NEW MATH FOR WEIGHT LOSS: RETHINKING CALORIE COUNTS

OVEREATING doesn’t make you fat! It’s WHAT you eat that’s fueling the obesity epidemic in the United States, according to a new scientific study.

The age-old weight-loss model — reduce calories and increase exercise — is flawed, charged Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist at Boston Children’s

Hospital. It doesn’t explain the biological causes of weight gain.

With over 40 percent of American adults classified as obese and at higher risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, the study blames the country’s exploding waistlines on heavily marketed, processed highcarbohydrate foods.

Such foods cause hormone responses that fundamentally change metabolism, signaling fat cells to store more calories, leaving fewer for use as muscle fuel and making the body think it’s still hungry. “Reducing consumption of rapidly digestible carbohydrates lessens the body’s underlying drive to store fat,” said Ludwig.

“As a result, people lose weight with less hunger and struggle.”