Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It

Taubes' book is one of the most important books ever written on nutrition. There are thousands of books written on diet and obesity, and the overwhelming majority of them are deeply flawed at best. The so-called advice offered (and now even forcibly mandated by public and corporate powers) is also dead wrong, as will be most of those who trust said advice. There are many thoughts on why this is the case, and many "conspiracy" theories as to how it came about, some with substantial evidence and outright smoking guns. This area of health is rife with disinformation, misinformation, ignorance, and outright lies. Taubes does not deal with any of that directly. He does something quite different and important: he uses solid research from the hard literature to make his case in a very precise and focused way. The case he makes is airtight and irrefutable, even from the most hard-nosed skeptic's viewpoint. The first thrust of this book is to show that the old "calories in - calories out" steam engine view of obesity is not only mildly incorrect, it is so very obviously wrong on so many levels as to completely defy rational thought. While he does not deal with the reasons behind this deadly myopia in the professional, corporate, and governmental world, he does systematically dismember this superstitious silliness with glorious logic and hard evidence. From the misunderstanding of the application of thermodynamic "laws" in biological systems to the research on obesity and disease connections, he deftly leads the reader to a greater understanding of what the real research on obesity actually says, and what that means in terms of personal health and public policy. His main concentration is on fat metabolism versus carbohydrate metabolism, and how carbs disturb the delicately balanced fat storage mechanism and cause obesity. He describes the research which backs this up, and has for decades and decades, while being totally ignored by most medical and public health officials. He discusses how long some of this research has shown these things and mentions how it has been consistently ignored. That's right - carbs. Not dietary fat, not sloth, not moral weakness, not any other of the fad social mythology which passes for "evidence" driven policies and public stances. He details the increased understanding from more sensitive and better done research which essentially proves that our great-grandmothers had a better sense of healthy food than almost all the scientists, dieticians, health agency spokescritters, and gurus who have filled our heads with lies for at least 60 years. (And been accessories to the pain and death of millions of wrongly informed people, I hasten to add.) His focus is completely on the science, and he does not venture into the politics or economic pressures which created this stupid state of affairs (the vitriol here is mine). While he does not discuss it directly, his book does point out the dangers of trusting science to give hard answers to questions of diet and health. As I point out in my review of Weston A.Price's "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration," science will not be able to give us solid answers to dietary questions for at least another 1,000 years, at the snail's pace and myopic style of current research, some of which is clearly discussed in this book. I do have some quibbles with him: his statement about being about to get adequate vitamin D from exposure to sunlight is over-simplified to the point of being incorrect. He also advises people to use artificial sweeteners instead of sugars, which is extremely bad advice, given the dangers inherent in most of them. He does not mention the impact of MSG on obesity (it causes obesity - MSG is reportedly used to fatten lab animals for obesity experiments). He does not mention experiments on farm animals in the 1940s which showed that the diet which fattened mammals most quickly was one of grains and vegetable oil. He does not go into the differences in saturated fats, and how medium-chain fatty acids are handled differently in the body. He also does not mention that animal fat is a dense source of critical nutrients, and that saturated fat is crucial in triggering satiation, hence limiting appetite, cravings, and overeating. Given all that, his work is still ironclad and irrefutable even in its narrow focus. Add in all the rest and you have a overwhelming body of evidence which is more than compelling enough to warrant a major investigation into the reasons why this information has been forcibly withheld from the public (causing untold suffering and death). I gave it 5 stars, not because it is perfect, but because it is so powerful, so right, and so necessary. Bottom line: everyone should read this book, period. The information here can literally save your life and that of those you love. Doctors, other medical people, dieticians, and others involved in the public sector dealing with nutrition should read this NOW, before they kill any more people through their ignorance. As Weston A. Price once responded to a question about how to deal with the disinformation around the subject of a healthy diet; "You teach, you teach, you teach." Get it and spread the word.

