Why We Get Fat – Interview With Gary Taubes

AlabasterVerve · September 2012

There's a great interview with Gary Taubes at dietdoctor.com -- he clarifies and responds to some of the criticism to his alternative hypothesis and talks about the studies that need to be designed in order to get definitive answers. It's well worth the 45 minutes to watch but I also think the alternative hypothesis is a lot closer to the truth than the calories in calories out hypothesis to begin with so maybe I'm not a good judge on whether or not Taubes detractors would find anything worthwhile here?

Why We Get Fat – Interview With Gary Taubes
http://www.dietdoctor.com/why-we-get-fat-interview-with-gary-taubes

Why do we get fat — and what should we do about it? Conventional wisdom says eat less, move more. The problem is that this advice rarely works very well.

Science writer Gary Taubes has spent the last decade finding a better answer. His book Good Calories Bad Calories has been very influential, changing the minds of many. He’s also written the more accessible Why We Get Fat – and What to Do About it.

Here Taubes discusses his theories (that are surely close to the truth) as well as the criticism from people who still think that calories are all that matter.

What do you think?

nataliexxxx · September 2012

going to watch this now will let you know

AlabasterVerve · September 2012

going to watch this now will let you know

Looking forward to hearing what you think.

opuntia · September 2012

I dunno - I gained weight from eating more and moving less. And I lost weight from eating less and moving more. So on some level I imagine there is a logic to that theory. Maybe my case was simpler than most. But I also believe in eating healthy natural foods, because I feel better when I eat them - regardless of how much I weigh. When I'm focusing on eating healthily, I naturally eat less and move more.

UrbanWild · September 2012

I think he's on to something. My sister in law has diabetes and she follows his recommendations with great success. I for one think we eat way too many carbs. But balance in all things is always good.

sblueyez · September 2012

For me, calories don't matter as much as carbs and anti inflammatory diet. I know from experimenting and changing my diet. I now eat paleo and I'm very happy with that.

AlabasterVerve · September 2012

I think he's on to something. My sister in law has diabetes and she follows his recommendations with great success. I for one think we eat way too many carbs. But balance in all things is always good.

For me, calories don't matter as much as carbs and anti inflammatory diet. I know from experimenting and changing my diet. I now eat paleo and I'm very happy with that.

My own experience is why I think there's more to it too. When I eat high carb foods I'm always hungry and never really get full no matter what I eat. Like if I have pizza or something similar I can eat an absolutely massive amount of food and never really feel full -- and I don't mean just eat the pizza and not get full but the food I eat afterwards won't fill me up either even if it's the low carb, high fat food that I normally find extremely satiating when I limit my carb intake.

That's not proof of anything, of course, but it's absolutely why I believe there's a physiological reason I overeat that just does not happen when I eat a low carb, high fat diet that has absolutely nothing to do with my mental state (emotional eating) or my will power or commitment to my diet (which came as a huge surprise to me considering my weight spiraled out of control for several years after the death of my sister). But even though I finally decided to put a stop to it in January and completely turned around my diet and started to exercise again I was always hungry and eating or snacking every 2 or 3 hours trying to satiate my appetite by eating massive amounts of fruit and vegetables. In June I decided to cut out bread, pasta and the like and cut down on my fruit intake and my appetite miraculously (to me at least) returned to normal. It made a believer out me that's for sure.

I guess it's no different than why I used to believe the eat less, move more conventional wisdom in my 20's and early 30's -- it pretty much worked. Sure if I ate a bunch of junk food and stopped exercising I would gain but I would just get back on track with my exercise and eat better and the weight would take care of itself -- which looking back meant I lowered my carb intake but that wasn't something I was aware of at the time. And while I was able to lose 40 some pounds in 6 months doing exactly that when I started dieting again this January it was a constant struggle to reign in my eating. Every, single day...

Until I started following LCHF. My will power certainly didn't change in a matter of weeks and my diet didn't suddenly improve in terms of what I was eating either considering I had already cut out the junk food and was following the conventional healthy whole grains, more matters vegetable and fruit type of diet that's widely recommended for good heath and to lose weight.

I'm definitely a Taubes fan because I never would have changed my "healthy" diet for a "fad" low carb diet if I hadn't read his book where he painstakingly takes you through the research and policies step-by-step showing exactly how we got to the dietary recommendations we have today and how everyone could get it so, so wrong. It may be trite but his book really has changed my life.

