Charles Washington makes a compelling argument for zero carbs
Oftentimes people who are unfamiliar with livin' la vida low-carb mistakenly describe it as a "zero-carb diet." Anyone who has ever read Protein Power, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, or any of the other respectable books about low-carb dieting knows that NONE of them advocate NO carbs. Not a single one. It just doesn't exist despite that pervading stereotypical view of what this way of eating is all about. But today's guest not only eating zero carbs, but he is also an active athlete running in half marathons.
In Episode 162 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we hear from Charles Washington, one of my moderators at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum, and he's proudly zero-carbing and loving it. After following the low-fat diet dutifully and losing a good amount of weight on it, Charles gained it all back when he started lifting weights. That's what drove him to learn more about low-carb nutrition, led him to my blog, and put him on a learning path that has him doing what he is doing today.
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 162:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 162 [31:10m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
There's one thing about Charles Washington that you cannot deny--he backs up everything he says with the facts from researchers, authors, and people who survived and thrived on basically a zero-carb diet. For someone who has not been trained in medicine or nutrition, he articulates his point of view clearly and logically. That can be difficult to pull off when you are suggesting something like eating only meat for your diet, but Charles does it.
He's been sharing his views on the zero-carb path at my forum with quite a response--it's the #1 most-read thread at "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion!" Today's podcast is the first time many people will hear Charles talking about eating this way, why he chose zero-carb over low-carb, how Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories changed his life, what he does to prepare for a half-marathon eating no carbs, his response to Dr. Mike Eades' recent blog post stating that calories count on a low-carb diet, and so much more! I've been dying to share this interview with you and now it's here.
Hear all kinds of perspectives on low-carb living anytime by:
What's your impression of Charles Washington and his zero-carb diet? Were you persuaded that perhaps eating no carbohydrates is possibly a healthy way not just to live, but also a preferred method for runners and athletes looking for maximum performance? Tell us about what you think in the show notes section of Episode 162. Read more from Charles Washington by visiting LivinLowCarbDiscussion.com.
Coming up on Thursday's podcast--another one of my moderators at my forum named Christin Sherburne. This former cover girl in Woman's World magazine last year is one of the central characters in the continuing Kimkins diet scam saga and she wanted to provide an update about what is happening with the continuing lawsuit against Kimkins founder Heidi Diaz. You'll enjoy hearing from Christin pouring out her heart and soul about how this entire experience has changed her life.
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 140:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 140 [26:44m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
Gary Taubes continues his discussion of his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, including how much he initially hated that title for his book until his wife convinced him otherwise, the impact of carbohydrate calories on weight, the change of heart that Dr. Andrew Weil has had regarding low-carb, the theories espoused by low-fat diet guru Dr. Dean Ornish, and what can be done to influence the health authorities about the positive impact of low-carb living.
Check out interviews like this one with Gary Taubes by:
Now that the Taubes interview is completed, share what you thought about it in the show notes section of Episode 140. If you happened to miss any of my blog posts about Gary Taubes and Good Calories, Bad Calories, then you can see them all in one place by clicking here. You can also provide us with your audio feedback about this interview by calling (206) 202-6516. Special thanks to Gary Taubes for his generous donation of time at the ASBP/Nutrition & Metabolism conference in Phoenix, AZ last month.
Coming up next week, we'll shift gears a bit on Monday's podcast as Christine and I talk with a reproductive endocrinologist from the Institute For Progressive Medicine named Dr. Julie Kahn about the role of diet and fertility and then on Thursday's show I'll be speaking with Cracking The Metabolic Code author Dr. Jim LaValle. DON'T MISS IT!!!
Gary Taubes sat down with me in Phoenix, AZ to discuss low-carb
One of the most influential voices in the diet and health arena this decade isn't a doctor, researcher, clinician, dietitian, fitness buff, or any of the other so-called "experts" that we usually hear from as it relates to this subject. Nope, it's none of them and instead is, of all things, an American journalist named Gary Taubes. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, then you should be very well aware of Taubes and his bestselling book about the unique role of carbohydrates as the root cause for obesity and most diseases called Good Calories, Bad Calories which continues and expands upon the ideas he wrote about in his infamous 2002 New York Times op-ed piece "What If It's All Been A Big Fat Lie?"
Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 139:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 139 [24:59m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
Gary Taubes has been traveling around the nation giving a rather succinct lecture on the basic tenets of what he wanted to convey with his book. If you haven't seen the lecture, then you really should check it out for yourself because it is well worth the 72-minute investment of your time to listen to what this man has to say. As he revealed in today's segment, Taubes hopes to convince his publisher to allow him to create a more user-friendly book out of that lecture for the sake of clarity and understandability by those of us who are not medically inclined (which was the primary audience of Good Calories Bad Calories).
Hear interviews from REAL experts like Gary Taubes whenever you'd like by:
So what do you think so far? Gary Taubes could literally talk on and on for hours about this subject which encompasses so much of his life right now and we need more people like him out there vocalizing what you and I have seen happen in our own lives since we started livin' la vida low-carb. This isn't some dangerous "fad" diet which we've been led to believe by the media and the "experts"--it's a life-changing event that could literally save the lives of millions more if it weren't so vilified. That's why Taubes wrote his book and is lecturing about this so fervently.
Talk about what you heard in Part 1 of the Taubes interview in the show notes section of Episode 139. If you happened to miss any of my blog posts about Gary Taubes and Good Calories, Bad Calories, then you can see them all in one place by clicking here. You can also provide us with your audio feedback about this interview by calling (206) 202-6516.
A special CONGRATULATIONS to Justin Wallraven, Maya, and Steve Whitley for being my three winners of the hit Canadian low-carb documentary called My Big Fat Diet. Last Monday I conducted a giveaway during Episode 137 by requesting a brief essay explaining how a high-fat, low-carb diet has transformed and changed your life forever. There were lots and lots of entries, so THANK YOU to everyone who tried to win. Keep listening for more chances to win FREE STUFF in the future. I appreciate your support! :)
Dr. Andrew Weil now recognizes the importance of carb control
Light bulb moments can happen at virtually anytime to anyone. We all have our own biases and predetermined beliefs about just about everything in life that make up who we are. But even when you try to keep an open mind and stay objective, those rock solid ideals that encapsulate who you are can be difficult to change. Only the strongest among us are able to admit when we were wrong about something and then completely change our way of thinking based on new evidence that has come to light.
That's exactly what has happened with one of the world's most recognized and renowned health leaders of our day Dr. Andrew Weil. For the past three decades, this man has dedicated his life to the subject of health by authoring a plethora of books, lecturing about the negative impact of unhealthy eating, and establishing himself firmly into diet and nutrition by encouraging a comprehensive integrative approach to treating disease. He really is a legend in the health industry which is what makes what I am about to share with you all the more astounding!
You'll recall that right after the release of Gary Taubes' bestselling blockbuster book Good Calories, Bad Calories was released last Fall, there was a panel discussion about the book on CNN's Larry King Live show with Joy Behar guest hosting along with guests Taubes, Dr. Mehmet Oz, personal trainer from "The Biggest Loser" Jillian Michaels, and others. Right smack dab in the middle of that discussion was commentary from Dr. Weil about what he thought of the book. Click here to see a nearly 7-minute clip of what he had to say.
For anyone who watched that October 2007 show which Taubes described as "quite a circus," this short segment with Dr. Andrew Weil's comments was indeed the most valuable and surprising revelation that came out of it. Guest host Joy Behar described Dr. Weil's comments as a "Valentine" for Taubes and it was obvious to everyone that he was the ONLY person on the panel who had actually read Good Calories, Bad Calories prior to coming on the show. But this "light bulb moment" for Dr. Weil was extraordinary to watch happening right before our very eyes.
This is the equivalent of low-fat diet guru Dr. Dean Ornish coming out and saying that the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins was right and that there are some people who should be eating more fat and less carbohydrates if they need to manage their weight and health. Following my recent interview with Dr. Ornish, I sincerely doubt THAT will ever happen. But Dr. Weil's virtual endorsement of livin' la vida low-carb was unmistakable and it didn't end there.
It turns out that he himself decided to begin implementing carbohydrate-restriction in his own personal weight management routine with AMAZING success! According to this interview with Dr. Weil appearing on his web site this week (hat tip to my reader Peter who pointed this out to me!), reading the Taubes book has changed his life because he now realizes he is "quite sensitive to high-glycemic-load carbohydrates."
"Most of the processed, refined, manufactured foods are the ones that are quick digesting and problematical," Dr. Weil explained. "Cutting back on them has helped me get my weight down, because my metabolism is certainly carbohydrate sensitive."
