Dear Friends,

I have finally finished that 600 page tome on Fat Metabolism and its relationship to carbohydrate intake that I've been carrying around since the beginning of the New Year.  This was a very serious book with the last 100 pages dedicated to research notes.

 

First, about the author: 

How does one know whom to believe?  Well, the credentials and the point of view/bias of the author can really help discern the level of accuracy.  I get emails from my clients every day saying "Have you heard of this?" touting one new fad after another.  Every month it's something new:  like a super fruit, or chia seeds, or coconut oil.  While these are all good things, they are not the answer to all of mankind's ills. Getting your fat metobilism right IS because fat metabolism is at the root of human health and illness.  Screw it up and any/all disease can follow.

 

The author of "Good Calories, Bad Calories" subtitled:  Challenging the conventional wisdom on diet, weight control, and disease, by Gary Taubes, is, in my opinion the best collection of research data and its interpretation in print today in the field of fat metabolism and disease.  Actually, it's not my opinion but that of most serious scientists.  (To be separated from the food industry "scientists" who have been controlling and propagating the low-fat myth for the past 50+ years.)

 

Toward the end of the book, the author asked:  "So why doesn't mainstream America or its doctors have this information?"  And the author's answer was:  "Because scientists don't have lobbyists." 

 

Now, about Gary Taubes.  He is a science journalist of the highest caliber.  He is the only print journalist to have won three Science in Society Journalism awards given by the National Association of Science Writers. This is a very important fact:  He is not a scientist who started with a bias or a prejudice to defend. He is a science journalist.  He spent 5 years collecting the data for this book and was able to do this because the internet now gives all of us access to every study ever done on fat metabolism (or any other topic!)  Some of the studies he writes about go back to the 1800s.  This information is not new, but has been lost and buried by many factors, including WWII, the "collateral damage" destruction of the science facilities in Germany and Austria where the best studies had been done from 1850 - 1939, and of course politics.  (read: money)

 

The author himself says he was most surprised by the conclusions that were forthcoming as a result of examining 150 years of study on obesity and caloric intake.

 

I think it is important to establish the credentials of the author before giving you a short summary of his work.  He covers it in 10 points that bear rereading over and over again.  Our current "low-fat-culture" is prejudiced against this information.

 

These conclusions will no doubt be shocking to you if you still believe the low-fat = heart health and calories in- calories-out theory of weight gain.  But they are thoroughly substantiated and have been repeated over and over in actual studies on weight gain/obesity/diabetes that are not sponsored by industry. (Nabisco, General Mills, Con-Agra, etc)

 

Here is Taubes set of conclusions:

 

1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.

 

2. The problem is carbohydrates in the diet, and their effect on insulin secretion.  The more easily digesstible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.

 

3. Sugars - sucrose and high fructose corn syrup specifically - are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates. 

 

4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars, are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes.  They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer's diseasse, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.

 

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.  Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss: it leads to hunger.

 

7.  Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance - a disequilibrium - in the hormonal regulatioin of adipose tissue and fat metabolism.  We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance. (note from ma:  yes, it is very easy to accomplish this reversal!)

 

8.  Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage.  When insulin levels are elevated - either chronically or after a meal - we accumulate fat in our fat tissue.  When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.

 

9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbyhydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity.  The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.

 

10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.  (note from ma:  carbohydrates make us sleepy, not active)

 

There you have it!  That's Taubes own set of conclusions that were inevitable after reading and vetting thousands of articles written about obesity, weight gain and fat metabolism.

 

 

 

Coming soon: "All calories are not created equal: How to get it right, not go hungry, and get your metabolism into tip-top shape."

(subtitled:  500 calories of cookies are not metabolized the same way as 500 calories of broccoli) 

 

mary anne