"Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes

[segamartinez]

I implore everyone to get this book!

Here is the link to the book on Amazon where you can get more information on it.

[D14965]

Very interesting !

[segamartinez]

Indeed! This is last-minute notice, but he's (Gary Taubes) going to be appearing on Good Morning America tomorrow (Thursday, 9/27).

It's probably been posted in these forums, but Taubes also wrote some great articles in the past regarding nutrition:

The Soft Science of Dietary Fat

What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

The (Political) Science of Salt

Does Exercise Really Make Us Thinner?

He addresses all of these issues, and then some, in the book. I hope I don't ruin it for anyone - it's kind of a **spoiler alert** below, but he comes to "11 Critical Conclusions" at the end of the book:

The 11 Critical Conclusions of Good Calories, Bad Calories:

1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, does not cause heart disease.

2. Carbohydrates do, because of their effect on the hormone insulin. The more easily-digestible and refined the carbohydrates and the more fructose they contain, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.

3. Sugars—sucrose (table sugar) and high fructose corn syrup specifically—are particularly harmful. The glucose in these sugars raises insulin levels; the fructose they contain overloads the liver.

4. Refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are also the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, and the other common chronic diseases of modern times.

5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating and not sedentary behavior.

6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter any more than it causes a child to grow taller.

7. Exercise does not make us lose excess fat; it makes us hungry.

8. We get fat because of an imbalance—a disequilibrium—in the hormonal regulation of fat tissue and fat metabolism. More fat is stored in the fat tissue than is mobilized and used for fuel. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this imbalance.

9. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated, we stockpile calories as fat. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and burn it for fuel.

10. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.

11. The fewer carbohydrates we eat, the leaner we will be.

(From Amazon

About the Author
Gary Taubes, author of Bad Science and Nobel Dreams, is a correspondent for Science magazine. The only print journalist to have won three Science in Society Journalism awards, given by the National Association of Science Writers, he has contributed articles to The Best American Science Writing 2002 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000 and 2003. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

[Lamby-pie]

Sounds like a great book! I'll have to check that out next time I go to Barnes & Nobles.

[rozy]

Very interesting! I recorded his segment for this morning to watch later with my hubby.

[time2doit]

I went right out and bought this book after seeing it here. What a fascinating, illuminating read. It is making me angry and smug and determined!! Anyone who has people arguing with them about Atkins being and unhealthy diet MUST read this book.

[susan423]

6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter any more than it causes a child to grow taller.

7. Exercise does not make us lose excess fat; it makes us hungry.
??????????anyone want to explain those 2 statements to me.

[segamartinez]

Originally Posted by susan423

6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter any more than it causes a child to grow taller.

7. Exercise does not make us lose excess fat; it makes us hungry.
??????????anyone want to explain those 2 statements to me.

Sure.

6. I'm paraphrasing from the book: Children require the excess calories to satisfy the requirements of growth; the result is a positive energy balance. Children don't grow because they overeat, they eat "voraciously" because they are growing.

So, the reverse, or alternative hypothesis to the notion that overeating and/or sedentary behavior can cause obesity - is that we are driven to get fat by "primary metabolic or enzymatic defects (Hilde Bruch)."

7. It's evident from a number of studies that exercise is not a great tool for weight loss.

What Taubes is contending here is that when we exercise, we will concomitantly stimulate our appetites to compensate for the increased expenditure.

When we exercise or expend more, we eat more. So, the conclusion above holds to this: we stimulate appetite (it makes us hungry) after exercise, and since we increase our intake, we replenish the nutrients (calories) that we lost (does not make us lose excess fat).

[sevenoclk]

I wanted to bump this thread back to the top b/c I've read several of his articles and bought his book recently. I think most people will be outraged and shocked by what he has to say. Well worth the money. I'm going to pass mine along to other family members when I'm done.

Sevenoclk
Start: October 1, 2007
140/134/126

[segamartinez]

Taubes was on Larry King Live last night. Sorry I didn't give anyone the heads-up in advance, but did find the transcript online.

lt was funny because Taubes and Mehmet Oz were debating and they were going to break and the host said Dr. Andrew Weil was going to come on the show and set them straight. Here's what he had to say:

And joining us now, another of America's most trusted health advisers, Dr. Andrew Weil, leader in the field of integrative medicine.

How -- how are you, Andrew?

Great to see you.

DR. ANDREW WEIL, HEALTH EXPERT, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR: I'm very well, Joy.

Good to see you.

BEHAR: We've seen each other many times on "The View".

It's lovely to see you.

WEIL: Truly.

BEHAR: What do you think about these two guys?

They're fighting.

(LAUGHTER)

They're having big fights over here.

WEIL: Well, I'm not going to -- I'm all -- I am not going to talk about Mehmet Oz. I'm here to talk about Gary Taubes' book, which I read in its entirety and very carefully.

BEHAR: Really?

WEIL: I think this is a very important book. I have been recommending it to my medical colleagues and students. He raises big questions and I think there are some very big ideas in this book.

One of them is that there is absolutely no scientific evidence for the belief that fat is the driver of obesity.

Secondly, the idea that it's carbohydrate which is central to this process and that obesity is mostly a hormonal disorder, genetically influenced, in which insulin is a central player; that overeating and under activity are not causes of obesity, but symptoms of that underlying disorder.

That is, it's not that people eat too much and don't exercise because of some defect of will or some behavioral problem, it's that this is behavior that is controlled by a hormonal disturbance.

BEHAR: Really?

WEIL: And -- really. And I think he's done a meticulous job of showing that many of the assumptions that are held by the conventional medical community simply rest on nothing.

BEHAR: OK.

WEIL: That there's no scientific evidence for.

Now, I will also say I don't agree with all of his conclusions, but I think these are...

BEHAR: What don't you agree with?

WEIL: Well, I don't agree that the way to -- to process this is to eat a diet that's mostly meat and no carbohydrate. I think there are -- it's very important for people to understand how carbohydrates affect them and the differences in carbohydrate food. And that's not a matter of simple versus complex. It's how carbohydrates are handled by the body, how they affect blood sugar.

And not everybody is in this spectrum. There are some people who are not sensitive to carbohydrates and won't get fat no matter how much they eat.

But I think his basic ideas here are very important and it's very important to get these out in the medical community, because a lot of the ways we try to prevent and treat obesity are based on assumptions that have no scientific evidence for them.

BEHAR: OK, so how do you -- he loves you.

TAUBES: I agree with everything he...

BEHAR: That's a Valentine he just gave you.

TAUBES: Yes, I know.

BEHAR: You see that?

TAUBES: I want to send Andrew...

BEHAR: Mehmet?

TAUBES: And I would like to...

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

TAUBES: Hold on a second.

(CROSSTALK)

TAUBES: Let me just say, I -- I agree with everything he said. (INAUDIBLE)

BEHAR: Oh, but you -- why shouldn't you?

TAUBES: His assessment of my book was exactly what I would want the medical research community to take out of it. All I say in the book about meat is -- and, again, it's everyone reacts to carbohydrates differently. You know, Atkins, who got crucified for writing his book 40 years ago, the one thing he said was give up carbs, get down to the weight you want and then find out what your body can tolerate.