I am a physical trainer in NYC with 15 years experience. I voraciously read nutrition and exercise science journals and books. I recently read "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. It is a follow up (and somewhat of a clif notes version) to his tome "Good Calorie, Bad Calorie". The author is a science writer for the NYT, Discover and Science. He has an aerospace engineering masters from Stanford and Harvard and a journalism masters from Columbia. He is not a dietitian or doctor but he has a unique ability to read, understand and objectively explain scientific studies. In his books he does not attempt to "sell" a diet (however I'm sure he wants to sell lots of books) supplements, meal plans etc. He aims to take a skeptical look into why we believe what we have been told about nutrition. Most nutritional dogma stems from our government and/or pharmaceutical backed public health policies. His arguments are detailed (more so in "Good Calorie, Bad Calorie") and backed with a plethora of scientific evidence. The following lists some of the irrefutable scientific evidence that he presents : 1- Just thinking about eating carbohydrates (Pasta, cake, rice, ice cream) raises your insulin levels and makes you hungry, or hungrier. 2- Our hormones, enzymes and growth factors regulate ALL of our fat tissue. 3- Most of the carbohydrates we eat in America were not around for 99.9% of the past 2.5 million years. Only in the last 30-40 years have these things, we call food, been in our diet. 4- Men and women fatten differently (women are more predisposed to gaining fat) due mostly to our sex hormones. 5- Fat is continuously flowing out of our fat cells and being used for fuel....and we preferentially store fat even when we are not eating more caloies than we are expending. 6- Science is not clear what our ancestors, prior to the development of agriculture, ate. 7- Current hunter-gather societies get most of their calories (on average about 85%), from animal protein and fat. However (Taubes does not talk about this) these societies walk on average 7-10 miles per day. 8- Carbohydrate rich diets lower your HDL's (good cholesterol) which has a direct causation to heart disease and shorter life-spans. 9- High insulin levels (blood sugar) are caused by carbohydrate intake which in turn causes your body to store fat. 10- You will not store fat (of any significance) when your insulin levels are low even when you are eating fatty foods! In fact when your blood sugar is low you will liberate fat from your fat cells. Here are some things Taubes states that are controversial (however he supports his statements with lots of relevant research) and quite thought provoking: 1- We do NOT get fat because we overeat. We overeat because we are getting fat. It is more than calories in, calories out. 2- We do not need ANY carbohydrates in our diet (this is a tough one for me to believe, however he provides some good evidence). 3- All exercise makes you hungry and you will replace ALL the calories your burned by eating more. (Obviously, I have some problems with this one too!) 4- Atkins style diet (not the South Beach diet) will lower your risk for heart disease, most cancers, Alzheimer's and diabetes. 5- Eat a diet that is about 3 to 1 ratio of fat to protein and a little carbs if you must. 6- Restricting calories is not a good way to lose fat in the long term. I think this is a fascinating and accessible science book. I have read countless books on the subjects of exercise, diet, disease, and physiology. I believe, "Why We Get Fat" presents devastating arguments against the popular epidemiological studies that taught low-calorie and low-fat diets for health and weight loss. This book just might shift the pendulum (on its head) about what we know about diet, food and nutrition. Almost two years ago I drastically lowered my intake of animal protein (I kept eggs and cheese around because they are sooo good!) due to the bonbardment of evidence I was coming across about the dangers of meat (and the ethical concerns with the way we treat the animals we eat). So as a quasi vegetarian I am having a hard time making amends with this book and its seemingly strong arguments for a high fat, high protein low carb diet. I am not totally convinced, but the more I look into the evidence the more I am being swayed.

Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories (or 'The Diet Delusion' in Australia) is one of the most important health books I have ever read. The author is incredibly intelligent and that this book took the author more than five years to write, shows. I've read few health books so intelligently written as this one. I thought I was quite well educated about diet and the need to restrict refined carbohydrates (for good health and to stop weight gain) but I learned so much from reading this book. This book gives you a detailed analysis of why low calorie diets don't work and why restricted carbohydrate/high fat diets do and is backed up by compelling evidence and research at every point. We have evolved to eat a diet that contains enough fat and protein to cause satiety, lots of green vegetables and minimal amounts of fruits and starchy vegetables. Our bodies really can't cope with huge levels of refined carbohydrate as have recently been added to the modern diet. Because this book was so good but so very long and complex, I really hoped that Taubes would put out a summarised edition of the book that I could lend to my friends and family. I was so happy to see 'Why We Get Fat' had been released and bought a copy right away. While this 'distilled' book explains the same concepts and comes to the same conclusions as Taubes' previous book, and also explains some concepts in brilliant and remarkable new ways, I am not sure I would have been quite as blown away as I was by Taubes' work if I had read this book first. I couldn't help but think it was somewhat less compelling and made the various points just a little bit less convincingly. Perhaps that is inevitable with a much shorter book and comparing them is unfair? That might well be true. What I would have liked is for each of the main points to be listed one after the other in one chapter and explained using about a half page for each. To make it really simple for everyone to get the main points. Main points would include facts such as: 1. The 'calories in, calories out' mantra is a myth 2. 'A calorie is a calorie is a calorie' is a myth 3. The 'just eat less and do more exercise to lose weight' message seems to be logical but is actually wrong and unhelpful 4. Overweight and obese people often eat no more calories, or even less, than their thinner counterparts 5. Low calorie diets also reduce the amount of nutrients in the diet 6. It is a myth that the brain and CNS needs 120 - 130 grams of carbohydrate as fuel in order to function properly, as the body can use fat and protein equally as well, and these fuels are likely the mixture our brains have evolved to prefer. 7. Restricting calories with a low fat/high carb diet just makes you hungrier and more lethargic and slows your metabolic rate. Weight loss is only maintained if the patients stays on a semi-starvation diet forever, which is impossible for most people and also undesirable. Being far more active just makes you far more hungry. 8. It is a myth that reducing calories slightly or increasing activity slightly will lead to weight loss. 9. It is a myth that we evolved through periods of feast and famine to be very good at holding onto fat. Fat gain is due to excessive insulin levels caused by high dietary refined carbohydrate intake. It is a sign of something in the body going wrong, not a healthy adaptation. 10. Fructose is not much better than glucose and the two together may cause more harm than either individually. 11. The idea of a weight 'set point' is a myth 12. Insulin is the overall fuel control for mammals. High insulin levels cause the body to store fat and stop the body from using fat as fuel. This means that high carbohydrate foods make you put on more fat, and also leave you still feeling very hungry and unsatisfied. 13. Our bodies have evolved to do best on a diet of plentiful fat and protein (including saturated fat), lots of greens and minimal fruits and starchy vegetables. This diet is the best for health and also for losing weight and stopping weight gain. 14. Dietary fat, including saturated fat, is not a cause of obesity. Refined and easily digestible carbs causing high insulin levels cause obesity. 15. To say that people are overweight due to gluttony and slothfulness is just not correct and it is very unfair. Overeating and a sedentary lifestyle are often CAUSED by eating a high carbohydrate diet! This association has wrongly been interpreted as a cause of weight gain, rather than an effect. 16. Hunger caused by eating a high carbohydrate diet (or excessive exercising while on a low calorie diet) is a very strong physiological drive and should not be thought of something mild and psychological that can be overcome with willpower. This is something serious occurring in the body, not the brain! Thus psychological 'treatments' for obesity are inappropriate and cruel. Most people are overweight due to bad medical advice, NOT a lack of willpower, greed, laziness or because they lack 'moral fibre' 17. People have different insulin secretory responses. Even if insulin secretion is slightly off, weight gain can occur. 18. Eating large amounts of a high sugar and high fat food like popcorn is easy because the body will not use most of the carbohydrate and fat for immediate fuel but will store much of it as fat - leaving you able to eat a lot of it and still be hungry a short time later as well. 19. Eating foods with a large bulk or high in fibre wont fill you up, you need the correct proportion of macronutrients and will stay hungry until you get them. 20. Those advocating the low calorie and high carb diets for health and weight loss are not involved in legitimate science. These approaches are not supported by the evidence. I took 6 pages of notes while reading this book. Even though it is short, it does still give you a ton of information and research. It isn't one of those books stuffed with 'filler.' Reading the first book I wished the author had included some sort of basic eating plan that followed his principles. After reading this book, I wish the author had not included the basic eating plan he gives at the end of