More calories, less weight?

This mentions the beautiful ladies in India who use lots of fat including Coconut oil and notes the good results.

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More calories, less weight?

By Dan Vierria
McClatchy Newspapers

Complete Health Index

Deborah Arneson is divulging things we love to hear "" no to diets, yes to fats (the right ones), ditch the scales and increase calorie consumption.

Our reward for all this abuse? Fat loss, added muscle, gorgeous skin and the bliss of wiggling into that "snappy little dress," she says.

Arneson says she's basically done clinical studies for the past 20 years at her Healing Quest Center in Chicago. Among her findings, devouring larger quantities of the right foods gets results, while eating less on a diet guarantees failure.

A clinical nutritionist, host of Chicago TV's "Health Quest" and author of the new book "Fries, Thighs, and Lies: The Girlfriend's Guide to Getting the Skinny on Fat" (Basic Health Publications, $14.95, 172 pages), her mantra is diets ultimately make people fatter.

Rather than pounds registered on scales, the key numbers, she says, are waist-to-hip ratio, body-mass index, body fat percentage and daily calorie allowance. Her mission is to jump-start fat burning in clients through proper eating, sleeping, hydrating, detoxing and exercising.

Exercising? OK, not everything she advocates is so appetizing. You'll have to sweat some, too.

Here's what Arneson told us during a telephone interview:

Q: What do you have against diets?

A: Diets tend to be extreme. Most people don't eat enough, they turn off their metabolism and gain weight. We need body sugars, proteins and fatty acids. You go on a diet and take out one of those and you're going to do harm to the system.

Q: You say the low-fat approach is out of date. What's the modern advice on fats?

A: Eat fats, but only healthy fats. The ugly fats are trans fats, saturated fats. We need to choose polyunsaturated fats (also monounsaturated) from raw sources to lower our risks for certain diseases. Note: Sources of good fats include olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, most nuts, avocados and fish.

Q: Did you have some sort of epiphany?

A: I was on a mission to find out what worked and went to India 15 years ago. I saw lean, supple women in India eating avocados off trees like apples. They would use clarified butter to cook their rice. They'd cook fish in coconut oil. These women were beautiful, some in their 80s, with full cheeks, luminescent eyes, shiny hair. They used tons of oil in their cooking. With 1,500 calories a day, 750 of them from fat, they melted the fat away.

Q: If many fats are good for us, why do we still feel we should avoid fats in general?

A: Our phobia with fats makes no sense. Fat-phobic people age quickly. Fats calm down the central nervous system.

Q: Which foods help burn excess body fat?

A: Polyunsaturated fats, unprocessed foods, organic oils from raw seeds and nuts. Avocados are fabulous, and humus. Spicier foods, foods with ginger or cayenne.

Q: You claim we must exercise for more than 25 minutes at a time to lose fat. Why is that?

A: Between 26 and 30 minutes you begin to burn fat. I do 70 minutes, three to four days a week using a variety of equipment, elliptical, bike, treadmill, StairMaster and weights twice a week.

Q: Why do you oppose weighing on scales?

A: Weight is just a measurement. You can look in the mirror and tell. If you get on the scales, you're only measuring pounds of something "" bones, fat, water, clothing, hair. It's an ambiguous number that just gives a ballpark figure. Scale numbers can go up or down four or five pounds a day. One cup of water weighs a quarter of a pound.

Q: How often do you weigh?

A: Twice a year, on my birthday (July) and the day after Christmas.

Q: Name three foods you'd outlaw?

A: Anything with trans fats. Dairy products, because of bovine growth hormone that has been indoctrinated into the feed of our dairy cows. Corn and corn by-products cause a lot of fat storage.

Q: What's your personal food nemesis?

A: French fries. I buy �em at Whole Foods. I'm a sucker for onion rings, too.

Q: What would you want people to remember most about this interview?

A: Eat more, eat live (fresh foods) and don't fear the good fats.