Christopher Gardner's Latest Study

[BlueGene]

I'm disappointed. The diets were neither low fat nor low carb (on average). It would have been more useful to know what the individuals who lost the most/least were eating. Maybe he's saving that for another paper.




Page 90 here: http://professional.heart.org/idc/group ... 492225.pdf

[bbq]

So-called "healthy low fat" these days would most likely mean "low fact" in reality, dreams come true for those "high fad" and "hide fact" gurus.

[wade4veg]

I'm disappointed. The diets were neither low fat nor low carb (on average). It would have been more useful to know what the individuals who lost the most/least were eating. Maybe he's saving that for another paper.

I'm sure low-fat advocates would have preferred his examples would have been on a low-fat diet of 15% or less, and I'm sure that the low carb advocates would have been horrified by a 30% carb diet...being too high.

But all in all, Christopher Gardner is a serious scientist who himself eats a low-fat diet well below 29%.
Some day he may find what he is looking for and give us some good data.
Until then its up to each individual to find their own path to a optimal diet.

[Helpinghands]

I was waiting for his study that came about as a result of his A to Z study some years ago. He reexamined his data and discovered that those who were insulin resistant did better weight loss wise if they ate lower carb. He wanted to confirm this with a study that took that condition into consideration.

[colonyofcells]

Recent youtube talk by Christopher Gardner (he is active in educating people about healthy eating and how to eat healthy for life) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj3o5A1wp5Q
The Christopher Gardner definition of healthy seems to include words like grass fed, pasture raised, olive oil, and participants were also allowed to eat in restaurants. His in moderation philosophy caused the low fat and the low carb groups to end up eating pretty much the same way so nothing to compare. Some of his good health tips did cause most participants to lose weight. His study does show that the hypothesized predispositions did not really affect people who exert some effort to eat healthy. Most vegan gurus already know that pretty much everyone will do well on plant based diets and the hypothesized predispositions do not really matter in practice. Healthy lifestyle can easily beat feared genetic predispositions and whatever feared predispositions. Pretty much all of us are descended from starch based agriculture groups so an unrefined starch based diet will pretty much work on everyone bec of our shared helpful predisposition that evolved from eating starch based diets for thousands of years.
I found this 2015 study of Christopher Gardner and I have some disagreements on his definition of what is healthy :

Weight loss on low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diets by insulin resistance status among overweight adults and adults with obesity: A randomized pilot trial
...
The fourth strategy was to promote high nutrient density (Quality). Other Quality concepts included “real food,” “minimally processed,” “seasonal,” “organic,” “grass-fed,” “whole grain,” and “pasture-raised,” depending on diet assignment. Both diet groups received similar instructions to drink water, maximize vegetable intake, and to minimize added sugars, refined white flour products, and sources of trans fats. Participants on the LC diet were asked to consume half an avocado each day (approximately 160 kcal), as well choosing other sources of plant-based fats, including olive oil, nuts and seeds, and nut butters. Hass avocados were provided by the Hass Avocado board and were distributed to the participants. All participants were encouraged to take an active role in making food choices; by preparing their own foods at home, reading labels, and asking for appropriate modifications for restaurant menu items.
...
In this video Christopher Gardner starts around 42 minutes :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STIYGDwCXwY