As an endocrinologist, I spend a lot of time talking about carbohydrates with patients who are trying to manage their diet—it goes with the territory. But let me tell you, fat seems to get equal talk time during my office hours. And even when I’m not talking about fat with patients, I’m thinking about it myself.

I’m a guy who works out six times a week, has a family history of heart disease, eats veggies and fish, and yet I still build holidays and birthday celebrations around sour cream–based dips. So when the Dietary Modification Trial—a recent study by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)—suggested that the link between dieting and fat intake may not be as strong as we think, I was prepared to run, not walk, to the closest Whole Foods for some full-fat onion dip.

Hey, a guy can dream... but simple science still stands to reason that if you consume more calories than you burn, you’re going to gain weight. I agree with the WHI study on several fat-related issues, and a big one is that it's tough reducing fat in your diet, and no fun at all to self-report fat intake accurately. The WHI women assigned to the low-fat group had a goal to reduce their fat intake from 38 percent to 20 percent, but the group only made it to 29 percent.


My best advice to track what you eat accurately is to measure the food and write it down. I realize this isn’t groundbreaking or new, but it works, and you don’t have to do this forever. Keep your tracking sheet on the fridge, inside your PDA, or in a small notebook in your purse, and tally it up at the end of the day. Track your food for a week and try a week without journaling your food, and learn from the differences.


Robert W. Lash, M.D. is an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. His clinical interests include thyroid disease, diabetes, endocrine disorders in pregnancy, osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease, and medical education. A member of the LLuminari team of experts, a board certified internist and endocrinologist, Dr. Lash has an active clinical practice and is a hospitalist at the University of Michigan.