Taubes - Chapter 13 - What We Can Do

 Being born with a tendency toward fat is beyond your control.

Taubes says

“It’s carbohydrates that ultimately determines insulin secretion
and insulin that drives the accumulation of body fat.

Not all of us get fat when we eat carbohydrates,
but for those of us who do get fat,
the carbohydrates are to blame;
the fewer carbohydrates we eat, the leaner we will be.”

He compares this with cigarettes.

“Not every longtime smoker gets lung cancer.
Only one in six men will, and one in nine women.
But for those who do get lung cancer,
cigarette smoke is …the most common cause.

In a world without cigarettes,
lung cancer would be a rare disease, as it once was.
In a world without carbohydrate-rich diets,
obesity would be a rare condition as well.”

 Taubes says a crucial point is that not all foods
containing carbohydrates are equally fattening.
The most fattening foods are the ones with the greatest effect
on our Blood Sugar. He then talks about Blood Sugar issues,
and the Glycemic Index.
Taubes thinks fruit is “worrisome” because

“it is sweet to the taste precisely because it contains a type of
sugar known as fructose, and fructose is uniquely fattening
as carbohydrates go.

Fruit doesn’t have to be processed before we eat it;
it’s fat-free and cholesterol-free; it has vitamins and antioxidants,
and so, by this logic, it must be good for us. Maybe so.
But if we’re predisposed to put on fat, it’s a good bet
that most fruit will make the problem worse, not better.”

He says 

“The very worst foods for us…are sugars – sucrose (table sugar)
and high-fructose corn syrup in particular.
I refer to both of them as sugars,
because they are effectively identical.
Sucrose—white granulated sugar—is half fructose and half glucose.
HFCS is 55 % fructose, 42% glucose, and 3% other carbohydrates."

 Taubes then talks about the way the body digests the carbohydrates
in sugars and starches, and the problems that occur in our bodies.

He says that although fructose has no immediate effect on Blood Sugar
and Insulin, that -- over time – it is a likely cause of insulin resistance.

“It is quite possible that if we never ate these sugars
we might never become fat or diabetic, even if the bulk of our diet
were still starchy carbohydrates and flour.

This would explain why some of the world’s poorest populations
live on carbohydrate-rich diets and don’t get fat and diabetic,
while others aren’t so lucky. The ones that don’t (or at least didn’t),
like the Japanese and Chinese were the ones that traditionally
ate very little sugar. Once you do start to fatten, if you want to stop
the process and reverse it, these sugars have to be the first to go.”

 I do agree that tolerances of carbohydrates differ between people.
In fact, I find all of these Concepts very believable.
Many of them I’ve experienced in my own life,
and have frequently observed in others as well.

I think it’s interesting the way that Taubes believes
that many bodies change over time
due to exposure to excessive carbohydrates.
This makes a lot of sense to me.