Gary Taubes

pitbulllover

Does anyone here follow Gary Taubes? I've been reading his books and his blog (garytaubes.com), and so much of it rings true to me. It seems like doctors have been trying to beat into me the theory of "calories in - calories out", and I always knew that this method didn't work for me yet I constantly felt like a failure instead of changing my methods. I've been seeing a clinical nutritionist and he had me cut my carb intake drastically, and for the first time in 3 years I've been able to see some (albeit relatively small) losses on the scale. But I'm now hopeful that if I stick with it I'll (crossing my fingers) be able to get most of this weight off.

One of my issues is that I've been a vegetarian since the age of 13. I'm now starting to think that being a vegetarian actually helped to make me fatter, and I want to start eating meat again but I haven't been able to get past the psychological aspect of it yet. I can't bear the thought of eating it, and especially cooking it!!

I guess I'm just looking for some like minded people that live a low carb lifestyle and can help me with recipes and tips. And for anyone who is against cutting carbs, there is absolutely no reason for you to reply. All of our bodies are different, and if your body can handle carbs without becoming insulin resistant and fat, then good for you. I'm just looking for others out there like me that need to stay away from carbs (or drastically limit them) in order to be healthy.

yarwell

he writes well, as a science writer he is distilling knowledge that's out there and becoming more available via the internet.

I don't think medical doctors get much education in nutrition unless they specialise you might like Drs Mike and Mary Eades too who plough a similar furrow to Taubes.

I'm a low carb eater. I eat lots of nice tasty filling stuff without a pile of starch to accompany it ;-)

pitbulllover

Thanks for responding! I'll look them up.

One question... in your opinion, do you think it's possible to go low carb AND vegetarian?? I am getting so sick of eggs, but at the same time I really don't want to eat meat. Hopefully if I do decide to eat meat, I'll get used to it and it will be less of a psychological struggle every time.

Sidesteal

I think his conclusions aren't supported by his cherry-picked studies and I'd recommend people don't put too much stock in his information.

UponThisRock

Thanks for responding! I'll look them up.

One question... in your opinion, do you think it's possible to go low carb AND vegetarian?? I am getting so sick of eggs, but at the same time I really don't want to eat meat. Hopefully if I do decide to eat meat, I'll get used to it and it will be less of a psychological struggle every time.

I'm not an expert of vegetarian eating, but I think it would be very difficult to do.

As far as Tabues, he does a good job of picking apart the lipid hypothesis. The rest of what he says starts with a premise that is based on a very old study that says that overweight people don't eat more than normal weight people. We've known for decades that this simply isn't true.

yarwell

in your opinion, do you think it's possible to go low carb AND vegetarian

yes, but.....

You should probably allow a higher carb limit than a meat eater, as you have less zero carb protein sources available to you.

I eat a lot of vegetables, dairy, nuts, seeds, eggs, etc - and a whole lot of meat and fish. You might want to start with fish if you're thinking of weaning yourself off vegeterianism - pescatarian ?

Perhaps you could make a list of protein sources you like or are prepared to eat and look up their protein and carb content, if you calculate the ratio grams protein per gram of carbs and sort them in order then eating the ones with highest values will help.

You also need to get into the mindset of eating fats and oils - more than half of your calories is likely to come from these sources.

roachhaley

he writes well, as a science writer he is distilling knowledge that's out there and becoming more available via the internet.

I don't think medical doctors get much education in nutrition unless they specialise you might like Drs Mike and Mary Eades too who plough a similar furrow to Taubes.

I'm a low carb eater. I eat lots of nice tasty filling stuff without a pile of starch to accompany it ;-)

From what I know (from friends who are in med school) doctors get the same education in nutrition as well as everything else. Nutritionists only have the nutrition side of education and lack all of the other stuff doctors learn. In short, I trust doctors more than nutritionists.

pitbulllover

As far as Tabues, he does a good job of picking apart the lipid hypothesis. The rest of what he says starts with a premise that is based on a very old study that says that overweight people don't eat more than normal weight people. We've known for decades that this simply isn't true.

