Good Calories, Bad Calories took the author five years to write, and it contains some groundbreaking information that will undoubtedly be the cause of much controversy. Whether or not you agree with Taubes assertions, the book is certainly well worth the read and it is obvious that he did put a lot of research into it as well as time.
The main assertion of the book is that we become fat due in a large part to the types of calories that we eat. By focusing on good calories and cutting out the bad calories in our lives, Taubes insists that it is much easier to lose weight and stay healthy. He is against, for an example, carbohydrates, stating that due to the fact they raise insulin levels, they make it impossible to lose weight. There is a lot of strong science to back that up, and to the author’s credit, he does mention good carbs.
Our main issue with the book was the author’s stance on exercise. He maintains that exercise can actually help you gain weight instead of losing it. The basic premise here is that because you are doing more, you are hungrier and will eat more. Again, it sounds good on paper, but there are many other reasons and scientific assertions that back up the fact that exercise is vital. Granted, it can make you hungrier, but if you are eating the right foods and making sure to fuel up before and after exercise, this can be prevented.
It’s difficult to wholeheartedly recommend a book that is so anti-exercise. While there is a lot of truth to what Taubes says, at the end of the day, there is no substitute for adding a healthy workout plan to your diet. With care, you can avoid falling into the trap of eating too much after exercising, and it just makes sense that burning calories will help you lose weight.
That said, the book is still a fascinating read, if for no other reason than it discusses the different types of foods that can actually promote weight loss, while bringing up the foods that you should avoid. Beginning dieters may be thrown off track by some of the advice however, but those interested in learning more about nutrition, or those that are well versed in dieting would be able to get quite a lot out of this book.
It has some flaws, but it is still an interesting take on the whole diet equation. If for no other reason, the book has value in that it exposes a lot of the diet industry foibles and poor research that is rampant in the industry. Read it if you’re looking for more information on health in general, or how to eat right, but don’t take it as gospel when it comes to finding an effective way to lose weight. If for nothing else, you’ll be able to learn a lot about the food you eat.
Originally posted 2008-10-03 05:22:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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4 comments ↓
Good review. I reviewed Taubes’s book a couple of days after it was published, and I , like you, was pretty impressed with his research. That is, until I ran into nutritional research nerds like Lyle McDonald, Anthony Colpo, Greg Ellis, and Alan Aragon which have all called Taubes on the carpet for his use of “old” research when there’s a body of “recent” research that he seems to have overlooked. Also, his whole argument against exercise is a joke! The studies that he quotes showing that exercise doesn’t significantly help with weight loss didn’t create a significant enough calorie deficit to lose appreciable weight in the first place. Oh, and I won’t even start on the whole carbs and insulin spikes make us fat malarkey …..
I am working my way through this book as well.
I find him a little hypocritical in that he exposes the bias of the AMA (fat is bad / excess calories = fat loss / low carb is dangerous) and yet he also makes a number of assumptions about various studies that help to bolster his argument.
I am a personal trainer. So when I am faced with a health problem, my first inclination is to determine how exercise could help fix the problem.
I think we all have this bias and Mr. Taubes is no different.
It’s still a good read that should not be ignored by the mainstream obesity industry
When I read GCBC I didn’t really get the sense that Taubes was against exercise per-se, just that it will not do the job of weight loss on it’s own. Exercise is great for health, muscle mass is important, but burning calories does increase appetite. I think that is all he meant.
I went back and read some of the original research papers that he referenced. I highly recommend “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston Price, DDS. Don’t let the wordy title scare you off. He didn’t have Taubes’ marketing skills, but it is a fascinating read.
Agree with Sara R. Taubes definitely doesn’t argument against exercise – he just questions the direct relationship between weight loss and exercise. The main point of the book is how self regulation of weight in the human body works, and why it spins out of control in the obese. Taubes suggests that sedentary behaviour is not the main culprit here, but a nutrition rich of refined carbohydrates. Some personal anecdotal evidence to support this: I’m an almost fanatical believer in exercise; I do workouts three times a week, mainly working with weights. Reason is that I had a long history of back ache, and the problems have completely vanished since I took up regular weight training more than five years ago. But at the same time my muscles grew also my fat did – my weight reached an all time high in those five years, and that was not due to muscle gain alone, as a glance in the mirror told me. Only after radically reducing refinded carbohydrate intake a year ago – while continuing with my exercise at the same level – I finally found my way to good fitness and a healthy weight.
I recommend Taubes Book to anyone interested in the mechanisms driving hunger and satiety and the role nutrition plays here. You don’t have to agree with everything he concludes, but you won’t be dumber after you’ve read the book – that much I can promise.
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