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A review by durantedianne
The Case for Keto: Rethinking Weight Control and the Science and Practice of Low-Carb/High-Fat Eating by Gary Taubes
5.0
I highly recommend this book. Keto is basically low carb. My husband and I have been eating low carb for 20 years, but the book explained a lot about this type of eating that I didn't know, and that makes it easier for me to keep eating that way.
For example: High blood sugar is bad for many systems in your body (blood vessels, nerves, kidneys). That's why diabetes has to be treated. I learned from Taubes that when you eat a meal with a lot of carbs, your insulin level rises to deal with the blood sugar (naturally). Your body can live on either carbs or fats, but not both at once. So to clear the decks for burning the newly arrived carbs, insulin ALSO tells any leftover fats from the last meal that are still kicking around in your system to be put into storage as fat. It's not eating fat that makes you fat - it's your body dealing with too many carbs.
If you eat lots of carbs, your body will assume more are coming, and as your blood sugar drops (after the insulin kicks in), you'll crave more carbs. If you simply don't eat carbs (so your insulin stays low), your body will slowly and steadily convert stored fat to use as energy. Even marathoners have enough fat stores for at least a week, so your body has no reason to scream, "Feed me!!!" People who aim to lose weight by cutting out carbs can usually do it without watching calories - you eat until you're full, then stop. Oddly enough, after reading that bit, I realized I can actually go for 12+ hours without eating (dinner to a late breakfast) without feeling hunger, as long as I don't have carbs for dinner.
Taubes also looks at a lot of "accepted wisdom" in light of medical research from the last 50-60 years, e.g., whether you need any carbs (never mind the huge amount prescribed by the govt's current "food pyramid"), whether fat causes heart disease (no), and whether weight loss is simply a matter of willing oneself to eat fewer calories than one expends (no).
The book includes lists of foods that are low-carb. The biggest "no"s are processed grains and sugars. There is a case study or two of people who started by cutting out a few high-carb items (sugary drinks) and then worked their way up to hardly any carbs in their daily intake.
Based on my own experience, low carb is the most efficient and easiest way to lose weight. I lost 40 lbs. on a mostly veggie diet (Pritikin). It was torture: constant hunger, and counting calories meticulously. I switched to Atkins / low carb not long after, and it's been easy to keep the weight off.
For example: High blood sugar is bad for many systems in your body (blood vessels, nerves, kidneys). That's why diabetes has to be treated. I learned from Taubes that when you eat a meal with a lot of carbs, your insulin level rises to deal with the blood sugar (naturally). Your body can live on either carbs or fats, but not both at once. So to clear the decks for burning the newly arrived carbs, insulin ALSO tells any leftover fats from the last meal that are still kicking around in your system to be put into storage as fat. It's not eating fat that makes you fat - it's your body dealing with too many carbs.
If you eat lots of carbs, your body will assume more are coming, and as your blood sugar drops (after the insulin kicks in), you'll crave more carbs. If you simply don't eat carbs (so your insulin stays low), your body will slowly and steadily convert stored fat to use as energy. Even marathoners have enough fat stores for at least a week, so your body has no reason to scream, "Feed me!!!" People who aim to lose weight by cutting out carbs can usually do it without watching calories - you eat until you're full, then stop. Oddly enough, after reading that bit, I realized I can actually go for 12+ hours without eating (dinner to a late breakfast) without feeling hunger, as long as I don't have carbs for dinner.
Taubes also looks at a lot of "accepted wisdom" in light of medical research from the last 50-60 years, e.g., whether you need any carbs (never mind the huge amount prescribed by the govt's current "food pyramid"), whether fat causes heart disease (no), and whether weight loss is simply a matter of willing oneself to eat fewer calories than one expends (no).
The book includes lists of foods that are low-carb. The biggest "no"s are processed grains and sugars. There is a case study or two of people who started by cutting out a few high-carb items (sugary drinks) and then worked their way up to hardly any carbs in their daily intake.
Based on my own experience, low carb is the most efficient and easiest way to lose weight. I lost 40 lbs. on a mostly veggie diet (Pritikin). It was torture: constant hunger, and counting calories meticulously. I switched to Atkins / low carb not long after, and it's been easy to keep the weight off.