Knowing what I know today， it is still hard<br >for me to accept that between 1981 and<br >1990， while I was in nine years of medical<br >training， my instructors were teaching me<br >and everyone else in medical training that a<br >low-fat diet was the way to prevent obesity，<br >diabetes， and heart attacks. My instructors<br >stressed the "fact" that eating fat not only<br >made you fat but also caused a host of<br >health problems. These professors spoke of<br >hundreds of studies that they said proved<br > that fat was indeed the culprit in creating a<br > national epidemic of obesity， diabetes， and<br > heart disease.<br > Countless magazines and newspapers<br > shared the results of these studies with the<br > public. These studies fueled a frenzy outside<br > of medical schools as people got caught up<br > in trying to lose weight and prevent heart<br > disease by reducing or eliminating fat from<br > their diets. And the short-term effects of<br > eating less fat and more carbohydrates<br >seemed to indicate that people could lose<br >weight and decrease their cholesterol by<br >eating this way.<br > But these studies proved to be wrong.<br >This may come as a surprise to you， but<br >cutting back fat from your diet and filling<br >up on carbohydrates may actually cause you<br >to gain weight in the long run， can increase<br >your cholesterol level， and can set you<br > down a path of what I call "accelerated<br > metabolic aging." A low-fat diet eaten over<br > a long period of time actually deprives<br > humans of the nutrients they need to<br > regenerate healthy cells， which can lead to<br > disease and early death. The studies referred<br > to by my professors in medical school only<br > took into account the short term. There<br > were--and are--no long-term studies that<br > show a low-fat， high-carbohydrate diet<br > maintains weight over the long run and<br >prevents illness.<br > Since leaving medical school I have radi<br >