Why Cutting Calories is Dangerous

Given their spectacular upfront results , others have used reduced calorie diets in various forms , like counting points , assigning foods red , yellow or green lights , meal replacement products and many other methods or bariatric procedures like lap band , jejuno-ileal bypass or gastric bypass , but there's a lot that people are not told about these methods .

The near-term prospect of losing weight is so enticing to so many people and so profitable to doctors , the healthcare system and the pharmaceutical industry that there's simply no incentive to tell you the full story . So let me fill you in on the real story , the full details about why cutting calories , regardless of the form it takes , can be so dangerous .

I'll also tell you about Define Health's sponsors Paleo Valley , our preferred provider for many excellent organic and grass-fed food products , and BioDequest , my number one choice for probiotics that are scientifically formulated , unlike most other commercial probiotic products available today .

I'd like to make you aware of a new source for our favorite microbe , lactobacillus roteri , and a skin formulation I designed that improves skin from the inside out . Here's a fact that surprises many people , including many doctors , even though the evidence is quite clear .

It has been well worked out that nearly all not all , but nearly all popular weight loss methods that involve a reduction in calories ensure your long-term failure and even an acceleration of death , as well as disability , in the last years of your life . So it doesn't matter . It could be a calorie reduced diet .

You could have all kinds of labels put on it , various branded products . It could be an app that purports to identify your stress triggers or your calorie intake , or identify your weaknesses and try to block those behaviors .

It could be a GLP-1 agonist that reduces appetite , reduces your intake of food , makes you feel fuller with less food , may make you even indifferent to food . Or it could be a bariatric procedure , all of which reduce the absorption of nutrients and limit stomach volume , thereby resulting in reduced calorie intake .

You can see they're all variations of the same theme cutting calories by some method or other . Now , weight loss is a multi-billion dollar per year industry , and so there's a huge amount of money being made by doctors , by clinics that purport to help you lose weight , by programs , smartphone apps and , of course , pharmaceuticals and procedures .

So a lot of money is at stake here in not telling you , not fully informing you on all the problems that result . That is , there's upfront success and long-term failure . Now , long-term failure can take the form of regain of weight , but it can also take the form of marked deterioration in health and even earlier death , and we'll talk about why that is .

One of the problems with all methods of losing weight by cutting calories is that there's an obligatory and inevitable loss of muscle . Typically , 25% of the weight lost is muscle . So if you lose 40 pounds , 10 pounds will be muscle , 30 pounds is fat .

Well , that loss of muscle compounds the age-related loss of muscle that is about 30% or so of all muscle mass you had in your 20s is lost by age 70 or so and more so onwards . So the loss of muscle that occurs with weight loss by cutting calories compounds loss of muscle that occurs just by aging .

Now , that's important because loss of muscle has numerous implications . It sets you up for future frailty , falls , fracture , loss of independence all the things we don't want acceleration of aging , related phenomena . But it also has another aspect of adverse effects and that is the reduction in your basal metabolic rate , or bmr .

All that means is your bmr is the rate at which your body burns calories to conduct the work of living . This is the energy required to breathe , to digest foods , to manufacture proteins , replace body parts . All the things that go on beneath your subconscious that you don't have to think about . You don't have to ask your stomach to produce stomach acid , right .

You don't have to ask your colon to absorb moisture or water . You don't have to ask the small intestine to absorb nutrients . You don't have to ask your lungs to breathe .

These things are all occurring beneath the level of consciousness but do require energy , and that level of energy burn , energy consumption is called basal metabolic rate or BMR is called basal metabolic rate or BMR . Well , when you lose weight and thereby lose muscle , your BMR drops about 27% to 29% .

We have very good evidence now , mostly conducted at our own National Institutes of Health , the NIH , that shows when people lose weight , they lose muscle .

That in turn leads to a reduction in basal metabolic rate , and the best evidence tells us that , for all practical purposes , that reduction is permanent or at least very long-lived , persisting for many years after you lost that weight , and so you don't get it back .

Loss of muscle , thereby the reduction in basal metabolic rate ensures virtually guarantees that you regain the weight . Now here's the problem .

The weight you regain is fat , and it's mostly abdominal fat , the most problematic form of fat , because that's the form of fat that is inflamed and exports inflammation to other parts of the body and also drives the process of insulin resistance , the process that causes you to gain abdominal fat and get you closer to type 2 diabetes , cognitive decline and dementia ,

heart disease , breast cancer and other common conditions . You'll regain maybe a couple of pounds of muscle , but that's about it . Well , people ask well , what if I combine resistance training ? A lot of my colleagues will say oh , don't worry , I have all my patients on GLP-1 agonists , but I urge them to conduct resistance training . Does it work ?

