog
  • testimonials