Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It
I just finished a book by Gary Taubes, “Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It.”
I bought it, knowing that it was an Atkins-type book. When I saw the review, I thought, “Haven’t we seen this before and decided it was a bad idea? How is this guy possibly going to convince us that eating butt loads of bacon is good?”
Even though I went into reading the book with a closed mind, I found it very interesting. There were some excellent points that I think are worth mentioning:
1. Calories-in, Calories-out is old science
If losing and maintaining a healthy weight rested purely on a calories-in/calorie-out model, then eating 20 calories extra a day would take us from fit in our 20s to obese in our 30s. A bite of a granola bar. That means maintaining weight is so scientifically precise that we all should find it impossible to achieve.
Bottoms line: there is much more going on then just the amount of calories we put in our bodies. Things like genetics, hormones, and medications have a huge impact on how our bodies decide to store calories into fat.
Thus, the idea that overweight people are just chowing down and loafing around isn’t a correct picture of the situation. If our body is in a “fat making” mode, then REGARDLESS OF CALORIE RESTRICTION the body will continue to try to store calories into fat. It will hold onto fat and not release it for energy use, and the body becomes inactive as a result. So, overweight people are not necessarily fat because they are inactive, they are inactive because they are fat and the body won’t release the fuel they need to move more.
2. It’s OK to eat Meat
Our genes have been adapted by the two and a half million years as hunters and gatherers prior to the last 10 generations of the industrial age. So, it would stand to reason that our bodies could handle and thrive on a typical hunter-gatherer diet.
In 2000, researchers analyzed the diets of 229 hunter-gatherer populations that survived deep enough into the 20th century to have them assessed. It is considered the most comprehensive analysis done on hunter-gatherer diets. They found, without exception, that these diets consisted of high amounts of animal food, as much as 85-100%. Their diets were also very high in fat as they consumed the whole of the animal: skin, organs and all. This means that their diets were very low in carbohydrates. And what little carbohydrates they did eat were very high in fiber.
This should at least indicate to us that high quality, free-range animal products are not bad for us. Our bodies know what to do with it. A scientifically engineered protein bar? Not so much.
What most people do agree on is disease starts rising as soon as we start eating a western diet. No matter if it is a milk-drinking tribe in Africa, a soy-eating community in Asia, or a meat-eating community in South America. Once the western diet is introduced, all hell breaks loose!
3. Carbohydrates and Insulin are the bad guys
Gary Taubes would say if you already have the decks stacked against you – genetics, hormones, chemical imbalances – the only thing that you CAN control is insulin levels. Yes, we have all heard this before and it is a valid point. The one body mechanic that ensures that we stay in “fat storing” mode is insulin production. Insulin triggers a domino effect that guarantees fat storage. If you are genetically gifted and can get away with eating refined carbohydrates and sugars, consider yourself blessed. The rest of us have to watch it. Refined carbohydrates (breads, pastas, sweets) are part of that nasty western diet that is wreaking havoc on our health, not a little meat in your diet.
Taubles goes on to to say that if you are one of the genetically unlucky ones, your may be so sensitive to insulin, that you will not be able to tolerate even moderate amounts of carbohydrates. Obviously, when you take carbs out of the diet, the only things left are animal products. But, if that is what it takes for a person to lose weight, decrease the chances of disease, and increase energy, I’m not one to judge. Eat your bunless burger. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
I think all the topics you have covered do matter. Calories in and calories out is old school, but still worth considering. Exercising on an empty stomach also valid concept, burn fat reserves. Giving up all carbohydrates is not the answer for everyone, we need vegetables, meat, fruit and complex carbs in our diet. We genetically and evolutionarily (is that a word?) should be able to digest it all. If all we eat is meat, then our digestion will get bogged down and serious disease has something to hang out on, cause meat is in your body for a long long time and carries all kinds of toxins along with it. That is why it worked out so well for hunters and gatherers, they didn’t know for sure when their next big kill might be, it gave them long time energy, but it was free range, not so many toxins. The reason meat is the answer for weight loss according to some is because it takes our own energy to digest it. Carbs give us energy that is easy to access, so eat them earlier in the day when we are still active. Keep it complex, and eat a little bit of everything. It’s ok to have a bun with your burger, maybe we shouldn’t eat burgers everyday:)
Agree, agree! I don’t feel good when I eat too much meat. I feel heavy and clogged. The low carb diets out there call for a high amount of high fiber vegetables, which is good, but I wonder how many of the people following these types of diets are eating them?
