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Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease
 
 
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Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease [Hardcover]

Gary Taubes (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. 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. Illus. (Oct. 2)
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From Booklist

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
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Customer Reviews

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3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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64 of 73 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Gary Taubes book is full of very thought provoking ideas and interesting historical accounts, Oct 13 2007
By 
This review is from: Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease (Hardcover)
If what he implies is true, many people will respond with hostility to what he says, however, I would point out that this author really seems to have done his homework. 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.
This book is backed with solid research by a respected scientist-reporter on concrete, tangible things we can do to improve our health.

The background and politics of how the publicly "acceptable" diet to lower heart disease came to be is both fascinating and a great read for anyone...especially if you question governmental political spins. I recommend this book to everyone who wants some solid information on how to take control of their own health.

Help raise awareness; support cancer research!
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13 of 22 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Biochemistry and diets, Dec 27 2007
By 
Ian J. Miller (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease (Hardcover)
This is an excellent review of the processes that regulate fat and carbohydrate metabolism. There is a clear explanation of why low carbohydrate diets work, and why low fat diets do not.

As an interesting side line, the book offers a modern example of "opinions masquerading as science" (in this case--a low fat, reduced calorie diet is the key to loosing weight).

At times, it is a hard to keep track of all of the studies cited, but in the end I think it is very compelling.
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10 of 46 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars At Last, A Cure For Insomnia, Oct 22 2007
By 
R. Baughman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease (Hardcover)
Having trouble sleeping? Keep this book by your bedside.

This author has obviously done all of his homework on this subject. The problem is he has not transformed his findings into a text that flows, is understandable and holds the reader's attention. This book presents an endless array of studies and historical data and is boring beyond belief.
It is so boring, in fact, that most people will not be able to read enough of it to even identify the conclusions the author is trying to make.

If you are just an average reader looking for the answer to obesity, I recommend you look elsewhere.
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