Comments on: What I’m reading: Good Calories, Bad Calories

By: Sue Richart

Sue Richart — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:50:18 +0000

I finished the book a week ago and it is great!

A couple of interesting points, Taubes spends a bit of time talking about how glucose fires up cancer cells and how indigenous groups didn’t have cancer per se until switching to a Western-style diet, but most comments about the book only refer to the weight-loss portion.

When he addressed how going from a 800 calorie diet to 1200, whether you added carbs or fat/protein make a huge difference in feelings of hunger, I could easily relate. I tried the Rotation Diet (600/900 60% fat/protein then a 1200 balanced diet with 40 % fat/protein) back in the 80s. I didn’t really mind the 600/900 part, but hated the 1200, because I couldn’t stay on it due to hunger.

I have always felt better on a low-carb diet, and now that I know that the balanced diet and fiber in your diet are just unproven theories, it makes staying on a low-carb diet so much easier. It was the switching to more carbs in prior diets that have been my downfall.

There are issues with low-carb diets. I’m both sensitive to arachidonic acid and lactose intolerant, which makes a low-carb diet a bit more challenging. After reading Potatoes Not Prozac, I’ve found having a small carb a couple of hours after the evening meal helps control my serotonin levels, helping me stay on a low carb diet. It would be great if there was more research on why some fall off the low-carb diet. Taubes is quite correct, the research on diet is so badly designed as to be scary. Who knows what will happen if proper research is conducted.

Unlike Laurie Lentz-Marino, I’m not into technical stuff, but I couldn’t put the book down either. As my family either dies from heart disease or diabetes, this is a matter of life or death for me.

I feel that Taubes has freed me from the tyranny of bad science.

By: Laurie Lentz-Marino

Laurie Lentz-Marino — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:09:16 +0000

I agree!. I discovered this important tome in July ’08 and sat for two straight days and read the entire thing. I inhaled it. I teach biochemistry and am a parent in charge of feeding kids and I couldn’t put it down. The first copy was from the library and I have since purchased it and have made copious notes all throughout it and at the back. I have dozens of page references for myself. When I finished, my diet changed and I have expunged table sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup, HFCS, from ever passing my lips again. I don’t fear quality fats. I eat them liberally. I feel great. I’m never ravenous anymore and my vicious sweet-tooth is gone. I had struggled forever with every technique to rid myself of cravings, until this book came along. I am a bit annoyed that I didn’t discover it the instant it was published in Oct 2007, and instead was delayed seven months until I got my hands on it. I have read every review and all the comments I can find and I have found, online, lectures of Taubes’s and listened to the several hours of every one of those. I can’t praise this book enough for the epiphanies and startling revelations it has forced upon me. I am thrilled that Taubes researched for many years and then published this book. I have recommended it to everyone I know and it is the Christmas gift for many on my list this year, most notably my physician-sister.
Just a side note. As a chemist, I have had to take several courses in physical chemistry, which included thermodynamics. I won’t bore you, but after reading Taubes (who has an undergraduate degree in Physics), I had so many light bulbs turning on that I was nearly blinded. Just to let you know, all dietary calories are non created equally and no laws of thermodynamics were harmed in that statement or in the book!!!

By: John

John — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:34:12 +0000

Hey, I have read “Good Calories, Bad Calories” and I agree that it is mind-blowing! It’s a cliche to say but it is a life-changing book. The rigor of the analysis is astounding and I think it really puts to shame all the nutritionists and diet gurus who really have not done their homework but offer us different twists on the orthodox theory where red meat, butter, etc. and cholesterol and saturated fats in general are noxious substances. Even Dr Andrew Weil, a person I respect enormously, jumped on the bandwagon and published a low-fat guide to optimal nutrition. I was pleased to see that he had the intellectual honesty and courage to come out and endorse Taubes’ book on Larry King. Yes, a really great book, if a somewhat dense read.

By: Isabelle

Isabelle — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:20:33 +0000

Picked up the book for my husband who had gotten bad news at the doctor’s the week before. Now, we had been having weight issues forever, and diabetes was just around the corner.

I’m still struggling with the simplicity of it, and we are both somewhat pissed off that the actual science seems to go in the opposite direction from conventional wisdom. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but seems to me that a lot of big business, medical, agricultural and diet, would be lost if the general population would eat only protein.

