Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
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Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#2Sorry for the threadjacking, but any HNers doing caloric restriction? I'm at a normal weight, but a checkup a few months ago revealed a personal-worst blood pressure of 128/75, so I've been on CRON since then. Latest blood pressure is 110/65.
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#3Taubes' take on the caloric balance equation (thermodynamic law) is fascinating.
Change in energy stores = Energy intake – Energy expenditure
According to my biochemistry professor in college, this had one - and only one - interpretation: The change in energy stores is controlled by energy intake and energy expenditure. The right side of the equation controls the left side of the equation. Also, there was an implied "just eat less and exercise more" (that energy intake and expenditure are independent variables).
But Taubes suggests that the causation could be reversed, and that energy intake and expenditure are dependent variables. In other words, a metabolic change could cause a change in energy stores, and energy intake and expenditure would change to match.
That (amazingly!) translates to: if you are losing weight you are likely to be less hungry and likely to have more energy. Or perhaps, if your metabolic state is such that you are losing weight, your hunger will adjust to match your activity level. Or even, if you're burning fat, you will only eat to make up for what you aren't getting from stored fuel.
It makes sense to think that if your energy stores are releasing fuel into the blood stream you would be less hungry (I'm assuming that hunger signals are a function of available fuel to some extent).
Naturally, we eat for nutrition as well as fuel, so I suppose it can't all be broken into thermodynamics, but it's an interesting way of thinking about it!
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#4Sorry for the threadjacking, but any HNers doing caloric restriction? I'm at a normal weight, but a checkup a few months ago revealed a personal-worst blood pressure of 128/75, so I've been on CRON since then. Latest blood pressure is 110/65.
128/75 is just fine, though, according to standard guidelines, even if the 128 is a bit close to the upper limit of the normal range.
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#5Sorry for the threadjacking, but any HNers doing caloric restriction? I'm at a normal weight, but a checkup a few months ago revealed a personal-worst blood pressure of 128/75, so I've been on CRON since then. Latest blood pressure is 110/65.
I'd love to hear about your experience, as I'm intrigued by the idea of trying caloric restriction but am somewhat stymied by the details.
Specifically, how did you transition to a restricted diet? How have you felt, both emotionally and physically, throughout the process? What is a typical day like in terms of intake? Where do you get recipes? Do you count calories?
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#6Previously, I never believed the notion that calories in/calories out was wrong - it always seemed too much like "feel good science" to me. Y'know, where a diet says it's not your fault that you're overweight, it's just because of the darn environment around you, so feel good about yourself, etc, etc.
I think I was mistaken.
There was a thread on here with a video that was just incredibly insightful and it was a big part of what convinced me. I'm starting to rethink my own nutrition and diet.
"Sugar: The Bitter Truth", +132 points, 86 comments http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1006980
Takes a while to watch the video, but it was very worthwhile for me and highly recommended.
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#7Previously, I never believed the notion that calories in/calories out was wrong - it always seemed too much like "feel good science" to me. Y'know, where a diet says it's not your fault that you're overweight, it's just because of the darn environment around you, so feel good about yourself, etc, etc. I think I was mistaken. There was a thread on here with a video that was just incredibly insightful and it was a big…
It's obviously right by conservation of energy, but it's equivocating the word "in". Food is "in" when you eat it, but calories are "in" when they're digested and metabolized - that's several steps further down the pipeline.
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#8Taubes' take on the caloric balance equation (thermodynamic law) is fascinating. Change in energy stores = Energy intake – Energy expenditure According to my biochemistry professor in college, this had one - and only one - interpretation: The change in energy stores is controlled by energy intake and energy expenditure. The right side of the equation controls the left side of the equation. Also, there was an implied…
Just write the equation like this:
Energy intake - Energy expenditure - Change in energy stores = 0
There. Just f(x,y,z)=0. That's what the first law really says. There is no causality implied, it just a first integral of the "motion" of metabolism that the body, naturally, has to follow.
It does NOT say what variables are free to independently modify. It's just a relation the three of them have to obey.
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#9Please ignore my opinion, I only briefly read the notes and I am an ignoramus in nutrition.
After (a very brief) look this seems to me like another Atkins-style diet: less carbs lots of fat.
No thanks. Read a little Dr. Fuhrman for a different approach to nutrition: more nutrients, less calories. Greens in other words. More carbs though.
Who's right?
Re: Complete Notes to Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes | Higher Thought
#10Please ignore my opinion, I only briefly read the notes and I am an ignoramus in nutrition. After (a very brief) look this seems to me like another Atkins-style diet: less carbs lots of fat. No thanks. Read a little Dr. Fuhrman for a different approach to nutrition: more nutrients, less calories. Greens in other words. More carbs though. Who's right?
After (a very brief) look this seems to me like another Atkins-style diet
Taubes' book is not a diet book, it's a thick book on all the things that are wrong on modern research on nutrition. It explains why the problem is not fats (nor greens), but refined carbohydrates like sugar and white flour.
Very worth your time, really.