Can I just tell you how incredibly HUGE this is?! Dr. Weil acknowledges that there is "a real explosion of quality research" coming out so far in this century about carbohydrate restriction and the impact it can have on insulin sensitivity and weight gain. And he's even coming around on the subject of saturated fat, too.
"With regard to saturated fat, I tell people that you can have some saturated fat in your diet; just think about where you want to spend your saturated fat budget. I choose to spend mine on quality cheese," Dr. Weil stated.
Oh man, I'd love it if Dr. Weil could attend that Nutrition & Metabolism Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona in April where the very latest research on saturated fat consumption and heart disease will be presented by some of the best and brightest researchers and scholars on the subject today, including Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. Patty Tarino, Dr. J. Bruce German, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Jay Wortman, Dr. Steve Phinney, and Gary Taubes. I'll be there covering the event for my blog and interviewing many of these participants for my podcast show. It would not surprise me to see Dr. Weil sitting there soaking in all the very research that is quite literally changing his life forever.
Wanna see how low-carb living has changed Dr. Weil? Check out this recent video of him posted on YouTube:
Doesn't he look fantastic? And I'm confident his health has also seen a correlating improvement along with the weight loss. Dr. Weil says he is "much happier" now eating less carbohydrates and the remarkable impact that it has made on him personally. Can you imagine how this personal transformation is going to seep into the very crevices of everything Dr. Weil does now with his work helping others with their weight and health? It's gonna revolutionize everything he does and make it that much better.
For those of you who think livin' la vida low-carb isn't making an impact on our society like it should, I just want you to remember what you have seen happen to Dr. Andrew Weil over these past six months. You cannot underestimate the power of a changed life and especially when that life is one that has been making recommendations about health for so long. Be encouraged everyone--better days are DEFINITELY coming!
I've written to Dr. Weil requesting an interview with him for my podcast show to talk about the changes he has made in his mode of thinking and where he will be going from here both personally and with the people he counsels regarding diet and health. It's a long shot, but wish me luck landing that one. And, by all means, take the advice of Dr. Andrew Weil and keep on livin' la vida low-carb! :)
It's been a little while since I've updated you on the latest Gary Taubes news and that's because there hasn't really been anything of significance to report. But after Taubes presented a rather comprehensive talk about the concepts and hypotheses he shares in his bestselling Good Calories, Bad Calories book while lecturing at the Hoboken, New Jersey-based Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday, February 6, 2008, I decided to bring it to you today here at my blog.
The following video of a lecture called "Big Fat Lies" is Gary Taubes at his best passionately expressing the very principles that we believe in so strongly as believers in the low-carb lifestyle. He sets up the history of how we got fat, discusses why the solutions that have been provided to the overweight and obese have been decided ineffective, gives evidence why fat is healthy and the heart disease hypothesis is just plain wrong, and why carbohydrate in your diet raises blood sugar as well as releases insulin which causes damage to both weight and health.
If you want to better understand the purpose of diet in health, then I highly encourage you to make a 72-minute investment to watch this lecture with Gary Taubes from start to finish. It's a little technical at times, but Taubes has done his homework and knows what he's talking about. You'll be more informed about diet, weight loss, and health than about 99% of the population today, so view every bit of it if you can.
It's a lot to digest, but well worth your time. I'm so excited about seeing this lecture from Taubes and the latest research on carbohydrate restriction live in April when I attend the Nutrition & Metabolism Society Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona as part of the 2008 Western Regional Obesity Course (PDF download of the speaker schedule) sponsored by the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP). Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Patty Tarino, Dr. Jeff Volek, Dr. J. Bruce German, Dr. Donald Layman, Dr. Barbara Howard, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Jay Wortman, and Dr. Steve Phinney headline this amazing conference on the very latest research regarding saturated fat and health. Christine and I will be there to report on the latest science, interview the people on the frontlines of the research, and even record some video footage for our YouTube series. Coming in mid-April! WOO HOO!
The positive impact of Good Calories, Bad Calories is still happening in people who have read the book and fully grasped what Gary Taubes wrote. Here is an e-mail I received from someone who read the book and then watched a previous video I shared with a similar lecture that Taubes gave at Berkeley last year. The light bulb moment happened and now it just all makes sense. Here's what he wrote:
Holy Wah! I just watched the entire webcast and let me say it was an hour plus well spent and much easier than reading the book. Gary provides scientific support to your (and now my) Livin' La Vida Low Carb lifestyle. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. When it was over I was so excited I ran to the kitchen and cooked up a cheeseburger!
On a side note: I've been livin' la vida low-carb for 82 days now, have lost 61 pounds, and my doctor just called with my latest cholesterol numbers: every component has improved, some quite significantly. All are now in the desirable/optimal range. I was told to keep up the good work, to stay on my low-fat diet, and to limit eating eggs. Jimmy, I didn't have the heart to tell him I eat eggs almost every day and still love bacon. I'll just let the numbers speak for themselves.
OUTSTANDING! And this is precisely why Gary Taubes wrote his book. This is real life stuff here and should be taken much more seriously than it is. Unfortunately, until our medical community and the powers that be who dominate the information distributed to doctors, nutritionists, and even patients start to accept the truths that are shared in Good Calories, Bad Calories, nothing meaningful is gonna be done to curb the obesity tide that is happening all across the United States and around the world. WAKE UP PEOPLE! The evidence is right there, so stop ignoring it!
Special thanks again to Gary Taubes for putting his entire career on the line to stand up for the solid science that is behind livin' la vida low-carb. It's easy to fall in line with the high-carb, low-fat diet dogma, but that would be dishonest based on the latest data. Taubes and others who seek to educate with the truth should be hailed for their willingness to put it all on the line for what they believe in.
The great low-carb news certainly didn't stop in 2007
The end of another year is upon us and there's so much that happened in 2007 for people who support the healthy and effective low-carb lifestyle. I'm privileged to be on the front row witnessing a rebirth in the popularity of livin' la vida low-carb and it is my belief that things will only get brighter and better in 2008.
When I blogged just one year ago that 2007 would be the "comeback year" for low-carb, little did I realize just how prophetic that statement of the revival of the controlled-carbohydrate nutritional approach would be. Despite the continued ignorance by much of the mainstream media and the so-called health "experts" who claim to know it all regarding diet, health, and nutrition, people are discovering there's more to this low-carb thing than they ever realized before. This awakening to the truth will continue to take place as people take control and responsibility for their own health perhaps for the first time ever.
You can't really talk about the year that was 2007 without mentioning a few other notable events that took place to help shape and restore the positive image of low-carb living in our culture, including these 25 top headlines:
While 2007 was indeed a fabulous year, I am confident the best days for low-carb advocates are still ahead of us in 2008 and beyond. Our job is to just keep enjoying our way of eating, sharing with our doctors about our health improvements, telling friends and family how you've been able to lose weight through this proven nutritional approach, and being the shining examples of how low-carb has changed your life forever!
As long as we remain confident that what we have discovered for ourselves is healthy and effective, then there's no reason why the resurgence and rebirth of livin' la vida low-carb will end in 2007. This party's only just begun, baby! I'm looking forward to yet another great year in 2008 and sharing it with you here on a daily basis as we keep educating, encouraging and inspiring others to start making lifestyle changes that will work for them. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
If you ever need to contact me for any reason, then I'm always happy to hear from you and respond appropriately. E-mail me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Let's keep working together to change lives, make 'em better than they've ever been before, and then spread the word to everyone we come into contact with. The world can't help but hear us roar if we do that!
It's making the rounds on the Internet right now, but Gary Taubes participated in a televised web cast at the University of California at Berkeley on November 27, 2007 entitled "The Quality of Calories: What Makes Us Fat and Why Nobody Seems to Care." If you can set aside the time to watch this from start to finish, then you will learn more about nutritional science and why it's so whacked out in our society today than anywhere else (he even shares a lot more than what was in Good Calories, Bad Calories). Taubes was brilliant despite being in the midst of the lion's den. THIS IS WELL WORTH WATCHING!!!
And the buzz around this webcast is still raging at places like Dr. Mike Eades' "Health & Nutrition" blog, Seth Roberts' blog (who quotes some rather damning information about the American Heart Association's bias against the Atkins diet!), and the "Heart Cipher" blog, among others. Gary told me that while there were a lot of skeptics in the audience at the beginning of his talk, several of them were open to the idea that carbohydrates play a more important role in weight and health than they realized. That's progress!
Here are a few more news and notes about Gary Taubes and his book:
ATKINS NUTRITIONALS INTERVIEWS GARY TAUBES
The company whose namesake is the man who made low-carbohydrate living mainstream interviewed Gary Taubes in their November 2007 newsletter. Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. asked Taubes a series of questions about Good Calories, Bad Calories that you really should read in its entirety. My favorite part of the interview is when Taubes recounts how modern dietary recommendations became the way they did because of a few well-meaning doctors who had their mind set on one singular theory--fat makes you fat:
"I don't believe in conspiracy theories. But these people could not have done more harm or killed the underlying science more effectively had there been some grand conspiracy manipulated by the sugar industry behind the scenes."
