Dr. Mark Hyman explains why calorie restriction fails and how insulin drives weight gain. Based on Harvard's Dr. David Ludwig's research, the video argues that fat cells, not willpower, control hunger, and recommends a high-fat diet approach instead.
Hey everyone, this is Dr. Mark Hyman, and welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, Dr. Hyman, why am I always hungry? And why when I go on a calorie restricted diet do I always gain the weight back after, and then some? Is there anything I can do to not be so hungry all the time? Well, that's a great question because so many people struggle with cravings and being hungry all the time. And it's not because of lack of willpower. It's biology. Thankfully, an amazing new book has been published that's called Always Hungry? by Harvard professor Dr. David Ludwig, who has done much of the research that helps us answer this question. He's done the actual hard work of the research. Now generally, books on weight loss fall into two categories: books by experts advocating some variation of the same advice we've heard for years, which is eat less, and exercise more, and diets by celebrities often with new approaches but lacking on the science. And then there's a third category, which is one book, and it's called Always Hungry? written by Harvard professor Dr. David Ludwig. Now this book not only offers a radical new way to think about weight loss, it's written by a physician and a scientist who's actually doing the research and publishing it in the world's leading medical journals. If you buy just one book this month, this one's it. Always hungry is based on a simple yet profound premise. Get this, overeating doesn't make you fat. The process of getting fat makes you overeat. I'm going to say it again, overeating doesn't make you fat. The process of getting fat makes you overeat. How can that actually be? Consider what happens. In the classic overfeeding studies dating back almost half a century, When you force-fed subjects, well, they'll gain weight temporarily, but they feel miserable, just as bad as subjects who were in the starvation studies. Now, they lose all interest in food, their metabolism speeds up, and the body's attempt to get rid of the excess calories. After their force-feeding ends, their weight comes right back down to where it was before. So, why have we become the fattest country in the world? Well, David Ludwig explains that something has triggered our fat cells to suck up and store too many calories, leaving too few for the rest of the body. When that happens, when our fat cells suck up all this extra energy, our brain perceives that there's an energy crisis. It makes us hungry and it slows down our metabolism. And that's an effort to survive what it thinks is a famine. So actually there's all this food around, but we think we're starving because our cells have sucked up, our fat cells have sucked up all these calories, and all of a sudden, like it seems like we're starving, but we're not. so cutting back on calories, as conventional diets have us do, only makes the situation worse. Because the fundamental problem in obesity isn't too many calories in our fat tissue, it's too few in the bloodstream and available for immediate use. It's like trying to treat a fever with an ice bath. Sure, you can force down the temperature for a short while, but the body is going to fight back, and then severe shivering will occur and blood vessel constriction. Needless to say, ice baths aren't so popular with patients with fevers, but If you treat the cause of the fever, then the temperature goes down naturally without the struggle. While calorie balance and that whole approach hasn't solved the obesity epidemic, it has caused tremendous suffering by implicitly blaming people for their problem. People who can't control their weight are perceived as lazy, unmotivated, and undisciplined. And here, Dr. Ludwig has a very reassuring message. It's not your fault that you're fat. You've heard me say that many times before. I actually learned that from him. The cause of obesity, he shows, is too much of a hormone called insulin. And this hormone drives fat cells into a feeding frenzy. And so what's actually spiking this fat storage hormone called insulin? Well, guess what? The main culprit is a low-fat, high-carb diet that we've been told to eat for the last 40 years by our government and every major professional association. Processed carbs. bread, white rice, breakfast cereal, breakfast of champions, whatever, all these things stimulate more insulin, calorie for calorie, than any other food. So all calories are not the same. But other aspects of our diet and lifestyle such as stress and sleep deprivation, they also affect our fat cells in bad ways. Now in part one of his book, Always Hungry, which I gave him a quote for because I think it's so fabulous, Dr. Ludwig takes us on a riveting tour of the science and he proves that body weight is controlled by our biology more so than our willpower. His explanations are super clear and easy to understand, but he also includes hundreds of references for those science geeks like me who want to dig in to all the science and the biology. Now in part two, he provides a comprehensive program to retrain your fat cells. How do you get smarter fat cells so they don't keep storing the fat? And this includes a comprehensive three-week meal plan, 100 recipes, tracking tools, symptom checkers, Lots of great resources. And get this, his diet is about 50% fat. Now this is coming from one of the most important researchers in the field of obesity from Harvard. Now the idea that fat makes you fat has been officially and finally discredited. Now this diet is the opposite of the low calorie, low fat diet and it's completely compatible with the recommendations in my new book, Eat Fat, Get Thin, which is coming out in a few months. On his diet you're going to eat high fat foods like nuts and nut butters, full-fat dairy, luscious sauces and spreads, savory proteins with veggie options if you want, and whole food natural carbs. And because this approach works with rather than against your biology, you will eat until you're satisfied. You're going to snack when hungry and you're never going to count calories again. This diet is not about deprivation. In addition, Always Hungry offers suggestions for great quality sleep, for stress reduction, for enjoyable physical activity, and all of this is going to synergize with your diet and take your weight loss into high gear. He also concludes his book with a great thing, which I call a manifesto. It's a call to, quote, end the madness in this country, where diet related diseases take such an enormous personal and economic toll. David lays out a 10 point plan to transform society, to make healthy choices the easy choices. He wants to create an end to the epidemic that threatens the future of our country. He calls for an International Food Policy Commission A full reform of our U.S. Dietary Guidelines to represent science, not corporate interests. A tax on soda, processed food, and fast food. He recommends regulating food advertising to kids, limiting conflicts of interest in research and professional nutritional societies that typically get funded by the food industry and special interests. He recommends funding schools to provide healthy food for kids. That's a no-brainer. Support innovation for restaurants and food manufacturers to actually produce healthier products from real whole ingredients. And he also encourages us to be food activists by voting at the ballot and importantly also voting with our fork three times a day. Now, there are a few books that I think everybody should read. And David Ludwig's book is one of them. He is the man. In my new book, Eat Fat, Get Thin, I dig deep into Dr. Ludwig's research and the biology of obesity, helping you understand why we're fat and why overeating doesn't make you fat and why all calories are not the same. Now I want to hear from you. Are you always hungry? What's worked for you? Have you tried a higher fat diet and what happened? Share your comments on my Facebook page and if you like this video, share it with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to submit your questions to DrHyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to you.
