What do you do when your family says you are eating too many eggs? page

[difwiz]

I ran into this today - my first full day of a whole week to be spent with family (and eating with them).

I have almost finished reading the Primal Blueprint, and I get what Mark is saying about how Cholesterol is not the bad guy it has been portrayed as, but how do I defend how I am trying to eat now to people who are stuck on Conventional Wisdom? They are very firm believers in the absoluteness of the calories in - calories out formula - they say nothing else matters, you just need to adhere to the math.

I want to stick with the Primal way of eating while I am here and I want to even improve where I am in implementing the Primal Lifestyle (since I don't have to be at work and I can concentrate more on stuff like this). However, if I am going to be challenged on my eggs and other things that I eat, I am not sure I can stay the course. I haven't been doing this very long, so I don't have a very big arsenal of the nutrition science and the other pieces of information stored in my brain yet. And I know they won't read the book, even if I buy it for them (my book is on my nook, so I can't just pass it on to them).

My family can be very convincing/pushy/argumentative and most times, I just don't want to fight (I don't like arguing in general and really don't like arguing with family). Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can do or say to make them stop harping about "all that fat and cholesterol in all those eggs"?

[magicmerl]

They are very firm believers in the absoluteness of the calories in - calories out formula - they say nothing else matters, you just need to adhere to the math.

Here's a trick. Why don't you agree with them?

Imagine two different 1500 cal diets (actual calorie target is completely fictional. choose your own):
1. High Fat Low Carb diet
2. High Carb Low Fat diet
(protein should generally be kept about the same in both cases)

Because fat has a greater SATIETY, you feel more satisfied after eating it. You feel fuller after eating your fat meal, even though the total calories are 'weight loss' level.

However, because of your bodies insulin response, all of the glucose from the carbs gets shunted off into muscle and adipose tissue. Eating carbs you will feel hungry again within a few hours. This diet makes you starving and miserable

Any diet can work (just look at the biggest lower shows). For diets to really work they need to be sustainable. Which of the alternatives above do you think your relatives think will be a more sustainable weight loss approach?

[Paleobird]

I suggest ear plugs.

[WeldingHank]

say " I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sounds of your stomach while you think about all the eggs I'm going to eat"

[cori93437]

How about "I understand that you feel that way and I'm not asking you to change how you eat, but harassing me isn't going to change how I eat either." *smile*

[Bosnic]

Ask them for evidence that the amount of eggs you are eating is "too many". When all they can come up with is "People say cholesterol is bad." Tell them that the majority of people are often wrong about many things. Tell them that a "low fat, low cholesterol diet" has lead to the wonderful health of those in the great US of A.

Tell them to enjoy their froot loops in skim milk, and leave you alone.

[difwiz]

Which of the alternatives above do you think your relatives think will be a more sustainable weight loss approach?

They will say the High Carb Low Fat diet will be more sustainable because they will simply say, "you just need to have willpower and then you can do it and stick with it and once you see your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers shoot up from the eggs, you will need to stop eating like that and eat healthy foods - all that cholesterol and fat is just not good for you."

I do like the earplugs suggestion though. That reminds me of a quote I saw the other day on Pinterest, "Listen, smile, agree, then do whatever the f**k you were gonna do anyway" - Robert Downey Jr.

[BennettC]

I usually laugh and say I don't care about my cholesterol. Their jaws usually drop lol

[magicmerl]

They will say the High Carb Low Fat diet will be more sustainable because they will simply say, "you just need to have willpower and then you can do it and stick with it and once you see your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers shoot up from the eggs, you will need to stop eating like that and eat healthy foods - all that cholesterol and fat is just not good for you."

Triglycerides are driven by carbohydrate consumption. To lower them you need to eat less carbs.

Also, you could show them this graph and ask them what year they think that the LowFatHighCarb healthy eating guidelines were published.

[Scott F]

I ran into this today - my first full day of a whole week to be spent with family (and eating with them).

I have almost finished reading the Primal Blueprint, and I get what Mark is saying about how Cholesterol is not the bad guy it has been portrayed as, but how do I defend how I am trying to eat now to people who are stuck on Conventional Wisdom? They are very firm believers in the absoluteness of the calories in - calories out formula - they say nothing else matters, you just need to adhere to the math.

You send them the following links:
The Skinny on Obesity - UCTV Prime - UCTV - University of California Television
there are 7 parts but esp these two address how fructose makes obesity.
The Skinny on Obesity (Ep. 1): An Epidemic for Every Body - UCTV - University of California Television
The Skinny on Obesity (Ep. 3): Hunger and Hormones - A Vicious Cycle - UCTV - University of California Television


Dr Johnson MD, University of Colorado, builds on the above videos. His lab believes they've discovered a "fat switch" that trips your body into putting on weight. The paleo trigger is fructose. It signals our ancestral bodies to put on fat in preparation for the lean winter months. Now people are eating fructose year round. Sources: sugar, HFCS, honey, and fructans from grains like wheat (the doughboy syndrome). Brewer's yeast (in beer) also sets this fat storage in motion. Which is why lite beer hasn't prevented the beer belly in regular beer drinkers. And as it turns out, if your glucose/glycogen is replete your liver can/will convert some that ingested glucose into fructose.
The Fat Switch Book | Weight Control Guide - Mercola.com

Fructose is metabolized into triglycerides in the liver so....

MayoClinc: What is VLDL cholesterol? Can it be harmful?
VLDL cholesterol: Is it harmful? - MayoClinic.com

MedTV: What Is VLDL Cholesterol?
VLDL Cholesterol
Page 2: "VLDL cholesterol is produced in the liver in response to a high-carbohydrate meal. The liver converts the extra carbohydrates into fat (triglycerides) and puts them into VLDLs to be transported to fat cells and muscle within the body. The liver also puts some cholesterol into the VLDL. A VLDL particle is rather large, carrying a lot of triglycerides relative to the amount of cholesterol."

"Once a VLDL particle delivers its triglycerides to fat cells or muscle, it is called an intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL). This IDL can return to the liver with its cholesterol so that the liver can repackage it to use it later or simply get rid of it. But in most cases, the IDLs remain in the blood and go through another transformation where they lose most of their remaining triglycerides. At this point, the IDLs are almost all cholesterol and are now known as LDLs. About three-quarters of total cholesterol in the blood is contained within LDL particles."

Your body actually uses HDL to process the VLDL which is why blood tests are showing high LDL and low HDL