I'm no conspiracy theorist either, but it does make you stop and wonder what else they could have done to totally confuse and befuddle the public about what a healthy diet looks like. Up is down and round is square in the world of nutrition these days!
BLOGGERS STILL LOVIN' GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES
The word is getting out about Good Calories, Bad Calories in no small part because of the enthusiastic response from so many bloggers all across the web. And these aren't just health-related blogs either which shows just how universal this book is regardless of how it may be pigeon-holed by those who disagree with it.
Here's an eclectic list of blogs commenting on Taubes:
You might be wondering, "Who is Israel Ramirez and why do I care what he thinks?" Good question. But to Shangri-La Diet author Seth Roberts, who gleaned inspiration from Ramirez for his own book, this man carries a lot of intellectual weight. In this blog post he shared what Ramirez had to say about Taubes' contention that carbohydrate consumption leads to a rise in insulin which causes obesity and disease. Here's a brief snippet from what Ramirez wrote:
"There are clinical trials in people and lab rats showing that high protein, low carbohydrate, diets suppress intake. For people, the effects are modest in the long term, amounting to a few pounds greater loss than for people given a low fat diet at the end of a one year trial. There is some evidence that this weight loss might not be maintained after the first year. Trials showing weight loss on low carbohydrate diets required eating less carbohydrate than that consumed by 99% of lean people."
Is this guy on acid or what? First he describes livin' la vida low-carb as "high-protein" which it is not--it's more high-fat than anything. Then he repeats that all-too-familiar line that low-carb may be better for weight loss, but it's only for one year and not for the long term (how the heck are you supposed to eat beyond that year, hmmm?). But that last sentence takes the proverbial cake--who cares if I eat less carbs than 99% of lean people, Mr. Ramirez. At least I'm maintaining my weight while keeping my health in check! What a dope!
READER RESPONSE TO TAUBES' BOOK CONTINUES
It's been neat to read some of the positive comments people have shared with me after they finished reading Good Calories, Bad Calories. You can tell people have had a light bulb moment and can't wait to share it with me. Here are a couple that were especially moved by the positive message of Taubes' book:
"OMG! I am about 150 pages in to Good Calories, Bad Calories. You're right, not only is it a lot to take it but I find I have to pick my jaw up off of the floor every few pages! It's so intense but fascinating reading.
You know what I love about it? Gary is not a doctor, not a registered dietitian but someone who is an amazing scientific journalist with nothing to gain (not tied to any big companies or pharmaceuticals) and his information is just down right solid research and journalism and that is something you can't ignore nor write off as fluff.
There's a part of me that's rather disturbed, though.
It's sort of like how Phillip Morris turns their back (and gets away with) the connection between cigarettes and cancer. The food manufacturers, nutritionists, etc. really are ignoring the correlation between obesity and "carbage"--this is so amazing to me. This book is really great--thank you for sharing about it on your blog! It's super and very much appreciated." ********** Dear Jimmy,
I want to thank you for your great blog. I am a happily married 43 year old man, proud father of two, but as I come upon middle age I've wanted to drop these 30 pounds that I have gained over the years. I am 5'11" and my weight over the last several years has fluctuated between 220 and 195 pounds.
For years I have sworn by the fact that a low-fat, high-carb diet has to work and is by far the most healthiest. In that light, I had every book by Dean Ornish. So various times during the year I would get on an exercise and Ornish kick, I would lose some weight, but it didn't seem worth it given the effort and lack of satiety on the Ornish diet. For years I have thought the Atkins diet was a scam! Seriously, how can anyone in their right mind call the Atkins diet healthy, or so I thought.
About a month ago, quite accidentally I saw Gary Taubes on the Larry King show where he was with Dr. Mehmet Oz (I have his books too) and Dr. Weil. I was very impressed with the case that Gary was making. But I just couldn't believe my eyes that our country's obesity epidemic could be correlated with our carb intake and that it wasn't simply an issue of too much fat in the diet. So with some trepidation, I checked out several of Dr. Atkins' books and decided to give Induction a try. The low-carb route is really the only thing I have not tried to get my weight down and improve my blood pressure.
I am on day 10 of the Induction phase and surprisingly I am down 8 pounds as of this morning. My impression is that I have eaten more food than I have ever in the past while being on a diet. However all the critics of the low-carb approach will say that I am simply losing water weight. I will keep it up though.
One concern that I have and would hope you could address this. I have noticed a dramatic increase in the frequency of my urination, especially at night. I am getting up 5-7 times a night to urinate. I am concerned about this, is this too much for my kidneys? It is clearly disturbing my sleep. I want to make an appointment with my urologist for some tests, enlarged prostate, etc. But the dramatic increase in my night time urination correlates with the begining of my my induction.
Is this a normal side effect of induction? Will it go away? Are there things that I can do to address this? Thank you again for the great Blog. You have been a source of great information and an inspiration.
Yes, drinking more water and the release of water stores in your muscles can happen when you start livin' la vida low-carb. That's a VERY GOOD thing to happen and is a positive sign that you are well on your way to being happy and healthy on the low-carb life. KEEP IT UP!!!
OTTAWA CITIZEN IS ON A ROLL LATELY
I don't know what's gotten into the Ottawa Citizen newspaper lately, but they have published some absolutely fabulous columns on saturated fat being healthy and promoting low-carb diets as a way for their readers to get healthy. AMAZING! They continue this trend with an article entitled "Good Food, Bad Food" which examines what Gary Taubes wrote in Good Calories, Bad Calories to see if it makes sense. A good breakdown of the book is included and I couldn't help but smile when I saw this quote from Taubes referring to our diet now compared with our early human ancestors:
"It's not about what you do eat, it's about what you don't eat. And what you're not eating is what we didn't eat as a species until at the very least 2,000 years ago, and for foods like refined sugar, 200 years ago. I can't imagine how that could be unhealthy."
In other words, if eating a low-carb, high saturated fat diet kept Mr. Caveman lean and healthy all those years, what makes us think in modern society that a high-carb, low-fat diet will suddenly do the trick for us? The answer is IT WON'T! Makes me glad I'm livin' la vida low-carb, baby!
Do remember that outstanding "Happy Monday" column I shared with you last week from health and fitness advocate Nicki Anderson from Reality Fitness in Naperville, IL about her realization that there are other ways besides the low-fat diet to be healthy? Well, all you know what broke loose among her newsletter readers who thought Nicki had lost her mind.
Here are a few of the spirited responses she received:
"Nicki, are you saying you believe in all of that low-carb nonsense?"
"Nicki, you've never lent yourself to any particular doctrine when it comes to nutrition, you've always been very good at being general. Please, say you haven't gone to the 'dark side.'"
"What's this? You've gone low-carb on me?"
Ahhhh, welcome to my world, Nicki! LOL! Yes, the low-carb antagonists are letting her know what they think about her openness to lending credence to the low-carb lifestyle as a viable means for controlling weight and health. After all, she's seen people like me and others find GREAT SUCCESS eating this way.
But Nicki has stuck to her guns and made the following brilliant statement:
"The minute we say there is only ONE way to be healthy, we're in trouble," she said. "I am firmly convinced that although there are definite no-no's when it comes to lifestyle choices, often it's simply a matter of what makes sense for your body and your lifestyle."
And thus the choice is up to the individual to find what works for them, follow a proven plan that has been shown to genuinely help people, and then keep doing that for the rest of their life. This is my philosophy and something that Nicki Anderson has fully grasped as well.
For those who disagreed with what she wrote last week, Nicki offered this additional explanation of what she believes in this week's "Happy Monday" newsletter. This is REALLY AWESOME, so read it all the way through. ENJOY!
So here's the deal. For over 20 years I have been involved in some capacity in the health and fitness industry. I have watched nutritional trends come and go, and come and go and come and go. Many of these nutritional trends are calorie restricted diets that allow only enough food to keep your heart pumping.
When it comes to weight management and sustaining a healthy weight, it has never been about more than eating well, eating clean if you will and eating with color. Unfortunately, we have evolved to the point that the ONLY reason we exercise and eat "diet food" is to lose weight, period, end of statement. So we don't pay attention to eating for good health, only for weight loss.
We don't need "special" diet food to lose weight, we don't need hours of exercise and we sure as heck don't need super restricted diet's telling us what we can't eat. But a lot of people have made a lot of money off of the constant pounding message, "Eat what you want without gaining weight and actually lose weight!" and what has that miracle food been? Low-fat. Hmm, every person I know that has a fridge full of no-fat foods is battling the bulge. If we simply went back to basics, portion control and less sugar/processed foods, we'd be fine.
