[As found at==> http://why-we-get-fat.blogspot.com]
Hi, dear Reader. With just 20 minutes of reading here, you will benefit more than you can even possibly imagine. Believe it!!! The motivation of this post is purely to spread the extremely beneficial knowledge contained in Gary Taubes' book, "Why We Get Fat", (ISBN 978-0-307-47425-4). I don't know Mr. Taubes, and I have no financial or other interests here, but I'm on fire with that knowledge ever since I read this book in Dec. 2012. I deeply admire Mr. Taubes' courage and blessed tenaciousness, and it's only my simple religious beliefs, (i.e. do unto others as you would have them do unto you), that are driving me to share the GIFT of this knowledge with anyone who'll listen. :-)
My implementation of this knowledge has radically, profoundly changed my life for the better, health-wise. EVERYONE DESPERATELY NEEDS THE KNOWLEDGE IN THIS BOOK. THIS IS DEADLY SERIOUS AND I'M NOT KIDDING. Do not fail to benefit, by underestimating this book. At first glance, it may look mundane, BUT IT'S NOT. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime book!!! GET IT! READ IT! STUDY IT! And thereby empower yourself to give this blessing to all those who'll take your future advice to read it. There are some great YouTube posts by Gary Taubes, and his website is at:
http://www.garytaubes.com
Whether you're fat, thin, or in between, YOU NEED THE KNOWLEDGE IN THIS BOOK, because you need to learn the reality of the disease-causing, even deadly, "metabolic syndrome", (that also kills certain thin people), which Taubes clearly, uniquely clarifies and defines.
This is not a new book; -- its last printing was Dec. 2011. So you'll find hundreds of reviews of it on Amazon.com, BUT only if you STUDY THE BOOK ITSELF, (and first, please read my book review, below), will you really get the astounding, DETAILED knowledge you need in these matters. There's a HUGE amount of "push-back" propaganda that's bent on contradicting that knowledge, by some extremely evil people and organizations, with various self-centered motivation$ to suppress that knowledge.
This book liberates us by undoing the last 50 years of (WORLDWIDE) brainwashing we've been subjected to, which has corrupted our understanding of the most basic realities of food, human metabolic-pathways, and the correct means of EASILY MAINTAINING a lean-body, truly healthful life. If only I'd had this knowledge 50 years ago, my entire life would have been so incredibly much more healthy. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK. IF YOU DO, YOU'LL KICK YOURSELF LATER, IF AND WHEN YOU FINALLY FIND OUT JUST HOW AMAZINGLY PROFOUND IT IS.
MY BOOK REVIEW OF THIS BOOK FOLLOWS.
In the following 20-minute-read, twelve-part book review, I've tried to explore the essential, SCIENTIFICALLY-PROVEN FACTS confirmed in the phenomenal, revolutionary book, "Why We Get Fat", by Gary Taubes, (ISBN 978-0-307-47425-4).
(1) It's extremely important to know, that of the three main food ingredients, (i.e. protein, fat, and carbohydrate), ONLY the carbohydrate makes it possible for the human body to STORE fat. That's because insulin is REQUIRED by the metabolic pathways in the human body, in order to insert the fat into the fat cells; and our body, (i.e. our pancreas), produces insulin ONLY when we eat CARBOHYDRATES. That means that your body cannot become fat unless you eat carbohydrates, (and FYI, NO human body needs ANY carbohydrates whatsoever, to be healthy and flourish).
(2) Profoundly serious diseases, (which are generally known as "Western diseases"), are CAUSED by the (high-carbohydrate)-(high-insulin) "Western diet", which has been SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN to CREATE the insulin-linked, "metabolic syndrome" that CAUSES a multitude of diseases, some of which are listed here: appendicitis, ARTHRITIS, ASTHMA, ATHEROSCLEROSIS, (i.e. plaques in & blockages of ARTERIES), CANCER, constipation, diverticulitis, fatty-liver disease, gall-bladder disease & gallstones, GUM DISEASE, HEART DISEASE, hemorrhoids, HYPERTENSION, insulin resistance, neurodegeneration, (i.e. Alzheimer's disease & dementias), OBESITY, sleep apnea, STROKE, TOOTH CAVITIES, TYPE-2 DIABETES, ulcers, and varicose veins. If this claim sounds ridiculous to you, you're just proving how well you've been BRAINWASHED during the last 50 YEARS, especially by people selling carbohydrates.
