I was clicking through some web pages related to AHS12 and found this gem:
"Taubes' simple advice works for about 80% of the general population -the mass for whom his publisher aims his works. The remaining 20% have special health issues that they in general seem to complain about on blogs, but never seem willing to address.
Dudes, if it's not working for you, get your genes and hormones tested. This is your responsibility not Taubes'!
If you're post-menopausal and stop losing, go ketogenic – 85-88% fat. If that doesn't work, stay ketogenic and limit calories to 1600. If that doesn't work, then take hormones because you have a hormone problem, not a weight problem."
Oh my, where to start!
"Taubes' simple advice works for about 80% of the general population".
What is this statement based on??? Is it maybe the ZERO long-term studies showing low-carb is effective for weight loss? Is it the fact that since low-carb has been popular for the last 40 years, there has not been ONE single study that shows it is capable of taking a group of overweight people and turning them into normal weight in the long-term? How can you get 80% out of ZERO percent?
"Dudes, if it's not working for you, get your genes and hormones tested."
So…if this diet doesn't work, and it never has clinically in the first place, then you should now spend money on gene and hormone testing?? Talk about flushing money down the drain.
"If you're post-menopausal and stop losing, go ketogenic – 85-88% fat."
A diet of 90% fat – wow, that's healthy. Again, zero proof this works for weight loss.
"If that doesn't work, stay ketogenic and limit calories to 1600. If that doesn't work, then take hormones because you have a hormone problem, not a weight problem."
And if that doesn't work, then cut calories… and then start taking hormones???
Here's an idea: if low-carb doesn't work (and in general it doesn't), THEN TRY SOMETHING ELSE.
Unbelievable…
When you say low-carb doesn’t work, are you referring to long-term (beyond, say, 2 years)? The available studies suggest carb restriction does have benefits, at least in the shorter term (again, up to 24 months). Low-carb diets are not a panacea, but to say that they ‘generally don’t work’ might be going beyond the available (albeit somewhat limited) data.
Not in my opinion. The goal is to get a person from overweight to normal weight.
I’ve covered this before in the archives…
Nice post, Matt.
Whoever said that Taubes’s advice works for 80% of people is an idiot. 90% of the people in the National Weight Control Registry (a national database of people who have successfully maintained long-term weight loss) are NOT low carbers. If Taubes’s advice worked so well, it would be the opposite.
Thank you for being sane haha. By the way, I loved your presentation at AHS! I look forward to following your blog.
Matt Metzgar keepin’ it real.