Utter nonsense. Taubes's books are rife with his interpretations of the scientific literature. He is well traveled on the speaking circuit defending those opinions and he gets his ass handed to him whenever he tangles with someone possessing an education in human nutritional biology.
He isn't selling fad diets; he's presenting the results of his examination of the scientific literature.
But he doesn't have the skill sets necessary to examine the literature. That doesn't stop him, however, from offering his opinion as fact. He's a fist class charlatan who no one would know had it not been for Dr. Atkins.
If you don't understand that basic fact, you're in no position to criticize his findings.
LOL. Are you one of those people who looks to a journalist when you want to better your understand of human nutrition? If so, then I suppose you have no problem asking your car mechanic for medical advice. Criticizing Taubes doesn't require a deep understanding of human nutrition. He doesn't even grasp the first law of thermodynamics, and that renders anything he has to say as suspect. Your view of this is why charlatans and snake oil salesmen continue to thrive even in modern times. Always looking for the most complicated solution for the simplest problem will do that. Common sense is in such short supply these days.
Great post. I just read your post after my last posting. Thank you for some common logic. I have studied living systems for decades. The issue of fat people is simply not that complicated. I could fix any of them fit enough to follow a routine.