"Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health" by Gary Taubes

What if fat isn't always bad? What if bread isn't always good? In "Good Calories, Bad Calories" science journalist Gary Taubes destroys the myth that you must eat less and exercise more to control your weight. If you're ready to find out what you SHOULD be eating, make sure you listen to today's episode!

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Show Notes:

00:00 - Intro to "Good Calories, Bad Calories"

The real question: What is Good Science, what is Bad Science?The controversial history of the US Public Health AuthorityTaubes invested five years of research in GCBC

4:00 - How easy is the book to read?

Easy reading style, Scientific material is difficult to absorb, Long Print: 640 pages (probably 20+ hours)Audio: 25 hoursChallenging to anyone who believes the FDA and the USDA always put your health first

5:45 - Reviews and Significance of GCBC

Well known (937 4½-star reviews on Amazon)Taubes is one of the first mainstream journalists to publicly expose the dangers of refined carbohydrates and the truth that eating fat can make people healthy

8:00 - How Matt and Jay discovered book

Matt first heard about it from Vinnie TortorichMatt forced Jay to read it

9:45 - Bio of Gary Taubes

Cofounder and senior scientific advisor of the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI).He's an award-winning science and health journalist and a former staff writer for Discover and correspondent for the journal Science. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and Esquire, and has been included in numerous Best Of anthologies, including The Best of the Best American Science Writing (2010). Has received three Science in Society Journalism Awards from the National Association of Science Writers. Recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. Author of multiple books, including Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (Dec 27, 2011), The Case Against Sugar (Dec 12, 2017) and Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion (Jun 15, 1993)

12:30 - Major themes of "Good Calories, Bad Calories"

Public's view of nutrition vs Actual science vs PoliticsThe Fat/Cholesterol HypothesisThe Carbohydrate HypothesisObesity and the Regulation of WeightBreaking the myth of "Eating fat will make you fat"

15:30 - Jay's perspectives

GCBC legitimizes Bacon and Cheese as logical parts of a healthy dietFat isn't the enemy - it's critical for human functionThere's no reason to be afraid of food - Everything has good / bad pointsJay's criticism: Book is too long for meQuestion for Taubes: What does he eat?Related Books: "The Case Against Sugar" also by Gary Taubes

20:00 - Matt's perspectives

Taubes' research represents a paradigm shift for the accepted American dietImportant part of Matt's change from decades of being a vegetarianPain and suffering doesn't equal weight lossNew idea is that you gain weight by eating carbohydrates, not protein or fatMatt's criticism: Too many people will be turned off by length and density of the book and miss out on the life-changing dataQuestion for Taubes: What was his motivation to work on this for five years?Related Books: "Fitness Confidential" by Vinnie Tortorich

26:00 - Final Thoughts

This book will change the way you think about foodReally

Matt's favorite quotes from "GCBC"

"There is only one way to lose weight and that is to grow accustomed to feeling hungry. This simple fact, known to most people in affluent countries, seems to be somehow lost on the authors of the diet, weight-loss and exercise books that find their lucrative way through the drugstore book racks. Two questions then: Why do they fail to mention it? And why is it so?" ~Melvin Konner, "The Tangled