'Carbohydrate-rich foods-bread, pasta, potatoes, sweets, beer-were seen to be uniquely fattening, and if you wanted to avoid being fat, you didn’t eat them.' Why Were They Fat?

So what do we eat instead?Īnswer: 'stay away from carbohydrate-rich foods, and the sweeter the food or the easier it is to consume and digest-liquid carbohydrates like beer, fruit juices, and sodas are probably the worst-the more likely it is to make you fat and the more you should avoid it.' These carbohydrates literally make us fat, and by driving us to accumulate fat, they make us hungrier and they make us sedentary.'īut these are very typical in a western diet. It's ultimately the result of a hormonal imbalance, not a caloric one - 'specifically, the stimulation of insulin secretion caused by eating easily digestible, carbohydrate-rich foods: refined carbohydrates, including flour and cereal grains, starchy vegetables such as potatoes, and sugars, like sucrose (table sugar) and high-fructose corn syrup. It is hormones, enzymes, and growth factors that regulate our fat tissue - 'just as they do everything else in the human body, and that we do not get fat because we overeat we get fat because the carbohydrates in our diet make us fat.' The more carbohydrates we eat, and the easier they are to digest and the sweeter they are, the more insulin we will ultimately secrete, meaning that the level of it in our bloodstream is greater and so is the fat we retain in our fat cells.' 'our insulin levels are effectively determined by the carbohydrates we eat-not entirely, but for all intents and purposes.

More insulin leads to more fat in our fat tissue - and less insulin leads to less fat in our fat tissue. The traditional way of thinking (calories in vs calories out) has shown repeatedly that it doesn't work.įat accumulation is regulated by insulin. ' we don’t get fat because we eat too much and move too little, and that we can’t solve the problem or prevent it by consciously doing the opposite.'

Gary taubes why we get fat summary