Here is what I have seen in my 20 plus years in the industry. And let me reiterate for my RD friends that read my Happy Monday newsletter. I know, I know, I'm not a Registered Dietitian, I am simply sharing my thoughts and experience, what I've read and of course, my humble opinion. :-)
But here's where we have gotten into trouble, whether it's low-fat, low-carb, low-sodium, low-protein, high-protein, high fiber, and on and on, we end up thinking whatever "program" we are on allows us carte blanche when it comes to quantity of food. In other words, when low-fat came around, every conceivable snack was created to be low-fat, it didn't matter if it was good for you or not, it was low-fat so people bought it and ended up eating it constantly. They figured, "If it's low-fat I can eat all I want!" Remember, the whole oat bran craze? Suddenly breads, cereals, crackers (again, all snack food) had copious amounts of oat bran. Again, another craze that ended up being pretty short lived.
Between you and me, I don't care if something is low-fat, low-carb, low-sugar, low-sodium, I am not going to use it as an excuse to overeat, and you shouldn't either. Low carb (when you look at the big picture) is not some wacky way out there practice, it is simply getting away from years of overimbibing in processed foods. Foods loaded with sugar are designed to help everyone lose weight, and to date, well our country is heavier than ever.
Low carb is no different than eating the way my family did 30 years ago, before processed carbohydrates became a food group and food of choice. Everyone looks at those that prescribe to the low carb philosophy as a bunch of whack-jobs, believe me there are plenty of zealots with every weight loss program, but YOU have to read between the hype and the health and make a smart choice.
Regardless of what philosophy you choose to follow, it has to be smart, healthy and can't be all about, "How much I can eat because it's low whatever." It DOESN'T MATTER! You should not overeat ever. Before all of this designer diet food, most folks ate healthy amounts of decent foods. Kids didn't walk around with a bag of "Combos" in their hand when I was a kid. Fast food was a once-in-a-while deal and chips and crackers we saved for parties 4x per year.
Any excuse to eat en masse is what the diet industry has perpetuated, so let's see if I can offer some succinct thoughts to help you on your road to a healthy lifestyle, whatever route you choose.
- Just because the labels on the front of boxes or cans, etc. says, "low" whatever, doesn't mean it's good for you nor does it mean you can eat all you want. Nor does it mean eating it will guarantee weight loss.
- Don't be fooled by labels that promise something. Oftentimes when it claims it's low in carbs or low in fat, you look at the side label with the nutrition information and it contains 3 servings which drastically changes the actual nutrition info.
- No matter what program you follow, or what "special" foods you buy, quantity will always matter, you eat too much, you will gain weight, period, end of statement. Also, it's about quality. I buy as much organic, whole rich foods as I can, when I can.
- I attended a lecture by Jose Antonio, who is a food scientist and he said, "Do you know you cannot overeat protein, but you can easily over eat carbohydrates?" Processed carbohydrates are loaded with sugar and often cause a withdrawal affect so that you find yourself always going back for more.
- At holiday parties, stay away from puffed pastries, and instead of overdoing on cheese and crackers, have cheese with canteloupe or cheese and veggies. You'll fill up more quickly and stay satisfied for a longer period.
- If you choose to drink alcohol, always have one 8 oz. glass of water for every drink. You'll most likely drink less and stay well hydrated.
I continue to read and expand my knowledge of the human body and the effect that exercise and nutrition has on it. It's fascinating stuff, I'm telling you. I continue to be amazed at what new studies reveal and some old studies continue to be solid. But at the end of the day, it's about finding what's best for you and what allows you to stay healthy and well. If you're chronically overweight you know whatever you're doing isn't working for you, change it, experiment, explore, read and in the end, pick the healthiest choice for you!
Cheers and Good health!
THANK YOU for reiterating this message again, Nicki, because it is one that more and more people like you should be coming to grips with. Those who actually investigate what livin' la vida low-carb is are often surprised by what they see--this way of eating is a normal, natural, healthy, whole foods dietary approach that looks nothing like the way plans like the Atkins diet are typically portrayed in the media and by so-called health "experts."
As more and more medical and nutrition professionals read Good Calories, Bad Calories, then we'll be seeing others like Nicki Anderson having an epiphany moment where everything they've always believed is challenged. And that is where the rubber meets the road as we seek to overcome the needless objects to the amazingly healthy low-carb lifestyle.
Two Different Diet Documentaries, One Unified Low-Carb Message
The lingering aftershocks of the September 2007 release of Gary Taubes' blockbuster book Good Calories, Bad Calories has only just begun. Over the next year, there will be at least two major pro-low-carb documentary films to be released that will share the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb with the masses unlike anything that has ever hit movie theaters before. The truth will be laid out for all the world to see and quite frankly I am waiting with pins and needles to see these films do their thing.
Complementing the work of Steve Yu's INSPIRED: The Movie, which has more of a motivational message in mind for viewers who want to make essential changes in their lifestyle to transform their entire outlook on life, there are two other projects underway and likely to release sometime in 2008 that are geared more towards the actual dietary changes that are needed to bring about meaningful results for people struggling with diabetes, obesity, and related diseases.
The first documentary is CJ Hunt's In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet. I've shared with you about this incredible journey to find the best possible diet for humans to live on by a man who once died at the age of 24 and was given a new lease on life. Hunt is now using his skills as a professional filmmaker to illuminate the lessons he has learned about healthy living.
You'll recall this blog post from a few months ago when he asked the readers of my blog whether livin' la vida low-carb was just another diet you've tried to lose weight or if it is something more than that. Most of you know how much low-carb changed my life for the better, so it is MUCH more to me than just a simple weight loss diet. Telling everyone I know about the miracle of low-carb is the very mission of my life right now and I wouldn't have it any other way.
CJ Hunt is also on a mission with his movie and has finally revealed a little taste of what he's been working on for everyone to enjoy. Here's a little snippet of In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet he posted today at YouTube. Be sure to leave a comment about the video, give it a 5-star rating if you liked it, and add it to your favorites. Sign up for updates from CJ Hunt about this exciting film, including more clips and news about the forthcoming release.
The second documentary is one that I only recently learned about. It's billed as the "anti-SuperSize Me Movie" because the filmmaker couldn't stand how Morgan Spurlock perverted the numbers in his breakout documentary a few years back to force culpability for obesity on McDonald's and the fast food industry. While they are certainly not completely blameless in this epidemic, ignoring the role of the individual and what they are putting in their mouths is irresponsible.
That's why comedian Tom Naughton has created a new documentary called Fat Head. Right now there is not a working web site, but Naughton has secured the URL FatHead-Movie.com when there is content to be displayed. Keep checking back at that location for more information about this film.
There is a brief, but very pointed 2 1/2 minute video from Naughton featuring a sneak peek at Fat Head that has YouTube all abuzz right now. Check it out:
Go to the direct link to the video on YouTube and leave comments, rate the video, and make it one of your favorites. Did you see what he wrote in the "About This Video" section for this clip? WHOA!
"Guess what? Fat and cholesterol don't cause heart disease. The theory was based on bogus science from the very beginning."
YEAH BABY, that's what I'm talking about!!! Tom Naughton is sharing pure unadulterated dietary truths and that has to make people who still buy into the low-fat lie absolutely shaking in their boots. Ornish, Fuhrman, McDougall, Oz...EAT YOUR HEART OUT!!!
I have a feeling this movie is gonna get a LOT of attention, especially when Naughton nails down a major movie distributor willing to give Fat Head the spotlight it deserves. Just you wait and see! In the meantime, sign up for updates on Fat Head and take a look at his other clips "Blaming Fast Food," (why McDonald's isn't to blame for making you fat) "Spurlockian Bologna," (how Morgan Spurlock fudged the calorie numbers in SuperSize Me and "The Guy From CSPI" (a hilarious spoof of Michael Jacobsen from the Center for Science in the Public Interest).
My favorite clip is "The McGovern Report" where a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet was created because of politics and not any scientific evidence. The USDA followed suit and decided to create low-fat dietary guidelines based on overzealous bureaucracy rather than solid sound data. Dr. Mary Dan Eades and Mary Enig, noted low-carb supporters, appear in this video.
I will be watching an advance copy of this documentary soon and blogging more about it as it gets closer to being available for public release. Also, Tom Naughton has agreed to an interview here at my blog, so I'll be bringing that to you soon as well.
Let's show our support for these two different documentaries with one unified low-carb message. With success will come accessibility to the masses and the furthering of the uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring theme that low-carb living is indeed a viable long-term and permanent solution to the weight and health problems modern society faces. Now more than ever we can grab this bull by the horns and run with it!
