Saturday, May 3, 2014

Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It by Gary Taubes



First, let's just acknowledge that this guy, Gary Taubes, is a journalist, yes, a reporter. Not a doctor. Or a dietician. Or a fat guy. He's a skinny, award-winning health reporter. Just saying.

You will like this book if you subscribe to the idea that carbs are fat-creating, cancer-causing, bad little gremlins that should be avoided at all costs, and that protein, fat and fiber are good things that promote leanness and all-around good health. If you find this to be true, then you will eat this book up (ha ha).

If, on the other hand, you are a proponent of the low-fat, high-carb, all vegetable/fruit, animal-proteins-are-toxic-to-humans idea (a la "The China Study"), you will either hate this book OR you will love to totally disagree with it.

It never fails to amaze me how studies and statistics can be used to "prove"just about any point of view. I guess my current conclusion is that you can't really believe anyone and we're all on our own in figuring out what works best for us. If Mr. Taubes is to be believed, the entire American health system is wrong when they recommend low-fat diets, when they encourage avoidance of red meat and consumption of whole grain bread, crackers, etc. Oh! And when they recommend regular exercise. Wow.

I'm not really feeling quite as cynical about Gary Taubes' conclusions as all that. Actually, I think he's probably right about some things. I read lots of diet books, though, and they're all sure that their conclusions are THE conclusions. It's hard to figure out what the truth really is. And let's remember that science changes its mind from time to time, also. So we are told this and that...sigh.

This was an interesting book. I'm glad I read it. If you're into diet literature, you'll want to add this to the diet soup in your head.

Bad language: none
Sex: nope!

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