Good Calories Bad Calories Book Report/Synopsis

[ls99]

I order a turkey club, throw away the bread and eat the bacon, salad in the middle with turkey on the bottom.

So it is a bacon lettuce tomato turkey sandwich. Truly. Little messy but great tasting.

 

[RonBoyd]

Scientists claim junk food is as addictive as heroin

... a group of researchers from the independent, not-for-profit Scripps Research Institute has just released a new peer-reviewed study on the subject. The conclusion: the brain responds to junk food the same way it does to heroin:

 

[SciFiFan53]

I thought there were some concerns about the effects of a long term, high protein diet from a liver standpoint. Does the book address that?

Also, since we live in Shanghai right now, just an observation. The Chinese typically have had a high carbohydrate (mostly rice based), low protein/fat, and low calorie diet for many years - and there were few fat people here. They also tended to get alot of excercise. From what I have heard, in the last few years the average weight has gone up. I haven't seen any studies that claim to pinpoint a cause, but everything is changing now - including higher protein intake, higher fat intake, less exercise, more fast food, etc.

 

[Tesaje]

He does address the high protein/low fat - it is what the Eskimos call rabbit starvation. Your body turns the excess protein to glucose and you aren't any better off than on a high carb diet.

The eye-opener for me in the detailed going thru of all the studies and the what the data actually showed compared to what the conclusion of the researchers has been is how consistently the studies do not show any correlation between cholesterol levels in the diet or blood and heart disease and how consistently fat is shown to be the great regulator of our metabolic systems.

The other big eye-opener is the actual makeup of animal fats - mostly monounsaturated fat, about 1/3 saturated and low amounts of polyunsaturates. That and all the studies that show a link between polyunsaturated fats and cancer (yikes)! So consistent that polyunsaturated fats is how they induce cancer in lab animals so they can test drugs on them.

The upshot is that the current dietary recommendations have tons of research showing us that it is the exact wrong path to health and is most likely the contributing factor in our obesity, diabetic, heart disease and cancer epidemics. There has been such bad science in the whole medical/nutrition fields, that the only reasonable conclusion a person can come to is to try to emulate our ancestor's diets as much as we can.

The reality is our ancestors who had little incident of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes was almost never seen (they died of infectious disease, childbirth, and accidents) ate a lot of natural fat and most of that was animal fat.

And the Okinawans who eat their traditional diet (that is changing in the younger population there too) actually ate a lot of pork as well as fish. Not much rice, lots of low carb, high nutrient vegetables. The Japanese have a fairly high incident of cancer and stroke.

People also walked a lot more than we do now but the health data do not show that exercise helps all that much in weight maintenance or loss. There is little data that supports the notion that exercise helps in heart disease either (remember all those runners dying of heart attacks?). Exercise has many benefits but it does not seem to be the key to weight or health and does not undo the damage done by our poor diet.

We do have a huge nutritional experiment occurring now with disastrous results. Most people in the US eat much less fat, little saturated fat, high amounts of polyunsaturated fats and high carbs with low protein intake over the last 25-30 years as the govt and health/food industry changed the way we eat and live "to improve our health". The results are 60% are overweight when before only 10-15% were and increasing incidents of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. How much more evidence do we need before we stop believing the hype and blaming the victims?

 

[RonBoyd]

... We do have a huge nutritional experiment occurring now with disastrous results. ...

Great post! Thank you for that clarity.

 

[audreyh1]

I thought there were some concerns about the effects of a long term, high protein diet from a liver standpoint. Does the book address that?

When I read quite a bit about this a few years ago, all I could find out was that high protein diets were only a issue for people who already had impaired liver/kidney function due to other issues/diseases. It really couldn't be extrapolated to the general healthy population.

Yet there seems to be such a strong cultural bias against higher animal protein diets due to the environmental costs of animal protein and/or animal rights issues, that somehow eating more protein can be seen as "less desirable" and therefore is frequently discouraged. Whether that is in fact true from a purely human health standpoint - well, it doesn't seem that it has really been proven.

Personally, I have no desire to eat such a high protein diet as to induce ketosis. I don't care if that burns fat - it's just kind of weird to me personally. But I'm not willing to eat a high starch diet either just because that's the cheapest food to produce and can help feed more of the planet.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

People also walked a lot more than we do now but the health data do not show that exercise helps all that much in weight maintenance or loss. There is little data that supports the notion that exercise helps in heart disease either (remember all those runners dying of heart attacks?). Exercise has many benefits but it does not seem to be the key to weight or health and does not undo the damage done by our poor diet.

I'm not so sure about this - it seems that some research on weight loss and maintenance of loss has shown that regular daily exercise IS essential.