Thanks to CJ Hunt and Tom Naughton, that's EXACTLY what we're about to do!
11-29-07 UPDATE: A reader named Richard asked some interesting questions regarding Tom Naughton's upcoming anti-SuperSize Me movie in the comments section of this blog post. I wanted to give Tom an opportunity to respond and here's what he wrote:
Hi, Jimmy -
Sure, I'd be happy to answer the comments:
First off, as a former journalist and voracious reader (40-50 books per year, plus magazines, online articles, etc.) I would never suggest - and didn't - that anyone consider watching my film as a substitute for reading Gary Taubes' book. I began this project over a year ago, before I'd ever heard of his book, and I plowed through a dozen books and more articles than I'd care to count as part of my research. Read, people! Read, read, read!
I haven't read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" yet because my wife informed me there will soon be a copy under our Christmas tree, so I can't honestly tell you where Taubes and I would agree or disagree. But I will offer my take on your questions.
Exercise is not the only key to losing weight - there is no single key - but it's an important component. Our diets have changed for the worse in the past several decades, but our activity level has changed even more. When my brother was constructing pools for a living, he was, by his own admission, an eating machine. He was also muscled and cut like a wide receiver. Later, when he became a disk jockey, he ballooned up even though he was eating less.
The honest low-carb proponents, like Dr. Mike Eades, state specifically in their books that to lose weight you must create a calorie deficit. Exercise can and should be part of that deficit. Exercise also increases your output of human growth hormone, which helps to burn fat, and builds your muscles, which also helps to burn fat. And if you don't exercise at all, I don't care how thin you are - you're not healthy.
If you think research funded by government is somehow less biased than other research, you haven't been paying attention. The grain-based, low-fat diet theory is specifically endorsed by our government, and they use federal funding - or fear of losing it - to bludgeon researchers into supporting the theory. I recently spoke with Dr. Kilmer McCulley - who was fired from Harvard for disagreeing with the lipid hypothesis - and he told me the university bigwigs were afraid they'd lose their government funding if they kept him around. That's your government at work. I'm sure we would all love to see honest government funding of health research, but to date, government involvement has been more of a problem than a solution.
As for my approach being mean, well, that's a rather strong statement to make without having seen the film! In the film, I recount my own history of becoming fat as a teenager and then spending much of my adult life trying to lose weight. If anyone has sympathy for fat people, it's me.
But accepting fat people for who they are - including their right to choose pleasure over long-term health - isn't mean. Trying to convince them they should all prefer to be thin - which is a white, upper-class attitude left over from our Puritan heritage - well, that is mean. That's trying to impose someone else's value system on them.
The desire to be thin is hardly universal. In fact, as Dr. Oliver explains in his book, in many cultures being fat is considered a sign of beauty and success. My wife worked in Africa for two years and was surprised to learn that when girls approach marrying age, their parents try to fatten them up to make them more appealing to men. Among African-Americans, describing a woman as "thick" is a compliment. In an episode of my favorite sitcom ("Scrubs"), a white doctor about to go on his first-ever date with a black woman asks a black doctor for advice. "Oh, it's just like dating a white girl," his black friend answers, "But if she asks, 'Does this dress make my butt look big?' you better answer 'Hell, yeah!'"
As for diabetes and obesity, of course there's an association; where you see one, you often see the other. There's also an association between tobacco-stained teeth and lung cancer, but no one thinks brown spots on teeth cause lung cancer. They're both caused by smoking.
Loading up on sugar and starch can make you fat, and can also lead to diabetes. My point is that being fat does not cause diabetes. According to the government, I am (or was when I started filming) obese, and yet my triglycerides were only 70. Meanwhile, my rail-thin father-in-law developed Type II diabetes at age 60. He loves sugar and starch. I don't.
Thanks for you questions, and thanks, Jimmy, for the chance to address them.
THANK YOU for providing feedback, Tom! I'll be interviewing Tom Naughton about his film very soon, so keep reading to see that in the near future. THANKS for the questions, Richard!
I'm sure most of us are already thinking about that Thanksgiving turkey, spending time with our families, and watching some down and dirty football later this week. But before you get into full holiday mode, check out the very latest update on Gary Taubes' bestselling health book Good Calories, Bad Calories. With Christmas about a month away and New Year's resolutions coming up soon thereafter, the positive impact of this outstanding book is expected to continue on well into 2008.
Here's the latest news and info on Taubes and his book:
QUIRKS & QUARKS RADIO INTERVIEW WITH GARY TAUBES
Gary Taubes is still out on the speaking circuit promoting Good Calories, Bad Calories and his latest interview was on the "Quirks & Quarks" radio show with Bob McDonald on CBC Radio over the weekend. Listen to the entire interview by clicking here. Taubes is in perfect form just as he has been in most of his interviews over the past couple of months.
TAUBES BOOK TO BE FEATURED IN MAGAZINES IN JANUARY 2008
After a book has been out on the market for 90 days, generally the trend for media exposure starts to slow down. But not Good Calories, Bad Calories. I just learned that the book will be featured in TWO magazines coming in January 2008. The first one is Ladies Home Journal which will hit the diet-conscious female market at the PERFECT time for those interested in eating healthy and losing weight. The second one is the Delta Airlines in-flight magazine, a unique opportunity to reach a captive audience of people traveling that month. Be looking for these feature stories and more coming in 2008.
GARY TAUBES ANSWERS A READER'S QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS BOOK
Ever since the release of Good Calories, Bad Calories in late September 2007, questions abound from so many of my readers that they want to learn more about the intricacies of what Gary Taubes wrote about. Although I started a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the book at my forum, some people have had some specific questions that they wanted Taubes to answer directly. He has been gracious enough to answer a few of them for me, including the following:
1. What is his evidence on whether saturated fat is good for you or bad (because it seemed much less clear and he said so in the last chapter)?
TAUBES: I thought I was pretty clear that saturated fat is almost assuredly harmless.
2. People I know who used the Atkins Diet lost a lot of weight, quit the diet, and gained it back. I know that the research is similar: most, though not all people on any diet lose a lot of weight but gain it back. But I don't understand why almost everyone who uses the Atkins Diet (obviously not including Jimmy Moore) quits it and then gains the weight back.
Why do you think they quit it when the Atkins Diet is very successful at helping people lose weight and doesn't expect you to be hungry all the time? This is a real question, not an argument in favor of anything; I'm not a fundamentalist and don't have a "position"about what is and isn't good to eat.
TAUBES: I think people quit the diet because it's difficult to give up foods you love, without a very good reason. (I liken it to quitting smoking without the knowledge that cigarettes give you lung cancer, but if you've never smoked, that won't mean much to you.) The medical establishment tells us all diets work by cutting calories, so it doesn't matter what we eat less of so long as we eat less. Our physicians tell us the diet will kill us. And then we crave foods that everybody else gets to eat.
So we start having a little dessert at dinner, because everyone else is having it. We have a few bites of our wives' or girlfriends' pasta, because it looks so good. Then just one bite of the warm bun that the waiter brings us before dinner, or a few sips of the ice cold beer after a softball game, and the next thing we know we're back to eating carbs. Imagine trying to quit smoking, if no one ever told you that cigarettes were bad for you, if all your friends smoked, and they thought it was ridiculous that you didn't. All these things contribute to people falling off the diet. This is what happened to me the first time I tried it.
I think if people were told carbohydrates make them fat, they would find it easier to remain on the diet. Or at least when they fall off it, they would know what to expect and why. Another possible factor is that people try to do the diet low-fat or low-calorie, and so this might leave them hungrier or more lethargic. I don't know, but it's possible. This is one of the things I'd like to see research on in an ideal world.
3. I loved Gary Taubes's book, and I immediately quit eating flour and sugar, and immediately started to lose weight. The question is, what are the most healthy things I should eat instead of all that bread, pasta, and sweets? I think Taubes is probably right that we don't have a scientific answer for that yet because scientists are just beginning to take a look at it.
TAUBES: I agree we don't have a scientific answer. I eat a lot of meat, but that's just my own preference. Every once in a while I get a perverse urge to eat fish and see if I feel any healthier doing so and then I backslide to the meat. It's quite possible that it doesn't make much difference. My gut feeling is that non-carb foods are mostly neutral, and so once you remove the negative effect of these carbohydrates any other dietary variations will have very minimal effect on your health and longevity.
What I think you'll find after awhile is that you don't need to replace the bread, pasta and sweets anymore than an ex-smoker needs to find something to replace cigarettes. After a few weeks, you stop missing them. (My wife used to ask me if I missed pasta, and my reply was "not as much as I miss cigarettes and I quit smoking in 1997.") After a few years, you can't really imagine any good reason to eat them. If your experience is anything like mine, you'll lose your sweet tooth after awhile and with it any urges you might have to eat sweets.
