One of the biggest mistakes made while dieting is that in order to lose weight, people stop consuming carbohydrate sources such as bread, rice, pasta, etc. This is one of common diet mistakes. When people think of food causing weight, they firstly think of carbohydrate foods. It should be noted that no matter which food group we consume, our body will store the excess. Carbohydrate consumption is very effective both in terms of providing energy to the body and in the use of proteins that are the building blocks of the body. Therefore, foods containing carbohydrates should be consumed, but the amount should be considered.
One of the most important mistakes made by dieters is not to provide enough carbohydrates to the body. Metabolism of those people that stop eating foods like bread, rice, pasta, corn when dieting take required carbohydrate from glycogen storage and required sugar from muscle; that means loss of muscle, and the body loses water. So, dieters believe that they lose weight they see the result at the scale; however, the reality is that the body loses muscle and water instead of fat.
Low-calorie diets containing high-protein low-carbohydrate accelerate metabolism that results in rapid weight loss, but the loss you see at the scale device is not fat. They are water and muscle. When you lose 1 gram of muscle, you lose about 2.7 grams of water, which makes you think you’re rapidly losing weight.
Advances in the scientific field have emphasized the importance of carbohydrates in the human body and in promoting healthy living. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on the role of carbohydrates in the field of nutrition and nutritional science states that carbohydrate-containing foods such as pasta are an indispensable part of human health. Renowned nutritional scientists have reached consensus on the healthy macronutrient rates that should be taken into the human body: 45-60% of calories consumed should come from carbohydrates, 25-30% from fat and 15-20% from proteins.
Low-carbohydrate diets pose a risk of becoming obese and, at the same time, when you think of the long term, it is not a healthy way of living. Pasta made from durum wheat semolina or other kinds of cereals by mixing eggs and water is actually a very high nutritional value. In countries with high carbohydrate consumption, the proportion of obesity and overweight people is lower than in countries with low carbohydrate consumption. (For example, the carbohydrate consumption is higher in France when compared against the United States; however, the obesity rate is one third of the United States.)
LOW CARBOHYDRATE INCREASES HEART DISEASE
Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Değertekin
Yeditepe University Hospitals, Head of Cardiology Department
Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Değertekin, Cardiology Specialist, have stated for a long time that low carbohydrate consumption increases the risk of heart disease. He stated that the researches have shown that the low-carbohydrate consumption for a long time increases the heart disease by 20 percent, adding that “25 thousand people were followed for 10 years. According to the study, daily carbohydrate consumption should not fall below 200 grams to prevent heart disease. Adequate nutrition and physical activity are important for heart health. Errors made for the sake of weight loss can adversely affect heart health.”
25 THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE FOLLOWED FOR 10 YEARS
Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Değertekin said that participants of the meeting of the European Cardiology Association held in Paris, France due to 29 September World Heart Day have stated important facts. “At the meeting, nearly 30 thousand colleagues evaluated the latest developments. In the recent studies, approximately 450 thousand people were screened. 25 thousand people were followed for about 10 years. During the screening, patients were divided into 4 groups according to their feeding habits, carbohydrate consumption, and fat content. At the end of the study, it was seen that the risk of heart disease was 20 percent higher in people who continued a low carbohydrate diet after reaching their normal weight. The low-carbohydrate diet is very useful for the short term, but if it lasts for 10 years, that causes heart disease. This study shows that persistent low carbohydrate consumption after reaching the ideal weight may not always be good for heart disease.
After reaching the ideal weight, changing the lifestyle is important for health. If you consume high amounts of carbohydrates, you should take control of it. But you should not lower your carbohydrate consumption excessively. Studies show that consumption should not fall below 200 grams per day. Regular exercise is important. The more you keep your physical activities alive, the faster your metabolism becomes. What is important is that you avoid heart disease risk factors. That means cigarettes and saturated fats’ consumption should be severely limited. Apart from these, exercise and balanced nutrition should be paid attention to.
Obesity is a serious health problem, but shock diets and frequent weight loss adversely affect the heart. Obesity is a serious health problem in terms of heart attack and irregular heart rhythm. People should protect themselves against obesity and that should continue for life. If obesity persists for a long time, the risk of heart disease increases. This increases the rhythm problem and then comes stroke.
Heart rhythm disorders can occur especially in people who experience frequent and rapid weight changes. These rhythm problems later cause stroke. That’s why rapid weight loss and gain should be avoided, and the stabile weight loss should be avoided. What is important is to protect oneself against obesity. If you are obese for many years, the risk of heart disease will seriously affect you. Shock diets may affect your heart rhythm negatively even if it is partially effective, and it will cause a risk of stroke.
50-60% OF OUR DAILY ENERGY COMES FROM CARBOHYDRATES
Prof. Dr. Nevin Şanlıer
Ankara Medipol University, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences
The perception that in order to lose weight, one should stay away from bread or pasta is mistaken. Carbohydrates have an important place in adequate and balanced nutrition because we provide 50-60% of our daily energy from carbohydrates. So, carbohydrate is the foods group that human use mostly. Bread, cereal group, wheat flour, barley, and oats among carbohydrates are all our main nutrients. Therefore, there is no such thing as taking out pasta, bread or bulgur from our daily nutrition programs. In fact, an adult’s carbohydrate consumption should not fall below 130 grams. We also use the cereal group in our weight-loss diets. The more protein you consume, the higher the amount of saturated fat increases, which leads to cardiovascular disease.