MissMaggie3 · September 2012

Thanks for posting - will watch asap.

llstacy · September 2012

Welcome back AV and thanks for the link.

I haven't read his books but I've watched his presentations and like everyone else who's posted I think he's onto something because of my personal experience... it's not just calories in and calories out/it works the same as any other diet like the shirtless claim around here. Something different goes on with low carbs. I can't watch right now but looking forward to it later.

AlabasterVerve · September 2012

Welcome back AV and thanks for the link. I haven't read his books but I've watched his presentations and like everyone else who's posted I think he's onto something because of my personal experience... it's not just calories in and calories out/it works the same as any other diet like the shirtless claim around here. Something different goes on with low carbs. I can't watch right now but looking forward to it later.

Thanks, Stacy.

lilacsun · September 2012

I think he's on to something. My sister in law has diabetes and she follows his recommendations with great success. I for one think we eat way too many carbs. But balance in all things is always good.

This.

JossFit · September 2012

On a whim I just picked up a copy of "Why We Get Fat" (It looked interesting and was small enough to fit in my purse to read on the plane... haha) and it was REALLY good.

He didn't say anything I hadn't read before, but it was the historical references and the lack of any sort of agenda that got me. I've always felt that there is more to it than just calories in versus calories out and basically eat the way that he recommends for the most part anyway.

Techway · March 2013

I have not seen the video yet, but I have read his book "Why We Get Fat and What to Do about It" and that got me started on a low carb diet. I have lost about 14 lbs. I also found myfitnesspal about 6 weeks into the diet. An amazing app.

I am checking the community to see if there is away to set the standards up to track low carb. Any directions would be apprecited

NaBroski · March 2013

LOL Taubes.

Gary Taubes: Bad Calories, or Bad Research?

http://weightology.net/?p=251

Gary Taubes Launches Non-Profit to Prove His Low-Carb Hypothesis
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/09/gary-taubes-launches-non-profit-to.html

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but it may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't typically subscribe to this idea is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom", but the fact is that obesity is a complex state and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Carbohydrate consumption per se is not behind the obesity epidemic. However, once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear, but there is no evidence that insulin plays a causal role in this process.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html

_Lori_Lynn_ · March 2013

bump

_Lori_Lynn_ · March 2013

For me, calories don't matter as much as carbs and anti inflammatory diet. I know from experimenting and changing my diet. I now eat paleo and I'm very happy with that.

Makes sense to me.

_Lori_Lynn_ · March 2013

LOL Taubes.

Gary Taubes: Bad Calories, or Bad Research?

http://weightology.net/?p=251

Gary Taubes Launches Non-Profit to Prove His Low-Carb Hypothesis
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/09/gary-taubes-launches-non-profit-to.html

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but it may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't typically subscribe to this idea is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom", but the fact is that obesity is a complex state and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Carbohydrate consumption per se is not behind the obesity epidemic. However, once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear, but there is no evidence that insulin plays a causal role in this process.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html

Troll alert. I will definitely be reading later.

daxazo · March 2013

Yes. Edit your goals by changing the percentages of carbs, fat, and protein you want eat.

highervibes · March 2013

I agree, calories do have context. Maybe not everyone is metabolically the same, I don't know. I don't know what it feels like to be anyone BUT me. I can say that in my case, certain carbs are not my friend LOL

SRHelicity · March 2013

Why do we get fat — and what should we do about it? Conventional wisdom says eat less, move more. The problem is that this advice rarely works very well.

[Citation needed.jpg]

Where is his evidence that "eat less, move more" rarely works very well? It's worked just fine for me, and it's worked for a lot of people on this site. Heck, even a lot of diets out there ultimately boil down to "eat less, move more".

The obesity epidemic has only really been an issue for the past few decades. In the 1950s, when obesity was much, much less common than it is now, people generally ate less and moved more. From a health standpoint, not all calories are created equal (read: you wouldn't be healthy if you derived 100% of your daily calories from saturated fat, for example), and the source of calories in the average diet has changed in the past few decades. That said, when you have a lot of weight to lose, it's generally a poor idea to eat more and move less....

obwize · March 2013

Want to watch this when I've got time.

3dogsrunning · March 2013

LOL Taubes.