BLOGGERS GO CRAZY OVER 'GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES'
There's been a ton of buzz happening within the blogosphere over Good Calories, Bad Calories and it's not all that bad either. The following is just a quick sampling of the ones that caught my eye:
TAUBES TAKES ON CHALLENGE OF 'MISSING' EXERCISE STUDY
One of the criticisms being thrown at Gary Taubes is that he cherry-picked the studies he cites in Good Calories, Bad Calories. In fact, one of my readers recently left a comment at my blog inquiring about specific research that was missing from the book. Here's what the reader wrote in his comment:
The Keim study took 2 groups of overweight women and had them on various exercise and diet regimes. The interesting part is the group of women who started on a weight maintenance diet with no exercise for 2 weeks. This established the baseline number of calories necessary for them to maintain their weight. They then stayed on this diet for the next 12 weeks but added treadmill exercise for 6 days each week. They lost an average of 0.5kg per week.In his NY magazine article
Taubes wrote, "As for those people who insist that exercise has been the key to their weight-loss programs, the one thing we’d have to wonder is whether they changed their diets as well." Well, in this case they most certainly did not change their diet and exercise sure seems like it was the key to their losing weight.
Keim NL, Barbieri TF, Van Loan MD, Anderson BL. Energy expenditure and physical performance in overweight women: response to training with or without caloric restriction. Metabolism 1990;39:651–8
Taubes did not reference this paper in either GCBC or his New York Magazine article. I would be very interested in his take on the study as it seems to directly contradict his hypothesis that exercise does not lead to weight loss.
Here was Gary Taubes' response to my reader's concerns:
I only have the abstract to go by, but the primary issue here is what is known as an "intervention effect." You change somebody's life in one way by giving them an intervention -- in this case, diet or diet plus exercise -- and you change it in many others as well. You have to intervene to get them to change their behavior, and it's excruciatingly difficult to effect that intervention so that you they only change one factor in their lives, and not multiple related factors.
For instance, say, you tell them you want them to exercise but not eat any more food than you give them. So now, you've instructed, in effect, them to exercise more and live with the hunger (assuming, as I suggest, that expending energy results in a compensatory urge to replete it). This living with hunger concept may not be something they were doing prior to the study, so you've changed their behavior in two ways. And maybe they do so successfully for 12 weeks, but could they keep it up. You don't know.
As for changing their diet, we do not know that these women did not. Certainly we don't know for "certain" as your reader suggests. One problem is that two weeks is not enough to establish weight stability and a weight maintenance diet. So if they were eating donuts, candy, soda, other sweets and other high glycemic index carbs prior to coming into the study, and then they were put on the weight maintenance diet (which might not have included such treats and so the quality of the carbs changes) the effect seen afterward that is assumed to be from exercise, could indeed be a longer term effect of this change in the quality of carbohydrates they were consuming.
And even though you've only told them to exercise, it is quite possible that they take the opportunity, now that they are exercising, to change their diet on their own in subtle ways. They decide, for instance, to forego their evening cocktail, for instance, or to switch from Coke to Diet Coke. This is a problem with all diet and exercise studies. Because you can't do them blinded, the subject knows what their intervention is and they will change their life in ways you can't control for.
Blinding is considered absolutely necessary in drug studies to make sure that the effect you see is indeed from the drug you're testing. Blinding is actually equally necessary in diet and exercise studies, people just pretend it isn't because it can't be done. The key point is that it's very tricky to do these studies correctly so that you control for all the other variables and test for only one. It's effortless to ignore the complications and interpret them to suit your preconceived opinions.
READER WANTS TO KNOW TAUBES' RESPONSE TO CRITIC
It's not surprising that Gary Taubes would have his critics since he is challenging the conventional wisdom of the status quo regarding diet and health. He could probably have a full-time job of answering all of these opposing viewpoints and he does so as much as he can. Here's one that a reader was concerned went unanswered:
I have been a low carber since May, 2000 but have only recently been mining your website. I have not yet had an opportunity to read Mr. Taubes' book but have been following the discussion on your website and listened/watched links.
In a [non-diet related] discussion group to which I subscribe, Gary Taubes' credibility has been questioned based on the article by Michael Fumento written in March of 2003 in response to Gary Taubes' earlier NY Times Magazine article.
It was pointed out that Michael Fumento's has had a good track record at separating real science from phony science as evidenced in his books "The Myth of Heterosexual Aids" and "Science Under Siege: How the Environmental Misinformation Campaign Is Affecting Our Lives."
The following was posted as a sample from the article:
"Taubes proved as adept at clipping data as at clipping quotes. Thus he claimed that one of the 'reasons to suggest that the low-fat-is-good-health hypothesis has now effectively failed the test of time' is 'that the *percentage* of fat in the American diet has been decreasing for two decades.'
"That's true, but irrelevant. The amount of fat consumed has been steadily climbing, as has consumption of all calories. Individual caloric consumption jumped from 3,300 calories per day in 1970-79 to 3,900 in 1997, an 18 percent increase. Per-person consumption of fat grams increased from 149 to 156, a 4-5 percent increase. 'We're eating just too darned much of everything,' says [John] Farquhar [a Stanford University cardiologist]."
Are you aware of any articles or interviews in which Mr. Taubes has responded to Mr. Fumento's article? Many thanks for any information you can give me.
Actually, yes, I am aware of an excellent response that Gary Taubes provided to Fumento who was merely foaming at the mouth to stand up for the same old tired arguments of the status quo. When you have people like this fighting tooth and nail for what we've always been doing with little results, then is it any wonder why we're still just as fat and sick as ever?
LIVES POSITIVELY CHANGED FOR THE BETTER BY TAUBES BOOK
It was bound to happen and quite frankly I'm not surprised--PEOPLE ARE CHANGING THEIR LIVES because of the message of Good Calories, Bad Calories. Whenever you are challenged with clear-cut evidence backed up by the science as is presented in this book, it's almost impossible for it to NOT change you. Here is the first of two examples from my readers:
I just finished Gary Taubes book, Good Calories, Bad Calories; I now know more than I ever wanted to know about the history of diets but still don't know if you can have a glass of wine or not or if he thinks one should use lard instead of butter as he said on Larry King. After all that reading I guess I'm back to the South Beach thing. Maybe you could answer my question. Thanks!
Sure, you can have wine, but keep in mind your body will need to burn off the alcohol and sugars in the wine you consume before fat-burning can commence. Be sure to read Dr. Arthur Agatston's book from cover to cover to make sure you are doing his plan exactly. Best wishes to you! And here's the second:
Jimmy,
I got absolutely fascinated with this whole subject when I read a review of Gary Taubes's book. That got me thinking, and I started the South Beach diet. My approach has been more Atkins since I've learned more. In under five weeks I've lost 14 pounds. I am six feet tall and weighed 202 when I started. I'm also feeling better in many ways.
Gary's book is one of the most thought-provoking I've ever read. It's hard to resist trying to share this with others. Thanks for your blog. It seems like a terrific resource.
And CONGRATULATIONS to you for allowing Gary Taubes' book to change your life like it has. Keep up the GREAT work!!!
THE PERFECT QUOTE FOR 'GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES'
Hi Jimmy. I think the following quote pretty much sums up the thrust of "Good Calories, Bad Calories":
I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
And this is precisely what Gary Taubes was communicating throughout Good Calories, Bad Calories. The bad science is favored over the good, quality research for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is protecting the financial interests of the manufacturing industry providing high-carb junk to the tune of billions of dollars in profits annually. You can't mess with that kind of gravy train without a fight, but Taubes is certainly shining a light on it!
Got any Gary Taubes news to share with me? Feel free to e-mail it to livinlowcarbman@charter.net anytime. If you have been impacted by the message of Good Calories, Bad Calories, then I'd love to hear your story and share it with my readers. Keep reading to stay up on all the latest news and information on this groundbreaking book!
Sometimes it takes a singular event to shake people back into reality when the lines between fact and fiction become blurry and unclear. That's precisely what has happened in the last six weeks since the hottest health book of the year Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes was released to the public with all the unconventional, counterintuitive information contain therein that was gathered from more than five years worth of research. And the evidence is speaking for itself as people are finally being told the truth about carbohydrate restriction and how eating fat, even saturated fat, is indeed an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.
Best of all, real lives are being changed for the better because of this remarkable new book. Take a look at the following e-mail I received from a reader whose shared how her life was forever changed for the better as a result of reading Taubes' masterpiece. Here's what she wrote to me in her e-mail:
Dear Jimmy,
I have never written on a blog or to a blogger before in my life. But, as I recently found your blog site and have been reading through your posts, I wanted to share my story with you.
