Gary Taubes has a new book that explains why we get fat. Guess what? It has nothing to do with calories. Well, it does to some extent, but what should be obvious from the title of his previous work is that all calories are not equal.
So Taubes sets out to convince that calories alone do not explain our weight gain. Then he progresses on to basically say: meat is good. Carbs are bad. The first part is great the second part has yet to be proven (NY Times reviewer agrees.)
Ok, I'm already convinced that calories don't work. But I'll also say that low carb is effective for only some people. Yes, it is an answer for a very select subsection of the population. But the rest of us do not need a blanket prescription for low carb. We need to look at individual variation in food choices.
The D'Adamos had at least a little variety, although they based it all on blood type, which is only one factor in individual makeup. Now Peter D'Adamo has moved on to genotyping the diet, which is really cool and hopefully leads to more options. But it isn't the genes, it's the histones. They determine the activation of the genes. So maybe I'll get a jump on everyone and start promoting the Histone Diet (patent pending). Watch for it!
By the way, Taubes Good Calories book does a number on a lot of diet myths. It just concludes the way he wants it to conclude, because we don't have the perfect diet data yet.
So Taubes sets out to convince that calories alone do not explain our weight gain. Then he progresses on to basically say: meat is good. Carbs are bad. The first part is great the second part has yet to be proven (NY Times reviewer agrees.)
Ok, I'm already convinced that calories don't work. But I'll also say that low carb is effective for only some people. Yes, it is an answer for a very select subsection of the population. But the rest of us do not need a blanket prescription for low carb. We need to look at individual variation in food choices.
The D'Adamos had at least a little variety, although they based it all on blood type, which is only one factor in individual makeup. Now Peter D'Adamo has moved on to genotyping the diet, which is really cool and hopefully leads to more options. But it isn't the genes, it's the histones. They determine the activation of the genes. So maybe I'll get a jump on everyone and start promoting the Histone Diet (patent pending). Watch for it!
By the way, Taubes Good Calories book does a number on a lot of diet myths. It just concludes the way he wants it to conclude, because we don't have the perfect diet data yet.
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