Wrote this for another group, sharing here, no charge...
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Want to be fat? Here's what to do...
o Eat fried foods. Fried foods like the appropriately name french fries soak up fat/oil like a sponge. Making matters worse is that the oil used for nearly all fried cooking is hydrogenated oil (a.k.a. trans fat -- the bad stuff, banned in many countries). Even frying in non-trans-fat oil is recklessly fattening, and damaging to health because excessive heat damages fat molecules causing them to go rancid, and improperly integrated within the body (thus leading to higher cholesterol, inflammation, and even cancer in the long term).
o Eat processed grains/breads (versus whole grains). Practically all bread, rice, and pasta that American's consume falls into this category -- if it's white, you can be almost be sure it's processed and fattening. If you eat out, it's nearly impossible to find whole grain bread, whole grain brown rice, or whole grain pasta. And even when you see whole grain bread on a menu, as I sometimes do, four of five times it is not, and the restaurant is too clueless to know the real difference (I have verified this countless times at a long list of restaurants). Processed grains are essentially no different that pure sugar as far as your body is concerned. So, when you eat white bread, or white rice, know that you're really eating sugar -- in fact, many white breads have a higher glycemic index rating that table sugar! Processed grains are a terrific way to pack on the fat.
o Don't eat enough low-fat protein with you main meals. In other words, if you really want to be fat, avoid lean protein because protein slows down the insulin reaction to your meal, reducing how quickly the sugar and simple carbs in your meal are stored as bodyfat. Meals that consist of too little protein are more quickly converted into fat. It's that simple.
o Consume foods/drinks with fructose. Fructose is often touted as nature's (or natural) sugar because it occurs in fruits. But, humans ate only whole fruits throughout evolution, not foods with added fructose and without the nutritional benefits (and fiber) of whole fruits. Most breads have added fructose, as do most processed foods of ANY kind (especially foods touted as health foods, like Gator-Ade and health/protein bars). And especially fattening is a man-made super concentrated version of fructose called high-fructose corn syrup. A key reason fructose is perfect for weight gain is that it is not digested normally, and is instead processed by the liver. This is why it does not cause an insulin reaction like other sugars, and therefore wrongly positioned as a healthy sugar, especially for diabetics. But the truth is that fructose is very quickly converted by the liver into triglyceride, and then stored in fat cells. Fructose is a leading contributed to fatness, so if that's your goal, it won't be hard to find in foods.
o Skip breakfast. When you skip breakfast, you allow your body to maintain its self-imposed overnight fasting-protection mode, where it prefers to cannibalize muscle tissue for energy rather than fat cells. When the body gets low on blood glucose, as it does overnight as we sleep, it switches to a fasting mode that hangs onto fat cells, because the body is unsure when it's next meal will come and so survival is best assured by using metabolically costly muscle tissue as a food source, before turning to metabolically cheap fat cells for energy. When we eat, we break this fasting state, and stop burning precious muscle tissue. To grow fat, delay eating for as long as possible after you wake up.
Need more help getting fat, try these made-to-order foods:
o Sodas. Most people drink about 320 calories of soda each day (two cans). A pound of fat is 3500 calories. Drinking this average is an automatic 32 pounds fat per year. And sodas are a great source of fructose.
[Note: Edited #'s above thanks to Shepard.]
o French fries: The perfect blend of fat (typically trans-fat) and sugar. Sugar you ask? Yes. Potatoes are basically sugar as far as your body treats it. In this respect, french fries are no different than another highly fattening food: donuts. Mmmmm...donuts.
o Salad dressing. The vast majority of salad dressing is perfectly fattening. They are made of fructose and rancid vegetable oils (or hydrogenated oils). Avoid olive oil and vinaigrette if your goal is fat padding, instead go for the blue cheese, Italian or ranch.
o Cereal. Most is over-processed, non-whole-grain, low protein, high sugar candy. Add milk and it's high fat, too.
o Snack chips & potato chips. Like fries, a brilliantly fattening blend of fat and sugar-like processed grain with no protein or fiber, and no nutritional value.
o Fruit juice. Any kind, including fresh squeezed. The problem is that fruit juice is stripped of the fiber, protein and complex carbs that slow down the insulin reaction. Pure fruit juice is like a quick high of sugar, and the body must react quick with a high insulin burst to store the sugar as fat. Making matters worse is that much of the sugar is fructose, which is also easily and quickly converted to fat by the liver. Bottom-line for fat seekers: Drink fruits, don't eat them.
Edited by dukenukem, 14 December 2006 - 04:48 PM.