I have ALWAYS bought into the low-fat hype as gospel, ever since I was 19 and went through a depressed period in my life that caused me to develop anorexia. Now, granted, most people don't take the low-fat diet to that extreme (I am 5'4" and at my LOWEST was 85 pounds!), but the bottom line is that because I was combining such a low calorie/low fat diet with obsessive exercise, it was relatively easy for me to lose weight and keep it off. Of course I use the term 'easy' in the loosest definition imaginable. I was starving myself to death because of emotional issues - trying to stay healthy was the furthest thing from my mind.
It didn't help that my family is made up of emotional eaters - my mother and two of my sisters are very overweight and my other sister is like me - starving herself to stay in control of her life.
Even later, through my early to mid-twenties as my weight stabilized around 105 to 110 or so, I was able to stay at that weight while eating extremely low fat/high carb food. But, again, I was physically hungry all the time, not to mention pretty NUTS - planning out my meals by the minute, counting calories obsessively, refusing to let even a sliver of anything that might have fat in it past my lips. I thought if I didn't make it to the gym on a particular day, I would surely wind up gaining weight.
As I got older, I was able to work through a lot of my issues regarding food (although I was still a control freak about it) and even gained enough weight to be considered pretty normal looking. I got married and had my son (thank GOD my body recovered from the abuse I put it through in order to be able to carry my baby.) But, still even after having him, I was able to lose the weight pretty quickly with a low fat diet. Still obsessing over whatever I put into my mouth, though. Still angry with myself if I couldn't exercise every day and avoid gaining weight from the tiny sliver of pie I might have allowed myself the night before.
Now, I am 33 and divorced and for the first time in my life, I was suddenly having difficulties with my weight (like, I am up to 127 - the horror!). So alarming for someone like me - who has remained in strict control of my weight and my life for so long. I had recently starting dating (and cooking) for someone I cared about tremendously and I realized that my diet had changed dramatically to include many more carbs than I was used to eating on my own. You know the way to a man's heart is his stomach, right? :-)
My mother sent me an e-mail a few weeks ago about the Gary Taubes book. At first, I dismissed it - the whole idea about it was so crazy - eat a lot of fat to get skinny? Aerobic exercise is meaningless for weigh loss? I would be challenging the very foundations of my identity by even entertaining these notions. But, whether it was my recent inability to lose weight or just the timing - I bought the book to check it out.
I started reading everything I could about Taubes and his opinions and his research. And, it was like someone suddenly pointing out to me that the only reason I thought the sky was blue was because everyone on TV and in magazines and on the radio was telling you so. There was actually a good possibility that it was green. It was literally blowing my mind to think that I (and most of the health gurus) had been totally wrong. That all this low fat stuff was based on shoddy research and corporate agendas. And, as I read through the book IT MADE SENSE.
I started eating the low carb/high fat way (which was REALLY REALLY hard for me....) a few weeks ago. And, I feel better than I have in months. But, although I have not lost a tremendous amount of weight (I feel slimmer due to the water weight, definitely), probably because I really don't have a lot to lose to get to my ideal weight, I no longer feel like a slave to my emotional food demons. Or to the gym. Yeah, now I have to worry about carbs a bit - but the food I am eating is real, solid, satisfying food. I am no longer hungry - physically or emotionally. And, the more I read about Taubes and his research (and related research by others), the more confident I am that I am doing what is good for my health, too.
My point is that if someone who was as crazy and obsessed about the low fat/high carb diet dogma as I was can change their ways, then ANYBODY can do it. Please share my story on your site as you see fit and feel free to respond! As an avid writer and recent low carb convert, I think your forum is phenomenal.
This is the kind of transformational story you WON'T be hearing about in the mainstream press. But this woman is merely one example of how Good Calories, Bad Calories is changing the way people think about what a healthy diet really is. If the past three decades has taught us anything, then it should be that fat-phobia is indeed foolish. Fat is your best friend and it is the excessive amount of refined and even those highly-touted whole grain carbohydrates that you should be leery of. That's the clear-cut message that Gary Taubes delivers throughout his book.
I've been keeping you up-to-date on all the latest news regarding Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories book and you can access those previous posts by clicking here. There's still so much happening with the book that it's time to give you yet another update about what's going on. ENJOY!
TAUBES RESPONDS TO 'CLASSIC JUNK SCIENCE' STUDY ON GLYCEMIC INDEX
Examples of the kind of bad research that Gary Taubes wrote about in his book abound and actually are easier to identify now. Take this Junkfood Science blog post about a so-called "study" on the glycemic index and diabetes. One of my readers was very concerned that the conclusions made about consuming carbohydrates ran directly counter to what Taubes wrote in Good Calories, Bad Calories. But leave it to Gary Taubes to explain why studies like this one published in scientific journals are bogus. Here's his analysis of the study:
It's an association study. They measure glycemic index of the foods people ate and follow them for however many years. Such studies tell you nothing about cause. (See my recent NYT Magazine article "Unhealthy Science.")
In this case, for instance, if people who were constitutionally predisposed to gain weight, who will also have an increased tendency to become diabetic, altered their eating habits to maintain their weights -- say, they ate less white bread, drank less beer, etc. -- then this would "confound" the results because the study would identify these people as eating the lower glycemic index foods and yet being more likely to become diabetic.
The problem with all such studies is that if there is any self-selection involved -- and diet is all about self-selection -- and if the self-selection is related to the endpoint being studied -- in this case diabetes -- then the results you get will be impossible to interpret. These people interpret them to fit their preconceptions, and that's classic junk science.
The only way to establish whether sugar or high glycemic index carbs cause diabetes is to do a randomized controlled trial. Take a few thousand people, randomize half of them to a low carb, low sugar diet, tell the other half to continue eating the massive amount of carbs (150-odd pounds of sugar a year, etc.) they're already eating, and follow them for say a half dozen years and see which group has more diabetes. They should fund such a trial to find out the results.
If health and weight management are the true objectives of those researching dietary concepts like carbohydrate consumption and the glycemic index, then why wouldn't they want to fund such randomized, controlled trials as Taubes has suggested? Unless those things don't take precedence and maybe protecting the financial interests of big corporations does...hmmmm?
AUDIO OR ABRIDGED VERSION OF 'GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES' COMING
Many of you have asked about an audio version as well as a more reader-friendly version of Good Calories, Bad Calories to share with your friends and family members who are more likely to check it out in these formats. So far the publisher Knopf, a division of Random House Publishers, has not indicated that either of these is forthcoming anytime soon. But if the book performs well during the upcoming holiday season and shows sustained sales into the new year, then perhaps an audio book will be in order.
Keep in mind that would be one long audio book since Good Calories, Bad Calories is still about 400 pages even after you remove the references. So an abridged version of the audio would be warranted. The greater likelihood is that a paperback and even a mass paperback version of the book will be released about one year from now that will reduce the size of the book to expose its message to a broader audience. When you see this happen, then all of us should start gobbling up copies and distribute them to everyone we know who has weight and health problems.
DR. EADES APPLAUDS TAUBES' RESPONSE TO KOLATA CRITICISM
In my previous Taubes updates, I shared with you a critical review that Taubes' fellow New York Times journalist colleague Gina Kolata had to share about Good Calories, Bad Calories. Let's just say she wasn't impressed. Taubes then responded to this negative criticism which was again tersely answered by Kolata, who has her own self-interests to look after regarding the diet hypothesis she put forth in her book Rethinking Thin.
Respected nutrition expert and Protein Power author Dr. Mike Eades was pleased with Taubes' response to Kolata and added a few more observations of his own as only he can. Dr. Eades was not at all pleased that the New York Times allowed Kolata another opportunity to slam Taubes and didn't pull any punches about it either:
Gary should have been allowed his rebuttal without her refutation of his rebuttal. That would have been equal time for all, with her getting four times the space that Gary did. But that’s not the way the media works when one of their own is attacked. Nor is it the way the media works in general when one of its shibboleths - in this case, the idea that carbs may be unhealthful - is under attack.
Keep spreading the truth, Dr. Eades! We need strong voices like yours to break through loud and clear for these imbeciles to wake up and listen!
CAN I HAVE SOME WINE WITH MY HIGH-FAT, LOW-CARB DIET?
The best part about a book like Good Calories, Bad Calories being released to the general public is it fosters an open discussion of livin' la vida low-carb in the form of some very intriguing questions. Here's an example of that in an e-mail I received from a reader:
I just finished Gary Taubes book, Good Calorie-Bad Calories; I now know more than I ever wanted to know about the history of diets but still don't know if you can have a glass of wine or not or if he thinks one should use lard instead of butter as he said on Larry King. After all that reading I guess I'm back to the South Beach thing....wish I knew his email address! Or maybe you could answer my question.
