The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss (Why Intermittent Fasting Is the Key to Controlling Your Weight)

by Jason Fung

WE WEREN’T ALWAYS so obsessed with calories. Throughout most of human history, obesity has been rare. Individuals in traditional societies eating traditional diets seldom became obese, even in times of abundant food. As civilizations developed, obesity followed. Speculating on the cause, many identified the refined carbohydrates of sugar and starches. Sometimes considered the father of the low-carbohydrate diet, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826) wrote the influential textbook The Physiology of Taste in 1825. There he wrote: “The second of the chief causes of obesity is the floury and starchy substances which man makes the prime ingredients of his daily nourishment. As we have said already, all animals that live on farinaceous food grow fat willy-nilly; and man is no exception to the universal law.”