(3) Eating less and exercising more are SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN to NOT WORK, if a long-term, (i.e. lifelong), lean-body, HEALTHFUL avoidance of obesity and/or the above-listed diseases is your goal.
(4) Limiting your intake of carbohydrates to a maximum of ~20 grams per day is the ONLY means of successfully accomplishing weight loss in a healthful way, (i.e. losing about two pounds per week is the normal result). This causes your body to go into a state of healthful "ketosis", (NOT to be confused with the pathological, diabetic condition of "ketoacidosis"). Human bodies existed in this state of "ketosis" for over two million years, before "modern" things such as sugar, flour, and gazillions of high-carbohydrate foods were manufactured, and we were BRAINWASHED into thinking it's healthful to eat them and even that we need to eat them.
(5) Eating "normal", copious amounts of carbohydrates, (outside of "ketosis"), CAUSES our kidneys to RETAIN sodium/salt; hence the current thinking and claim is that salt is "bad for you", (since the amount of sodium/salt builds up in the body to damaging levels). But once your body is in "ketosis", then your kidneys excrete sodium/salt normally, (as human kidneys did for two million years), which means that you NEED to eat from one-half to one teaspoonful of salt a day. Incidentally, this may explain more clearly why NECESSARY, DAILY salt was considered to be so valuable, (and hence, was expensive), in ancient times when carbs were not so prevalently available. Surprisingly, (and mysteriously, to my limited biological knowledge), Taubes points out that one purpose for this intake of salt is to help prevent constipation.
(6) Did you know? Exercise makes you HUNGRY. Also, calorie-restricted "diets" make you HUNGRY. Even more importantly, eating carbohydrates creates two results in the human body:
(a) Insulin is secreted that causes almost all of what you ate to be STORED in your fat cells.
(b) Since your body then feels deprived, (of that food you ate), your body maintains a state of "fatigue" and "hunger", in order to conserve calories and force you to eat more calories.
So, we find that it's been SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN that eating carbohydrates makes you painfully hungry, painfully fatigued, and obese. You may be able to withstand the suffering of a "restricted-calories-diet-including-carbs pain" for weeks, or even months, but it's virtually impossible to successfully continue this "(exercise-more)-(eat-less-but-include-carbs)" means of losing weight indefinitely, (and also maintain your sanity). So it's SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN that exercise, (though moderate, periodic exercise is good for you), is absolutely counterproductive to losing weight!!! It's also SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN that calorie-restricted "diets" DON'T WORK either!!! This is NOT because you are lazy/slothful and gluttonous/piggish, as predators who want to sell weight-loss products either subtly imply or adamantly proclaim. In fact, we are kept pathetically fatigued, chronically hungry, and obese, (too often morbidly obese), by the irrefutable results of our consumption of CARBOHYDRATES!!!
(7) Since a protein-only, (or even anything over 33%-protein CALORIC-INTAKE), diet has been proven to usually be harmful, eliminating carbohydrates means that in "ketosis", you MUST EAT a good amount of FAT, with the protein. In "ketosis", just about all fats are GOOD for you, (excluding trans fats, which are man-made poison). You especially MUST eat SOME animal fats, (YES, THE SUPPOSEDLY DREADED, "SATURATED" FATS); as we know, the fats that humankind ate for over two million years were MOSTLY or ALL animal fats. [A clinical study of the Atkins-like, 2003 "South Beach Diet", (which puts you in "ketosis" but eliminates animal fats), proved that it caused weight loss, but did NOT lower risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, whereas Taubes' "Why-We-Get-Fat diet" includes animal fats and DOES reduce (or even eliminate!) those risk factors.] Fats are GOOD for you (in "ketosis") because they're nutritious, but especially because they satiate HUNGER naturally, (and your body then drives you to simply eat less, as the fat stored in your fat cells is burned, without your suffering ANY "diet-hunger-pain" whatsoever). You can choose from a low 20%-protein to a high 33%-protein CALORIC-INTAKE diet-content, depending on what satisfies you. Generally speaking, it's established that LESS THAN one-third of your CALORIC-INTAKE should be protein in "ketosis", and MORE THAN two-thirds should be fats. But fats contain 9 calories per gram, and protein contains 4 calories per gram, so you'll have to eat from ~47% to ~64% FAT BY WEIGHT, (which Taubes never states clearly), as follows. At the high end of 33%-CALORIC-INTAKE of protein, you'll eat 112 grams of protein for every 100 grams of fat, (i.e. ~47% FAT BY WEIGHT & ~53% protein). At the low end of 20%-CALORIC-INTAKE of protein, you'll eat 56 grams of protein for every 100 grams of fat, (i.e. ~64% FAT BY WEIGHT & ~36% protein). That may seem like too much fat, but it's NOT, given all the extensive SCIENTIFIC PROOF Taubes shows us to the contrary. You also must drink more water than you did when you were eating (and drinking) lots of carbohydrates. Taubes does recommend water as the best drink, and to facilitate salt-intake, he states that doctors have prescribed drinking two cups of salty beef or chicken broth/consommé a day.
