Talking ‘Toxic Fat’ With Zone Diet Creator Dr. Barry Sears (Episode 201)
27 11 2008
Hello and welcome back to another in our ongoing series of interviews with the biggest movers and shakers in the world of fitness and weight loss at The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore!
In Episode 201, Jimmy speaks with author and nutrition specialist Dr. Barry Sears, author of the insanely popular and effective Zone Diet program. Dr. Sears has a brand spankin’ new book entitled Toxic Fat: When good Fat Turns Bad. Listen in to hear the discussion as it covers inflammation, its various causes, and the resulting effect it has on health and weight.
LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 201
- Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad
- Official web site for The Zone Diet
- Official web site for Dr. Barry Sears
- RELATED BLOG POST: Jimmy’s blog posts about Manuel Uribe
- RELATED PODCAST: Sue Knorr Is In The Zone (Episode 147)
And as always…
Add the show to your iGoogle or Google Reader page
Add the show in iTunes (No ipod required!)
Get the show in your inbox every Monday and Thursday
Popularity: 4% [?]
From over 400 pounds to 230, Jimmy Moore is 
Ok, I am almost ready to watch a football game, Titans vs Lions. i know it is a tradition to play Detroit and Cowboys on thanksgiving day, but lions are really bad. Hope it wont be such a bad game. Then it is off to Turkey. I let my sister entertain us with cooking this year. Usually she is Detroit Lions of cooking. She scares me every time she cooks. She reminds me of a joke I know about turkey. A new russian ( we call rich people in russia New Russians since they accumulted wealth over night ) goes into an expensive restaurant and asks for something extraordinary to impress his newly acquired girlfriend. The waitor recommends chef”s special roasted turkey in an equisite french sause. Minutes later the New Russian calls on a waiter and sais ” Mr your turkey is not properly roasted’ The waiter replies’ Sir but the chief has been roasting those turkey for so many years, why do you say it needs more roasting? New Russian replies ” Becuase while I and my girlfriend turned around to speak with a friend of mine your roasted turkey ate all of our salad! So I hope my sister’s turkey wont be that bad. Happy Turkey Day everybody!
The interview was really good, Dr Sears is a very smart fellow! I know Dr Sears likes to plug his fish oil, which is really good, but I prefer Carlton which is cheaper and tastes good. And it is also free of contaminans according to many independent lab reports! Good interview!
Another great interview, Jimmy! I’ve taken Dr. Sears’ fish oil before, and I just reordered another batch. I went off it for awhile to try the Krill Oil, but I think I’ll go back to fish oil. By the way, how much do you take? I sometimes wonder if I’m not taking enough.
I enjoy liquid fish oil and I take a Tablespoon per day of it! GREAT STUFF!!!
Dr Sears and Gary Taubes will end up hurting their credibility by saying that exercise doesn’t help with weight loss.
How about the simple act of exercise making you more sensitive to insulin. How is that not a benefit and something that would ultimately help with weight loss.
How about strength training increasing testosterone levels. How is that not a benefit and something that would help with weight loss.
I don’t think it will hurt their credibility at all. Exercise has lots of other benefits (as you said) but is not essential for weight loss. The most important thing for weight loss is the food. If you eat the wrong foods – the exercise won’t make much of a dent. Exercise is mostly useful for maintaining weight.
Dear Swimmer,
Dr. Sears doesn’t say don’t exercise or that it doesn’t help. He just says exercise is limited in what is can do.
Most obese people cannot exercise vigorously enough to have it be the predominant mechanism in their weight loss. Sears says exercise to get healthy, feel better, but don’t expect it to make more than 20% of the difference in weight loss. Not a bad message and definitely not saying exercise does not help.
I LOVE to exercise, but I know it’s not the panacea for weight loss. It can play a small part, as Mackay noted, but overall doing strength training as Fred Hahn suggests is the best way to burn fat and lose weight.
What puzzles me is some of your guests, for instance Dr. Davis, say eating saturated fat increases inflammation, and other ones, for instance Jeff Volek, say it lowers inflammation. How can I get to the truth? It shouldn’t be that hard to study.
I agree it can be confusing with seemingly conflicting information. Dr. Davis can likely be convinced that saturated fat is not as inflammatory as he contends if the evidence were to be presented to him that Volek and others are researching.
Swimmer, I think it’s great that they continue to tell the truth about exercise and neither one, by the way, says to avoid exercise – just that it is not a major player in weight loss.
This kind of information is encouraging to people who have a lot of weight to lose – especially those who can not move around a lot. Thinking that one is doomed to obesity because he can not/will not exercise stops a lot of people from even trying to get healthy. Learning that exercise is not the end all and be all to weight loss can be encouraging. That pressure removed enables one to focus more on learning about good nutrition, how our bodies work and the proper diet to help it.