the book. I realise that it is probably only there for illustrative purposes, but it really is of quite poor quality. Yes, it describes a low-carb diet which will be helpful for weight loss...but it is very far from being a healthy diet with regard to additives, nutrients and so on. This is an important failure when one of the main reasons many of us wish to lose weight is to improve our health. Eggs are not even mentioned in the eating plan which is quite bizarre. Even worse, microwaving is recommended and processed meats are allowed to be eaten. (Pork rinds, pepperoni, etc.) The diet allows up to 4 tablespoons of mayo daily, despite the fact this often contains unhealthy types of fat including trans fats. Aspartame, splenda and saccharin are recommended too, I was surprised to see. No mention is made of the importance of choosing grass-fed meats over conventionally farmed meats, if possible, and coconut oil is also not even mentioned. The diet recommends 3 cups of vegetables daily which is okay, but for my preferences, I don't see why one can't eat quite a bit more than that if one chooses green leafy vegetables which are of course very low carb. Choosing what to eat is about weight control, but getting as many nutrients in is also important and this is especially true if you are ill and trying to become more well. I also just like eating lots of nice veggies with my meals, and for me 3 cups is just not enough long term. (Been there done that!) Far better books for giving you practical diet information for weight control and health are Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats and Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life , among others. Even with the above small quibbles, this is still an impressive body of work. I wish we had more investigative journalists writing about 'controversial' topics to such a high standard. I'm grateful to Taubes for writing his two books. I highly recommend this book or (if you are up to reading a very, very big and dense book) Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) would be even better. Check your library for a copy of one of them, at least! This information is so important. I give the first book 5 stars and this summary book 4.5 stars. Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. (HFME) and Health, Healing & Hummingbirds (HHH)

The brilliant thing about science is that when something is disproved once, it's disproved forever. The not-so-brilliant thing about public health policy is that it has little to do with science. Everyone in the developed world knows what's causing our obesity epidemic. BBC nailed it: "We eat too much, and too much of the wrong things," and Michelle Obama tells us "We have to move more." Clearly what we need is a balanced diet of lean meats, some good fats, and complex carbohydrates like fruit, vegetables and whole grain bread, and exercise of 30 to 90 minutes per day. Their prescription is completely reasonable and makes intuitive sense. It is neat, plausible, and wrong. It has in fact been disproved, as nearly as "disproof" can exist in nutrition science. In his previous book, Good Calories Bad Calories, respected science journalist Gary Taubes exhaustively researched and cited two centuries worth of research in nutrition. He came to the conclusion that none of those recommendations is supported by science, because the fundamental theory on which they're based is wrong. Why We Get Fat is an updated summary of that earlier work, much quicker and easier to read, with some significant points clarified. The most important point of the book is that all those public recommendations -- the food pyramid, the "eat food, not too much" approach, everything we know about a balanced lifestyle -- is founded on the premise of Calories In vs. Calories Out. That we get fat because we eat too many calories, or we don't burn enough of them through movement. But this is nonsense. It's not just wrong, it is actually not a statement about what causes obesity at all (or heart disease, cancer or diabetes, for that matter.) It is, in Taubes' words, a "junior high level mistake," because it tells us nothing about fat accumulation. If we get fat, by definition we have taken in more calories than we've put out -- but WHY we took in those calories, or didn't burn them, is the key point. Taubes reviews the scientific literature (rather than the popular press) and presents a conclusion that was common knowledge before WWII, and heresy afterward: we get fat because our fat cells have become disregulated and are taking nutrients that should be available to other tissues. Like a tumor, the cells live for themselves rather than in balance with the rest of the body. And since those nutrients aren't available, we become hungry and tired. Therefore we eat more, and move less. For the chronic dieters among us, one passage about animal models will explain decades of frustration. Rodents with a particular part of the hypothalamus destroyed would become obese and/or sedentary *as a consequence* of their bodies putting on more fat. "After the surgery, their fat tissue sucks up calories to make more fat; this leaves insufficient fuel for the rest of the body...The only way to prevent these animals from getting obese is to starve them...they get fat not by overeating but by eating at all." Sound familiar? The problem isn't one of gluttony and sloth, as Taubes refers to it, but of hormone balance. Simply put, some people are more sensitive to the hormone effects of insulin, cortisol, and a few other -ols, than other people are. The more sensitive you are, the more you're likely to get fat, and the more fat you're likely to get, in the presence of even small amounts of carbohydrate -- and in the absence of enough fat. That's right, this book advocates eating fat. Not just moderately, but as much fat as possible, up to 78% of calories. Not lean meats, not Jenny-O 99.6% fat-free turkey, not skinless chicken breasts, but lard. Yes, lard. The healthy way of eating, according to Taubes, is moderately high protein and high fat. Yes, high fat. About a 3:1 ratio of fat to protein, and almost no