(8) Now let's cover the (possible but not likely), TEMPORARY, side-effects and/or even dangers of restricting our carb-consumption to ~20 grams per day, and putting our body into the tried-and-true-for-two-million-years, extremely-healthful state of "ketosis". Let's admit here, that it's no small thing for your body to shift from burning carbs, (i.e. glucose), to burning fat, (both fat you eat and fat from your fat cells). First, be advised that side effects can be caused by our FAILING TO EAT ENOUGH FAT, (and LESS PROTEIN), or enough SALT, or to drink enough WATER, or of doing strenuous exercise without allowing time, (possibly months), to first adapt to "ketosis". Mostly though, our body may fail for a while to fully adapt to the restricted carbs and the striking reduction of harmful insulin levels. But so-called "carbohydrate-withdrawal" symptoms are indeed TEMPORARY, especially since there can also be elements of addiction involved, as covered in point (10), below.
So please bear all the above in mind, as you contemplate this list of TEMPORARY side effects, (which definitely do NOT affect everyone): constipation, diarrhea, dehydration, fatigue, nausea, weakness, or worsening of gout, (if you had it). It's also possible, (but certainly not likely), that you might have a type of blood-pressure drop that occurs when you stand up too quickly, which can cause you to be dizzy or even pass out. Also, in "ketosis", your blood pressure and blood sugar will drop, (which is a good thing). But if you're diabetic and/or hypertensive and are already taking Rx drugs for that, you MUST have a doctor guiding you who understands "ketosis" as Taubes does, since those conditions of drug-induced, abnormally low blood sugar and/or blood pressure can be dangerous, resulting in dizziness, fainting, or even seizures or death.
But where might you find that doctor? As Taubes points out, his book would not be needed, if doctors in general had implemented the hard-science blessings of carb-restricted "ketosis". So why aren't they? Well, one sad, realistic answer is that they're gutless and just plain evil. That's right. I demanded once of my dentist, "Why do you require all these unnecessary x-rays that you KNOW are likely to give your patients horrible cancers years from now?". His answer was that "established medical protocol" required it of him, (but secretly, the real reason is that he obeys the folks at his malpractice-insurance company, and he knows you’ll never be able to prove his x-rays caused the cancer). Great. When their patients many years later suffer horribly and die of dentist-caused cancers, (as Roger Ebert recently did), will any dentist shed a tear? Nope. But doctors who fail to put you on this "Taubes ketosis-diet" are even worse than that. Medical protocol does not REQUIRE them to deny you this, but they refuse to guide you to "ketosis", (even those doctors who follow this "ketosis" diet themselves!!!), because you can sue them more easily for not following the "established protocol" of the accursed LIES of eat-less-and-exercise-more; the Hippocratic oath be damned! First, do no harm!?! What filthy, evil BS this is! They're surely doing extreme harm to all of us, and laughing all the way to the bank. Taubes gives these filthy, running-dog doctors the benefit of the doubt, that they're just "ignorant", (of clinically-proven "ketosis"-facts known for many decades!!!). In any case, Taubes affirms that he wrote "Why We Get Fat" especially to "educate" doctors and "public-health authorities". If I had my way, (given how much I've suffered from being overweight for 40 years), I'd have ALL these God-forsaken doctors and their cohorts rot in prison in dark, 8X8, maximum-security-lockdown cells for 40 years, (fed nothing but very meager amounts of tasteless carb-gruel), and then they'd be executed by drawing and quartering their skinny, bony bodies, and their body-parts would be fed to wild dogs.
(9) This "creation of ketosis" in our bodies is NOT a "weight-loss diet" in the usual sense, but rather is a "correction", which is recognizing and following the primal, two-million-year reality of the relatively carbohydrate-free "diets" that determined the genetics of our ancestors. Those inherited genetics determine how our bodies "work". Even if our genetics might adapt to eating copious amounts of carbohydrates, it would take far longer, (perhaps 100,000 years, or a million years???), than the last couple of thousand years in which we've been criminally brainwashed to think we need to eat carbohydrates.
