Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes

This book is an eye-opening, myth-shattering examination of what makes us fat, from acclaimed science writer Gary Taubes. In his New York Times best seller, Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes argued that our diet's overemphasis on certain kinds of carbohydrates -- not fats and not simply excess calories -- has led directly to the obesity epidemic we face today. The result of thorough research, keen insight, and unassailable common sense, Good Calories, Bad Calories immediately stirred controversy and acclaim among academics, journalists, and writers alike. Michael Pollan heralded it as "a vitally important book, destined to change the way we think about food." Building upon this critical work in Good Calories, Bad Calories and presenting fresh evidence for his claim, Taubes now revisits the urgent question of what's making us fat -- and how we can change -- in this exciting new book. Persuasive, straightforward, and practical, Why We Get Fat makes Taubes's crucial argument newly accessible to a wider audience. Taubes reveals the bad nutritional science of the last century, none more damaging or misguided than the "calories-in, calories-out" model of why we get fat, and the good science that has been ignored, especially regarding insulin's regulation of our fat tissue. He also answers the most persistent questions: Why are some people thin and others fat? What roles do exercise and genetics play in our weight? What foods should we eat, and what foods should we avoid? Packed with essential information and concluding with an easy-to-follow diet, Why We Get Fat is an invaluable key in our understanding of an international epidemic and a guide to what each of us can do about it. - Publisher.

I am mostly convinced. Carbs are gross!

After fighting with type 2 diabetes, I started feeling better after starting to lose weight, but I wanted to learn more about why. I thought this book sounded like it might help, but I had no idea how much. Reading this introduced me to a whole new way to think about food and has changed my life ever since. This was the first book that introduced me to the role of hormones with obesity. This book was comprehensive and did a great job explaining his case. This book should be required reading for anyone who eats.

One of the original Keto proponents. I saw a study on my Facebook feed about the backgrounds of authors of bestselling nutritional books: in the top 100 bestsellers, out of 83 unique authors, 33 had a MD or PhD - which doesn't even mean they specialized in nutrition or exercise science or wtv. Taubes for example has a Master's in aerospace engineering, a Master's in journalism, and worked for science magazines like Discover and Science.

Food stuff seems real baked into our hard opinions. I think the pendulum between low fat and low carb is fascinating. Low carb might work for folks but you'd have to do it forever which, honestly, sounds like it would get a bit boring. Like many diets it's the long-term adherance that gets you in the long run.

Anyway! Taubes explains the history of the American low-fat craze, how insulin works to deal with carbs that you eat and why insulin resistance is bad. Lots of mice studies. He posits that it's all the “bad carbs” in our diets that are making us fat and tired and causing metabolic disease from the Western Diet. He claims that those traditional diets that are healthy for populations but include much more carbs work because they are low sugar in comparison to US diet. He advises a strict Keto diet to start and then phasing in “slow carbs” to see what your body will tolerate without gaining weight. Or maybe you'd have to give up coffee? Who knows.

One interesting theme in the text was being fat was still bad, but bad in a symptom kinda way vs a personal morality and willpower kinda way. Fat is the fault of bad carb vs inability to “just eat less!” Which I can see would be much more appealing.

I've never done Keto or Paleo or low carb, but a few of my friends have (I think more of them are veg) and nobody still is (except for one who just started so we'll see in a few years hey?) The veg people are mostly still veg depending on the underlying motivation.

Pretty good on the topic. It was very interesting for me to learn about the history of dietetics and how the concept of ‘why we get fat' evolved. The second part of the book reiterated on things about the influence of insulin and your sensitivity to it as the main factor of fat accumulation in the body. Can't judge this, as I am not a scientist, but the research seems sound ;) For those who did not hear about how insulin shapes us, this is definitely a valuable read.