I've been doing the keto diet for two years now (now doing a "cyclical keto," I guess). I've lost 35+ pounds, eat less, crave less, and feel more energetic and better. This book provided some of the scientific underpinnings to explain why the keto diet has worked for me. More importantly, it provided a historical approach, going back centuries to find others who discovered "keto" eating as their solution, or "Low-Card/High-Fat" eating (LCHF, Taubes calls it). Taubes tries to prove that carbs spur insulin to work, storing fat in your body. The evidence isn't quite there yet, but the scientific establishment is dead set against the idea. The "consensus" is still that you can eat pretty much what you want as long as you expend more calories than you put in, then you will lose weight. I think the science is better in Perlmutter's Grain Brain, and Taubes is sometimes repetitive. But, it is a good book and more support and insight on why the diet works for me. ( )

Nearly twenty years ago, science journalist Gary Taubes wrote an article for the magazine section of the Sunday New York Times reporting that some eminent scientists were beginning to re-think the conventional view about why we gain weight.

His article, which I read at the time, convinced me and many others to take another long at the long-forgotten “Atkins Diet” which had a bit of a revival in the years that followed. My experience, and that of many others, was that low-carb dieting worked amazingly well. But most health professionals and most people disagreed, and disapproved.

Fast forward twenty years and the arguments Taubes made then are now accepted by thousands of doctors, and embraced by millions of people. In this book, a sequel of sorts to Taubes’ The Case Against Sugar, he explains why.

The science behind LCHF keto eating is well established. As Taubes continues to explain, patiently, year after year, it’s not about physics. It’s not calories in versus calories out. That doesn’t really work, as most people who struggle to lose weight will tell you. It’s about insulin resistance, about hormones and about how our cells accumulate fat rather than burn it off. And the proof is, to use a really terrible metaphor in this case, in the pudding. Low carb dieting leads to weight loss.

Taubes writes very well, and is very convincing. I hope many people read the book and try out what he suggests. It really works. ( )