carbohydrates. (Telling people to eat a balanced diet containing carbohydrates is, he says, equivalent to telling smokers to include a balanced serving of cigarettes.) And he demonstrates exactly why a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is the most heart-healthy approach, as borne out by several dozen recent studies. While Taubes acknowledges that exercise seems to be good for us for a variety of reasons, weight control isn't one of them. Study after study conducted by proponents of exercise have admitted that they see no compelling evidence for exercise as a weight-loss tool. And it makes sense if you throw out the calories in/calories out model of why we get fat. If we're fat because our fat tissues are starving the rest of our cells of fuel, exercise is just going to make us hungrier and more tired, not leaner and more fit. (It's worth noting that according to Taubes, in the 1930s obese patients were treated with bed rest.) [This review was edited to clarify the following point.] The main thrust of Taubes' argument, however, surrounds sugar and to a lesser extent any carbohydrate. Insulin is the primary hormone that fixes fat in the fat cells. This is why Type I diabetics lose weight: they're not producing enough insulin. Since insulin is manufactured in direct response to carbohydrates, if you don't eat them, you won't have a mechanism by which to store fat. (Taubes notes that this mechanism is not controversial; it simply hasn't had an impact on nutrition policy.) Taubes argues that any success in standard diets can be attributed directly to the dieter's reduced intake of carbohydrates, especially sugars and particularly fructose. Once the underlying cause of obesity is understood (hormone balance, not gluttony/sloth) the recommendations on what to do about it are surprisingly simple and therefore brief. This is a book about the science of nutrition, not a diet book, but there is a list of recommended foods in the Appendix. The book does not tell you how to eat in a restaurant. But it does tell you that the issue isn't in your brain, your willpower, your character, your job, your environment or even (except to the extent that you're sensitive to carbohydrate) in your genes. The problem with fat is in your fat cells. For a lay audience, this book is as good as it gets if you want to read actual science about health and nutrition. If you're of scientific or technical bent, read Good Calories Bad Calories first, then give Why We Get Fat to your parents.

I really enjoyed this book. If you're familiar with the Atkins and Protein Power books, you will be familiar with many of the principles in this book. However, when I was done reading this book, I felt like I had a better understanding of the reasons why a low-carb diet works. And when I say "diet", I don't mean a temporary method for losing fat. I mean a life-long diet. I understand better how insulin affects our bodies and the processes behind fat storage vs. fat burning. Mr. Taubes backs everything up with a seemingly endless number of examples and scientific studies. I have been following this diet for the past few weeks, and I have been in pretty heavy ketosis the entire time. (I check this using ketone sticks I bought from my local pharmacy.) Prior to starting this diet, when I was including lots of "healthy" grains and fruits in my diet, I always felt heavy and bloated after most meals. I have not felt that way since starting this diet. It also used to seem that no matter what I did, how much I exercised, or how "healthy" I ate, I just couldn't lose even a single ounce of belly fat. But over the last few weeks, I have lost around 7 pounds with ease. I have also been lifting heavy weights, so it's possible I've gained a little muscle as well. So my fat loss may be even more than that. I certainly feel lighter in the gut, and my pants fit better. Understand, this is while eating as much fatty protein foods as I want. I do not count calories or watch how much I eat. If I'm hungry, I eat. I have completely cut out all grains and sugars (including fruit) from my diet and live primarily on fat, protein, and green leafy veggies. I include a little cheese here and there. Sound crazy? Read the book and find out why this is actually the healthiest way to eat. Another interesting point that Mr. Taubes makes is that exercise does not make you lose fat. You can run and run and run, and you won't lose a single ounce of fat. While he does admit that exercise has many health benefits (increased stamina, strength, muscle tone, etc.), fat loss is not one of them. In other words, you can't just eat whatever you want and hope to lose fat through exercise. It's all about diet. Along with that, he suggests that the conventional wisdom of calories in vs. calories out (the idea that if we burn more calories than we consume, we will lose weight) is not true. This definitely goes against everything we've ever been taught about weight loss, but he makes a convincing argument and backs it up with solid science. While I do feel like the low-carb diet has gained more acceptance over the last decade or so, it still has a long way to go. Many people can't get over the idea that they must avoid fat and include whole grains in their diets. This simply isn't true, and this book will tell you why. Also, most people do not accept the idea that it's okay to eat saturated fat. We've been taught most of our lives that saturated fat causes heart disease. This also is not true if your insulin levels are low. In fact, Mr. Taubes suggests that saturated fat should be a regular part of our diets! Nor can most people accept that grains, even whole grains, are very bad for our health. Even fruit can cause insulin spikes that are detrimental to our health (mainly because the fruit companies are engineering fruit to be much sweeter than it used to be in its natural state). While many scientists and medical doctors support and prescribe this type of diet, it is going to take a major paradigm shift for the masses and the nutritionists to accept these diet principles. But don't take my word for it. Read the book and see what you think.

