Lala's review
Good Calories, Bad Calories
by Gary Taubes
Lala's review
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
Lala's review
rating:
First the bad - this book is a slog, especially the first third of it. It definitely takes some effort to read.
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 for the idea that the dietary guidelines we Americans have been getting for the last forty years are not healthy and are making us fatter and less fit. He shows how obesity is considered a moral failing (laziness and lack of self-control) in this country, and how that prevents rational discussion and treatment of it. He shows that the so-called "diseases of civilization" inevitably appear with the arrival of processed sugar and flour. He argues that all calories are not equal (and that therefore you can't use a simple "burn more calories than you consume" strategy for weight loss) and that carbohydrate not only doesn't provide the same food value as proteins such as meat, but tha...more
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 for the idea that the dietary guidelines we Americans have been getting for the last forty years are not healthy and are making us fatter and less fit. He shows how obesity is considered a moral failing (laziness and lack of self-control) in this country, and how that prevents rational discussion and treatment of it. He shows that the so-called "diseases of civilization" inevitably appear with the arrival of processed sugar and flour. He argues that all calories are not equal (and that therefore you can't use a simple "burn more calories than you consume" strategy for weight loss) and that carbohydrate not only doesn't provide the same food value as proteins such as meat, but tha...more
