[Mase]

I can only assume you to be an illiterate jerk

That's quite a claim when the original post (The root cause of most obesity is an overabundance of food and lack of physical activity) reflects established scientific fact.

Some people work hard to complicate the issue to support a political agenda. Some are motivated by a desire to say Oh, it isn't my fault I'm fat -- my obesity is caused by genetics.. The former is understandable. There are people who stand to gain politically from such a misunderstanding. The latter is caused by illiteracy, plain and simple.

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If you were literate I’d suggest that you, too, read the article.

I've read the article and you can choose to believe Taubes if you'd like. But Taubes is a fraud who learned how to sell books a long time ago. Taubes is a proponent of the Atkins diet – a dubious dietary strategy not based on scientific evidence, which seems to have been designed to sell diet books – by telling people that they can eat as much as they like of some foods and still go on a weight-loss diet.

Demonizing one macronutrient or another is a common trait of diet fads. We've learned from recent history that you can sell diet advice more easily if you claim that fats or carbs are the problem – while the (obvious) idea that calories are the problem seems to be something that few people are willing to pay for.

Equating long time FReepers with the Obamas, because they adhere to established science, is not a formula for winning friends on the forum. But, if Kamikaze is your style, then, by all means, carry on.

[dsc]

“reflects established scientific fact”

Yes, like global warming does.

If you want a fact, try this one: research into other causes of obesity is underway in many different places. And they’ve found some.

Perhaps what you say is true for you. There are millions for whom it is not.

I wouldn’t wish it on you, but if you were suddenly to discover that the amount of food and exercise that had been allowing you to maintain normal weight now caused you to gain weight, as did less food and more exercise, and even less food and more exercise, and still less food and more exercise than that...if that were to happen, then perhaps it would occur to you that there are differences among people, that what is true of you might not be true of everyone.

Unless and until something like that happens, just enjoy the smug.

[A Navy Vet]

"Demonizing one macronutrient or another is a common trait of diet fads."

Point taken and that is why I'm so interested in what a professional nutrition doctorate has to say.

However, as "aruanan" posted and has been long proven there is a difference in how the body uses those macro-nutrients. There is a difference in carbs (simple vs complex); there is a difference in fats (healthy vs unhealthy - think olive oil compared to lard); smaller difference in protein (amino acids) unless they have a bad protein to fat ratio. Think lean meats.

I agree with him that lean protein is the best for our ancient metabolism and that processed carbs are not so good. "Clean" fats are good; bad fats contribute to our triclyceride counts.

C'mon, apples bad? Really? Twinkies good, really?

Let me end my input by stating the mediterranean and Alaskan Intuit diets produce the longest living people. Why? Because of fish diets that include pure protein and healthy fats (Omega 3 acids). If you want to argue that med peoples eat lots of pasta (carbs), remember they also drink lots of red wine, which has resveratrol that is now known to be one of the best anti-oxidants ever.

Thinking I will have another glass of red wine...haha! Or better yet, some vodka to thin my blood...and kill more brain cells so I will make even less since next time around - har! Best.

[Darnright]

>you can choose to believe Taubes if you'd like. But Taubes is a fraud who learned how to sell books a long time ago. Taubes is a proponent of the Atkins diet – a dubious dietary strategy not based on scientific evidence<

If what you wrote above is absolute fact, how do you explain the following? Notice that this 3rd edition is dated 1864

Letter on Corpulence by William Banting

My grandfather was a doctor. We had some of his papers and one of them was a diet for diabetics, which stressed avoiding sugar, bread, noodles and other starchy foods, while eating meat and lots of green vegetables. That, in a nutshell, is the Atkins, or low carb diet. So, the information is not new at all.

Gary Taubes' book is one of the most well researched books I've read. He has page after page of references. He is absolutely no fraud and I defy you to prove he is. Prove it, not just bleat that "he follows Atkins".

[neverdem]

Demonizing one macronutrient or another is a common trait of diet fads.

I never studied the Adkins diet in any detail. From what I've read, it's big on meat. I'm supposed to recommend initially the DASH diet and exercise for folks with high blood pressure.

If you enter Volek JS, Feinman RD into PubMed's query box, then you'll do an authors' search on two writers who have written at least 10 articles in the professional literature showing the benefit of carbohydrate restriction, especially for type 2 diabetics and those with metabolic syndrome, aka syndrome X.

I'd love to see a double-blinded, isocaloric diet, testing soft drinks sweetened with sucrose versus high fructose corn syrup. I don't recommend artificial sweeteners either: Artificial sweetener tied to weight gain