No , it does not . So if you engage in a vigorous resistance training program let's say an hour a day , five days a week rather than losing , let's say , 10 pounds of muscle , maybe you lose eight pounds of muscle . It does blunt the loss of muscle , but it does not eliminate entirely .

Most people can't stand , hate the idea of going to the gym several times a week to use resistance machines or weights . So especially females hate going to the gym to do that . So in all practicality . You experience reduction BMR , you regain the weight , regain very little muscle , even if you engage in a strength resistance training program .

So once you lose weight and lose muscle , you are destined to regain the weight as fat . You're going to be more likely to be type 2 diabetic , have heart disease , dementia all those conditions at the end of this process than you were at the start .

You may have paid a lot of money for the privilege of being on one of those drugs or that smartphone app or program or meal replacement program or a bariatric procedure we're talking about typically tens of thousands of dollars , and yet you're less healthy than you were . And , of course , you regain all the weight Even more concerningly so .

Regaining all that weight as fat is a big problem and the loss of independence , false fracture , frailty also major issues , especially as aging proceeds . But it gets even worse . We now have large databases in which people who followed these programs were followed over several years like a decade or so and the people who lost the most weight died the youngest .

In other words , people who lose the weight the wrong way and do not manage such things as muscle and BMR will die younger , several years younger . We have the benefit now of very large databases that track people in their weight loss efforts , like the NHANES that's the NIH-sponsored data collection of average Americans .

We have Epic Norfolk of 20,000 people and several others in total about 50,000 people and they die younger when you lose weight the wrong way . So we're not talking about just a cosmetic issue . We're not talking just about fitting into a smaller dress size or trouser size .

We're talking about consequences that have major implications for your health , like type 2 diabetes and coronary disease and dementia and an earlier mortality shortening your life . Are there ways to block this effect ? Yes , there are .

So when we come back from a word from our sponsors , let's talk about ways to get around or circumvent all these weaknesses , all these problems that are associated with conventional methods of weight loss , problems that are associated with conventional methods of weight loss .

The Defiant Health Podcast is sponsored by Paleo Valley , makers of delicious grass-fed beef sticks , healthy snack bars and other products . We're very picky around here and insist that any product we consider contains no junk ingredients like carrageenan , carboxymethyl cellulose , sucralose or added sugars and , of course , no gluten nor grains .

One of the habits I urge everyone to get into is to include several servings of fermented foods every day in your diet , part of an effort to cultivate a healthy gastrointestinal microbiome . Unlike nearly all other meat sticks available , paleo Valley grass-fed beef , pork and chicken sticks are naturally fermented , meaning they contain probiotic bacterial species .

Paleo Valley has also launched a number of interesting new products , including extra virgin olive oil , spice mixes , organic coffee , strawberry , lemonade , super greens and essential electrolytes in a variety of flavors . And if you haven't already tried it , you've got to try their chocolate flavored bone broth protein that makes delicious hot chocolate . And brownies .

See the recipes for the brownies in my drdavisinfinitehealthcom blog . Listeners to the Defiant Health podcast receive a 15% discount by going to paleovalleycom . Backward slash defiant health . And in case you haven't yet heard , biotiquest probiotics are my first choice for intelligently , purposefully crafted probiotics .

I've had numerous conversations with BiotiQuest founders Martha Carlin and academic microbiologist Dr Raul Cano . They have formulated unique probiotic products that incorporate what are called collaborative or guild effects , that is , groups of microbes that collaborate with each other via sharing of specific metabolites , potentially providing synergistic benefits .

They have designed their SugarShift probiotic to support healthy blood sugars . Simple Slumber to support sleep . Ideal Immunity to support a healthy immune response , heart-centered that supports several aspects of heart health . And antibiotic antidote designed to support recovery of the gastrointestinal microbiome after a course of antibiotics .

The BioDequest probiotics are , I believe , among the most effective of all probiotic choices . You have Enter the discount code UNDOC15 , all caps , u-n-d-o-c-15 , for a 15% discount .

For Defiant Health listeners and due to demand for reliable , convenient sources of lactobacillus roteri , our favorite microbe , I created two products MyRoteri that contains 20 billion counts of L-Roteri alone , and Gut to Glow that , in addition to L-Roteri , has added marine source collagen , peptides , hyaluronic acid and the carotenoid astaxanthin , all combined to stack the

odds in favor of beneficial skin effects . Of course , you can take these products as is , or you you can use either as a starter to make El Rotaray yogurt to generate even higher counts of microbes for bigger effects . I'll provide a link for these products below in the show notes .