PASTA HELPS WEIGHT-LOSS
We can use pasta in every way; the important thing for us is how we cook. If you consume pasta with meat products, it becomes healthier when you consume it as a main dish or by combining it with vegetables. We all have physical activity, age, special condition or disease; the important thing here is to consume as much as we need. Pasta does not contribute to weight-gaining. On the contrary, it helps weight-loss. Pasta is delicious and economical and is an excellent choice for nutritious and filling. Pasta made up of a glass of whole wheat flour is about 100 calories and meets 25 percent of daily fiber needs. Pasta also prevents the formation of constipation with insoluble fiber content and prevents the storage of the foods consumed as fat.
Pasta can be easily added to your diet as long as you do not eat after becoming full and eat in moderation without going extreme. You can even add vegetables into the pasta, paying attention to the portion and the calorie. If you consume pasta in your diet, it is important that the portion is measured. A cup of cooked spaghetti contains 221 calories. If you are on an 1800 calorie diet, this percentage corresponds to 12% of the daily calorie intake, 15% for the 1500 calorie diet and 18% for the 1200 calorie diet. If you eat more than one glass per day, you can start to gain more than the amount of calorie you need.
You can also consume pasta with vegetables to lose weight. Most vegetables have low in calories; for example, zucchini has 55 calories. If you replace part of pasta with vegetable, it helps you save some calories. If you like pasta, you can easily lose weight with plenty of boiled vegetables and less pasta; plus, you will not give up your pleasure of eating pasta.
YOU FEEL FULLNESS FOR LONG TIME
Since each bite of pasta satisfies the stomach, it usually gives the person fullness even if you consume in small amounts. For delicious pasta, you can prepare wonderful pasta by using tomatoes, garlic, and fresh basil sautéed with olive oil. Pasta prepared using one hundred percent whole grain is a more sensible option to lose weight. The sauce you choose can help make pasta healthier and loss of weight. For the healthiest pasta, it is ideal to use homemade tomato sauce prepared with minimum salt. Adding tomato sauce to your pasta causes very little calorie difference, that is, it increases the calorie intake. Creamy sauces contain very calories. The daily caloric need for women is 1800-2000, and for men it is 2200-2400. If you consume pasta in addition to your daily calorie needs, you will gain weight. The pasta you consume should be included in your daily calorie needs.
DIETS WITHOUT BREAD DOES NOT HELP WEIGHT-LOSS
Seda Demetgül
Nutrition and Diet Specialist
Setting aside special conditions, there is no need to shun away from consuming carbohydrate-rich foods in special programs curated for a person to lose weight. If you fail to meet the carbohydrate requirement a person needs for a day, the dessert usually comes to mind. Our consultants define this sweet craving. Thus, let’s meet our daily carbohydrate needs with complex carbohydrates. That is to say foods prepared with whole wheat or whole grain bread or bulgur in appropriate portions or whole wheat flour are called as complex carbohydrates. We should include complex carbohydrates in our daily diet and this will minimize the desire to consume sugar or sugary foods, packaged foods, which we call simple carbohydrates. At the same time, complex carbohydrates prevent the rapid rise of blood sugar during the day compared to simple carbohydrates and provide more fullness by prolonging gastric emptying time. There is no need to stop consuming bread. No single food causes weight loss or gain. While dieting, if a person that eats too much bread loses weight, the cause of this weight loss is not bread.
We should stay away eating any food too much. If you try to shun away from eating a single food, it will disrupt the sustainability of diet. If you want to lose weight, you should concentrate on the food portion. For a healthy individual, 55-60 percent of the daily diet should come from carbohydrates. This value may vary according to the results of blood and other tests.
1 OUT OF 9 PEOPLE ARE OVERWEIGHT
Dr. Pavel Ursu
Turkey Representative of the World Health Organization
We draw attention to the necessity of ending hunger and all kinds of malnutrition in the world and ensuring food safety and healthy nutrition for all. We repeat the message spelled out at this year’s “the World Food Day,” “UN World Food Security,” and “Nutritional Status” (SOFI 2019) and we are mobilized so that healthy nutrition becomes affordable for everybody. According to the SOFI 2019 report, the world has made some progress in its struggle against hunger in years. Nevertheless, the number of people faced with malnutrition begins to increase again. Today, more than 820 million people – one every nine people on earth- struggles against hunger, and the obesity and excess weight continues to increase especially among school-age children and adults.
An unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle come together to create a lot of diseases. Obesity rates have increased not only in developed countries, but also in low-income countries, where hunger and obesity are often together. Unhealthy nutrition is one of the risk factors that cause deaths in non-contagious disease such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some types of cancer.
THE NUMBER OF OBESE PEOPLE INCREASES INCREMENTALLY
The number of overweight or obese people in the world has increased from 857 million to 2.1 billion in the last 30 years. Fighting obesity was among the most discussed topics of this year. The statements that obesity triggered depression were also among the topics discussed. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), obese people spend approximately 2.5 times more on health than normal individuals. Treatment of obesity-related diseases corresponds to 8.4 percent of the total health expenditures. The report also mentions countries that will spend more on obesity-related health problems between 2020 and 2050. Turkey is among the top 10 countries as the country is projected to spend $99 per person. The United States of America is projected to spend $644,8 per person for obesity-related health problems.
BREAD AND OBESITY
Bread is often cited as a cause of obesity. Bread consumption in the UK has been in steady decline since the 1990s, while obesity rates have soared. How can bread be to blame? The evidence suggests that it’s the lack of bread that is correlated to expanding waistline.
The chart below shows this is practice; and takes bread consumption data from The Food Family Survey, 2016; and obesity data from the Health Survey for England, 2015. Can we really lay all the blame with bread? In reality it contains just 80 calories a slice; is a major provider of many vitamins and minerals essential for good health, including calcium, iron and folate. So bread should in fact be heralded as a health food rather than a junk food.