I just read "Why we get fat and what to do about it". Most of it suggested that (although he's careful not to say anything with certainty because he admits that enough studies haven't been done), that people don't get fat because they overeat. They overeat because they get fat. We have the cause and effect backward.

There was an interesting study done with mice, and when their hormones were changed (either through surgery or injection), they gained weight regardless of what they were eating. One group of mice were allowed to eat as much as they want, and they over-ate and gained weight. The other group of mice had their calories restricted and were near starved, and they still gained weight and became just as fat. To compensate, they became very sedentary because they had no energy. Their metabolic rate dropped and they only moved when it was to go get their rations of food. (I don't have all the information on the study with me, but if you picked up the book you could read about it). This would obviously be hard to repeat with humans though.

pitbulllover

From what I know (from friends who are in med school) doctors get the same education in nutrition as well as everything else. Nutritionists only have the nutrition side of education and lack all of the other stuff doctors learn. In short, I trust doctors more than nutritionists.

The problem is (in my opinion) that there's so many conflicting theories on nutrition, and doctors are only taught what is accepted as true, not necessarily what is true.

UponThisRock

As far as Tabues, he does a good job of picking apart the lipid hypothesis. The rest of what he says starts with a premise that is based on a very old study that says that overweight people don't eat more than normal weight people. We've known for decades that this simply isn't true.

I just read "Why we get fat and what to do about it". Most of it suggested that (although he's careful not to say anything with certainty because he admits that enough studies haven't been done), that people don't get fat because they overeat. They overeat because they get fat. We have the cause and effect backward.

And he's 100%, certifiably, wrong as hell.

pitbulllover

in your opinion, do you think it's possible to go low carb AND vegetarian

yes, but.....

You should probably allow a higher carb limit than a meat eater, as you have less zero carb protein sources available to you.

I eat a lot of vegetables, dairy, nuts, seeds, eggs, etc - and a whole lot of meat and fish. You might want to start with fish if you're thinking of weaning yourself off vegeterianism - pescatarian ?

Perhaps you could make a list of protein sources you like or are prepared to eat and look up their protein and carb content, if you calculate the ratio grams protein per gram of carbs and sort them in order then eating the ones with highest values will help.

You also need to get into the mindset of eating fats and oils - more than half of your calories is likely to come from these sources.

I do eat fats, and seeds and nuts but I try to limit them. I've been eating a ton of vegetables lately (except peas/corn/potatoes), and all vegetables do have some carbs so I'm sure I'm eating more carbs than the average meat-eating-low-carber. Most of my protein comes from eggs.

I was going to start with chicken and fish if I do it... my husband is a meat eater but he hates fish so I have no idea how to even cook it lol. I've been trying to look up recipes but fish seems so complicated.

yarwell

In short, I trust doctors more than nutritionists.

Me too, but 18 +/- 12 hours of nutrition in US Medical schools ? http://www.med-ed-online.org/res00023.htm

pitbulllover

And he's 100%, certifiably, wrong as hell.

Where's your evidence to support that?

And why are you even here commenting if you don't agree with him??

PaleoPath4Lyfe

Thanks for responding! I'll look them up.

One question... in your opinion, do you think it's possible to go low carb AND vegetarian?? I am getting so sick of eggs, but at the same time I really don't want to eat meat. Hopefully if I do decide to eat meat, I'll get used to it and it will be less of a psychological struggle every time.

Yes, it is possible to be low carb and vegetarian.

Here are some resources for being low carb and vegetarian.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/vegetarian/Vegetarian_Low_Carb_Resources.htm

PaleoPath4Lyfe

in your opinion, do you think it's possible to go low carb AND vegetarian

yes, but.....

You should probably allow a higher carb limit than a meat eater, as you have less zero carb protein sources available to you.