October 2015 Update: I have lost 90 pounds so far, only 10 more to go! Still working great!!! I tried every diet in the book. Mostly cutting calories and getting more exercise. Stayed on them for a month or two. Felt like crap. Still ate sweets but counted the calories. But always went off the diets and gained the weight back. Here is my story. Not sure it will work for everyone but it worked for me! I am a very skeptical person. I read the reviews of this book and thought it was a bunch of BS. But when I saw how many reviews where people said it worked I thought I would give it a try. And after 16 weeks I have lost 50 pounds. Half way to my goal weight and it has been easy. Make sure you check with your doctor before starting this or any diet. Make sure they have no worries with your medical situation and a low carb diet. I bought this book, and his other book, Good Calories, Bad Calories and read them fully. I bought a fitbit to track my steps and used My Fitness Pal app to track my calories. Not that calories matter that much on this diet. The first 10 days was hard as my body adjusted to low carbs and no sweets. But after that, no hunger and felt fine. I tried to stay below 20 carbs the first few weeks. Since then I try to stay below 40 carbs a day. The first two weeks I lost 12 pounds but as the book explains, mostly water weight. The first 2 weeks you will go to the bathroom a lot. I eat no sweets at all. And I was a huge sweet person. And I do not crave them anymore. I liked bread before but have not really missed it. This diet is the easiest to follow because you just can't eat certain things. My old diets were only calorie based so I could use a cookie as part of my calories. That was not working. Now I know I can't have sweets or breads/carbs and I just don't eat them. Eating carbs makes you crave carbs. I take a multi-vitamin daily. And then eat mostly protein, fat and veggies. Bacon and eggs for bfast, salad with grilled chicken and balsamic dressing at lunch and meat and veggies for dinner. Eat till you are full. Snacks, if I need them, are nuts and blueberries. Both low in carbs. This diet is not really a low calorie diet, but eating this way makes it hard to eat many calories a day. Most days I am under 1500 calories. Some days I am just not hungry at all at dinner and get maybe 1200 calories that day. I drink a lot of water daily and some bouillon cubes some days to maybe get more salt. This diet I read does takes more salt from your body so some people need to add salt to their diet. If you read this book, it points out that some people have carb issues and I must be one of them, because this diet has been so easy to follow and I don't really feel like I am on a diet. I just can't eat some food I used to love. But I am not feeling like I am not getting enough food. Early on this diet I started trying to get 5000 steps a day. Which was not hard. I am not sure it is needed but it made me feel better. 5000 steps a day is easy if you just do some simple things. I would get up from my desk at work and walk 2 minutes an hour around the office. And then park further away from the door at work. Park further away from the store, etc. After I lost 20 pounds I made it 7500 steps a day. By walking a mile every day around a local school track in addition to my daily normal walks. It takes 20 minutes a day. And made me feel better. Not sure you need exercise on this diet but it helped me. As you lose weight the exercise part is easier also. You feel lighter and it is easier to walk. I have had some bad high carb days. Like 200 one day. That week I did not lose any weight but I got right back on track the next day and the next week I lost 3 more pounds. So needless to say, I am a fan of this book. It changed my life. I know once I reach my goal I just need to keep in mind that carbs and sweets are not good for me and need to continue to keep them restricted forever. I am sure now and then I can splurge and have pasta, or a piece of cake, but then need to get back on this plan quick and follow it for the next week. Keep an eye on my weight and start the 20 carbs plan a day when I gain 5 pounds back. One website I liked was Low Carb Friends, a lot of post from others using this diet. Good advice and a good place to ask questions. If you thought you could never lose weight, this might be a life changing experience for you like it was for me. Good luck!!