Great interview, Jimmy. I did think for a moment that I had changed channels to an informercial for fish oil, but suppose that’s going to happen from time to time. *grin* I did enjoy hearing what Dr. Sears had to say. Do you have any good references for fish oil, the benefits and which brands really are the best?
Appreciate everyone’s responses and I agree that the foods you eat are the major factor in weight loss.
Dr Sears stated as a definite that exercise will not help with weight loss. If he had said it helps, but diet is more important I wouldn’t be critical. But that wasn’t what he was saying.
The very best fish oil brand is in liquid form from Carlson’s. It’s expensive, but the best I’ve heard about. Liquid fish oil is really good too because you avoid the rancid nature that the pills likely have. And they put a lemon or orange flavor in it so you don’t even realize it’s fish oil. YUMMY!
Swimmer, great discussion! I think Taubes, Sears, Hahn, and others will all agree there are great health benefits to exercising. But weight loss is not one of them according to the research that has come out in recent years. This is a tough one for me to swallow since I did daily cardio exercise during my weight loss experience in 2004 and I felt it was an important part of my success. But did I lose weight because I exercised or was I merely exercising because of the newfound energy I received from losing weight. Therein lies the question of the moment.
Jimmy, two points! One I too love Carlson liquid oil, its really good. And I buy them on sale at Vitamin shoppe, at times they have 50 % sale on them. Second point that a lot of scientists fail to take into consideration is a psychological effect of exercise on a person’s mind. I noticed that every time I exercies I tend to choose food more wisely. At least in my case exercise and food goes together like love and marriage, and horse and carriage! So could it possible be that people who exercise on weight loss plan tend to be more careful consuming calories. I know that lots of overweight people tend to have all or nothing mentality. So when they exercise they tend to also save calories as well. At least thats been my experience. What you guys think?
Social support doesnt burn calories either, but it is more important to lots of overweight people then anything else, at least for some!
Jimmy, thanks for the opportunity to discuss it
The TNT Diet book says that in a Jeff Volek research study, the participants who did the workout program lost more than those who didn’t. From memory the participants were all uni students. They all did a strength program.
Dr Sears mentioned a study done on rats. I’m guessing the rats weren’t pumping iron and doing HIIT.
I’ve read a number of times in Fitness Rx magazine of studies where participants who did HIIT and strength training lost more weight than those who did traditional cardio.
Vadim, I agree with you about making better food choices when you exercise. I have definitely experienced this myself.
Great discussion! Have you guys checked Dr Eades blog, he is posting his weekly worth of menus in photos, so you can see first hands how Dr Eades is eating. I told him that his blog, as well as this blog helps me save calories. By itself blogging doesnt do it, but every time I comment here and Dr Eades website I get distracted from eating, so I will put Jimmy’s website and Dr Eades blog as my nightly snacks every time I blog my menus, lol. FAt loss is not just about calories or food, it is multifactorial. And exercise is in my opinion a big part of it, at least for a lot of people! And so are many other things. Weight gain and overeating for the most part is psychological issue for a lots of people and exercise helps them dealing with emotions, and therefore is a very important and integral part. endorphins released by exercise definitely dont hurt, do they?
My memory is a bit fuzzy but don’t Taubes, Eades, Sears, etc. distinguish between cardio and resistance training? Resistance training/weight lifting definitely increases insulin sensitivity and, therefore, would help with weight loss. Cardio just makes us that much more hungry, but does other wonderful things – weight loss is just not one of those wonderful things…. I believe that’s what all these men say studies have shown.
The mantra for serious weight lifters is “abs are made in the kitchen”. Great sites for weight lifting are: t-nation.com and, for women, stumptuous.com
Vadim, didn’t realize Dr. Eades was blogging his menu, too. Thanks! I check over there periodically but probably should more regularly.
Absolutely they do, Sonya! The kind of exercise they say is useless for weight loss is cardiovascular. But when I’ve interviewed each of those people about weight training, they all universally hail it as a fat-burning panacea.
Fellow low carbers and listeners, there’s no doubt that Dr Sears and Taubes are heros of the low-carb world. But they’ve said something that is wrong. Some are putting words in their mouths that they didn’t say themselves.
They both definitely state that “exercise” does not help with weight loss. They make no distinction about cardio vs strength or HIIT vs endurance.
Jimmy, I agree you asked Dr Sears about the slow burn program. He said he did it and it has benefits, but weight loss wasn’t one of them.
I’m glad these guys are around and they’ve done the work they have. It’s benefited me hugely. At best their message about exercise is poorly communicated. At worst it will dissuade people from doing something that will help them tremendously.
The whole fat is bad for you communication started with one person and has been perpetuated ever since into “everyone knows fat is bad for you”.
This message about exercise seems to me not too different. I’ve already heard it repeated a number of times as fact.
THANKS again for sharing your concerns, Swimmer. But you gotta remember there are people out there who want to distort what livin’ la vida low-carb means and will do whatever they can to perpetuate this as much as possible. The communication issue partially comes into play when the media takes what Taubes wrote and attempts to define what he meant.
