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While I completely agree with you on the general puffery of most of these diet book people, note that Fung comes at this from having treated thousands of people

by jmlsf 8y ago

While I completely agree with you on the general puffery of most of these diet book people, note that Fung comes at this from having treated thousands of people for diabetes, with a great deal of success. I think you should take a closer look at his writing, which is fact-based and extensive. The eating six times a day advice IS advice I have repeatedly heard and I have known many people who follow it. The idea that we should be eating lots of carbohydrates IS conventional advice if you consider the medical community's decades of instruction that we should not eat fat or meat: the only remaining macronutrient that most westerners will eat is carbohydrates. The popular prevalence of keto and paleo and Atkins makes people forget that the prevailing medical advice STILL effectively directs people to a high carb, low calorie diet. Calories-in-calories out isn't wrong, but it is incomplete. It doesn't explain why the "Biggest Loser" winners see their base line calorie consumption drop way below what you'd expect for someone of their new weight. It doesn't explain why some people NEVER have to diet while other go through life starving but still gain weight. If it were just "calories in calories out", you wouldn't see these anomalies. In short, it doesn't explain hunger. Fung's insulin theory has good science behind it and fits well with a lot of historical observations, such as the increase in sugar in our diets. And the ADF diet study had incredibly good results.

bena 8y ago
Do we eat too much sugar these days? Too much meat? Too much dairy? Yes to all of it. Probably so. > It doesn't explain why some people NEVER have to diet while other go through life starving but still gain weight. But there is a very simple explanation: Self-reporting is bullshit. Never believe anyone who says "I can eat anything I want and not gain weight" or "I hardly eat anything and still gain weight". There's always something they aren't seeing. Anyone who says that needs to keep a very strict food journal for a month. No cheating, no "well it's just a mint". Strict. Everything gets recorded. You take a bite of someone's ice cream, you record it. What you'll find is that their caloric consumption is right in line with their weight.
darioush 8y ago
> It doesn't explain why some people NEVER have to diet while other go through life starving but still gain weight This is simply not true. I monitored behaviors of my friends or asked them probing questions where I suspected this was the case. They may 'skip dinner' or 'have a light dinner' the day you watched them gorge on cake, but you might not see that. They may run 10 miles the day after eating the same Mexican food as you. Same with other side, people who say they don't gain weight in spite of eating 1000s of calories in surplus just aren't eating 1000s of calories in surplus. They think they are because they often eat candy, ... but they may take a bite or two and 'save the rest for later', or 'have dessert for dinner' and think that's eating lots of calories. They may also be taller than you by a couple inches and you're underestimating the effect height has.

by jmlsf 8y ago

bena 8y ago

Do we eat too much sugar these days? Too much meat? Too much dairy? Yes to all of it. Probably so. > It doesn't explain why some people NEVER have to diet while other go through life starving but still gain weight. But there is a very simple explanation: Self-reporting is bullshit. Never believe anyone who says "I can eat anything I want and not gain weight" or "I hardly eat anything and still gain weight". There's always something they aren't seeing. Anyone who says that needs to keep a very strict food journal for a month. No cheating, no "well it's just a mint". Strict. Everything gets recorded. You take a bite of someone's ice cream, you record it. What you'll find is that their caloric consumption is right in line with their weight.

darioush 8y ago

> It doesn't explain why some people NEVER have to diet while other go through life starving but still gain weight This is simply not true. I monitored behaviors of my friends or asked them probing questions where I suspected this was the case. They may 'skip dinner' or 'have a light dinner' the day you watched them gorge on cake, but you might not see that. They may run 10 miles the day after eating the same Mexican food as you. Same with other side, people who say they don't gain weight in spite of eating 1000s of calories in surplus just aren't eating 1000s of calories in surplus. They think they are because they often eat candy, ... but they may take a bite or two and 'save the rest for later', or 'have dessert for dinner' and think that's eating lots of calories. They may also be taller than you by a couple inches and you're underestimating the effect height has.