"You are what you eat" turns out to be true. A new study shows that counting calories might not be the key to long-term weight loss. Instead, a more effective approach is to eat specific proteins and carbs
The study done by Tufts University learned that small changes in one's diet can have a large and lasting effect on long-term weight control. The study included 120,000 people and three long-term studies.
There is little surprise that the researchers learned that eating more processed meat and red meat results in more weight gain. However they also discovered that weight loss can result from eating foods such as seafood, lean chicken, nuts, and low-fat dairy, according to Medical Daily.
The main wisdom learned from the study is that calorie counts are less important than the "quality" of those calories. The researchers also learned that the amount of fat in dairy products has little effect on weight control.
Jessica Smith of Harvard's Chan School of Public Health says that eating low-fat dairy products encourages people to eat more carbs. It causes them to "compensate" for the dairy's fewer calories, according to National Monitor.
The study's authors also focused on "glycemic load" (GL). This number estimates how much of a particular type of food will increase a person's blood sugar level.
The researchers learned that combining low and high GL foods could result in possible weight loss. For example, high GL red meat should be combined with low GL veggies.
The study's senior author was Dariush Mozaffarian. He says that the study provides evidence that counting calories is not the "most effective" plan for long-term weight control and disease-prevention.
Instead, the combination of foods a person eats creates a "big difference."This includes eating healthy "protein-rich" foods, and avoiding foods such as starches, refined grains, and sugars.