(10) In addition, complex characteristics of addiction become involved, when we stop consuming addicting carbs like sugar. But it turns out that that's a good thing, because addiction CAN be eliminated, whereas the painful depression, irritability and chronic tiredness caused by the continual HUNGER of calorie-restricting "diets" can NEVER be eliminated. So, after you've stopped eating carbohydrates, you may "backslide", with intrusive thoughts of desserts, etc, BUT you WILL reach the time when you're NO LONGER ADDICTED, and thus you will no longer even want sugar or other carbs. Taubes explains this by pointing out that smokers usually don't succeed in stopping smoking on their first try, but with even a minimum of PATIENT, PERSISTENT re-dedication, they do finally succeed, and after that, they truly NEVER WANT or NEED nicotine again. It's the same with our addiction to carbohydrates. There's a clear END-POINT to any desire and/or need we may feel from our past love-affair addiction to carbs, even if it may take a year or two, (or longer), to get there, in undoing an entire LIFETIME of consuming carbs. Copious carbs are, (and ever will be), pure poison, to anyone who's overweight by even one pound.
(11) Once you've lost enough fat to reach your "lean-body" weight, you might choose to allow yourself to eat certain types of low-glycemic-index carbs again, (but only in relatively minute amounts). This will be the same pattern that humankind followed for that two million years, whereby some sort of seasonal food, (such as low-quality fruit, completely unlike the ultra-sweet fruit we've bred in modern times), would be consumed and stored as fat, to allow one to live off that fat for a while without having to eat regularly. That metabolic mechanism explains why we have sugar-sensitive taste buds on our tongue, (which are being exploited by predators to make money). But that proclivity for sweet things, (and other carbs, since your saliva makes them sweet by converting starches into sugar in your mouth), serves us only as long as those sweets are few and far between, as they were for two million years. With huge corporations force-feeding us sugar, flour, (and other carbs), and Mega-Pharma bastard-doctors making us sick and keeping us sick with drug$ and other "modern-medicine" ploy$, we are doomed, unless we know and implement the contents of the book, "Why We Get Fat", by Gary Taubes.
(12) Taubes' specific "diet" instructions are contained in just the last five pages, (the Appendix), of "Why We Get Fat", which I'd like to copy here, but I'm afraid that might violate some copyright issues. But the Internet being what it is, I found Taubes' instructions in a shortened form, AT:
http://www.diethobby.com/blog.php?ax=v&nid=30&topic=Appendix_-_Example_of_a_Low-Carbohydrate_diet_--Summary_and_comments
There, (and I've added some minor corrections and additions), they state:
[diethobby.com statement]==>
The Appendix contains a 5 page example
of a TYPICAL carbohydrate-restricted diet,
which is specifically a printout of the
Guidelines of the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic,
Duke University Medical Center.
Some of the particulars are as follows:
No Sugar No Starch Diet;
Carbohydrate grams to be fewer than 20 grams per day.
Diet to be exclusively food and beverages from the handout.
When Hungry eat a choice of :
meat, poultry, seafood, eggs,
and also processed meats, (e.g. sausage),
with a "Total Carbohydrate"-per-serving
amount on the label of 1 gram or less.
Do NOT avoid eating the fat
that comes with the above foods.
Foods that must be eaten every day are:
2 cups of salad greens – specific list
1 cup of vegetables – specific list
2 cups of (salty) Bouillon
Foods allowed in limited quantities are:
Up to 4 oz of hard cheese per day
Up to 4 Tb of cream per day
Up to 4 Tb of Mayonnaise per day
Up to 6 black or green olives per day
Up to ½ an avocado per day
Up to 4 tsp of lemon/lime juice per day
Up to 4 Tb. of (zero-carb) soy sauce per day
Up to 2 servings of dill or sugar-free pickles per day
Snacks: Pork rinds/skins; pepperoni slices; ham, beef
turkey, and other meat roll-ups; deviled eggs
Primary Restriction: Carbohydrates
No sugars (simple carbohydrates) and no starches (complex carbohydrates).
Eat only the nutritionally dense, fiber-rich vegetables listed
All fats, oil and butter are allowed.
Avoid margarine and other hydrogenated oils that contain trans fats.
Do not attempt to follow a low-fat diet.
Artificial sweeteners are allowed.
[NOTE: HIS ALLOWING THE USE OF THESE SWEETENERS
IS THE ONE CRITICISM I HAVE FOR TAUBES.]
