Skip to main content

If You're Not a Sloth, You're a Glutton. And Vice Versa.

Okay, I'll admit (don't lose respect for me), I've stopped reading Gary Taubes's "Good Calories, Bad Calories".  While it was a very impressive body of work, it was also very dense, hard to sift through, and just too darn scientific and data-based.  That stuff is important to me, but I already accept the premise...I kept waiting for Taubes to give advice.  And I waited...and waited...

However, this girl's got a Plan B.  I picked up Taubes's "Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It",  a recently-published text that I suspect he put out in response to readers like myself who just wanted a super-duper condensed version of GCBC and more tips and advice.

Thirty pages in, my expectation is met so far.  Taubes has summarized rather handily the tomes of research that exist regarding obesity, etc...both positive and negative outcomes.  Early on, it's clear that science, public health, government have made mistakes...ones they seem reluctant to fix.

Anyway, there are several older studies that indicate obesity was once a "disease of malnutrition" instead of overnutrition (29).  Taubes then goes to explain that most doctors, parents, nutritionists, dietitians, consumers, etc. have believed in the calories in-calories out process (that we gain weight when we consume more cals than we burn).  Thus, if one was obese, it was either because s/he was inactive or was an overeater (either s/he was a sloth (lazy) or a glutton).  However, Taubes highlights study after study that indicates obesity had nothing to do with activity. After all, according to the conventional knowledge, poverty-level sharecroppers in 1950's South Carolina should have been thin (because they couldn't afford much food and worked physically demanding jobs)...but they weren't (26).  An unusual number of those folks (and many others) were overweight.

Taubes suggests that we forget about labels (sloth or glutton?) and judgments (lazy or a pig?) and instead, consider that something is wrong with our food supply.

It doesn't seem like a wholly revolutionary idea, but essentially: stop worrying about how much we eat, and worry more about what we eat.

And that is what I am in the middle of trying to figure out.  What should I eat?  Who's right?  The USDA (Meat & Beans are just a sliver on the current food pyramid)?  Michael Pollan (Eat more.  Mostly plants.)?  Gary Taubes/Dr. Atkins/Arthur Agatston (Meat is good.  Stay away from high-carb...even if it's a fruit or vegetable)?

The answers are out there.  They have to be.

Comments

  1. The only thing I can tell you is this. I have lost 24 pounds, not by dieting, but by eating more whole grains, more fresh or frozen fruits and veggies less meat, cheese and dairy.

    The Mediterranean Pyramid is a better starting point than the USDA's pyramid. The only thing I've totally omitted from my menu is anything that comes in a can.

    ReplyDelete
  2. okay, You've convinced me. I've got to read this book!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

(She) Blinded Me With...Citrus

Excuse my attempt at tying today's blog entry with an iconic Thomas Dolby song.  What a terrible pun-ishment. Har har har. So, we're on the backside of Winter Vacation/Christmas Break/Holiday Hiatus here.  The kids return to school tomorrow, the freshman and I start back to our respective colleges next Monday. The clock is ticking and suddenly, I am whipped into frenzy to Get Work Done.  I suspect this phenomenon happens to many, many educators who try to avoid that panic-stricken night before they go back to work. And believe me when I say, I had the deepest, most earnest of intentions to write lesson plans, write quizzes, and generally prepare for the restart of my classes next week.  Like, really. And then...I was distracted by...citrus.  This happened. Okay, so....the lemons on the far right are no big deal.  They're available year-round.  But Meyer lemons...MEYER...I only find around here in the winter.  I first read about them i...

Girl Friends Are Great!

About a year and a half-ish ago, I stumbled into a parent organization called Choir Boosters.  Just about every learning institution in America has one (or several).  If there's a sport or activity, there are parents who want to be involved because their kid's in it. My daughter, who was a freshman at the time, joined her high school's choir.  Actually, she was asked to join the elite Chamber Choir, and for the first time in my parenting history, I had a child in an organization with a booster club I wanted to join.  My oldest son, who is two years older, participates in minimal activities, and not any with booster clubs, so no chances there.  Until now... A very pleasant side benefit of doing this "stuff for my kids" is that I've grown close with a few of the other women, so much so that when our big fundraiser was done in December, we wanted to keep getting together. Thus, the Mad Moms (our big fundraiser is called a Madrigal Dinner..."Mad...

In Which I Suspect I Have Latent Tendencies...Much Like The Hulk, Or Similar

I find in most normally functioning families, the members have a distinguishing role or legacy or skill of some kind. Like, he's the smart one.  Or, he's the religious one.  Or...she's the glue that helps the fam together.  Or, she's the savvy one, so she's the Power of Attorney. In my family, that system went something like this: My dad was The Dad.  Cantankerous, crotchety, and especially tight with daughters' curfew times.  Also, not a fan of driving in Big Cities. My mom was the long-suffering, patient, reserved one. My brother was the baby, the one who got away with murder, the namesake, and also, Frosty Hoarder. Me?  My legacy?  The Ruiner of Remote Controls.  No lie.  Although I've repressed the memories, my parents claim I destroyed at least two remotes in my tenure as Child Under The Roof.  Remote #1: milk spillage; Remote #2: applesauce spillage. So, now you see why my younger brother was the favorite. Anyway, t...