Let's now talk about how you can do better than these disastrous conventional methods of losing weight . And is this possible ? Yes , it is , but you have to take some effort . You have to add some pieces that are not typically told to you .

When you get a GLP agonist or have a bariatric procedure , one of the things we do is we never cut calories for an extended period . You could skip a meal . Nothing bad will happen . You could fast for a day , two days , maybe three days , nothing bad will happen .

If you go much longer , though , now you're risking both loss of muscle it may only be a couple of pounds , but that's enough to have some very significant damage . And when you lose even that modest quantity of muscle , you will reduce your basal metabolic rate essentially forever muscle you will reduce your basal metabolic rate essentially forever . So don't do that .

Don't cut calories for more than a brief period . People say things like well , I do time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting . That's okay , except recognize that the longer you go beyond about 48 , 72 hours or longer you start to risk a downturn in basal metabolic rate , and that sets a trap for you long-term in health and weight regain .

Now , in my programs we never cut calories , of course , we never limit fats , even saturated fats , because fats are good . I never accepted the idea that saturated fats were a risk factor for cardiovascular disease . There never was evidence for that .

It was a misinterpretation and an exaggeration of very old findings from decades ago that should have been discarded many , a long time ago . We do limit carbohydrates because carbohydrates have proliferated out of control in processed and ultra-processed foods , and foods like fruit have been cultivated or hybridized for low fiber , high sugar content .

So , because of a lot of the peculiarities of the modern diet , we do limit carbohydrates . So that's a version of a low carb diet . But you have to know , just following a low carb diet can also cause loss of muscle . So it's not as if the low carb diet prevents all the problems associated with other diets . They still are associated with loss of muscle .

So we've got to take steps to block that loss of muscle , maybe even restore youthful musculature . One of the things we do is we add back nutrients that are largely lacking in modern life . This is not from the diet , it's from the lifestyle we lead .

So , for instance , you must supplement magnesium , because magnesium is supposed to be obtained through your drinking water , but we have to , by necessity , filter our drinking water . That removes all magnesium . We should get magnesium from wild plants rich in magnesium , but we don't eat wild plants .

We eat cultivated plants , sometimes even grown in a hydroponic garden or soil depleted of nutrients by modern farming methods , and the content of magnesium is dramatically lower as much as 70% to 90% lower than wild plants . So we have to replace magnesium . Likewise , iodine , omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D .

These are things lacking in modern life because of the way we conduct our lives . Replace them . The great thing about this those four simple things synergize to minimize insulin resistance , the process that causes abdominal fat and loss of muscle . By themselves , each individual is not that powerful .

Put four of them together in combination with the dietary changes of not limiting calories , not limiting fat , but cutting carbohydrates that's a powerful combination and you minimize insulin resistance . Recognize that insulin resistance is a driving factor in weight gain or preventing weight loss from the abdomen . We're going to correct it Now .

We next take steps to restore youthful musculature , the keystone , the fundamental process . Here . The thing we do is restore microbes lost from the modern gastrointestinal microbiome , microbes that were largely determinants of your shape and body composition and where your abdominal fat occurs and how much muscle you have .

So we replace lactobacillus roteri and lactobacillus gasseri . Replace lactobacillus roteri and lactobacillus gasseri . Now this is all new to you .

I invite you to see my other podcasts , my blog , my williamdavismdcom blog or my Super Gut book , and I show you how to obtain those microbes commercially and then not just take the probiotic , because probiotics are plagued by problems , including very low counts of microbes . We're going to cultivate it as yogurt .

Now , you can take it as a probiotic and that's why I provided a product where we do that , I'll list that in the show notes , but I would encourage you to make yogurt , especially in the beginning . Now , this is not yogurt in the conventional sense . This is not the stuff you buy in the grocery store . This is dairy fermented with those two microbes .

You can do them individually , you can do them individually , you can do them together . We use my method of extended fermentation prolonged fermentation , 36 hours . The rationale being , if these microbes double around every two or three hours at human body temperature , we're going to allow them to double 12 times or more .

Now , when we counted the number of microbes by using this extended fermentation , we get around 300 billion counts of microbes per half cup serving , per 120 milliliters serving .

