Good Calories, Bad Calories

I just finished reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. I had read a lot of reviews about the book from different blogs and websites that I habitually read over and decided that it was first on my list of nutrition books to start reading. That was a smart decision. This book is spot on and detailed exhaustively with notes and citations to the point of almost being repetitive or obtrusive to reading. In fact, once the book officially ends on page 460 you can flip through to page 573 with nothing but notes and bibliography references.

OK, so that aside, what causes us to get fat? Eating more calories than we expend daily? Are fat tissues simply large depots where we store excess dietary fat and calories? Is dietary fat bad for us? What causes hunger? These are the kind of questions that are asked and investigated throughout the book. Most of our common dietary beliefs are expelled and replaced with new ones based firmly on scientific evidence from the last 100 years. The epilogue has a list of 10 things that somewhat summarizes the book, of course reading the book will explain all the relevant science behind the things listed.

1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity heat disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis– the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible 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 disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
5. Obesity is a disorder of fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior.
6. Consuming excess calories does cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consumer 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 regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses his balance.
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, carbohydrates 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.

I think one interesting note from the book is that the average American is now consuming over 150 pounds of sugar each year. This was less than ten or twenty pounds a year in the mid eighteenth century. Since sugar releases insulin and insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage, it is no wonder we are seeing an obesity epidemic today.

This book is definitely not in the same category that most diet related books are placed. There are no recipes and very few graphs, pictures, or diagrams. Instead it is full of stories and evidence from over a century of research by many different people with many different reasons. Taubes is not selling a diet or endorsing and kind of product. It is evident that the five years took to research this book were simply out of a desire to discover what is the backbone of a healthy diet and the health consequences related to the choices we make in our diet. This book ought to be a mandatory read for anyone in the position of giving nutritional advice.