Gary Taubes: Bad Calories, or Bad Research?

http://weightology.net/?p=251

Gary Taubes Launches Non-Profit to Prove His Low-Carb Hypothesis
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/09/gary-taubes-launches-non-profit-to.html

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but it may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't typically subscribe to this idea is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom", but the fact is that obesity is a complex state and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Carbohydrate consumption per se is not behind the obesity epidemic. However, once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear, but there is no evidence that insulin plays a causal role in this process.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html

Troll alert. I will definitely be reading later.

Why is it a troll alert? The person posted a number of links questioning Taubes science. He is very controversial. There is nothing wrong with presenting both sides and letting people decide on their own.

bostonwolf · March 2013

LOL Taubes.

Gary Taubes: Bad Calories, or Bad Research?

http://weightology.net/?p=251

Gary Taubes Launches Non-Profit to Prove His Low-Carb Hypothesis
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/09/gary-taubes-launches-non-profit-to.html

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but it may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't typically subscribe to this idea is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom", but the fact is that obesity is a complex state and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Carbohydrate consumption per se is not behind the obesity epidemic. However, once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear, but there is no evidence that insulin plays a causal role in this process.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html

Troll alert. I will definitely be reading later.

Why is it a troll alert? The person posted a number of links questioning Taubes science. He is very controversial. There is nothing wrong with presenting both sides and letting people decide on their own.

Because of the first paragraph from the last link, which he seemed to think unimportant:

I'd like to begin by emphasizing that carbohydrate restriction has helped many people lose body fat and improve their metabolic health. Although it doesn't work for everyone, there is no doubt that carbohydrate restriction causes fat loss in many, perhaps even most obese people. For a subset of people, the results can be very impressive. I consider that to be a fact at this point, but that's not what I'll be discussing here.

NaBroski · March 2013

LOL Taubes.

Gary Taubes: Bad Calories, or Bad Research?

http://weightology.net/?p=251

Gary Taubes Launches Non-Profit to Prove His Low-Carb Hypothesis
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/09/gary-taubes-launches-non-profit-to.html

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but it may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't typically subscribe to this idea is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom", but the fact is that obesity is a complex state and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Carbohydrate consumption per se is not behind the obesity epidemic. However, once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear, but there is no evidence that insulin plays a causal role in this process.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html

Troll alert. I will definitely be reading later.

Why is it a troll alert? The person posted a number of links questioning Taubes science. He is very controversial. There is nothing wrong with presenting both sides and letting people decide on their own.

Because of the first paragraph from the last link, which he seemed to think unimportant:

I'd like to begin by emphasizing that carbohydrate restriction has helped many people lose body fat and improve their metabolic health. Although it doesn't work for everyone, there is no doubt that carbohydrate restriction causes fat loss in many, perhaps even most obese people. For a subset of people, the results can be very impressive. I consider that to be a fact at this point, but that's not what I'll be discussing here.

Way to miss the entire point. Try reading the rest of the article.

Fat loss occurs through a caloric deficit. Restricting carbohydrates is one way of achieving this.

This is NOT what Taubes is touting.

tomg33 · March 2013

We find that with properly controlled trials, weight loss is usually within a few percent for different macronutrient proportions. Often, less of the weight loss is muscle mass (desirable) with a high-protein diet, which we already know. Resistance training aids this significantly. As for health markers, the main improvement in cardiovascular disease risk factors comes from the weight loss itself, and often there is hardly any difference between the different diet types.

So what it comes down to is this: if you're using MFP to track your macros/calories, then you should be losing weight, period. If have a good amount of protein and you undertake resistance training, then most of that weight loss will be fat and you will feel and look better day by day, not to mention the real health benefits of resistance training. Forget the rest of the stuff that doesn't really matter and focus on what gives you the majority of your results.

SideSteel · March 2013

LOL Taubes.

Gary Taubes: Bad Calories, or Bad Research?

http://weightology.net/?p=251

Gary Taubes Launches Non-Profit to Prove His Low-Carb Hypothesis
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/09/gary-taubes-launches-non-profit-to.html

The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but it may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't typically subscribe to this idea is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom", but the fact is that obesity is a complex state and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Carbohydrate consumption per se is not behind the obesity epidemic. However, once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear, but there is no evidence that insulin plays a causal role in this process.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html

^^ These are excellent links. I'm not here to troll, just reiterating that people shouldn't dismiss the above. James Krieger over at weightology.net is excellent.

I'd add in:
http://weightology.net/?p=265