For example, Taubes’ appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live” last October featured Taubes with guest host Joy Behar berating him on his “exercise makes you hungry” argument and then they bring on “The Biggest Loser” trainer Jillian Michaels to rant and rave about it, too. None of them actually read GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES to actually see what he wrote.
And that is what I encourage anyone who is confused about what these authors are talking about. READ THE BOOKS! It’s all in there explaining what they are referring to. I can tell you this–they’re talking about cardiovascular exercise…not weight/resistance training. And their criticism of cardio is that it is not effective for weight loss. They all acknowledge there are many great health benefits to exercise. Go back and listen to my Gary Taubes interview earlier this year.
Jimmy, again we happen to be on different sides of the river. I read Garry’ s book. It was a bit challenging to finish to be quite frank. However the argument that cardiocascular exercise doesnt help with weight loss is not very valid to me. By itself it is valid, but in the context of general statement. Lets examine it further to understand where people are upset with authors who claim cardio is not an effective tool to weight loss! I could theoretically argue with you or anyone else out there that resistence training is not effective in weight loss. So without further a due lets go to the evidence so to speak. I nver claimed to be an expert in the feild but I do have enouph fundamental scientific background to speak on the issue. Does social support by itself burn calories? No, does it help with weight loss? Abbbbbbbsooooooluuuutely! So saying that aerobic exercise doesnt help with weight loss is like saying social support dosnt either. Can you argue with both statements? It depends! It is a lawer in me speking now. Fundamentally and scientifically there is nothing wrong with both these statements. Directly cardio might not help with weight loss, but indirectly it absolutely does. So by working out an hour onelliptical machine, will it make one loose weight? According to Mr Taubes and Mr Sears it may not. Why? Because it makes one hungry, for one and it will only raise metabolic rate temporary two! Ok, it is scientifically correct> Socially not so fast! For many people cardiois an invaluable tool in weight loss. One, it makes them eat more but better food. I have yet to see a fat person in my gym who would eat a carrot cake right after working out an hour on treadmill! Lets now go to resistence training. Is weight training aka resistence training an effective weight loss tool or more effective then cardio? Yes and no, I can prove it both ways! Scientifically speaking, absolutely! It doesnt necessarily increase the metabolic rate dramatically while you are doing it, but it will keep your BMR revved up for a longer period of time then cardio will therefore helping you loose weight. It will also build up muscle tissue which in itself is helpful to burn additional calories. We all know, or most of us do, that muscle tissue is much more metabolically active then fat tissue. But……. For argument’s sake I will prove to you that weight training could also be detrimental in weight loss to lots of peoplewho are obese. I know it from real life! What does weight training do? It will immediately pull additional water into the muscle fiber and make them expand, therefore making numbers on the scale go up initially. Also, initial muscle gain will make you bigger on a cale. Its a fact that a pound of muscle tissue will weight as much as two ann a half more then a pound of fat. So an overweight person who is either unaware of that effect or mentally not prepared to deal with scale increase, no matter how rational it is, will just give up period. I know few people that did that! So indirectly and for some weight training could be detrimental in weight loss efforts, unless they fully comprehend the science behind the numbers increase and are mentally prepared to deal with few pounds gained initially! Aerobic exercise on the other hand will make one loose water and therefore allow for numbers on the scale to go down, bringing about the most desirabel effect, lower numbers on the scale! In this society and especially for a lot of overweight people it is all about all or nothing effect and instant gratification! No wonder billions of diet scams are around. The faster you promise one to loose weight the faster people will but it! All you have to do write a book with an attractice name like” New penicia for weight loss, fast and dramatic results”" and people will buy it. Then you recommend them to eat 2 oz of grilled chicken 5 times a day with lettuce and drink grapefruit juice with cranberry water and boom, 5 pounds a week weight loss. No exercise needed, just a lot of water loss and happy people until they realize it is a temporary effect and we all know what happens next… So Jimmy, like I said its all about how you look at things and how you define cause and effect. And I can totally undestand some people frustration with DR Sears or Garry when it comes to their message ” aerobic exercise doesnt help with weight loss. Directly no, but indirectly it brings about so many other changes that totally change equasion toward weight loss. Dr Sears, Garry are brilliant men, but I just feel lots of people misunderstand their take on aerobic value. But aerobic exercise is tremedous tool in weight loss, indirectly. This is an equasion that I found works for so many people; Aerobic exercise= healthier food choices and boost in motivation and confidence! Guys I am very sorry for typos and misspelled words. My typing skills are horrible, and my time is usually limitted. But I love this forum. And my thoughts are much faster then my fingers, so pardon my english and my tyoing skills!
I use Carlson’s fish oil as well. You can get a 16.8 Oz bottle for $22.99. That’s the best deal I’ve found so far.