Comments on: Taubes’ Big Fat Lies

By: Beth@WeightMaven

Beth@WeightMaven — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:43:54 +0000

Thanks Calvin! There are scientists doing good stuff in this area (see the Metabolism Society for one). What's I think is great is that Taubes is talking to the people who can do this research, so I think there's happening behind the scenes that we don't normally see in the blogosphere.

By: Calvin

Calvin — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:26:53 +0000

I love Taubes treatise and his support of the Lipophila theory. But in america he will never get anywhere with this Theory as long as he is he main proponent of it. He needs to get a very well trained conventional scientist that upholds his theory to be the upfront man/woman for him. In the US a layperson exposing scientific principles is dead in the water. If you want this movement to take hold please get a reputable scientist to publish data and to present at major scientific conferences. It has got to go mainstream instead of a s “pop culture” theory. Keep up the good work.

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:27:59 +0000

Update: The reader-friendly version has been published! See http://www.garytaubes.com/writing/books/why-get-fat/

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:39:36 +0000

Jean, yeah, I read in a Taubes interview that he really regretted the publishers’ choice! I’ve also read he is working on a more reader-friendly version. Hope that’s true!

By: Jean

Jean — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:28:16 +0000

I thought “Good Calories, Bad Calories” read like a mystery novel! Admittedly I’m a nutrition junkie and am a biologist by training, but I have huge difficulty, for example, reading really technical papers. Taubes did, I thought, a remarkable job on the book. Too bad he blew it on the title. I know, marketing pressures – but most folks buying a book by this title are not going to get very far into this book.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:16:53 +0000

Tom, thanks for stopping by!

By: Tom Naughton

Tom Naughton — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:57:43 +0000

Very nice summary, and of course I always appreciate a mention of Fat Head. (Google alerts … love ‘em.)

What cracks me up is that many doctors and nutritionists have claimed Taubes can’t be right because his ideas on what actually causes obesity would violate the laws of thermodynamics. They are apparently unaware that while he’s “just a journalist,” his earlier reporting was often about physics — because he has a degree in physics … from Harvard.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:03:00 +0000

One other comment I didn’t make above in my two cents section. When you see someone grossly overweight, what I think you are seeing is someone whose fat cells are not yet insulin resistant.

When the fat cells become resistant, that’s when you see blood sugars rise and type 2 diabetes is generally diagnosed.

So no arguments from me that a really high BMI is healthy (there are other problems with high circulating insulin like high blood pressure). But it does seem that some people are prone to more and more weight rather than diabetes. Curious IMO.

By: Thud

Thud — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:50:02 +0000

Fantastic post! This is a great introduction to the material, and I’m glad to see people taking seriously the idea that fat people don’t just need to “eat a salad occasionally” in order to lose weight.

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:28:26 +0000

Steve, thanks!! Appreciate the comment.