Avoid foods with sugar alcohols (such as sorbital & maltitol) now
because they can cause stomach upset, but they may be permitted
in limited quantities in the future.
Water is the best beverage.
Those who can handle caffeine may have
up to 3 cups of coffee, tea or diet soda per day.
[NOTE: AGAIN, I CRITICIZE TAUBES' GIVING HIS OK TO THE
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS IN THESE BEVERAGES.]
No Alcohol now, although low-carb alcoholic beverages
may be added much later, after this diet's patterns
have been well established.
Quantities
Eat when you are hungry; stop when you are full.
“A low-carbohydrate diet has a natural appetite-reduction
effect to ease you into the consumption of smaller
and smaller quantities comfortably.”
Tips and Reminders
“The following items are NOT on the diet:
sugar, bread, cereal, flour-containing items, fruits,
juices, honey, whole or skimmed milk, yogurt,
canned soups, dairy substitutes, ketchup,
sweet condiments and relishes.”
REMEMBER, SUGAR BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL SUGAR, SUCH AS:
agave syrup, brown-rice syrup, cane juice, corn sweetener,
dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice or fruit-juice concentrate,
fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose,
molasses, maltose, sucrose, ETC (!), ETC (!), ETC (!).
Beware of “fat-free” or “lite” diet products
and foods (or medications) containing “hidden” sugars and starches,
(e.g. coleslaw and cough syrups).
Avoid products that are labeled “Great for Low-Carb Diets”.
The rest of the Appendix gives a sample low-carbohydrate menu,
and how to read labels.
Most important is the "Total Carbohydrate" (per serving)
listed on labels, which should be a maximum of 5g
for vegetables and a maximum of 1g for meat or condiments.
If there is Fiber listed, that amount can be subtracted
from the Total Carbohydrates to get the "effective carb count".
<==[END OF diethobby.com statement]
I'd like to also share some facts about my own adherence to Taubes' "No Sugar, No Starch, ketosis diet". One most important instruction, is his emphasis that YOU MUST STOP EATING WHEN YOU ARE FULL. My interpretation of this is that consuming copious carbs has caused us to lose touch with normal, (i.e. it WAS normal for two million years), feelings of hunger and satiation. So, we have to learn to obey our body's "I'm-full" messages to us, to STOP EATING. "Cleaning your plate" is NOT the way to go, and perhaps the most revelatory statement in his whole book is:
"A low-carbohydrate diet has a natural appetite-reduction effect to ease you into the consumption of smaller and smaller quantities comfortably. ... Enjoy losing weight comfortably, without hunger or cravings".
In effect, without the chronic, harmful effects of high insulin levels caused by our consumption of carbs, our body is finally able to burn the fat in our fat cells, so it tells us to eat less.
I went looking for salad dressings with zero carbs, (and without soybean oil), but this was almost impossible to find. Since the "Serving Size" is so small, (just 2 tablespoons), even a "Total-Carbohydrates" amount-per-serving of 1 gram is high, since I tend to use a lot more than 2 Tbsp of dressing. One brand using canola oil, (I wish it were olive oil), makes over 40 "flavors" of dressing, but, (excluding the plain oil-&-vinegar types), only two are zero-carb, and I like only one , the "Real Bleu Cheese" of "CindysKitchen.com". Sometimes I also add a Tbsp of apple-cider vinegar to my salad.
Of all the multitude of "green vegetables" allowed by Taubes, it's sauerkraut, (with its appropriate salt-content), that's become my "best, most perfect friend", mixed and boiled with pre-fried, high-fat meat, possibly eggs, extra-virgin olive oil, and many types of seasonings such as garlic, cayenne pepper, turmeric, basil, ginger, rosemary, rubbed sage, thyme, oregano, and even added sea salt, (with an added can or two of unseasoned collard and turnip greens I could find ONLY at Walmart). I believe the sauerkraut tends to prevent constipation, which I got when I ate Swiss cheese alone, so I stopped eating it.
I went to a large-chainstore butcher to get ground beef with 50% fat, and that quest gave me a real education, concerning our brainwashed handling of meat in the USA. What I wanted was almost illegal to obtain, since the laws governing butchers don't include my 50%-fat request. (They trim off most all the fat and it's sold for pennies-a-pound to some buyer whose name they didn't reveal to me.) The head butcher was accommodating, but he had to use a label stating the 50%-fat meat I received was 20% fat, (since no such 50%-fat label was possible). I was charged nothing for the (incredibly valuable) fat, so I paid only for the lean ground beef used.