Thanks for summarizing the highlights, Dalai Lina, in case I do not get around to reading the book. I’m pretty convinced, however, that the whole wheat bread I make at home loves me and isn’t a threat. I’m just now reading Michael Pollan’s books and I really like them.
I know your homemade whole wheat bread loves you!
I loved Pollan’s books. It really opens your eyes!
Archaeologist’s soap box: “why anthropology SHOULD be taught in school”
I am an archaeologist, and in the course of my studies have studied Hunter Gatherer populations and their diets.
Firstly: Hunter Gatherers STILL exist in the world, all over the world. I have to say that writing of them in the past tense is not appropriate and I blame the crappy, colonial school system. They want you to think that “hunter gathers” are a separate and extinct species. Hunter Gatherers and Agriculturalist are not significantly different ‘kinds’ of humans, though it appears this book does touch thoughtfully on genetics, which is definitely a determinant for how you process sugars, fats, carbs, proteins.
Second: Agriculture is a relatively recent thing in Human history. The problem with agriculture in un-industrialized societies is that it tends to have a SIGNIFICANTLY negative effect on health. Inviting disease, tooth decay especially, and a lack of providing the essential nutrients (amino acids, minerals etc). Sadly, EuroAmericans and Europeans have viewed hunter gatherer populations as “un-evolved” or “un-civilized” for the absence of permanence or cultivation. (Here I blame the idea that ‘man’ is incomplete until he dominates the land, which is a largely biblical ideal)
Third: Hunter Gatherer diets, depending on environment, varied extensively. There could be no Globally equivalent “Hunter Gatherer menu” because the environment would yield different things in different places, seasons, years. Many hunter gatherers in the Pre-contact united states ate a broad range of foods. Consisting largely of SEEDS (carbs, fats, fibers) also, they ate grasshopers/crickets and other foods that are socially taboo in our world. No hunter Gatherer populations eat “only meat”. They probably wish they could. Most hunter gatherers share the meat and distribute it among hunting buddies, families, and often dried and transported it.
Fourth: True hunter gatherer diets can likely never be achieved by ‘us’. Being a healthy and robust hunter-gatherer requires unfettered access to move with the seasons, cooperate with friends and neighbors, and have habitat for the ‘free range’ meats (this includes not living in elk habitat, having indigenous grains and grasses for them to eat, and knowing when to eat them, and when not). Also, how likely are we as busy working and child-tending folks, to spend hours a day grinding grass seeds into a potentially not-that-tasty cake, or sending the little ones to school with a homemade energy bar of animal fat with grass seeds and berries mixed in. Even less likely are we to go out with our neighbors, light the grass on fire and wait till the grasshoppers are crispy and eat them (which I hear is actually delicious). We don’t eat marmots, or bunnies, or any of the things we probably consider gross, and likely now we don’t have habitat to maintain to do so. Though all of these foods are edible, tasty, and nutritious.
Fifth: Hunter Gatherer populations have a high cost for this health. Usually life spans are 40-60 years at the most… the price we pay for not living the hunter gatherer way is that we have hospitals, roads, schools, jobs, and AC… and we live a long time.
I hope this was more interesting than preachy! =)
I just love the information! Can’t imagine eating bugs, though.
One thing about analyzing diets is that the variables always change. Just like you illustrated, we are not exactly like hunter gatherers, thus it is hard to make a direct correlation. But, it can give us insight into where our biology and genetics evolved from. And it isn’t from a box with a shelf life of 3 years.