The trouble with this subject is that everybody, including commenters in this thread, thinks they already know what the solution is, even before they have a good grasp of the problem.
I recommend reading Gary Taubes ("Good Calories, Bad Calories", "Why We Get Fat"), not because of what he thinks that the solution is, but to understand the range of facts that a theory of obesity must explain.
When Taubes starts to promote his own theory (carbs are bad, fats aren't, exercise is fairly useless, insulin is very important), he may or may not be right. Nevertheless his book is invaluable for learning about the extremely counter-intuitive facts of obesity.
To name a few:
- obese 6-month old babies
- morbidly obese mice starving to death
- obesity epidemics among native americans in 19th century
- lack of obesity among all animals
- prisoners on a forced 10K calorie diet barely gaining weight
We won't conquer the obesity problem until we start treating it as a huge, extremely complicated mystery to be solved, instead of as a problem of persuasion, where the solution is to convince other people that you have the obvious answer.
I haven't read anything recent from Taubes but is he still peddling the Atkins diet or has he moved on to the Paleo diet?! I find it irritating that Taubes ends up cherry picking data to support his hypothesis.
But then I subscribe to the Lyle McDonald-Mark Rippetoe line of thought when it comes to nutrition-fitness ideology.
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Edit:If it interests anyone, here's a transcript from a Larry King Live episode hosted by Joy Behar with Gary Taubes on to talk about his book and Dr. Mehmet Oz + Gillian Michaels and Dr. Andrew Weil (an "integrative" medicine evangelist)
You cannot explain obese babies by saying they don't get enough exercise.
Also, you're recommending solutions before you understand the problem. Did Americans suddenly lose all self-control in 1980? And if they did, why?
Getting more exercise, and eating more green vegetables and less sugar is clearly a good idea, but the central mystery - why do people get fat - remains unexplained. We should unravel it.
"Experimental Obesity in Man: Cellular Character of the Adipose Tissue"
In this case, it is not as exciting as I expected it to be.
"Prolonged high caloric intake resulted in a mean weight gain of 16.2 kg in the group, with an individual range of from 9 to 19 kg. This represents a 20.9% increase in body weight for the group as a whole with individual gains ranging from 14.8 to 25.3%. Caloric restriction restored body weight to normal."
Personally, I wouldn't call it "barely gaining weight".
I recommend reading Gary Taubes ("Good Calories, Bad Calories", "Why We Get Fat"), not because of what he thinks that the solution is, but to understand the range of facts that a theory of obesity must explain.
When Taubes starts to promote his own theory (carbs are bad, fats aren't, exercise is fairly useless, insulin is very important), he may or may not be right. Nevertheless his book is invaluable for learning about the extremely counter-intuitive facts of obesity.
To name a few: - obese 6-month old babies - morbidly obese mice starving to death - obesity epidemics among native americans in 19th century - lack of obesity among all animals - prisoners on a forced 10K calorie diet barely gaining weight
We won't conquer the obesity problem until we start treating it as a huge, extremely complicated mystery to be solved, instead of as a problem of persuasion, where the solution is to convince other people that you have the obvious answer.