As the author of The Three Diets Solution and The Path To Mindful Eating: Overcoming Emotional Eating and Adapting The Weight Loss Mindset, I feel well read in understanding good and bad information, and this book is tops for me. I used to be very fat. Obese. 347 pounds. Okay, not one of the biggest losers fat, but, I had hard times breathing, I suffered from depression, insomnia, nausea, dizziness, constant illness, alergies, joint pain, lethargy, apathy, and just plain old uck. I was 18. When I saw that 347 on the scale, I suddenly wanted to take control of my life, I wanted to lose my weight, I wanted my life back on track... I wanted to be one of the skinny people--or at least, healthy people. But what works. When I was 13 I weighed 230 pounds. My parents spent 17 thousand dollars taking me to nutritionist across the USA. I ate six carb servings a day, following the food pyramid, and got fatter. I tried the atkins diet, but a misreading and mishandling of the material had me urinating fire pretty much by the second week, I tried Jenny Craig, Weight watchers, the bible diet, South Beach, and a host of others. You know what. They didn't work... at least, they didn't keep the weight off. I was fat and there was nothing I could do about it. At eighteen, I decided I had to do something about it. I went to a bookstore, I spent about half of the money I got for graduating high school on health books, and I went home on a saturday, went to my room, and didn't leave but to use the bathroom. I read everything I could, from nutrition, to diets, to fads, to science, until, I decided on doing a strict diet of basic protein (two eggs in the morning), high vegetables, and fruit. THis cleared up the depression, most joint pain, and the apathy. And, I lost 80 pounds and it stayed off, even when I started back into bad habits for more than a year--pasta, subs, calzones. The problem with the diet is that I was worn out, I had no energy, no strength, and, as I would learn, as I still felt flabby and out of shape, my body was eating my muscle--well some of my fat-about 60-40. My insomnia was still there. I'd go to sleep at 6 or 7 in the morning, wake up at noon time because I couldn't sleep nights, and then by four o'clock I needed another nap--if I didn't get the nap, I still wouldn't sleep until six, but, I'd feel very lethargic through the night, and be unable to do anything. Enter Gary Taubes and his first brilliant book, Good Calories Bad Calories. It's 2009, I hear about it, I buy it, I read it, and I thought it was interesting. But it doesn't catch my attention, it goes against a lot of what I've researched, and, a lot of what doctors told me. I live in my state of lethargy and insomnia, for a year, just figuring I'm a night person, and that's just who I am. Then, in 2010, I'm at a conference, the only places around serving anything good are sea food restaurants, so for a whole week, I'm ordering some form of fish at every meal--since I was still on my vegetable diet, I wouldn't allow myself to order fries every meal, and so I ordered vegetables. This conference took place in the mornings, and I would be exhausted, lasting until the afternoon, my head was hurting, my stomach was sick, but, after two days of the fish protein, I was wide awake, able to sit up and listen and take notes. By the forth night, I went to sleep for the first time in years before one o'clock and woke up at 6:30 refreshed and feeling good. By the end of the six day conference, I had no afternoon slump, my eyes began losing the bags under them, and I could swear my hair was growing back--I had begun thining at the top, I was 22 for God sakes. SO, I decided protein needed to be a part of my diet, and, through a usual move through the bookstores, I came upon this book and I got it as a belated christmas present to myself. This year has been wonderful. This book was brilliant, along with Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, Good Calories Bad Calories by Taubes, and The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. I sleep regular for the most part, my sex drive is up--and with my constantly improving appearance, it gets used--and where in my family, there's a history of cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, and diabetes, my blood pressure became normal for the first time in my life, my cholesterol went from borderline to outstanding, and my blood sugar sits at a perfect 85. So, why do I say this is not the only way to lose weight. Because, I'm a stuidous student of weight loss, of health, and I take that serious, meaning I research everything, and test it. A diet of natural fruit and vegetables, for the purpose of weight loss is highly effective as well. A diet of just vegetables, no protein, sugar, carbohydrates, or fat, I've personally witness on multiple occasion put cancer--which can be caused by too high of protein--into remission. So, where he says this is the only way for weight loss, one can safely and effectively do just as well, on a natural fruit and vegetable diet. However, such a diet, I think, runs roughly 20 dollars a day. Where as the Paleo diet can be as low as 10 dollars a day. Sorry for the long review. This is a great book. My energy and continued weight loss is contributed to the works of people like Taubes, Wolf, Sisson, and Cordain. A great documentary that constantly reference this work is Fat Head, worth the watch.

