<![CDATA[Good Calories, Bad Calories]]>

false <![CDATA[Good Calories, Bad Calories]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1188790739m/1820055.jpg 1820055 6 In this groundbreaking book, the result of seven years of research in every science connected with the impact of nutrition on health, award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong. For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet with more and more people acting on this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues persuasively that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates (white flour, sugar, easily digested starches) and sugars–via their dramatic and longterm effects on insulin, the hormone that regulates fat accumulation–and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number. There are good calories, and bad ones. Good Calories These are from foods without easily digestible carbohydrates and sugars. These foods can be eaten without restraint. Meat, fish, fowl, cheese, eggs, butter, and non-starchy vegetables. Bad Calories These are from foods that stimulate excessive insulin secretion and so make us fat and increase our risk of chronic disease—all refined and easily digestible carbohydrates and sugars. The key is not how much vitamins and minerals they contain, but how quickly they are digested. (So apple juice or even green vegetable juices are not necessarily any healthier than soda.) Bread and other baked goods, potatoes, yams, rice, pasta, cereal grains, corn, sugar (sucrose and high fructose corn syrup), ice cream, candy, soft drinks, fruit juices, bananas and other tropical fruits, and beer. Taubes traces how the common assumption that carbohydrates are fattening was abandoned in the 1960s when fat and cholesterol were blamed for heart disease and then –wrongly–were seen as the causes of a host of other maladies, including cancer. He shows us how these unproven hypotheses were emphatically embraced by authorities in nutrition, public health, and clinical medicine, in spite of how well-conceived clinical trials have consistently refuted them. He also documents the dietary trials of carbohydrate-restriction, which consistently show that the fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be. With precise references to the most significant existing clinical studies, he convinces us that there is no compelling scientific evidence demonstrating that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease, that salt causes high blood pressure, and that fiber is a necessary part of a healthy diet. Based on the evidence that does exist, he leads us to conclude that the only healthy way to lose weight and remain lean is to eat fewer carbohydrates or to change the type of the carbohydrates we do eat, and, for some of us, perhaps to eat virtually none at all. The 11 Critical Conclusions of Good Calories, Bad Calories: 1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, does not cause heart disease. 2. Carbohydrates do, because of their effect on the hormone insulin. The more easily-digestible and refined the carbohydrates and the more fructose they contain, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being. 3. Sugars—sucrose (table sugar) and high fructose corn syrup specifically—are particularly harmful. The glucose in these sugars raises insulin levels; the fructose they contain overloads the liver. 4. Refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are also the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, and the other common chronic diseases of modern times. 5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating and not sedentary behavior. 6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter any more than it causes a child to grow taller. 7. Exercise does not make us lose excess fat; it makes us hungry. 8. We get fat because of an imbalance—a disequilibrium—in the hormonal regulation of fat tissue and fat metabolism. More fat is stored in the fat tissue than is mobilized and used for fuel. We become leaner when the hormonal regulation of the fat tissue reverses this imbalance. 9. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated, we stockpile calories as fat. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and burn it for fuel. 10. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity. 11. The fewer carbohydrates we eat, the leaner we will be. Good Calories, Bad Calories is a tour de force of scientific investigation–certain to redefine the ongoing debate about the foods we eat and their effects on our health. 2449723 25 9 2007 Good Calories, Bad Calories total:277|5:141|4:77|3:38|2:15|1:6| 277 1163 576 132 5 11 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 03 15:02:02 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 20:01:37 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 4 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 06 05:51:28 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 06 06:01:20 -0800 2007 My problem is this guy does not giv...more...]]> 5 3 false false Tue Oct 16 12:46:53 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 10:59:09 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 16 12:46:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 3 true false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 11 23:09:24 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 11 23:17:07 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 3 false false Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 17:53:36 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 10:26:37 -0800 2009
I have read about low-carb diets before, but nothing really convi...more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 21:19:29 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 21:33:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Dec 11 09:39:20 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 20 03:49:07 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 09:39:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Dec 29 20:07:07 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 20:18:29 -0800 2008

* Current guidelines in the U.S. advocating low-fat diets to reduce risk of heart disease, hypertension, athersclerosis, etc. are not supported by the science.

* The obesity and Type II diabetes epidemics in the U...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Dec 04 20:10:01 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 20:31:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 29 15:01:08 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 15:07:18 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false true Mon Dec 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 21:54:38 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 14:44:18 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 11:27:37 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 11:40:37 -0800 2008 That said, if you're interested in nutrition, or fitness, or biology or, as I am, debunking and exposing bad science, you should read this book.
Taubes makes a convincing case ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Feb 10 23:03:32 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 15:30:13 -0800 2008
Get off the low-fat, high-carb train because it's killing you. Why is it that we've been following the nutrition "experts'" advice for three decades now in the US, yet diabetes and obesity are skyrocketing? Why does their advice tell us ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 09:22:47 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 11:10:22 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jul 14 06:22:05 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 04:50:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Nov 30 10:19:23 -0800 2007 Tue Oct 23 09:13:43 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 07:35:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Dec 25 19:16:38 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 25 19:16:38 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 06:07:43 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 06:07:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 18:53:52 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 18:01:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 11:23:36 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 11:25:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1820055