And runners, etc., no, if your diet is so bad it clogs your arteries than running will not overcome a poor diet. But there are other ways exercise has been shown to be heart protective - it raises HDL for example and higher HDL is heart protective. And regular exercise has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity which then helps prevent metabolic syndrome (which also has heart risks).

But I agree that is does not undo a really poor diet. Yet, otherwise, numerous health benefits and prevention of disease from exercise have been shown.

Audrey

 

[harley]

I'm not so sure about this - it seems that some research on weight loss and maintenance of loss has shown that regular daily exercise IS essential.

And runners, etc., no, if your diet is so bad it clogs your arteries than running will not overcome a poor diet. But there are other ways exercise has been shown to be heart protective - it raises HDL for example and higher HDL is heart protective. And regular exercise has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity which then helps prevent metabolic syndrome (which also has heart risks).

But I agree that is does not undo a really poor diet. Yet, otherwise, numerous health benefits and prevention of disease from exercise have been shown.

Audrey

As far as I've ever been able to find, exercise - and I'm talking significant aerobic and resistance exercise - has the capability to raise a person's HDL a maximum of 10%. If you have a high HDL level already, 50 or more, that would be up to 5 or so points. However, if you are genetically low HDL-wise (like me - <25), you get a whopping 1 to 3 point increase. I doubt that will save my life. I personally want to exercise so I have some strength and endurance in my declining years , not because I think it's going to do much for me weight or longevity-wise. I tend to agree with Tesaje, I haven't seen much science supporting exercise helping with weight loss. I do agree it improves insulin sensitivity, which is a good thing.

By the way, I've been taking high dose Niacin (with my doctor's agreement). At my last lab test my HDL was 39. I've never been over 25 in my life. To me that was a significant increase - 55%.

 

[NW-Bound]

Also, since we live in Shanghai right now, just an observation. The Chinese typically have had a high carbohydrate (mostly rice based), low protein/fat, and low calorie diet for many years - and there were few fat people here. They also tended to get alot of excercise. From what I have heard, in the last few years the average weight has gone up. I haven't seen any studies that claim to pinpoint a cause, but everything is changing now - including higher protein intake, higher fat intake, less exercise, more fast food, etc.

Yes. How to explain that? A higher percentage of their calorie intake comes from rice, but I am sure that their total calorie intake is lower due to no soda drink, candy, snack, etc...

These people do not go to the gym either. I don't think they have excess energy to burn off on an exercise bike; it has to be expended in activities that are more economically gainful, i.e. to produce more food!

 

[Tesaje]

Personally, I have no desire to eat such a high protein diet as to induce ketosis. I don't care if that burns fat - it's just kind of weird to me personally. But I'm not willing to eat a high starch diet either just because that's the cheapest food to produce and can help feed more of the planet.

Audrey

Ketosis (i.e. ketones in the urine) happens with low carb intake. It can be achieved with lower protein and replacing the nutrients with fat. Most low carb diets are not high protein but are high fat. Ketones are an alternative cellular fuel to glucose. It is not the same as ketoacidosis that happens in kidney failure problems and is a risk for diabetics. The advantage of using ketones as cellular fuel is that insulin is not raised as it is with glucose. Traditional Eskimos live their whole lives on meat and fat and very little vegetation. A high protein, low fat diet is not good at all and is not how any people eating their traditional diet eat. They eat a lot of fat with the protein and prize the fat. A lot of people who go low carb get a better cholesterol profile - higher HDL and lower LDL.

I have a cat with kidney disease and feed him protein food. The reason they thought protein caused kidney problems is because protein meat sources have a high phosphate content. The phosphates are thought to make kidney disease worse but it is unknown if they are causative. He's doing very well with a phosphate binder and low phosphate chicken food for over a year now. A cat is an obligatory carnivore and has muscle wasting on a low protein diet so I could not see feeding him unnatural food like grain to get the phosphates down. That is what the vet food consists of.

We have 3 choices of basic food. Protein, fat, and carb. If we reduce one, then another one has to take its place. We need enuf protein to keep our muscles from wasting but extra protein is converted to glucose. The high fat intake with low carb makes the body use fat for fuel and cuts insulin production while keeping blood sugar very level. Insulin is how fat is put into cells. The point of making the body use ketones for fuel is so the fat in the cells is mobilized as fuel in an abnormal metabolism. Ketones are a normal metabolic. It is one of the ways we are so adaptable and why people can live healthily on only animals. Taubes' book details all this along with the actual data in great detail. The high protein charge is made in ignorance of what the diet really is.

