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Sarah Melchior
Professor Julia Wylie
Heath 1020
July 29, 2016

Nutrition Perspectives: The Question is, Why?

The book I chose to read was titled Why We Get Fatand What to do
About It by Gary Taubes. I found this author to be a very interesting writer.
He sectioned the book into two parts. The first part mainly focuses on why
we get fat, and goes into great depth about obesity throughout history, and
mentions many researchers and scientists along the way. He talks about
calories -in/calories -out that most doctors and health officials recommend.
Calories -in/calories -out meaning that in order to maintain a healthy weight
a person must have the same amount of calories going into their body that
they can burn. If you have too many calories and a secondary lifestyle, then
obesity is a likely result. Gary Taubes doesnt believe that to be the case. He
has countless studies that show its not how we should think, but that we are
in such a mindset with that thinking that the real problem is ignored.
Hence, the epidemic of obesity continues to rise, we are now seeing more
and more children as well as adults headed for the health problems that
come along with what we now coin a disease. I found his thoughts intriguing
when he talked about the twenty calories a day. The USDA suggests that
weight gain is a gradual process. He states that if our adiposity is determined

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by calories-in/calories-out, then you only need to overeat by twenty calories
a day to gain fifty extra pounds of fat in twenty year (Taubes). His question
is, if that is the case, how does anyone stay lean? The answer, Gary claims,
is not in how much we eat...but what we eat.
The second section of the book talks about chemistry, and the science
of his thinking. Here, he focuses on how our body works and how our body
fat is regulated. The research and studies indicate details of how hormones
and insulin work in what you burn as fuel in the body, and what you store in
your adiposity tissue. Insulin is the main idea, and trumps the effect of other
hormones in the body for the most part. The question is asked, if insulin
makes people fat, why does it only some of us fat?. His answer is in multiple
different factors, including that bodies work differently, and some cells are
more sensitive to insulin than others. After the author talks about the
science, he talks about his theory of what to do about it. He claims its all in
what we eat, not how much we eat. Carbohydrate are to blame, and mainly
the refined flours, liquid carbohydrates, and starches.
The book goes into great depth about what we should, as a nation, do
about the carbohydrate problem. It reminds me of the popular craze of the
Atkins diet, and has a person eat a diet that avoids everything made with
flour, potatoes, foods containing sugar (even most fruits), and of course all
sweets. The diet allows as much as you like of meat, fish, birds, all green
vegetables, eggs, cheese. He trumps the idea that this diet does not give us
the daily requirement of vitamins and minerals with a compelling scientific

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approach as well as numerus studies to back up his claim. In the end this is
not a diet book, but as the author himself states, a guide in the science itself,
Adiposity 101. It does have a list of diet books, or guides you can purchase
that follow the same principles that are discussed.
The authors bibliography mainly states his excellence in journalism,
and his nutrition background seems to be his recent focus on issues that deal
with scientific controversies, including medicine and nutrition. To be honest, I
decided to read this book because it was the first of the list to become
available at the library. Initially I wanted to get the popular book Fast Food
Nation by Eric Schlosser, but it was checked out. I am so glad that I got to
read the book I did, it immediately became very interesting to me with his
view points on the obesity epidemic. The book was originally published on
December 28th, 2010. The themes and basis of the book still apply today,
mainly because the idea of calories- in/calories -out is still the mindset and
what is taught even in this nutrition class. Science has yet to prove one way
or the other. Gary makes a lot of points, and while I think some are a little
extreme, they seem to be a valid way to look at a problem that effects about
13% of the worlds adult population.
As I read this book, I found a lot of contrast to what I have learned this
semester in nutrition class. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the food
pyramid and how it is incorrect with how much grains you should consume
daily. Since the print of this book, the USDA has changed the look of the
pyramid he talks about into what is now known as MyPlate. The Dietary

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Guidelines for Americans and Healthy People 2020 recommends that grains
occupy slightly more than one-fourth of the plate, that translates to between
225 and 325 grams a day (Wardlaw). The No Sugar, No Starch Diet has the
consumer keep the total number of carbohydrates (grains) to fewer than 20
grams per day. That is a huge difference, and makes it hard to decipher
which is healthy, and which is right! The second topic that I would like to
compare and contrast is the carbohydrates role in providing energy and the
danger of the brain and central nervous system when it runs on ketones.
The nutrition text book in chapter 4.5 discusses the negative aspects of
using proteins and fats as energy. In addition, it talks about when not enough
carbohydrates are consumed, the dangers of proteins lost can be risky. The
author contradicts that theory, and claims the opposite is true. He says that
proteins and fats eaten keeps the bodies insulin levels relatively low. They
take more time to process, and thus makes your body use stored fat as its
source of energy. He points out that there is no danger in using the stores,
and going into ketosis is just a natural condition your body goes into on its
own. The last topic of debate the book brings to my attention is that Gary
feels that a diet high in the natural fats found in foods such as meats does
not cause high cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. The text book in
chapter 5 however, talks about the consumption of fats contribute to the risk
of cardiovascular disease. It also touches on avoiding high fat meats in
chapter 4 with MyPlate and in numerous other chapters throughout the book.

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After reading his book, I am left with more questions than when I
started, the biggest one being; who is right? Is the claim of gluttony and
sloth to blame for our obesity epidemic? Or is it time to switch the behavior
belief into the thought that it is in the body, not the brain? The new idea I
learned is that cancer and other diseases are caused by the carbohydrates
we eat, and is one that I would like to put more research into and decide for
myself. Im not quite convinced that this is the answer to our problem of an
overweight nation where even children tend to be more and more effected,
but I do however think that some of the points he made are valid. I am not
on the heavy side, so incorporating a diet, especially this extreme, is right for
me. I already find that I eat less carbohydrates and more proteins on a daily
basis before I read the book. After reading Why We Get Fat.and What to do
About It, and Contemporary Nutrition: A Functional Approach, I think
continuing with what Ive been doing is good. My current diet leans more
towards Garys views vs. the text book. I do strongly believe we need to shift
our ideas to something else, because ones we have now, and teach, are not
working as a whole.

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Works Cited
Taubes, Gary. Why We Get Fat And What to Do About It. New York: Anchor
Books, 2010, 2011.
Wardlaw, Gordon M. Contemporary Nutrition: A Functional Approach. New
York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.