I have decided to give you Gary himself to explain his book and his findings.
With this video and slide show of Gary Taubes giving his talk to Medical Grand Rounds at Dartmouth 6/5/09 you will learn more than you can imagine. Listen to it a number of times if you are concerned about sugar and carbohydrates in your diet. Listen again if you have diabetes, high cholesterol or heart disease.
Gary Taubes Good Calories Bad Calories presentation at Dartmouth Medical Grand Rounds 6/5/09
Keep the 11 conclusions I list below in mind as you listen to or watch his presentation to this group of doctors.
1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, does not cause heart disease. (click here to read)
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.(click here to read)
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.
Comments are always welcome!
I am committed to eliminating carbs … especially sugar and corn syrup … from my diet. I cleaned out my pantry and fridge: giving anything and everything that contained carbohydrates to a friend. (I’m a cold-turkey kind of gal.) I have tried the Atkins diets before. Surprised again this time by how not eating carbs decreases my appetite. Losing weight already and feeling better. Thank you for the link to this enlightening lecture by Gary Taubes, Gina.
Aloha Sandy!
Well you will travel much lighter now! I am happy the link supported you in returning to the style of eating that suits you best. Eliminating the sugar and corn syrup is the biggie for most yet the grains can have their own allure at times.
Going cold turkey is the best way to go! The sugar and simple carb (broken grains and sweet fruits) has such a drug like effect it is best to stay completely away from them when making the change.
The decrease in appetite is a natural benefit from the increased fat consumption when carbs are reduced. The body has a satiety signal in place for fats and proteins yet the carbs do not signal the brain to stop and over eating occurs easily with no sense of fullness until the body is in physical distress. I hope you will ask if you have any questions. I’d love to hear your progress.
Be well!
Consuming extra calories does not cause us to grow fatter? Exercise just makes us hungry? All right, tv and bacon/eggs all day, every day, from now on! Taubes is a fool, but he certainly found his niche.
(me = lost 60 pounds, still eat carbs and fat, both)
I’ll give up fruit over my dead body.
Aloha Julie,
Of course consuming more than is needed will cause one to grow fatter, the bigger issue is what is it that can cause one to consume more calories than is needed-over and over? There are many issues that cause overeating and one is a physiological one… The body has a mechanism to signal satiety to the brain when fats and proteins are being consumed. The body does not do the same thing while eating carbohydrates, this is in part one way in which simple and refined carbohydrates can cause overeating.
Exercise does make people hungry and the concept of compensation in relation to consuming more calories than was used to become hungry is not new. This has been knowledge to trainers and nutritionists for a long time.
To look at moving to a diet in which the insulin resistance can be over come or never encountered is a way to look at saving many lives and making many more an easier and more fit way of life. To assume TV has anything to do with it is absurd-unless you are speaking of the gym addicts who are so exhausted and malnourished in the evening they must lay on the couch for an hour or so and zone out before going to bed!
Nothing wrong with bacon and eggs every day…much more concentrated nutrition in those than a bowl of cereal with milk and orange juice.
Gary Taubes has opened the door for the general public to be able to read for themselves (citing all his research) and understand the misinformation that has caused this nation to become obese at such a rapid rate.
Congratulations on your weight loss of 60 pounds! Much of the work Taubes has brought to light will go far beyond weight loss, the complications of the loss of metabolic integrity cause many health issues even in thin folks. Please do not confuse health with a number on the scale!
You are fortunate to not have to lower your carbohydrate intake to reduce your weight, this is not the case for many many people. Taubes has been able to get the message out so far and wide that for an example-type II diabetics can get off their pharmaceutical cocktails and live drug free finally by understanding the role of carbohydrates and their metabolism. I personally know many diabetics who would rather live without fruit (if necessary) than to take a poke with byetta and metformin orally with all the side effects they bring.
For many this is about life and death.
I hope you will have an open heart and try to see the world beyond your own body…we are all the same yet very different.
Mahalo nui loa for your comment and the opportunity to answer.
With much Aloha~*