by Gary Taubes
Taubes's eye-opening challenge to widely accepted ideas on nutrition and weight loss is as provocative as was his 2001 NewYork Times Magazine article, What if It's All a Big Fat Lie? Taubes (Bad Science), a writer for Science magazine, begins by showing how public health data has been misinterpreted to mark dietary fat and cholesterol as the primary causes of coronary heart disease. Deeper examination, he says, shows that heart disease and other diseases of civilization appear to result from increased consumption of refined carbohydrates: sugar, white flour and white rice. When researcher John Yudkin announced these results in the 1950s, however, he was drowned out by the conventional wisdom. Taubes cites clinical evidence showing that elevated triglyceride levels, rather than high total cholesterol, are associated with increased risk of heart disease-but measuring triglycerides is more difficult than measuring cholesterol. Taubes says that the current U.S. obesity epidemic actually consists of a very small increase in the average body mass index. Taube's arguments are lucid and well supported by lengthy notes and bibliography. His call for dietary advice that is based on rigorous science, not century-old preconceptions about the penalties of gluttony and sloth is bound to be echoed loudly by many readers.
Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats Carbs and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health Overview
Noted science journalist Taubes probes the state of what is currently known and what is simply conjectured about the relationship among nutrition, weight loss, health, and disease. What Taubes discovers is that much of what passes for irrefutable scientific knowledge is in fact supposition and that many reputable scientists doubt the validity of nutritional advice currently promoted by the government and public health industry. Beginning with the history of Ancel Keys' research into the relationship between elevated blood-cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease, Taubes demonstrates that a close reading of studies has shown that a low-cholesterol diet scarcely changes blood-cholesterol levels. Low-fat diets, moreover, apparently do little to lengthen life span. He does find encouragement in research tracking the positive effects of eliminating excessive refined carbohydrates and thus addressing pernicious diseases such as diabetes. Taubes' transparent prose brings drama, excitement, and tension to even the most abstruse and clinically reserved accounts of scientific research. He is careful to distinguish the oft-confused goals of weight loss and good health. Given America's current obsession with these issues, Taubes' challenge to current nutritional conventional wisdom will generate heated controversy and create popular demand for this deeply researched and equally deeply engaging treatise. Knoblauch, Mark
Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats Carbs and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health Review
Having converted to a grain, legume, and lactose-free diet (read: PALEO DIET) I couldn't help but finding myself needing to defend my dietary choices to people I meet. "Why don't you eat bread?" they ask. "How can you live without beer?" I now have an absolutely breathtaking knowledge base on the subject thanks to Gary Taubes and the phenomenal amount of research that was compiled in Good Calories, Bad Calories.
I admit I'm very biased; This book has become my own personal bible (complemented by other materials of course) and here are the main reasons why:
* It provides some of the most detailed explanations regarding physiological processes that are crucial to fat storage
* Amazing cohesiveness with the incredible amount of information Taubes had to juggle to put this book together
* Light is shed on the often neglected side of government-funded research
* Taubes prefaces his neutrality to diet when first starting the book as well as his desire to be critiqued as an unbiased reporter
* He succeeds in producing a book that does not come off as over-zealous but factual--Good Calories, Bad Calories doesn't force information down your throat like many health/diet books do
I have read the 1-star reviews on this book. Primarily their points are based on a lack of understanding of the complexities of controlled studies in relation to macronutrient balance--a topic Taubes spends a great deal discussing to explain how changing just the dietary carbohydrates or just the dietary fats cannot be done without changing caloric intake as well. This obvious problem leads to issues with identifying the causal factors of positive and negative physiological changes in almost every study conducted on the topic.
Many studies done in the past and even today don't accurately represent the quality of food being used--i.e. the good calories versus the bad ones. A great example of this is using corn-fed beef in a study rather than grass-fed beef and finding that "red meat is bad", when in reality it likely is the cow's unnatural diet that is the problem. Taubes isn't condemning all carbohydrates--just the refined carbohydrates and dense forms of sugar found everywhere today (here's looking at you, HFCS-55). This makes complete sense when we examine what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate, guess what--no refined carbohydrates!
A few other points are feebly made within these 1-star reviews outside of misinterpreted science, but Gary Taubes makes it clear that he's outlining both stories and is sticking up for the one that has been hidden for quite some time. Of course he has a personal stake in the book--he admits to having spent five years writing it--after that kind of time, you would too!
DON'T READ THIS BOOK if you're not interested in a lot of the history that has shaped our country's view of diet in the last century or you don't concern yourself with what's going on in YOUR OWN BODY metabolically. If you really just can't stomach 450+ pages (paperback version) of very dense scientific material, look into his other book: Why We Get Fat.
READ THIS BOOK if you are an avid health nut who can handle a thick read and wants to know more about how body fat is stored as well as understand the nauseating amount of poorly done science that established nutrition 'experts' have spouted for the last few decades.
I admit I'm very biased; This book has become my own personal bible (complemented by other materials of course) and here are the main reasons why:
* It provides some of the most detailed explanations regarding physiological processes that are crucial to fat storage
* Amazing cohesiveness with the incredible amount of information Taubes had to juggle to put this book together
* Light is shed on the often neglected side of government-funded research
* Taubes prefaces his neutrality to diet when first starting the book as well as his desire to be critiqued as an unbiased reporter
* He succeeds in producing a book that does not come off as over-zealous but factual--Good Calories, Bad Calories doesn't force information down your throat like many health/diet books do
I have read the 1-star reviews on this book. Primarily their points are based on a lack of understanding of the complexities of controlled studies in relation to macronutrient balance--a topic Taubes spends a great deal discussing to explain how changing just the dietary carbohydrates or just the dietary fats cannot be done without changing caloric intake as well. This obvious problem leads to issues with identifying the causal factors of positive and negative physiological changes in almost every study conducted on the topic.
Many studies done in the past and even today don't accurately represent the quality of food being used--i.e. the good calories versus the bad ones. A great example of this is using corn-fed beef in a study rather than grass-fed beef and finding that "red meat is bad", when in reality it likely is the cow's unnatural diet that is the problem. Taubes isn't condemning all carbohydrates--just the refined carbohydrates and dense forms of sugar found everywhere today (here's looking at you, HFCS-55). This makes complete sense when we examine what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate, guess what--no refined carbohydrates!
A few other points are feebly made within these 1-star reviews outside of misinterpreted science, but Gary Taubes makes it clear that he's outlining both stories and is sticking up for the one that has been hidden for quite some time. Of course he has a personal stake in the book--he admits to having spent five years writing it--after that kind of time, you would too!
DON'T READ THIS BOOK if you're not interested in a lot of the history that has shaped our country's view of diet in the last century or you don't concern yourself with what's going on in YOUR OWN BODY metabolically. If you really just can't stomach 450+ pages (paperback version) of very dense scientific material, look into his other book: Why We Get Fat.
READ THIS BOOK if you are an avid health nut who can handle a thick read and wants to know more about how body fat is stored as well as understand the nauseating amount of poorly done science that established nutrition 'experts' have spouted for the last few decades.
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Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats Carbs and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health