Oh gosh, Burger King’s come out with a new french fry called Satisfries.  It’s supposed to have less calories because the crinkle cut inhibits some oil absorption.  The advertising blitz for this is centering on the premise that you can have your french fries without the guilt – it’s practically a Free Food!

UGH.  Satisfries, or any french fry, is a giant pile of quick digesting sugar/carbs, soaked in hydrogenated oil.  Talk about a triple whammy:  high carbs, high insulin, and hydrogenated oils:  cancer, heart disease, diabetes, brain fog, and weight gain (and that’s the short list!).  Every time you expose your body to this, a little bit of damage happens, and the damage builds up.  Parents, the damage happens inside your child’s body also, even if they’re lean and athletic.

What’s really annoying though is that Burger King is preying on the widely held belief that it’s all about the calories.  That’s their Buzz Line:  “40% Less Fat, 30% Less Calories”;  but  CALORIES MEAN NOTHING.  It’s the hormonal effect of food that makes or breaks us.  Counting calories is pointless.  The medium Satisfry is 340 calories, 14 grams of fat (all trans fat), and 51 grams of carbs.  51 !!!   That’s almost 13 TEASPOONS of sugar; when our blood sugar rises above 2 teaspoons, Insulin is released, and excess sugar/glucose is converted into Triglycerides to be stored. No satiety (which comes from hormones triggered in the brain) would happen; as a matter of fact, these foods were created in a lab to induce hunger/eating/the desire for more.   Let’s compare that to 340 calories of a burger, green beans, and cheese.  The beef, (let’s imagine grass fed – not soy/corn fed),  has a high Omega 3 content, and CLA (anti-cancer fatty acid), is about 200 calories for 4oz, zero carbs;  an ounce of cheddar has about 100 calories, zero carbs,  and a whole cup of green beans is 31 calories, 7 grams of carbohydrate.  Besides the serious nutritional differences, there are HORMONAL differences:  very, very, very little insulin would be released, and probably NO triglycerides produced and stored, with the second meal.  Satiety hormones would be triggered. You’d eat this and STOP EATING.  Your body and mind would say “okay”.  That doesn’t happen with Satisfries, or any psedo-food.

Here’s something else that’s bugging me:

I just saw something on my FaceBook page that made me cringe; an ad from Weight Watchers that pictures Jennifer Aniston and claims she “lost 6 pounds in 6 days following these Diet Rules.”  First of all, Jennifer Aniston’s skinny!  Where’d the 6 pounds come from?  Supposing it’s true though,  anyone can starve themselves for a few days and lose 6 pounds of water and muscle tissue. Wrestlers do it all the time.   Fat loss from little bouts of starvation however, is pretty rare.  The body is hesitant to give up fat because fat’s an easy keeper. If you choose to go super low calorie, the thyroid slows WAY down, and the brain and liver signal your muscle cells to decompose down to amino acids, which can be converted to blood sugar for energy.  Repeat:  low calorie eating causes muscle to be used for fuel.  NOOOOO!!!!

Now you’ve got a slower Thyroid, and less muscle tissue; NOT a permanent way to keep weight off.  As a matter of fact, after you “re-bound” eat, you’ll probably end up a little heavier than before your low cal attempt.

What does this Jennifer Aniston piece have to do with Satisfries?  It demonstrates that Big Food and Big Advertising and Big Business know that everyone wants to lose weight, and that most people believe that if they cut calories, the weight comes off.  So that’s the angle their marketing departments are advising.  Probably successfully.  But it just doesn’t work that way. Low fat, low calorie foods and plans DON’T WORK in the Long Run. Ever.  Statistically, almost 100% of everyone who loses weight on a Diet, gains it back.   You need a food plan you can sustain, that makes you healthy and happy and satisfied.  That’s what Real Whole Foods do for you.  Ditch the sugar, the flours, the trans fats, and the chemicals.  Plan, shop, cook in batches, pack. Eat plenty of healthy fats, healthy proteins, tons of vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and some whole dairy( if your stomach likes that).   Focus on how you want to FEEL. Foods like Satisfries, or Weight Watches Frozen Meals don’t make you feel good afterwards.   Practice the habits that make you feel good, and the weight comes off.  Eat for health, and weight loss is a side effect.  Eat Real Whole Foods.  Check out my What I Eat Page for ideas.