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#1--Good calories Bad calories

Contributed by: Fran Miller on 11/18/2007

It's relatively easy to find a book in the library that gives you momentary pleasure, but hard to come across one that is profound enough to change your life.This is that kind of book.
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Good Calories/Bad Calories
With nearly two-thirds of Americans overweight and a third morbidly obese, diet is an issue that is on all our minds. Over 200,000 people a year now get gastric-bypass surgery, a dangerous and extreme strategy for losing weight. This morning, I watched the program Sunday Morning and it profiled a spa in California where people spend $4,000 a week to go and fast.

For many years we were told to reduce fat and eat low fat grains and vegetables, while the medical profession savaged the high protein diet put forth by Atkins. The cereals and food industry responded with a cornucopia of low fat products, and still many of us gained weight. Life expectancies have not increased dramatically in the past few years, but health care costs doubled. Dr. Roy Wolford's research indicated that the very lean and the very obese live the shortest and it is those who are slightly overweight, and who drop to 10% below their ideal weight in mid-life and pursue a restricted calorie diet that can expect to live the longest. So, losing weight matters in terms of length of life and quality of life.



I recently obtained a book from the Parker Library. The book is Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Call # NF 613.263 TAU. This book has been in the making for five years and Taubes is an award winning science editor whose work can be trusted.

In a nutshell, he puts to rest the notion that you can lose weight merely by reducing fat in your diet and that much of what we have been told about food groups, diets and weight loss is not supported by sound scientific evidence. People like Atkins may have been more right than wrong. Let me quote at length Taubes summary conclusions in the last chapter of the book.

"As I emerge from this research, though, certain conclusions seem inescapable to me, based on the existing knowledge:

1. "Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, hear 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 most likely causes of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and 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."

I would add an eleventh and that is that obesity is inextricably linked to depression and diseases involving chronic inflammation, such as gout.

About six months ago, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the country reported the results of a clinical comparison of diets and concluded basically what Taubes has articulated. I think the jury is back and the verdict is about to be read by the judge.

I encourage you to read this book. And, if you have someone in the group of people who orbit around you who are over-weight, diabetic, or suffer from chronic debilitating illnesses, I would urge you to consider it as a Christmas gift.

I personally think it one of the most important, well researched books on the topic to come along in the past twenty years.

This is Reason #1-- an ongoing series to illustrate the many benefits provided by the Parker Library.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Fran Miller

Parker , CO

Fran Miller has posted 106 stories and 14 comments since joining on 9/28/2007. Fran Miller 's average story rating is 4.78.
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