While I don't pretend to speak for Gary Taubes, I did feel confident about what he would say regarding this inquiry. Here was my response:
THANKS for writing! If you'd like an occasional glass of wine and your blood sugar can remain stable from it so you are not producing high levels of insulin, then I'm sure Gary Taubes would tell you it is okay to drink it. It's all about finding how much your body can tolerate so you reduce insulin production which is at the heart of obesity and disease.
As for fat, butter and lard are both excellent ones for cooking as is coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, avocado oil, and others. Just stay away from margarine and other low-fat substitutes because they don't provide your body any nutritional benefit.
THANK YOU again for your e-mail! And pick up GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES to find out more about what Gary Taubes has been talking about.
Now they have about 17 minutes of snippets from the show you can watch by clicking here. Again, this was not the totality of the show, but a pretty good representation of what transpired. Dr. Mehmet Oz shows his arrogance, Joy Behar exhibits her ignorance, and "Biggest Loser" trainer Jillian Michaels exudes her intolerance of ideas that run counter to her own.
Whether you've seen the "Larry King" interview or not, you'll DEFINITELY want to watch this again to see what we're up against challenging the conventional wisdom. The status quo hates it!
TAUBES CALMS CONCERNS OF DISTRAUGHT READER OVER CANCER STUDY
Another example of alarmist research regarding cancer was recently released that had one of my readers who started livin' la vida low-carb last year in a tizzy. It was about the subject of cancer, something I've blogged about how changes in the diet may help with as has Gary Taubes in his book. Here's what my reader wrote:
Hi Jimmy,
Love your blog! A low carber by need myself (I follow Dr. Berstein's program since being diagnosed as a diabetic last March), I have to defend myself often from ignorant (misinformed) people who just don't believe that low-carb is healthy. Using Gary Taubes' masterpiece to back me up I have recently started 'educating' my surroundings a bit more strongly.
Today however, I am faced with the publication of the latest report on Diet and Cancer by the World Cancer Research Fund going against red meat, salt, energy dense foods (fat isn't mentioned explicitly but implied) and pro-exercise.
It would be great if Gary Taubes could comment on this report, as it seems to contradict his findings partially and is IMHO another piece of bad science. As I am not able to reach Gary, and I'm pretty sure you can: Could you ask him if he plans to comment (and post it if he does)?
As a matter of fact, he did have a comment about this study to share:
The report is typically disheartening. First, it concludes that excess fat is the primary risk factor for cancer, but then goes back to the 1900s to say that the cause of excessive fat is nothing more than eating too much or sedentary behavior.
It actually does talk about the role of insulin and insulin-like growth factor in cancer formation, a major step forward, but then comes down only on red and processed meat based on the same kind of meaningless observation studies I discussed in my recent NY Times Magazine article.
In fact, clinical trials have been done to test the hypothesis that eating more fiber or fruits and vegetables and less meat has any ability to prevent colon cancer -- the cancer that these experts say red meat causes -- and the trials have shown no effect.
So these experts ignore the clinical trials and instead focus on the observational studies. By not raising the role of insulin in fat accumulation, the report manages to do an excellent job of avoiding an explanation that would cover all their evidence. Instead, it's just more of the usual.
Insulin is credited with a role in cancer formation, but the carbohydrates that elevate insulin are not considered cancer-causing (although, of course, foods with dietary fiber are considered potentially cancer-preventing). Excess fat is credited with a fundamental role in cancer, but the insulin that causes us to accumulate excess fat is not discussed and so it's all about calories.
It's probably worth noticing that the authors are the usual suspects in this business and the report matches up well with the preconceptions they've had since the 1980s.
You hate to say FOLLOW THE MONEY when it comes to dietary research, but that seems to be where we are at right now in the oftentimes dicey world of bad science.
OTTAWA CITIZEN PRESENTS AN INTERESTING TIMELINE ABOUT FAT
Have you ever wondered why we got to be so fearful of fat in the first place? Well, take a trip down memory lane with a history lesson on dietary fat by reading this brilliant timeline published in the Ottawa Citizen explaining the evolution that has taken place since the 1960's. From the introduction of margarine as a replacement for butter to the trumpeting of omega-3 fats in 2007, this is one column you won't want to miss. Taubes' book is listed as part of the change in mindset regarding fat consumption.
NPR'S 'SCIENCE FRIDAY' PROGRAM INTERVIEWS GARY TAUBES
Gary Taubes was given an opportunity recently to appear on NPR's "Science Friday" with host Ira Flatow to talk about his book Good Calories, Bad Calories. Appearing on the program with Taubes was Dr. Robert Krauss from the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute in California. You'll recall I highlighted this study by Dr. Krauss regarding how low-carb is beneficial to cholesterol. In my previous blog interview with Taubes a few months ago, he described Dr. Krauss as "one of the smarter scientists in the metabolism field."
My favorite part of this interview on "Science Friday," which you can hear by clicking on the play button at the program link, is when Taubes rather bluntly stated "you need to eat carbs to get fat." I never really thought about that before, but there's a lot of truth in that statement since carbohydrates are the root cause of obesity and disease for so many people. Listen to the entire interview and smile if you're livin' la vida low-carb!
BRYANT STAMFORD DOES A HATCHET JOB ON 'GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES'
There are certain people who have access to a newspaper column and use that power they have been given to spread their absolute disgust and disdain for anything positive related to the healthy low-carb lifestyle. One such person is Bryant Stamford whose "Body Shop" column appears in the Louisville, KY-based Courier-Journal newspaper. I've previously blogged about his anti-Atkins drivel here and here.
Now he's at it again with this recent column where he attempts to discredit and rip apart Good Calories, Bad Calories bit by bit. In fact, Stamford hates low-carb so much that he doesn't even mention the name of the book in the first of a two-part column. He again repeated his ridiculous claim that this way of eating failed because people are now fatter than they've ever been. Um, then why isn't it the fault of the low-fat diet recommendations that have been hammered down our throats for three decades, Mr. Stamford? I can hardly wait for part two of this column--NOT!
Tell Bryant Stamford what you think about his idiocy regarding livin' la vida low-carb by sending him an e-mail at stamford@hanover.edu.
ANTHONY COLPO TAKES ON GARY TAUBES REGARDING HIS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Of all the people in the world who would oppose the concepts of Good Calories, Bad Calories, one person you would not name is Australian independent researcher Anthony Colpo. Once an ardent supporter of livin' la vida low-carb and the creator of an outstanding low-carb bodybuilders forum, Colpo's views have noticeably shifted this year as he moves away from the "metabolic advantage" that happens with a controlled-carbohydrate nutritional approach.
In light of that, it's probably not surprising that Colpo would make some strong statements against the new Taubes book at his forum. One of the members there asked Colpo what he thought about Good Calories, Bad Calories and Colpo responded in typical fashion from him:
"If Taubes' message is that the current obesity epidemic is not due to insufficient activity and/or excessive calories, but simply due to high carbohydrate consumption, then his message is complete bullsh*t."
There are at least 10 pages of comments discussing the book, although most of the people, including Colpo, have NOT read the book. READ THE BOOK, people, before making comments based on your own preconceived notions of what you think the book says. You'll save yourself a lot of embarrassment over a lack of knowledge. I'll be blogging more about Colpo's change of position on low-carb in a future post. Stay tuned!
THE FAT IS GOOD MESSAGE IS FINALLY GETTING OUT
I wanted to share an example of how the message presented in Good Calories, Bad Calories is now helping to shape the discussion regarding dietary fat, especially saturated fat. Once thought of as the great evil nemesis that leads to heart disease, Gary Taubes has opened a lot of eyes with what he uncovered in his research about saturated fat and it is making an impact on some popular diet and health media outlets.
Check out this Men's Health column entitled "What if Bad Fat Is Actually Good for You?" by Nina Teicholz. Absolutely, positively INCREDIBLE!!! You wouldn't have seen this kind of column in the 1980's or 1990's with people like Dr. Dean Ornish or Susan Powter out there claiming fat is why you're fat. Those days are becoming ancient history! Taubes' book is merely the beginning of the end for the low-fat lie.
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER DISCUSSION OF 'GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES' CONTINUES
Finally, you are invited to get in on the conversation about Good Calories, Bad Calories that we are having over at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum right now. In this chapter-by-chapter discussion, led by my intelligent and enthusiastic moderator Charles Washington, the members there are able to talk about what they learned in each chapter. So far we have covered the Prologue and Chapter 1. This week we'll be moving to Chapter 2 as we continue looking at each chapter one week at a time until we're finished. Won't you join us?
We'll keep updating you on a lot more news about Gary Taubes and his book Good Calories, Bad Calories as it continues to make a difference in the lives of doctors, nutritionists, and patients who are looking for a way to manage weight and health.
