***Note: I checked with Knopf about copyright and they informed me that I can keep the notes up for a limited time until they withdraw the permission. Please download your own copy of the PDF while it’s still available.***
Gary Taubes’s masterpiece—Good Calories, Bad Calories
—is the most important book ever written on diet and health. Drawing from an astounding body of research, Taubes challenges the conventional wisdom head on and decisively wins (the book is perhaps overkill.) He shows that carbohydrates are the root cause of obesity and most chronic diseases, and that fat is not only innocent, but positively beneficial. The book was so amazingly good that after finishing it, I decided to read it through again and take extensive notes for future reference. Now that I’ve finished, I figure that these notes could be quite useful as a reference to others who’ve read the book, or even as an overview to get more people to read the book. These notes are no substitute for reading the book though. They were written as a reference to complement the book and I strongly recommend reading it through in its entirety. Armed with Taubes’s book and these notes, you’ll be a low-carb, high-fat force to be reckoned with!
If you’re unacquainted with Taubes’s work, his obesity lecture is a good place to start.
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Really interesting. My son is psyched – bacon is one of his favorites.
Thanks for doing this…not an easy task!
Excellent job by Taubes, to be sure. Only problem I see is with this statement: “1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease or any other
chronic disease of civilization.”
Until a few months ago I did not fully appreciate the role of omega-6 fats in chronic disease. It’s the essential dietary fat people routinely consume in quantities far in excess of what the body needs or can cope with. I urge all who read this comment to watch a 37 minute presentation by Dr. Bill Lands that begins at about 12 minutes into this videocast: http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=8108
For more information on the hazards associated with excessive omega-6 fat intake vosot Evelyn Tribole’s website at: http://omega-6-omega-3-balance.omegaoptimize.com/
Thank you.
Wow.
Prior to skimming through this PDF, I was only kicking around the idea of maybe buying a copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories.
About 15 minutes after reading the summary, I’m on my way to the bookstore to grab a copy.
Thank you for posting this; thanks to Knopf for allowing it to be up at least for a short time, and most of all thanks to Gary Taubes.
[...] If you haven’t read Good Calories Bad Calories yet, I’d suggest heading over to Higher Thoughts where you can read extensive notes on the entire book. [...]
I just today finished Taubes “Good Calories Bad Calories” and I had the thought ….I wish I had taken notes of the larger points.
WOW!
You did an amazing job of putting this together….I would have taken forever to do it and could not have done such an excellent job. Bravo, and many thanks for putting this up for those of us…who KNOW fat is not not the devil!
(I work with women with eating disorders and need to have all the facts when I mention even the idea of eating fat.)
Be well and much Aloha~
[...] Wiebe at Higher Thought has put together an excellent [...]
Thank you for making this book accessible. I will go buy a copy so I can read it all.
This information matches my experience (hungrier after oatmeal than eggs) and perhaps offers an explanation of my son’s extraordinarily high uric acid blood levels after he was born – I had gestational diabetes that went undiagnosed. Now, to put the information together and create a food plan to help me release the extra fat I carry!
You are amazing. I read the book and wanted to do the same thing, but you really took the initiative. Thanks so much for sharing! This book should be required reading.
I have read the book twice, but your notes will still be a valuable resource. Thank you for doing this. It will be a reference for many people.
outstanding!
I have just ordered a copy on amazon because of that!
I am a ‘primal’ eater eating only real food (low carb high fat). This will be great to deepen my knowledge and hopefully convince my friends and family to stop killing themselves and ridiculing me for telling them.
Wondeful Book- read it twice, first time in pieces and the second time complete. Bought several copies as Christmas gifts- it a must read. Let the notes be your first quick read.
Thanks for a very nice summary! I read the book a while ago, and this will provide a nice review.
I’m curious as to how the publisher could possibly claim that this material violates their copyright. You’re summarizing the book in your own words, not even quoting it. (OK, maybe the image of the cover is copyrighted material, but that’s easy to remove.)
Thank you!
Extremely well done.
Great work, thanks.
I read the book, and this is a very helpful reminder/review.
Now get to work on “The Vegetarian Myth”
Jim
… except for the knee-jerk every-evil-on-earth-is-caused-by-maleness hokum. The actual vegetarian myth part is very good.
Jim
Ha ha, I agree. It’s great that a hardcore vegan went paleo, but too bad she didn’t challenge her underlying worldview (radical feminist environmentalist). It’s a great book for saving people from vegetarianism because she shows that their own premises lead to paleo, not to grain and agriculture. I don’t think notes are even necessary for this one. Her 3 main arguments (moral, political, nutritional) are pretty straightforward and could be summarized in a few lines. The reviews by paleo bloggers already do a good job.