Look at the cover of the book in the picture above. Which do you think makes you fatter, the toast or the butter?
Obviously butter is mostly fat, so eating lots of butter must make you fat. Right? That what most people would say. Those trying to loose weight should skip the butter and just eat dry toast. Well according to Gary Taubes, the author of the book Good Calories, Bad Calories, most people are wrong. The refined carbohydrates in the white bread are is one of the things contributing to the obesity epidemic in America.
This is not actual a diet book, but more of a scientific look at diets, specifically low-carb diets. The author makes no specific diet recommendations. In a nutshell, the result Mr Taubes research: Eating fat doesn’t make you obese. Consuming refined carbohydrates causes your body to store fat.
Here are ten amazing conclusions from this groudbreaking book:
1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis—the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.
3. Sugars—sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically—are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates.
4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior.
6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance—a disequilibrium—in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.
8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated—either chronically or after a meal—we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.
10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity
Buy Good Calories, Bad Calories on Amazon.com
