Repeated loss and gain of weight

Repeated loss and gain of weight known as "cycling" causes a 40% drop in kidney function in diabetics^[1]; and it affects us all negatively.

Deep down we all know that diets simply don't work; they rarely deliver on their promises; within a year 90% of not lost and ounce and many have put on a pound or six. In fact they are downright dangerous. There are many reasons but probably the chief one is that they just aren't sustainable. Can you give up bread for ever? Do you have to avoid repeated loss and gain of weight?

Also called yoyoing they seriously damage our kidneys, cause permanent muscle loss and are likely to lead to the premature onset of frailty; quadriceps wasting whilst dieting correlates directly with bone mineral density in the lower limb^[2]. Falls and hip fractures become more likely.  

What's more we all know it; we see it all around us. We've experienced it ourselves. Yet relentlessly we keep on trying; and fail yet again. Right now 29% of men and 44 percent of the ladies in America are on diet.

Adding grist to the mill the scientists are saying there is great likelihood of causing permanent kidney damage if we continue to kid ourselves that that this or that new diet will work; and continue to cycle. It's proven with diabetics and presumed to affect us all in the same way.

After all nearly 50% of those enjoying typical grocery store food are prediabetic; many will progress to the full blown disease within a few short years. Would it not be better to accept that we are overweight and stay that way? Or is there another strategy that actually does work?

20 years after Ancel Keys cooked the books and the McGovern Committee persuaded Americans to turn away from fat and consume more carbs, obesity and consequent diabetes began to soar; and continue to do so.

• The Twenty Year Diabetes rule
  

We still believe it. Cut out the fat and you will lose weight; it is all BS. It's the refined carbs and sugar of the modern "industrial diet" that are killing our kidneys.

Repeated loss and gain of weight

Scientists reporting in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism followed a group of patients suffering from diabetes for 21 years.

For the record they were type-1 diabetics but it's presumed that it would affect T2D in the same way; and in fact all of us. A high variability in weight, "cycling" is the word used, leads to chronic kidney disease; dieting is dangerous.

Fats and carbs

The reasons why we are unable to lose weight permanently are very complex and it would be dumb to suggest otherwise. But at the heart of the matter is the assumption that fats are bad and that all carbs affect us in the same way.

There are good and bad lipids; and some are very important in small amounts but toxic if we eat too much. Linoleic acid for example is an essential fatty acid; we would die without it.

• Linoleic acid in sunflower and soybean oil promotes inflammation

But we do have to face the fact that the good fats are expensive; olive oil, walnuts and sunflower seeds. Avocados and flax have the escape clause.

• Health benefits of avocado fat
• Ground flaxseed vs oil
  

Likewise there are good and bad carbs; it's simply ingenuous to tar new potatoes, true wholegrain flour and lentils with the same brush as cake. Repeated loss and gain of weight is a very complex business.

But again food companies have made it well nigh impossible to purchase 100% whole grains and have flooded our grocery stores with doughnuts, hamburger buns and bread that has no flavour whatsoever; it has to be smeared with jellies, jams and processed meat to make it palatable. Most are steeped in highly inflammatory linoleic acid.

Diet rule number one

The chief rule why diets fail is that they simply are not sustainable.

Diet rule number two

chocolate

So you simply cannot face giving up chocolate for the rest of your life; moreover you actually know that cocoa is good for you. So why should you shun it for ever? But all that sugar means you are likely to be back on the swings and roundabouts; repeated loss and gain of weight.

Add to that the emulsifiers, stabilizers and flavour enhancers; commercial chocolate typifies the ultra-processed foods we have become so accustomed to. Can we strategise? Raw honey luckily has a low GI; if you can find it. In fact it's used to lower the fasting blood glucose of diabetics.

Is drinking hot chocolate good for you? It certainly is if you make it from just cocoa and raw honey; and tastes wonderful. You'll soon grow to love it a lot more than your favourite treat.

Bread

You know that modern commercial bread is your downfall but giving it up for ever to achieve permanent weight loss is simply a bridge too far; alas it's right at the top of the toxic ultra-processed food list.

Could you strategise. How about baking your own bread? But where would you get true unrefined flour? And waiting for dough to rise and be punched down in the traditional way takes simply for ever.

When I discovered I was prediabetic I was faced with giving up my favourite food for ever; and made a choice that turned out to be one of the most decisive steps to better health that I ever made. We bought a bread machine, a mill and found a farmer who would supply us with wheat. Voilà, we have the best sourdough loaf in the world, for five minutes work every morning; and unbelievably healthy for less than half a dollar per loaf.

True wholegrains are strongly associated with weight loss. Commercial bread alas puts you right back on the swings and roundabouts; repeated loss and gain of weight.

Make a plan; strategise. If necessary be more than willing to put in extra effort and time to achieve permanent weight loss.

Diet rule number three

The bread machine is the most unused appliance in most kitchens; that's because they use commercial flour which is very fattening. So secondhand they are very cheap and often hardly used.

• Home bake bread flour
  

Repeated loss and gain of weight is downright dangerous for health, especially for those with raised blood glucose; regardless of weight and other well accepted risk factors.

• Bernie's scientifically proven weight loss program

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