Fat Head filmmaker Tom Naughton has a good interview up with Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.
Labels: interesting books
posted by Helen at 1:17 PM
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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6 Comments:
move more, eat less.
repeat when necessary.
i tried getting that published but the editor said i needed to pad it out a bit, add some charts and a picture or two, and get a famous person to try my program and give a testimonial...and go on oprah and sit on the back of the couch and jump up and down.
dr.alistair said...
move more, eat less.
And you are entirely correct ... in that that is the advice we have all been given over and over by everyone from our doctors, to the Surgeon General, to "health advisors" and even to Michelle Obama.
The thing is, that advice is not correct. It's like saying someone died because their heart stopped beating. Or that someone is broke because they spent all their money.
As the kids say, No duh!
You should read the book. Everyone should. It's less than ten bucks as a Kindle download (and you don't even need a Kindle).
I used to be very slender. Then the weight piled on, somewhere on the order of 50 to 60 pounds in the last few years. I have been trying to lose this weight ever since, also trying to figure out why the heck I used to be able to eat as I pleased and remain a slender size 2 but all of a sudden, everything I ate stayed with me.
I started reading this book and others like it, and the lightbulbs started flashing. It all makes perfect sense now.
And I am doing something about it ... since early October, I have lost almost 30 pounds. My husband has lost 55, and further is off blood pressure and cholesterol meds with his cholesterol number going from 282 to 155 in that time.
Read the book. It will change your life, even if you are at a healthy weight.
"Eat Less??? I can eat a 100 calorie chocolate chip nut granola bar in 3 bites. Or I can eat a one hundred calorie steamed vegetable medley and I will fatigue from chewing before I finish it. How does one measure what is more food and what is less food?
Who's "we"?
I am a 51 year old male, 5'11" tall. I didn't think that at 180+ pounds I was especially heavy but my weight had gradually crept up over the years, even though I am physically active. Last year my doctor told me I had developed type 2 diabetes. I have no family history of it and I don't even like sweets.
Pre diagnosis I went to the gym 3 times a week spending 2 hours at a time. That included spending an hour on an elliptical machine with the goal of 900 calories AND 60 minutes. That is if I made 900 calories in 58 minutes, I'd keep going to 60 or if I was a bit short on calorie burn at 60 minutes I'd keep going until I got there. I didn't overeat at all and yet the weight kept creeping up.
I have a strong aversion to taking medications of any kind so I asked the doctor what I could do to avoid it. He told me to avoid pasta, potatoes, white rice and bread.
Now I eat meat/chicken (skin on)/fish, butter, eggs, bacon, cheese and all the green vegetables I want. I don't even worry about fat, except to make sure I am getting a good balance of Omega 3 to Omega 6. I still go to the gym 3 times a week but ony 1 hour each time and have changed the routine. I spend an hour lifting weights (to build lean muscle mass which burns fat) on two of those days and I take a yoga class on the third day for strength, balance and flexibility.
I lost 35+ pounds in less than 6 months and am back to the weight I was in my early 30's and have stabilized around 145-147 pounds. My blood glucose is regularly in the high 70's to high 90's range now (normal is 65-99) and my A1C is down to 5.8 or almost back to the normal range.
Fat is the body's preferred fuel. If you deprive the body of fat that little reptilian part of your brain will start thinking "famine" and starts slowing your metabolism and signalling your cells to store fat. Refined carbs are the most easily converted so the more of that you consume the fatter you will get. Eventually the cells are going to say no more and that is where the insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes begins.
I only just got the Taube book today and so far as I've read, it tracks to my experience. Previous readings did help me figure out the diet and exercise. Three books I can recommend in particular are "Real Food: What to Eat and Why" by Nina Planck (Dr Helen, you and Glenn did a podcast interview with her in the old Glenn and Helen Show days). One of her source material books was "The Schwarzbein Principal" by Diana Schwarzbein MD, an endocrinologist. If you read nothing more than the introduction to her book you'll learn alot. Lastly, I got the exercize part figured out by reading "Fit for Combat" by JD Johannes, a combat film maker and retired (there's no such thing as ex!)Marine.
I run quite a few blogs myself and this blogengine thing is something i'd like to try asap.Kesha Tickets
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