In this video, Tony Budding of CrossFit Media sits down with investigative journalist Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories. Through publications and lectures, Taubes tackles scientific controversies and debunks bad science. In this interview, Taubes shares some of his insights with the nutrition-conscious CrossFit community.
“Science is about trying to prove that you’re wrong,” Taubes says, “and then sort of grudgingly accepting that you haven’t been able to prove yourself wrong.”
According to Taubes, the health, nutrition and medicine sciences lack consensus and are pseudoscientific. He says he’s working to change the system and help educate the public.
The advice he gives to help someone get healthier is to read his books and think critically about the issues he presents. He says there is so much misinformation and conflicting information available that it makes it hard for people to choose their nutrition path.
“This is the problem: how do you decide who to trust? And I don’t know what the answer is,” Taubes says.
Two questions he suggests asking are: “Does it make sense?” and “Can I test it myself?”
His approach is a carb-restricted, high-fat diet. A simple lipid test will show you are getting healthier if your HDL count is getting higher and your triglycerides are getting lower.
“Right off the bat, that will tell you that you’re reducing your risk of heart disease,” Taubes says.
He discusses how to test diets for their efficacy and how long it might take to get results with self-experimentation. Taubes also critically evaluates the Zone Diet.
24min 15sec
HD file size: 675 MB
SD wmv file size: 301 MB
SD mov file size: 255 MB
Please note: These files are larger than normal Journal videos. For smoother viewing, please download the entire file to your hard drive before watching it (right-click and choose Save Link As...).
Additional reading: Good Hormones, Bad Hormones: The Energy Balance Equation by Tony Leyland, published March 1, 2008.