High Fat vs Low Fat
 

Okay..so i know im little Ms. Curious here...

Ive been reading the book Good Calories and Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, cause someone suggested it was a good read and would give better insight. Ive made it past the first four chapters and now im highly confused regarding IP...

What im confused about is the fat content. According to IP we are on a low fat low calorie diet. But atkins is high fat high calorie. According to Gary Taubes, he says that an increase in fat in the diet by 40% has no bearing whatsoever on health regarding blood pressure and cholesterol or weight gain as long as the carbohydrates are low....So i guess my question is..why does the IP suggest low fat and low calories???? Why does it not believe in higher fat? Is it simply because you lose more weight quicker with a lower fat lower calorie diet??

I find higher fat helps for me..

My "theory" (mind you just my theory, no logical background or anything) is that lower fat "intake" forces your body to continue to use stored fat. Just like low carb intake forces your body to use stored glycogen, oops, all out of glycogen, need to use stored fat then. I'm sure that increasing the fat intake may not STOP your weight loss, maybe just slow it down.
I know that I'm not careful with my fat intake during my evening meal, I'll cook with plain butter, extra oil, whatever and not blink, same for eating out and such, but I figure this is so much lower fat than I'd normally have and it keeps me from feeling "cheated" that it's worth it.

My theory is that if you take in enough fat your boDy burns the stored fat and ignores the dietary fat. Works for me, and has gotten my bf down to 15%

I have some really good bars that the ONLY difference between the stats on them and IP bars is they are higher in fat. When I eat these instead of low fat bars, I don't lose-neither does DH. They actually have just 6 net carbs so it has to be the difference in fat.

Not being on Ideal Protein (but having lots of experience with various low-carb diets), I can make some educated guesses. Maximizing weight loss probably is the main factor, but I would guess safety is as well.

Extremely low-fat/extremely low-carb diets can be dangerous (causing what's called "rabbit starvation," or sometimes "protein poisoning).

The rapid weight loss and the dangers in protein-only diets are probably why Ideal Protein is supposed to be done under medical supervision (and I'm guessing the program is very strict in warning participants not to eliminate the carbohydrates and fat that are allowed - such as veggies).

In that regard, a higher-fat low-carb diet is less risky for people to do "on their own." It essentially gives room for people to screw up (you really shouldn't do Atkins without the veggies either, but some people are going to try it. By stressing "high fat" the Atkins program minimizes the risk if people do choose to avoid their veggies).

By being more strict, IP not only assures faster weight loss, it also prevents some of the more dangerous screw ups (if people are following the protocol, of course).

I think that too much fat is bad, period. You shouldn't live off of tons of fat (i.e. 80/20 beef all the time, slathered and fried in butter, with a side of whole milk (vitamin D) unless you know for a FACT your body can burn it all. One gram of fat is the equivalent of 9 calories. Your body has to burn 9 calories for every GRAM of fat you take it, so it depends on how many calories you burn in a day, between your resting metabolic rate and your exercise. One of my best guy friends did Paleo diet, dropped 82 pounds in 6 months or so, and now does kettelballs, weights, runs like 5 miles a day, and NEEDS 3500 calories a DAY to just maintain the size he is because his metabolism is SO high now. He eats the fatty foods because he needs them so his body can burn something besides his muscle. Just my thought.

I truly think IP is wrong to be following a low fat protocol as more and more research is coming out that healthy fats won't hurt us, it's the sugar in our diets that are doing it, such as those found in grains, etc.. However it is what it is, so I follow the plan for now and with lots of success. However once at goal I will be following a primal diet where healthy fats will be added back into my diet.