A Little More Gary Taubes And A Video You Just Can't Miss

Gary Taubes gave an outstanding talk at UC Berkeley recently

Ever since the September 2007 release of his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, I have tried to keep you up-to-date on all the latest news I can find about Gary Taubes. Although it has slowed down considerably from a few months ago, there was one event in particular that you just can't miss.

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:

- Herself NYC LiveJournal page
- Ashley Anne's "Life Tonic" blog
- The "Eating Disorder Talk" blog
- CrossFit Oakland
- Gretchin Rubin's "The Happiness Project"
- Matt Metzgar's blog
- Ashworth University blog
- Jared Yaple's "From Woodside Court..." blog
- "What? Yeah..." blog
- "Self Help Addicts" blog
- iMisty.com
- The Complete Running Network
- The "Lose Weight Feel Great" blog
- Slashdot

WHAT ISRAEL RAMIREZ THINKS OF CARB/INSULIN THEORY

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."
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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!

Veronica Atkins Promises $10 Million To UC Berkeley For Childhood Obesity Research

Atkins pledged money to Pat Crawford and her researchers at UC Berkeley

In an official presentation at the 2007 California Childhood Obesity Conference in Anaheim, CA on Wednesday night, The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation agreed to pledge $10 million to the Center For Weight And Health at the University of California-Berkeley for research into eradicating childhood obesity.

The center's co-founder Pat Crawford, who is also co-director of the center, Cooperative Extension Nutrition Specialist in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health and Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology (whew, that's a mouthful for a title!), was thrilled by the donation from the widow of the late, great Dr. Robert C. Atkins and agreed to rename the center the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health as a small gesture of her appreciation for the much-needed funds.

"What distinguishes our center is our focus on the prevention of pediatric obesity, and we are so grateful that the Atkins Foundation is supportive of that," she said. "With this pledge, we'll be able to continue the important work we've been doing to help reverse the troubling epidemic of childhood obesity in this country."

Stephen M. Shortell, who serves as dean of the School of Public Health, said the timing of this pledge could not have been better to continue on the legacy of Dr. Atkins and the center for the "generations" to come.

"The Atkins Foundation support will significantly strengthen our ability to solve one of the nation's most intractable problems--the growing percentage of Americans who are overweight and obese," he said. "The foundation's commitment means that we will be able to touch thousands more lives with our interdisciplinary research and teaching that ranges from basic science research to community-wide interventions."

You will recall that Veronica Atkins has been quite the philanthropist over the past year or so providing funding to solid nutritional research that furthers the cause that Dr. Atkins was pursuing--namely eliminating obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more through the use of sound scientific methodology. Other benefactors of these dollars include The University of Connecticut, The University of Texas-Southwestern, and Dr. Atkins' alma mater at The University of Michigan.

While funding alone is NOT the answer to the childhood obesity problem that plagues our nation, I like the way Mrs. Atkins is being discerning about who gets the money and who doesn't. If the potential recipients are unwilling to even consider the positive benefits of livin' la vida low-carb as the starting point for their research, then it's a sure bet the funding will go elsewhere.

While the new Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health does not actually promote or advocate the Atkins low-carb nutritional approach in its research, they are most certainly open to a wide variety of ways for handling the obesity problem from different perspectives customized to the individual. The researchers there are adamant that obesity be examined at every point in the proverbial food chain, including where the food is produced and distributed, how it is handled in the process of bringing it to the market, and the unique role played by the health industry, public education and even the pesky media who has a knack for conveniently leaving out pertinent facts regarding the treatment of obesity.

Right now, there are 30 different ongoing research projects, inlcuding a program aimed at poor black children with Type 2 diabetes, the removal of sugary soft drinks from public schools, and the impact of the frequency of meals on the weight of teenage girls. These are the kind of studies that will be funded thanks to the generous donation from Mrs. Atkins.

"The center at UC Berkeley is a tribute to my husband's belief in the power of influencing public health outcomes, particularly in the battle against obesity," Veronica Atkins stated at the obesity conference on Wednesday evening. "On behalf of the Atkins Foundation, I am proud to partner with a center as active and accomplished as Berkeley's, and excited to support the ongoing advances of its outstanding researchers."

Mrs. Atkins was especially drawn to the preventative nature of the research being done at UC Berkeley and how those measures could be clearly explained to the public for easy implementation. In other words, Atkins Foundation executive director Abby Bloch said, it's more than just coming up with a few theories for dealing with obesity, but actually identifying solutions that will have a greater impact over the long-term.

"The researchers at the center are out in the trenches, in the community, working hands-on to help people have healthier lifestyles," she noted. "The commitment of these researchers to this area of research and the translational application into the community are very much on target with the mission and goal of the foundation."

The center will continue to be funded by $500,000 grants from the College of Natural Resources and the School of Public Health until Veronica Atkins passes away. At the time, the center will inherit her $10 million gift.

Lost in the debate over the long-term health benefits of livin' la vida low-carb is the fact that the science is indeed coming, as Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University recently said in my interview with him, to prove the veracity of this diet. All those people who thumb their nose up at this way of eating smugly proclaim that there are no real studies showing low-carb is a healthy diet for the long-term.

Because of the generosity of the lovely and gracious Veronica Atkins and the money her husband made from the sale of his diet books, the next 5, 10, and even 20 years should be VERY exciting to watch as we continue to learn more about how safe and effective the Atkins diet is not just for weight loss, but improving overall health as well. Ready or not, here it comes!