In other words , it's our way of increasing bacterial counts dramatically and you thereby have larger effects on such things as restoration of youthful muscle , reduction of abdominal visceral fat and all the other benefits that occur for these microbes , like smoother skin and amplification of your immune response and being happier from the boost in oxytocin generated by the

rhodori . You're closer to other people , you're more empathetic , you're more generous , you're more accepting of other people's opinions . So , in effect , you're a better human being by restoring these microbes . But they also play a role in shape and body composition .

I call these play a role in shape and body composition , call these microbes the microbes of shape and body composition . We go even further . We restore dietary factors that are lacking in modern life . So I should mention that rhodori and gasteri especially rhodori has disappeared from the vast majority of modern humans because of its susceptibility to common antibiotics .

So we're restoring things that you should have had all along . All wild mammals , all hunter-gatherer , indigenous populations , they all have these microbes . We've lost it because of their susceptibility to common antibiotics . Likewise , let's restore other factors lacking in modern life Because we've been told to minimize our exposure to fat and saturated fat .

This caused most modern people to abandon the consumption of collagen and hyaluronic acid , two factors rich in organ meats largely , and so people don't eat brain anymore , or heart , or tongue or stomach , and thereby lead a lifestyle depleted in collagen and hyaluronic acid . Those two factors are major players in the distribution of muscle and fat in your body .

So those two things , even by themselves , tend to lead to a loss of abdominal fat and an increase in muscle mass , thereby helping counteract the drop in basal metabolic rate that could otherwise result with a weight loss program . Now , I know ladies are sometimes familiar with these things , often taken topically this is , orally .

The real power of those nutrients is when taken orally , as you would have by including it in your diet . Now don't fall into the trap of making bone broth that is , prolonged boiling , with the addition of vinegar , because that has been shown to mobilize lead , the heavy metal lead , to toxic levels .

So if you're going to rely on broths or soups to get some of your collagen and hyaluronic acid , it's okay to do that , but do not use prolonged boiling , do not add vinegar . Boil no more than four hours and you'll get some of the collagen , the hyaluronic acid , other nutrients , by boiling . I call that carcass broth .

It doesn't sound very appetizing , but if you bake the chicken , for instance , take the remains and use that to boil , but don't use prolonged boiling , don't add vinegar and you get some collagen that way . Also , the dose of collagen that works if you're using bovine , chicken or porcine sources , pig sources is 20 grams per day .

The standard dose of hyaluronic acid is 120 milligrams per day . I have suspicions that we could probably get better results with higher doses , but we have not yet formally examined that . Then we go a step further . The modern diet is miserably deficient in carotenoids . Carotenoids are the bright , yellow , orange , red color of fruits and vegetables .

Well , modern people have become over-reliant on processed , ultra-processed food , fast foods and modern produce . Modern farming does not result in high carotenoid intake , so we are all , in effect , carotenoid deficient and we don't manufacture carotenoids . We don't have the enzymes to create carotenoids . We have to get it from diet , and only from diet .

I've chose to work with astaxanthin . That's the pink or orange coloring from shellfish , like shrimp and lobster , as well as in salmon and trout . Very big effects on also contributing to a reduction in abdominal fat and an increase in performance and exercise and work performance , and it's also very good with its anti-inflammatory effect .

That adds further to these what I call shape and body composition modifying effects . How about the role of resistance exercise ? Well , my experience has been , if you do all the above I talked about restore keystone microbes , don't limit fats , don't limit calories , and restore

collagen , hyaluronic acid and carotenoids that resistance exercise does help , but it's not the most important thing . So if you do go to the gym , maybe once a week , twice a week , for 15 minutes , or do heavy work like shoveling in your backyard garden or something like that . That's all it takes , you don't have to do .

In these studies , some of these people went to the gym two hours a day , six days a week an incredible effort , yet they still lost huge amounts of muscle . So resistance exercise does play a role . It does help flexibility and have some other benefits , but it is not the most important thing .

It adds to the advantages of regaining muscle , but it's not the most essential thing . There you have it .

You have a way to lose weight , specifically from abdominal visceral fat , while preserving or even restoring or increasing lean muscle mass and thereby not being exposed to increased or accelerated falls , frailty , fractures , loss of independence , and I believe we could argue this is going to take some more evidence over time that you do not .

You're no longer subjected to early mortality . Now , if you've learned something from this episode of the Defiant Health Podcast , I invite you to subscribe . Post a review , post a comment , tell your friends . Let's build this movement of self-empowerment and health outside of and free of the healthcare system . Thanks for listening .