So… We’ve been having only meat, cheese and nuts for the past couple of weeks and we feel fantastic. We’re also melting. I guess that at some point we’ll reintegrate a little bit og carbs in our diets, but the book seems to say that it may not even be necessary for optimal health! Consider my mind completely blown!

By: Tonya

Tonya — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:09:14 +0000

My honey read the book after he got diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It absolutely changed the way he eats, and not only has he lost over 50 pounds, his blood glucose levels are down to normal. Take from that what you will.

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:45:07 +0000

Hi McAuliflower,

I also am in the middle of this book and am not at all surprised by the results of the research. I happen to be an Atkins devotee and so none of the findings are really news to me but it’s nice to read about the studies backing up the science. I still find it hard to eliminate all the unhealthy carbs (I love to bake!) but I definitely eat a lot less than I used to. None of my doctors ever recommend anything but low fat – until they see my before and after lab reports! Then they tell me to keep it up. It’s amazing how the food industry can keep the masses believing lies so that they can make huge profits off of it – not caring who dies from their junk!

By: Elin

Elin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:48:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing, this is really interesting to read!

Elin

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:51:57 +0000

I haven’t read this book, but I’ve come across many articles dealing with this subject, and decided a while ago that saturated fat is not the enemy. I think I even expressed surprise a few months back, when in one of your recipes, you switched out the butter for canola oil! There’s a dietitian who posts on Apt. Therapy as ‘ilovebutter,’ and I asked her to email me more info about saturated vs. polyunsaturated fat. Here’s a brief quote; I would be happy to email you the rest, along with her dissertation, if you’d like:
“Butter is better than other oils or fake spreads because:
- it doesn’t oxidize while cooking
- it doesn’t cause LDL to oxidize, therefore preventing it from depositing into arterial plaques
- it doesn’t have omega 6, so it doesn’t worsen the omega 3:6 balance
- grass-fed butter has some omega 3, which helps the omega3:6 balance
- grass-fed butter has CLA, which may protect against cancer and heart disease
- it’s a natural food that needs minimal processing
- it tastes better

Polyunsaturated vegetables oils are evil because:
- they are prone to oxidation, causing LDL to oxidize and be deposited into arterial plaques
- they are killing Americans by overloading them with omega 6
- they need lots of processing (so, are less natural of a food)

Of course these are just my view points, there are many dietitians out there who will disagree. But that’s the thing with science, we’ve only explored the tip of the ice berg. I think its foolish to be making decisions based on that tip. Instead, I think we need to look to our genetic roots and follow that eating pattern — it’s what we were designed for.

Also, I would like to mention that doctors commonly don’t have a lot of nutrition knowledge – they only receive about 30 hours of nutrition in medical school; this is less than 1 undergraduate course (45 hrs). Having a doctor give out nutrition information is about as appropriate as a nutritionist offering surgical advice. (Even less so – at least I had 120 hours of anatomy + physiology!) I don’t mean to bash doctors – they do know a lot of things, but nutrition is not one of them. They tend to pass along common thinking. Just keep that in mind.”

By: David Brown

David Brown — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:10:15 +0000

Regarding cultures that consume high carb diets and escape heart disease, the Kitava Study is an interesting case(http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2007/06/living-on-isolated-island-of-kitava.html). Here is an isolated group consuming 69 percent carbohydrates and 21 percent fats and no one gets fat and no one develops heart disease or suffers strokes. In addition, 80 percent are smokers and they have low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides. How do we explain this? Simple. Kitavans do not have access to industrial foods consisting of refined sugars, omega 6 vegetable oils, and grains such as wheat and corn.

For those who haven’t read Taubes’ book, I suggest you read this recently published article by Harry Maurer http://publishing.yudu.com/Library/Atd89/NewsmaxMagazineNovem/resources/56.htm

By: Blackbird Pie

Blackbird Pie — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:18:56 +0000

Hi McAuliflower (writing you here as my blogger alter ego!),
This sounds interesting! Does the author talk about how cultures that have diets high in refined carbs, especially white rice in Asian cuisines and pasta in Italy, escape our trap of obesity and heart disease? Is it simply the scale on which we eat them, or the does the sugar factor perhaps play a greater role? I’d be interested to hear about that. Michael Pollan comes to similar conclusions, stating that the Western, refined-carb diet is leading to an epidemic of “inflamitory” diseases.