I eat a lot of vegetables, dairy, nuts, seeds, eggs, etc - and a whole lot of meat and fish. You might want to start with fish if you're thinking of weaning yourself off vegeterianism - pescatarian ?

Perhaps you could make a list of protein sources you like or are prepared to eat and look up their protein and carb content, if you calculate the ratio grams protein per gram of carbs and sort them in order then eating the ones with highest values will help.

You also need to get into the mindset of eating fats and oils - more than half of your calories is likely to come from these sources.

I do eat fats, and seeds and nuts but I try to limit them. I've been eating a ton of vegetables lately (except peas/corn/potatoes), and all vegetables do have some carbs so I'm sure I'm eating more carbs than the average meat-eating-low-carber. Most of my protein comes from eggs.

I was going to start with chicken and fish if I do it... my husband is a meat eater but he hates fish so I have no idea how to even cook it lol. I've been trying to look up recipes but fish seems so complicated.

You don't want to limit fats in the absence of carbs.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

And he's 100%, certifiably, wrong as hell.

Where's your evidence to support that?

And why are you even here commenting if you don't agree with him??

There is no evidence to support that statement.

However, there is more and more evidence coming to support Gary Taubes

rileysowner

I have no horse in this race, but enjoy watching the action.

yarwell

I do eat fats, and seeds and nuts but I try to limit them. I've been eating a ton of vegetables lately (except peas/corn/potatoes), and all vegetables do have some carbs so I'm sure I'm eating more carbs than the average meat-eating-low-carber. Most of my protein comes from eggs.

Eggs are nicely balanced for a low carb diet - 60% of calories from fat from memory. Cheese omelette is also spot-on.

You macros are probably going to be something like <10% of calories from carbs, 20-30% from protein and the rest from fats and oils. You'll learn that lean protein sources don't fit this real well and traditionally lean foods like tuna and chicken have to be offset with oils and fats from other foods.

Fish is simple to cook, we had salmon for lunch - put 2 salmon fillets on tray, put tray in over at 160 C, wait 20 minutes, eat salmon with veg. How simple is that ! The problem I have with "recipes" is they seem to go all out to be complex and flowery, you're probably better off with a basic "how to cook" book aimed at high school students initially.

roachhaley

As far as Tabues, he does a good job of picking apart the lipid hypothesis. The rest of what he says starts with a premise that is based on a very old study that says that overweight people don't eat more than normal weight people. We've known for decades that this simply isn't true.

I just read "Why we get fat and what to do about it". Most of it suggested that (although he's careful not to say anything with certainty because he admits that enough studies haven't been done), that people don't get fat because they overeat. They overeat because they get fat. We have the cause and effect backward.

There was an interesting study done with mice, and when their hormones were changed (either through surgery or injection), they gained weight regardless of what they were eating. One group of mice were allowed to eat as much as they want, and they over-ate and gained weight. The other group of mice had their calories restricted and were near starved, and they still gained weight and became just as fat. To compensate, they became very sedentary because they had no energy. Their metabolic rate dropped and they only moved when it was to go get their rations of food. (I don't have all the information on the study with me, but if you picked up the book you could read about it). This would obviously be hard to repeat with humans though.

lol@taking studies using rats seriously.

Seriously guys, rats react differently than humans to a LOT of stuff. We've pretty much cured every disease in RATS, doesn't mean that same drug or treatment will work in humans.

Jacwhite22

And he's 100%, certifiably, wrong as hell.

Where's your evidence to support that?

And why are you even here commenting if you don't agree with him??

There is no evidence to support that statement.

However, there is more and more evidence coming to support Gary Taubes

orlly? link to said evidence?

Sidesteal

Plenty of evidence to diffuse a lot of what taubes says. Krieger effectively dismantled him.

And he's 100%, certifiably, wrong as hell.

Where's your evidence to support that?

And why are you even here commenting if you don't agree with him??

There is no evidence to support that statement.

However, there is more and more evidence coming to support Gary Taubes