Takes Fat to Make Fat (the T-Factor Diet)

"The T-Factor Diet" written by Martin Katahn, Ph.D., came out in 1989. It is still very relevant to understanding how to lose weight. T-Factor means "Thin Factor" and Katahn urges us to reduce our intake of fat, rather than obsessing on total caloric intake.

I got this quote from page 3 in the Introduction:

A hundred calories of baked potatoes and 100 calories of french fries are not equal, except in the laboratory. They have a very different impact on the human body.

The human body extracts and accumulates much more usable energy from fat than from any other nutrient. In addition, the body sees far, FAR more efficient at converting dietary fat into body fat than it is at converting carbohydrate or protein into body fat. Indeed, the differences in the way your body metabolizes fat compared with protein and carbohydrate are so great that except for a small percentage of persons who suffer from some metabolic abnormality, YOU CAN'T GET FAT EXCEPT BY EATING FAT.

In Chapter 3, page 28- 29, Katahn states:

A gram of fat contains approximately 9 calories, compared with approximately 4 contained in a gram of carbohydrate. 

Our studies show that the average overweight woman is eating between 80 and 100 grams of fat each day.That, translated to calories, is between 720 and 900 calories in fat. The average man is taking in about 20 grams more, or  between 900 and 1080 calories in fat.

The T-Factor formula for weight loss is:

20 to 40 grams of fat per day for women
30 to 60 grams of fat per day for men

Dr. Katahn is on to something. The heir to Katahn's ideas  for reducing fat include firefighter Rip Esselstyn with his vegan E-2 diet. Not sure I am comfortable with the purist aspect of E-S. The Macrobiotic diet also encourages a low fat program. Check them out-- your health and wellbeing cannot help but take a big step forward.