By Dr. Frank Sabatino

Excessive weight and body fat is the modern-day pandemic  affecting 40% of the global population.  The US has the largest rate of obesity of any developed nation (1) as more than 70% of Americans are overweight and more than 40% are obese. (2) This dangerous situation is associated with an increased risk of the most devastating chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer. Fat cells produce a variety of enzymes, hormones and inflammatory  factors, that make the increase in body fat a leading cause of cancer in the modern world promoting cancers of the breast, uterus, ovaries, prostate, colon and blood. (3)

Unfortunately, people often opt for extreme quick-fix fad diets, dangerous drug programs and mutilating surgeries to resolve their weight problems that typically reinforce failure, hopelessness, and reactive long-term weight gain. Which is why the dieting industry in the US is a mega-billion-dollar industry with more than a 95% failure rate. While more discipline in your eating habits is necessary to lose weight,  it is undeniable that the quality and composition of your diet is the most significant and important part of weight loss success across time. Whole plant food is the key and the answer.

Rather than getting obsessed with calorie counting per se, or weighing out food portions, or opting for dangerous animal based diets high in protein and fat, the most successful weight loss  plan relies on foods that have the lowest intrinsic calorie density, measured as calories per weight of food. The importance of calorie density was first detailed by  veteran nutrition scientist, Barbara Rolls Ph.D, in her book, Volumetrics . (4) A high fiber whole food plant-exclusive diet has the lowest calorie density of any eating plan.

The panorama of whole plant foods, including  leafy green vegetables, fresh fruit, avocados, whole grains, potatoes, beans, peas and lentils range from 65-780 calories per pound. Refined and processed additives and bread and bakery products( sugar, syrups, bagels, muffins, cookies, chips, crackers etc.),  and animal products, including beef, chicken, salmon and cheese, range from 1000-2400 calories per pound.  Nuts and seeds are an exception to the low calorie density of plant food that contain 2400-3200 calories per pound. However, because they provide such valuable nutrients, especially for brain and heart health, they should be a regular part of your diet but limit them to 1-2 ounces per day. Oils provide 4000 calories per pound and have no place in a healthy weight regulating diet and oils should only come into your diet in the whole foods that contain them.

Research has shown that people tend to typically consume three to five pounds of food a day. If the pounds of your daily food intake are high in calories, like the standard American diet high in processed and animal foods, your daily calorie intake will be significantly higher than eating pounds of plant food. Keep in mind that fat is the most calorie dense nutrient of your diet providing 9 calories of energy per gram  compared to 4 calories per gram provided by protein and carbohydrates. So as the fat content of a food increases so does its calorie density. Therefore, eating a whole food plant-exclusive diet low in fat, without added salt, oil and sugar, that is devoid of all animal products, dairy products, and ultra-processed junk food provides the greatest opportunity for immediate and long-term weight control. 

Whole plant food also has  a bonus of high fiber and water content that do not provide any additional calories,  allowing you to eat these foods freely, without worrying about portion control or calorie counting, while providing the added benefit of stabilizing your sense of fullness and satiety. The fiber content of plant food also allows your gut microbiota  to stimulate the release of peptides , cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide 1, that affect stomach emptying and feeding centers in the brain to control satiety and appetite. 

Furthermore, the American Cancer Institute and the World Cancer Research Fund have suggested that eating a diet with an average of 600 calories per pound is ideal for reducing cancer risk and promoting long-term weight regulation. This strongly suggests that eating a diet composed of 90-95% diverse fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains and legumes, with the remaining percentage coming from a small amount of nuts and seeds, is the ideal eating plan for health and weight control. 

 In your food preparation, do not add any oil, and steam, boil or saute your diverse plant foods without oil. Make salad dressings with a wide variety of recipes provided by the NHA containing nuts, seeds and avocados that contain oil and sauté your vegetables in things like low sodium vegetable broth, lemon juice or balsamic vinegar with a wide variety of herbs and spices. 

References

1. O’Neil P. Office of Health Economics. Shedding the pounds: obesity management, NICE guidance and bariatric surgery in England. 2010.

2. Flegal KM et al. Prevalence of obesity and trends in the distribution of body mass index among US adults, 1999-2010. JAMA. 2012;307(5):491-497.

3. World Cancer Research Fund, American Cancer Institute for Cancer Research, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of cancer: A Global Perspective. Washington, DC: AICR;2007.

4. Rolls B and Barnett  RA. Volumetrics. (Harper Collins Publishers Inc. New York, NY 1999).