The Inanity of Overeating (calories and thermodynamics)

http://www.garytaubes.com/2010/12/inanity-of-overeating/

by scottshapiro • 16 years ago

18 16 16 years ago

I think I might just buy Good Calories, Bad Calories after reading this. It might not tell me anything I haven't learned indirectly through other writers but if it's written as well as this blog post that will justify its value alone.

Looking forward to the new book incidentally, and hoping it isn't a content-less and repetitive discussion of magazine clippings as this kind of book can often be (I have no reason to suspect it will be, beyond bad experiences with other books).

deadmansshoes3• 16 years ago

He contradicts his argument in the first paragraphs.

1) Obese people tend to be weight stable for long periods of their life, just like lean people. So when they’re weight stable, the obese and overweight are obviously in energy balance.

2) If you gain 40 pounds of fat over 20 years, that’s an average of two pounds of excess fat accumulation every year. Since a pound of fat is roughly equal to 3500 calories, this means you accumulate roughly 7000 calories worth of fat every two years. Divide that 7000 by 365 and you get the number of calories of fat you stored each day and never burned roughly 19 calories.

eldenbishop• 16 years ago

There is no contradiction. The second paragraph is just paraphrasing the standard calorie-in->energy-out theory of weight gain and averaging the 'graph' of weight gain for analytic purposes. Ie. he never states that you are storing exactly 19 calories per day, simply that over 20 years, you are storing an 'average' of 19 calories per day. This is a very normal way to discuss these numbers. For example, a scientist might describe the PHV (pubertal height velocity) of a typical male as 9cm/year but these are growth spurts and are not actually continuous.

MikeOfAu4• 16 years ago

"Good Calorie, Bad Calories" was a pivotal book for me. It freed me up. I realised that much of what we're told about nutrition is backed by bad science.

Since then I've spent the last few years reading everything I can lay my hands on and I wrote up what I'd found in a document for friends and family: http://bit.ly/cxZNG9

I await Taubes' next book with interest.

deadmansshoes3• 16 years ago

- You need to be off grains. Permanently. Forever. Sorry, but they are toxic. That means no bread, no pasta, no oatmeal, etc.

- No legumes, with the exception of white rice.

- No milk forever

- But do take other supplements.

So just the crazy pills then?

khafra2• 16 years ago

I think this is true for a limited subset of "you." I personally watched a friend adopt the "no-grain, etc." diet, and immediately drop 15lbs and mostly clear up his psoriasis. I, on the other hand, don't have psoriasis or 15lbs of extra weight from systemic inflammation; so I wouldn't expect to see similar benefits from dropping grains.

nova2• 16 years ago

You need to be off grains. Permanently. Forever

So what. We didn't start eating them until a few thousands years ago. The only reason to eat grains is that they are cheap. Better to save on other things.

No milk forever

Why? The previous book (GCBC) itself talks about how well Masais are, living basically on milk and blood, and it's an indictment of bad science research (cholesterol and sat fat paranoia) and a suggestion on where the problem or part of it could be (sugar and refined carbohydrates)

nova2• 16 years ago

"Good Calorie, Bad Calories" was a pivotal book for me. It freed me up.

Me too. Probably the most important book I've read in my life. I lost the 12 kg I didn't need and I only regret I don't have a time machine to tell my younger self to stop eating all those damn sugary crap and grains for breakfast.

Evgeny• 16 years ago

and I wrote up what I'd found in a document for friends and family

This is a great summary. The only thing that I do not quite agree with is that all carbs are described as equally harmful and causing fat gains.

There are actually hunter-gatherer cultures that appear to enjoy great health on a high carbohydrate diet (i.e. Kitavians). The source of carbs appears to be important.

kilian• 16 years ago

I've been on low-carb for close to a year now, after reading the very same book. Right now I can't imagine anything else. That document is amazing, I've forwarded it to a bunch of people already! I've been having a hard time convincing friends that want to lose weight that this is a better idea, given how much utter nonsense has been imprinted in them.

retroafroman• 16 years ago

TL:DR;

Instead of just stating that overeating causes our obesity, we should be asking ourselves why we overeat, which is a much more complicated question.

I was disappointed it took that long of a post to reach that point. I was hoping to learn something interesting about thermodynamics in the body.

The Inanity of Overeating (calories and thermodynamics)

Related Stories