^Taubes is actually a journalist with degrees/background in chemistry/biology. He got interested in nutrition later in his career.
I have a scan of a 1986 article Taubes wrote on string theory if anyone is interested. These are two articles related to nutrition from NYT too: link link
I was 230 pounds and got down to 155 in 5 months purely through exercise, determination and minimal dieting. Portioning food is the best way to diet, it teaches you self control and keeps you from starving yourself. I didn’t eat too many sweets, but most of it is just genetics (my mother’s side has a lot of obesity based health issues), poor metabolism, and occasional extra eatings. Exercise sometimes seems to be the elephant in the room to a lot of these weight loss programs. The easiest part was the initial weight loss. Losing weight for obese people is a real battle with your own head. When you start losing a lot of weight, your body sometimes demands you to eat extra to compensate.
I have not read the book, but I am glad you raised this topic as I think it is extremely relevent to the arguments in favor of freedom and Austrian economics. Like most other industries, the food and medical industries in America have been severely distorted by government intervention, and more importantly by the partnership between government and big business. For example, large phameceutical companies spend millions of dollars lobbying the government at the expense of natural and alternative medicine. Think about it: the FDA will never approve a food, plant, or other natural substance for the treatment of disease, because it’s much more difficult to make a profit on something from nature. Instead, drug companies take a natural substance with health benefits, figure out how to make a synthetic replica, patent the replica, and then market the result as a “miracle pill” that will prevent heart disease, lower cholesterol, fight obesity, etc. Not only is the drug less effective than the original natural medicine, but it can cause more harm than good in the form of side effects (just listen to the end of any viagra commerical).
In the arena of food and nutrition, the partnership between government and big agriculture has equally harmful effects. For example, corn subsidies ensure that corn finds it’s way into every food imaginable in the standard American diet - think of all the places you see “high fructose corn syrup.” Not only does corn syrup promote weight gain more than say, sugar cane, it is also a highly allergic food. Many people develop chronic allergies to common foods like corn, wheat, dairy, soy, and eggs without even realizing it, because they eat these foods every day and are in a sense “addicted” to them as one might be addicted to nicotine. This chronic allergy promotes obesity, arthritis, chronic headaches, depression, and a myriad of other “unexplained” systems. So what happens? Doctors say “it’s all in your head,” and send the difficult patient to a psychiatrist, where he will be convinced to take more drugs.
I believe the answer to America’s health problems is simply to take the Austrian approach: respect freedom-of-choice, let the market work, and GET GOVERNMENT OUT. If natural medicine was actually allowed to compete with “mainstream” medicine, our medical system would be turned upside down and the “quacks” would be those who think that synthetic drugs promote health and that diet and nutrition do not matter.
I agree that it’s a myth that fat - animal or otherwise - is the main cause of obesity. In fact, I would argue that the lack of healthy fats, like those found in fish, nuts, and seeds contributes to obesity. The “caloric intake” hypothesis is way to general to have much meaning, so I’m glad someone is refuting it. I agree wholeheartedly that bad science is rampant in the fields of nutrition and obesity. For the good science, check out the work of Linus Pauling, the father of orthomolecular medicine. In the 1960s, he discovered that high doses of certain vitamins could correct brain imbalances and cure schizophrenia. Today, orthomolecular doctors treat everything from cancer to infectious disease by using natural substances (food, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids) to correct individual body chemistry imbalances.
Sorry for the rant, but I am very passionate about health freedom!
Orthomolecular medicine: http://www.orthomed.org/
Environmental medicine: http://www.aaemonline.org/
I have been on a Paleo-inspired diet for the last 3 months. I have lost 35 pounds!
I wonder if there are enough Paleo followers to create our own group on this site?