Diet ≠ Religion

Our society's ideas about eating, exercise and overweight are informed by religion, not by science.

This is one little idea from Gary Taubes that has shifted my entire thinking about health and fitness.  Many people think about weight gain as the "punishment" for the "sins" of gluttony and sloth -- that is, we get fat by eating too much and not moving enough. But in fact, it could be that we have the cause-and-effect relationship completely backwards.

"Mark my words. The kid who finds the first ticket will be fat, fat, fat!" - Grandpa George

As a science journalist, Taubes contends that we should see what the science says, rather than falling back on these old notions. And what does it say?  More and more research shows that obesity is a hormonal disorder, not a moral, psychological, or self-control issue.  It has to do with the body's ability to regulate the use and storage of the calories we consume, rather than our ability to simply "control ourselves."  In fact it might just be that people eat more and move less because they are fat, not the other way around!

In pages and pages of examples, Taubes challenges the good old calorie-in calorie-out hypothesis, the so-called "law of thermodynamics."  He believes that saying we gain weight because we take in more calories than we burn is like saying that an airport is crowded because there are more passengers arriving than leaving.  It tells us what is going on, but not why.

In order to truly explain obesity, we need to look to biology -- not religion or physics -- to find out what hormonal processes influence the regulation of appetite, metabolic rate, energy burning, and fat storage.  This is a far more complex equation than we have been led to believe, and it's one that scientists have been slow to explore, since it doesn't fit neatly with our existing, moralistic paradigm.  Genetics play a role, of course, and growing evidence seems to point to sugars and starches as having a disproportionate effect on the hormones that push the body to store, rather than burn, energy.

...This is all hifalutin stuff, I know, but as I said previously, this is one of the many ways that Taubes blew my mind.  And it was enough to convince me to at least try the NSNG lifestyle.