Beyond gluttony and sloth
There has been a lot of discussion lately about the cause of obesity and why low carb works. This 15 minutes talk with professor Robert Lustig tells you why. He possibly understands it better than anybody.
If more people understood this the obesity epidemic could be reversed.
And you did a wonderful job with the interview, Andreas. A very nice intro to Lustig - so many people can't watch his long pieces because the biochemical slides overwhelm them. :)
that is what i want to know, taubes has touched on it, many low carb naysayers bring it up pretty quick, so someone should mention it and deal with it.
please?!
Thank you for for doing this interview. The point you and Dr. Lustig brought out about the difference between acute and chronic high insulin levels and their individual effects on the body relating to satiety and obesity finally cleared up my understanding about how insulin works. (The satiety thing had me recently confused).
Geoff B.,
I don't think Dr. Lustig is making it too complicated. If the message is too simple critics come out of the woodwork and point out that it just doesn't happen like that. Dr. Lustig was right to point out the things he did so people know that there are differences in hormone problems and their causes. For instance, for me, Taubes's message was summed up as "eat less carbs, lower insulin, and avoid obesity." He based it on his analysis of tons of research. At first, that seemed to be enough, then some people decided it wasn't, so now it is not clear at all if controlling obesity is that simple. Learn the science and make up your own mind, but don't fault someone for teaching the science. I believe in LCHF, but it is not enough as my family eats this way and we are still overweight but less so than we used to be. Weight loss has stalled and I'm searching for answers. Knowledge about insulin, leptin, the hypothalamus, etc can only help my quest. Thanks for complicated lectures from knowledgeable people.
Please know that your website and blog posts have been - are - a wonderful and truly appreciated resource and an important part of ongoing success with low-carb lifestyle. Knowledge is power! After a lifetime of ups/downs on the scale and being "at war" with food, with myself, and with well-intended physicians who pushed low-fat diets with me...the only hunger that I have now is for more knowledge and true science found in low-carb/high fat approach. The message you are bringing and information you are sharing with all of us around the world is a godsend.
A simple "thank you" will never be enough, but... thank you so much for all that you are doing there, and here online, and around the world with groups, too. (Your Ancestral Health Symposium lecture was fantastic. I've shared that youtube link liberally with friends and colleagues here, and have to tell you...you've got a couple of nurses, diabetes educators, and nutritionists I know who are really having to re-think some things as a result of that lecture!).
Thank you for your time, care, commitment and for courage to stand up for truth in a world and medical community (in general) that continues to push - with disasterous outcomes - low-fat as the only way. Thank you for the work that you and other physicians and researchers are doing that shows the world that, "No, it's not...and here's why." You are giving true keys to health back to people. Don't ever doubt that you are changing lives and saving lives. Because you are.
Continued best wishes and thank you always.
Thanks for all your kind words! Stay tuned, this revolution is just getting started. ;)
http://www.drjaywortman.com/blog/wordpress/
bravo!
If it were so simple that its just a question of calories, the easiest way of losing weight would be to skip breakfast. Thats one of the reasons sumowrestlers skip breakfast. ;)
I think I understand now why Lustig said "Just remember, it's about the message, not the messenger". Of course, if it was about the messenger, he'd have to credit Taubes. Call me cynical.
Otherwise the message is about right.
As far as I know, there's no reference to Lustig's work in Taubes' books. The earliest time I know of where Taubes made reference to Lustig was in a recent NYTimes magazine article titled Is Sugar Toxic? published April 13, 2011.
Lustig recently met with Taubes at the AHS or something like that. Maybe that's when and where Lustig decided to change his pitch.
I have my chicken and egg paradigm in the proper order. But thank you for your concern.
The good news is that most of us who already know it prophably will live to see it - because we are going to live a lot longer than expected lifetime ;-)
http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201104211000
EXCEPT: Lustig: "very low carb diets work best for these patients" Andreas: "and for people in general" Lustig: (sotto voce) "yes." That's the moment. He can't bring himself to say "low carbohydrate diets."
In biochemistry, it is the message. When you step into policy, though and try to manipulate the food supply and are selling a particularly message, it is the messenger. Lustig is not a biochemist. Lustig is not an expert on metabolism. He has published absolute howlers about thermodynamics and biochemistry ind general.
One question that I have is how good a pediatrician he is. Presumably not that great or he wouldn't be running to the government for help with taxation. Well, why not? One possibility is that the low-fructose message obscures or even prevents the low-fat message. Alternatively it is the right message and...we have to blame the patient...or the food industry...or the government...never the expert.
But low carb is better.
It's not the low fat message per se that is desasterous. It's the fact that companies took advantage of it and made a whole bunch of reduces fat ultra processed junk, which make you so hungry, you are the fat back.
But a real food low fat diet can be healthy.