I learned a lot from this book, however I take issue with how some of the information is presented. For example, regarding the chapter "The Elusive Benefits of Exercise", just what is Mr. Taubes saying? I think many casual readers might take it as, Exercise doesn't contribute to weight loss. I know that's what i thought he was saying. However, after reading the chapter again, it appears the basis for this hypothesis is because (it is "assumed") you will, as a result of exercising more, be hungrier and thus eat more as well as burn less energy when you're not exercising because you'll be more stagnant from being tired. TO ME, this is a very misleading message that feels more like trying to sell books than educating the public. It would have felt more honest if the author had at least once pointed out that if you're normally very sedentary and then begin a new exercise program while adhering to a diet that maintains a total daily caloric intake that you will more than likely loose weight... (perhaps he doesn't believe that ...) But who wouldn't want to buy that book they heard about that says it's all about the carbs (everyone knows that now), eat as much as you want without exercise, just eliminate the carbs to control insulin and you'll be skinnier and healthier than ever. Geez, that sounds so good,i might have to buy the book again! Seriously, the book seems extremely well researched and shows how that past 100 years of obesity studies have been misinterpreted and hand picked to support an already biased opinion ("Sloth and Gluttony")... however, as much as i want to believe this new interpretation of the data, the books feels very biased. Having said that, i think everyone should buy the book ... but while reading it, ask yourself what would have happened if during Mr. Taubes many years of research, funded by his "huge grant", he had found that most previously held beliefs were true ... like say for example, saturated fats are bad for you ... (yes yes, high hdl and all that) There would of been no book to write! (However, that doesn't in and of itself make it any less true.) So, while i'm thankful for all the information in this book, I find it hard to ignore that the author spent years doing research to support his hypothesis. And specifically, the way he deals with the subject of exercise and it's roll in weight loss adds to my "unease" about some of the more questionable information in the book. For example, is is just me or is he saying saturated fats are good for you? Seek them out! Really? I personally don't have the background, education or time to fully understand all of what Mr. Taubes has written. However, there's no doubt in my mind that i'll be cutting way back on all carbs, not just refined ones ... but i think i'll continue to exercise (i like the endorphins anyway...)

This book has totally changed my view of food and what to eat. It is well written, concise, informative and supports its conclusions with detailed reference sources. Certainly the best book on food and weight control I have ever read. I am over 60 years of age and have tried other weight control regimes with success, however at the expense of feeling hungry most of the time and having to eat things that I don't really like. I now really understand the physiology of all this and realize that it is not simply a matter of calories in and calories out. This has been quite a revelation and has assisted me in focusing on the key elements of weight control. I am presently reading his other book "good calories, bad calories" which is much more detailed and harder to read. If you want the quick and dirty read "Why we get fat" as is summarizes everything one needs to know in an easy to read and factual manner. I now eat what I like, am not hungry, feel great and am able to easily keep my weight where I want it to be. Highly recommended.

Excellent read, very informative, get a copy.

This book is essentially a shorter and more focused version (layman edition) of “Good Calories, Bad Calories”, which is exhaustive in documenting the research and politics related to obesity, fat in the diet and cholesterol, and how the health establishment consistently has ignored the research in favor of their own preconceived pet theories. This has led to decades of official health organizations giving wrong health and diet advice to the public. “Why we get Fat” presents the argument-supported both by examples and research-that obesity is mainly a function of an imbalance in how calories are used in the body, with the idea that fat people have a strong tendency to automatically direct calories into stored fat, while correspondingly depriving the body of usable energy. Thus fat people are hungry and tired because the bulk of their calories are going into useless fat storage, and not to support the active body. While the individual gets progressively fatter, the body is starved of energy, hungry and tired. To counter this Taubes recommends a meat/fish heavy diet, while eliminating sources of carbohydrates and sugars. Taubes cites many examples of successful weight loss on this diet. It was even common knowledge for centuries until the 1970s, when the establishment bought into the fat phobia theory. Taubes also talks in detail about cholesterol and triglycerides. Whether you agree or not, Taubes stands conventional dietary recommendations on their head. In any case the book is detailed and makes many good arguments. The first half of the book goes more slowly as Taubes lays out the groundwork for his ideas. The second half is better at summarizing his arguments, and providing advice.

I was 80 kg in 2007, but November 2012 I was 95 Kg. I read the “Why we get fat and what to do about it” book and followed the diet very strictly. The first month I lost 7 Kg and the month after 3 Kg with no hunger at all. The following months I lost around 1.2 Kg per month. Now I am 76 Kg :-) The book is fascinating, full of intellectual reasoning and contains the pure truth about why we get fat and what to do about It. A must for all who wants to lose fat. The author is the number one. Thanks Gary Taubes!

Inusitado, instigante e com humor. Agora também em versão traduzida para o português. Uma das melhores publicações sobre o tema.