Gary Taubes' Newest Book

[gindie]

As an FYI, Jenny will be a guest on Jimmy Moore's Low-Carb podcast on Monday November 7. The link: Interviewing Doctors, Researchers, Scientists, Bloggers and More. | The Livin La Vida Low-Carb Show

I will try to post a reminder nearer the time, as I would expect a very interesting interview (she indicated that she recorded it last week). Jimmy really lets his guests speak their minds, even those he disagrees with.

The airing of this interview has been moved up to Thursday July 7 at the link contained in the quoted text above.

 

[haha]

Here is a very ineresting interview from several years ago with Gary Taubes, and Ronald Kraus M.D, one of the most prominent researchers into the biochemical details of LDL and HDL.

Not All Calories Are Created Equal, Author Says : NPR

 

[HFWR]

And if you weren't confused yet...

Whole Health Source: The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't take Taubes's idea seriously is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom" as the GCBC book cover states, but the fact is that obesity is a complex problem and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

 

[haha]

These guys are in a major feud. I have no idea who is right or wrong scientifically, and do not really care- but Guyenet has some some very unattractive eating strategies. Like eat unpalatable food. Duh! If your food bores the heck out of you or causes you to barf, of course you don't want to eat much of it.

Ha

 

[Leonidas]

These guys are in a major feud.

It's apparently the big scandal of the moment amongst the food scientists. Guyenet was a speaker at AHS a week or so ago, and Taubes started asking questions at the end of his speech. AHS showdown: Gary Taubes vs Stephan Guyenet | Dietdoctor.com

The column that HWFR linked to is Guyenet's attempt to defend his theories against Taubes' criticisms.

And here is a critique of Guyenet's defense. Guyenet, Taubes and why low carb works | Dietdoctor.com

It's a war between the nutrition scientists!

Too funny.

 

[braumeister]

Stephan Guyenet means well, I think, but I don't see this blog post as helpful.
He seems to be saying "Taubes is wrong" but without countering Taubes' point.
As the old Monty Python sketch had it, that's not an argument; it's just the automatic gainsaying of what the other person said.

Guyenet begins with:

there is no doubt that carbohydrate restriction causes fat loss in many, perhaps even most obese people

Then in his conclusion, he punts, with:

once overweight or obesity is established, carbohydrate restriction can aid fat loss in some people. The mechanism by which this occurs is not totally clear .... Research is ongoing to understand how this process works

In other words, "Taubes is wrong, despite the obvious confirmation of his argument, but I don't know what is right."

For me at least, Taubes' writing not only makes sense, it works in the real world.

 

[HFWR]

These guys are in a major feud. I have no idea who is right or wrong scientifically, and do not really care- but Guyenet has some some very unattractive eating strategies. Like eat unpalatable food. Duh! If your food bores the heck out of you or causes you to barf, of course you don't want to eat much of it.

Ha

You won't live to be 100, it'll just feel like it...

I've seen this in my own life, though. Sorry, can't choke down a plain baked potato, or plain oatmeal, but add some butter...

I still like "eat real food, not too much"...

 

[rgarling]

I hope you can see by now that the carbohydrate hypothesis of obesity is not only incorrect on a number of levels, but may even be backward. The reason why obesity and metabolism researchers don't take Taubes's idea seriously is that it is contradicted by a large body of evidence from multiple fields. I understand that people like ideas that "challenge conventional wisdom" as the GCBC book cover states, but the fact is that obesity is a complex problem and it will not be shoehorned into simplistic hypotheses.

Guyenet is a neurobiologist and seems to think the nervous system is dominant in energy homeostasis. That fine (but probably incorrect); however, the arguments presented in his blog post boil down to a series of false choices leading the reader down a random path to the above conclusion. What if the nervous system merely fine tunes the overall system and its signalling is simply overwhelmed by the power of insulin signalling?

The good thing in all this is that if someone disregards the 'wisdom' of modern nutritionists and limits carbohydrate intake, he can experience the truth of the matter. To explore this idea, watch the movie Fat Head.

 

[haha]

And here is a critique of Guyenet's defense. Guyenet, Taubes and why low carb works | Dietdoctor.com

This guy Andreas is very interesting. Thanks for posting this link. Below is a plate of 72g of Dreamfield's Pasta, from an expose that Andreas does. Blows me away- before I went low carb for health reasons, I had about 2x this much for dinner 5 days/week. It's a wonder that I or either of my sons survived my cooking and meal planning.-Ha

 

[GregLee]

In other words, "Taubes is wrong, despite the obvious confirmation of his argument, but I don't know what is right."

For me at least, Taubes' writing not only makes sense, it works in the real world.

I'm disposed to believe Guyenet, because that has been my (comparatively uninformed) take on Taubes, too. The diet may well work, but the theory is unconvincing.

 

[rgarling]

I'm disposed to believe Guyenet, because that has been my (comparatively uninformed) take on Taubes, too. The diet may well work, but the theory is unconvincing.

What part of the theory is unconvincing?

 

[GregLee]

What part of the theory is unconvincing?

I have posted about that previously, but right now I can't recall exactly what I said.