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Imserba Webstore - Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage)
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List Price: $16.95
Our Price: $11.53
Your Save: $ 5.42 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Anchor
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.283
EAN: 9781400033461
Feature: ISBN13: 9781400033461
ISBN: 1400033462
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 640
Publication Date: 2008-09-23
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: 2008-09-23
Studio: Anchor
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Editorial Reviews:
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For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Meticulous journalism from someone who really understands the science
Comment: This is one of the most rigorously researched books on nutrition I have ever read. The author goes to great lengths to synthesize evidence from a variety of different sources going back over 200 years. Taubes not only compiles and analyzes the data, but deeply understands the concepts, at times it seems he does so more than the research scientists themselves. I cannot recommend this book more.
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Summary: The Truth About Obesity
Comment: In a nutshell: Eating, ultimately, is about feeding cells in our body. Hunger is internal starvation. We overeat when our metabolism doesn't liberate fat stores fast enough, resulting in cellular starvation, and hence hunger. Carbs inhibit this process by stimulating too much insulin and insulin resistance. This is culminative, and in the worse case results in diabetes.
One likely proof? Low-carb diets don't induce hunger, indicating cells are being fed from internal stores. Internal food (fast) versus external food are roughly the same from a hunger perspective. And if that internal food is inhibited, more hunger, more eating. More proof: fasting is relatively easy once the body adjusts. Hunger goes away.
This book reviews all the key diet and obesity research and their associated strengths, weaknesses, and contradictions. You will likely be convinced after reading it, and learn a ton about health, science and human nature. One strikingly obvious lesson- good science, and good scientists, don't engage in the self-promotion and pet-theory mongering that, unfortunately, seem to be noticed by media and government and become public policy. The second- public policy and the status quo have a huge influence on the beliefs and outlooks of a research community.
My personal epiphany was thinking about eating as cellular nutrition, and thinking about fat stores as important energy stores, not unwanted side effects of eating. A lot of studies in the book show convincingly show hunger is cellular-need driven- both fuel and nutrients- and this opens up important new perspectives.
A few other influences on the current mess outlined nicely in the book through copious reviews of studies:
1) When you remove fats, you add carbs. You need to eat something, right? Michael Pollan raises this point nicely as well in "In Defence of Food"- when you remove something, consider what replaces it.
2) much research that showed higher fat leading to higher disease ignored the prevalence of higher refined carbs. This was the switch all interpretations turn on, and without controlling for it, renders the low-fat diet conclusions reached by these studies as unsupportable and downright dangerous.
3) the assumption that fat was more fattening due to being calorie dense (9 calories versus 4 for carbs and proteins) is absolutely wrong. This was an important secondary influence on pushing low fat diets.
Sadly, this was all known 50 years ago, and ignored due to cholesterol and fat and other red herrings. Once fat was the demon, carbs had to be the angel. And what did we get? An obesity epidemic unlike any seen in history.
This book is beautifully written, and a great, engaging read. I found one awkward chapter in the middle- Paradoxes- but it made sense when I read later chapters. It was summarizing the research covered so far, and laying down the hypothesis for the remainder of the book.
Read this book. It might save your life.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Based on False Premises: What "Obesity Epidemic"?
Comment: This book presupposes that an "obesity epidemic" actually exists, and offers no proof other than hysterical anecdote and emotional appeals. The bell curve still shows that same distribution it always has. It's shifted slightly upwards (an increase of merely 7 pounds for the average person) because of the general aging of the population. And, all this at the same time life expectancy and overall quality of life have been INCREASING!!!!
Start here: [...]
Customer Rating:
Summary: Eye opening book
Comment: As a type 1 diabetic, the information in this book rung true to me. When I try and cover high carb food with a lot of insulin I gain weight and don't feel my best. I like sharing this book with others though because it shows that not just diabetics, but many people, will benefit from giving up the high carb food. This book is very long and very scientific but it will open your eyes to all the bad science and greed that contributed to the now widespread belief that a low fat diet is the way to go. One of my favorite parts of the book is it attacks and demolishes the belief that people would't be fat any more if they simply exercised more and ate less. When I look around at any cafeteria there's no correlation between how heavy people are and how much they eat. This book will show you that people are heavier because they simply have a lower tolerance to the toxic effects of high insulin levels. Years of research went into writing this book and it inspired me to learn even more about diet and how the human body works.
Customer Rating:
Summary: OMG, we've been bamboozled
Comment: I've read the book through and am starting in on a second read with a highlighter and post-its. OMG. I've been trying to follow the government's nutrition recommendations for years. In addition, at times I've been vegetarian, followed Zone briefly, and find that in my 40s, more animal protein and fewer carbs has helped me continue maintaining my healthy weight. But eat fat -- only "healthy" oils in moderation. Eat saturated fat -- never, never. Now I read this. What the heck?!
I have a science background and have been interested in nutrition for two decades. This is a ground-breaking book that integrates all the relevant sciences to tell the whole story. This is like a "human body" owners handbook as it relates to macro-nutrition. It could save your life. I'm sold on it but not without first wrestling with my inner demons and everything I've been told through public health messages for the past 30 years.
It is an engaging science story with ample citations and a human backstory. It explains what's really known (and not known) about how to avoid diseases of aging and live a long life, and how to maintain a healthy weight.
I am so glad I found this book. I think it will save my husband from topping 300 pounds and reduce our chances at cancer or stroke. I may buy copies to give to all my friends and family at the holidays. Definitely read this book. Buy a copy, so you can mark in it as you read it. It could change your life.
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