Some fad diets recommend that people avoid consuming fat and carbohydrates in the same meal. For example, you might eat a hamburger without the bun, and consume bread later in the day. Now a new study suggests that, if weight loss is what you are after, it is not how you separate your food that matters, but what and how much you eat. Swiss researchers found that a diet in which different types of foods were consumed at different times of the day was no more effective than a standard low-calorie diet.
According to the report in the International Journal of Obesity, Dr. Alain Golay concluded, "It is energy intake, not energy composition or distribution throughout daytime, that determines weight loss in response to low-energy diets."
In the study, one group was placed on a standard low-calorie diet while the other consumed a similar calorie diet, but avoided eating fat and carbohydrates in the same meal. The participants exercised for two hours daily. At the end of the six-week program those both groups had a similar loss of body fat and an identical reduction in blood sugar, cholesterol and insulin. Proponents of diets in which fat and carbohydrates are consumed separately believe that the carbohydrates may promote an increase in the amount of fat stored in cells. Not so according to this study.
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