Gary Taubes Superstar December 5, 2007

I’m reading Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease, and I’m completely obsessed.

I know I’m late with the obsession. The book came out over a month ago, so I missed the reviews (at least when they first came out) and the appearances (at least when they first came on), but now I’m fully on board with the obsession. The book was on my radar when it came out, but I was too cheap to buy it full retail and was waiting for that sweet best-sellers-list 30-40% discount from one of the major chains. But it didn’t happen. Or if it did, I missed it. Finally my ‘Borders Rewards’ card came in handy when I got a random 40% coupon for having been stupid enough to pay full retail so many times before. But I digress. I got the book. And now I’m obsessed.

GCBC is not a diet book. I generally don’t consider diet books to be SHBs. I know there are diet book aficionados out there who’re saying “Hey wait! I’m an addict. I totally keep reading diet books all the time.” Here’s the difference: SHBs tell you that you’re basically o.k. as you are, you just need some instructions, so here’s how to feel better, get the job you want, marry the girl of your dreams, have more sex, have less stress, the list goes on. Diet books tell you there is something wrong with you. You’re fat. Not only are you fat but you did it to yourself. You’re fat because you eat like a pig and you’re lazy. So try this diet. And if it doesn’t work it’s not because this is a bad diet based on bad science, it’s because you didn’t try hard enough because, as we already know, you’re a glutton and lazy. That’s sooo not a SHB.

GCBC is a long dense detailed incredibly well-researched and -referenced survey of the last 150 years of research on nutrition, health, and fitness. Here’s a good excerpt here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3654291&page=1

I have two main reasons for my obsession this book and my new hero, Gary Taubes. First, I’m stunned that there’s so much research out there that points to carbs, and not fats, as the cause of all our ills; and second, the book gives me so much hope that I’m not insane.

Let’s start with Obsession #1. I spent most of the day at work (don’t tell) looking for and reading reviews of GCBC, waiting to find the review that said, “but he ignored the massive, well-designed study from 1971 that showed clearly that fat is the cause of all our ills.” I couldn’t find one. Or I could find bad reviews but it was clear that either the person hadn’t read the book, and/or they had a dogma to defend.

Gina Kotal at the New York Times wrote what she, I’m sure, considered a scathing review, and ended it by saying “I don’t buy it”. If the answer is so simple (eat low carb) why isn’t everyone thin? She finds his answer, that carbs are addictive and people have to be weaned off of them like any addictive substance, unacceptable. She’s clearly never sat at a table with a basket of tortilla chips. If I sat a basket of brisket and salsa in front of you, would you, no – could you keep eating it as you chatted about the cute guy at the bar? I don’t think so. You’d have to chew. (By the way, Gina was perhaps not the most unbiased choice as a reviewer given she’d published a far less researched (well or ill) book around the same topic just a few months before. She could have done so much more research. I wonder if she’s fat. That could be why she was so lazy?)

Here is my question for the scientists who ignore the results of their own studies and continue to tell the obese and the merely chubby to just lay off the queso and go for a walk: Why are you against teaching Creationism in public schools? You’re telling me I’m a lazy glutton based on your ‘beliefs’ about what’s healthy (i.e. eat low fat) instead of your own fracking study results, but you want to give people a hard time for believing in Adam and Eve? How exactly does that work?

And by the way, I am not lazy. I trained for and completed three triathlons (that’s training in running, biking and swimming), I trained for a MS 150 bike ride and I was riding 50-70 miles a week. I’ve been taking yoga about 3-4 times a week for the past year. But of course that’s not enough, so in addition I walk 3-4 mornings and do weight work on nights I don’t go to yoga. All at 200 +/- pounds.

But I’m still a lazy glutton to the medical world (and to a lot of the rest of the world honestly), convicted with no other evidence than the sight of me. I went to a new doctor and complained about my weight staying on. She said brightly “go out to the park and go for a walk, get some exercise. It’s so good for you.” I’m a freaking athlete!

This issue leads directly into Obsession #2. Reading this book I realize I might actually be sane. I always feel insane when I’m eating ‘healthy’ because as I said before I’m not really losing weight and two, I’m hungry. I’m hungry every two hours, minimum. And you tell me I need more will power. I’m HUNGRY. So then you tell me eat 6 little meals a day. But, oh yeah, only eat 1200 calories. What?

I didn’t go on a diet for 5 years because I knew that there is something intrinsically wrong with a low-fat diet. How is it that I’m supposed to be so hungry so often and consume so little calories for the rest of my life? Who wants to live like that?
These doctors send mixed messages because they insist on not giving up their core ‘belief’ that fat is bad. Here’s a great message: Thin people are far more healthy, but don’t go on an Atkins-type diet that our own studies prove will get you thinner faster (and without hunger) because it’s not healthy”. O.k. what’s more important? Being healthy or being thin? Make up your minds.

Once this gibberish leaves the lab and goes into the public sphere it gets even more ridiculous. Women’s magazines are the worst (I can’t prove this statement; I don’t read men’s magazines, but still…) Perfect example: in a Prevention Guide Walking Fit, there’s an article called “9 No-Diet Ways to Slim Down”, which gives us the ‘Laws’ we need to follow to stay slim ‘forever’. Law 3: Focus on food over exercise. Huh? Read the title of the article again. Apparently exercise apparently doesn’t really burn that many calories. “You can wipe out one exercise session with a granola bar.” So why write this article if it’s all about dieting? Now let’s look at Law 9: Diet for Life. This law has the following statement: “The good news: If you add exercise, which increases the number of calories you burn, you can eat more food.” I’m sorry. Didn’t you just tell me to focus on my food because exercise doesn’t really burn that many calories?

I’m not making this up. I never even considered going on Atkins because I thought it was insane to eat all of that unhealthy fat. Well those days are over. I’ve decided to experiment. I’m eating low carb, not Atkins specifically, but I’m going to load up on the meat and cheese and steer clear of the bread and potatoes, both of which I love. But I’m telling you now, if this doesn’t work, I’m going to be really really really upset with Gary.