 

[HFWR]

As far as I've ever been able to find, exercise - and I'm talking significant aerobic and resistance exercise - has the capability to raise a person's HDL a maximum of 10%. If you have a high HDL level already, 50 or more, that would be up to 5 or so points. However, if you are genetically low HDL-wise (like me - <25), you get a whopping 1 to 3 point increase. I doubt that will save my life. I personally want to exercise so I have some strength and endurance in my declining years , not because I think it's going to do much for me weight or longevity-wise. I tend to agree with Tesaje, I haven't seen much science supporting exercise helping with weight loss. I do agree it improves insulin sensitivity, which is a good thing.

By the way, I've been taking high dose Niacin (with my doctor's agreement). At my last lab test my HDL was 39. I've never been over 25 in my life. To me that was a significant increase - 55%.

I take a niacin/statin combo, that has helped my numbers dramatically. But talk about hot flashes from hell...

I've been a fairly regular exerciser for years, but have been trying to reduce the carbs - whole grains, mostly, which appear to be just as bad. FWIW, I weigh 164lbs, and the only weight problem I have is when I binge on DQ hot-fudge shakes...

 

[audreyh1]

Ketosis (i.e. ketones in the urine) happens with low carb intake. It can be achieved with lower protein and replacing the nutrients with fat. Most low carb diets are not high protein but are high fat. Ketones are an alternative cellular fuel to glucose.

Well that's true - I should have said I don't have any desire to go so low carb as to induce ketosis. You can go fairly low carb and get a lot of your carbs from non-starch, low-glycemic sources without inducing ketosis.

On exercise and HDL - that's tough for folks who genetically have low HDL and exercise doesn't help much. I've noticed that when I am fit due to regular exercise my HDL is quite a bit higher. For me it's a difference between an HDL of around 39-40, and an HDL of 60!

I get a niacin flush just from a normal multi-vitamin. You had better believe that I immediately switched to a lower niacin multi-vitamin!

Yes, I mainly exercise as an anti-aging strategy, but I definitely see weight gain when I don't keep it up over a long period!

Audrey

 

[windsurf]

Also, since we live in Shanghai right now, just an observation. The Chinese typically have had a high carbohydrate (mostly rice based), low protein/fat, and low calorie diet for many years - and there were few fat people here. They also tended to get alot of excercise. From what I have heard, in the last few years the average weight has gone up. I haven't seen any studies that claim to pinpoint a cause, but everything is changing now - including higher protein intake, higher fat intake, less exercise, more fast food, etc.

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell; the largest epidemiologic study thus far undertaken. Traditional high plant, low animal diet=less disease (Ca and cardio); modern diet (toward standard American diet)= much disease.

 

[Tesaje]

Exercise doesn't seem to affect my weight at all. But it certainly makes me feel better and my joints don't ache as much if I do it regularly along with stretching. One of the things I noticed with low carb vegetable matter is that those are the really nutrient dense veggies and fruits.

I guess I'm lucky. My HDL has always been around 80-95 with low triglycerides which seem to more related to negative health consequences than cholesterol numbers.

But now I've got a bunch of Halloween candy - hardly any kids showed up.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Exercise doesn't seem to affect my weight at all. But it certainly makes me feel better and my joints don't ache as much if I do it regularly along with stretching. One of the things I noticed with low carb vegetable matter is that those are the really nutrient dense veggies and fruits.

I guess I'm lucky. My HDL has always been around 80-95 with low triglycerides which seem to more related to negative health consequences than cholesterol numbers.

But now I've got a bunch of Halloween candy - hardly any kids showed up.

The most important question is. Do you have gummy bears or jolly ranchers. Holy cow those are my kryptonite.

 

[DeborahB]

I thought I'd share some info.

I have read the book and also been on the Atkins diet (off and on) for about 7 years. On Atkins I have had blood work done routinely and it's always good - better than when I'm off it. I lose weight with difficulty for various reasons and it is time for me to start a diet again... just in time for Thanksgiving? Ugh!

On the Atkins diet I only lose if I am really restrictive about it so I get tired of no carbs after a while. That's why I go off it. Please don't share helpful advice on how to do it - believe me, I have researched and tried pretty much everything. I have to keep to under 20 g carbs a day to lose weight quickly (or even not so quickly). That is basically a few vegetables.

Gary Taubes' book is really well researched. The original article was available on the NYTimes.com website - just search for Taubes. I saw it recently so it's probably still there. It's a lot shorter than the book

I have totally changed how I feel about food since starting Atkins. I no longer avoid fats, for example. I don't get hungry all the time, as I did when I was on a low-fat diet. Oh, it looked SOOO healthy, but I was hungry and I didn't lose much weight.

Right now I'm eating a lot of carbs (sigh) but trying to keep portions under control. Soon, a diet. Soon...