Bailey Green

Fundamentals of Human Nutrition

Professor Jennifer Day

December 1st, 2017

Nutrition Perspectives

The book that I chose to use for my research was Why we get Fat, and what to do about it

by Gary Taubes. This was published in December of 2010, the publisher was Alfred A. Knopf.

Taubes wrote this book after his book called good calories, bad calories. Gary Taubes was an

American science writer, he wrote 5 books. Mostly he talks about how carbohydrates make us

gain weight and play a part in how our insulin in released. Taubes also believes that exercise

increases your appetite causing you to eat more.

I chose this book because I found it interesting to know what someone else had to say as

to why we get fat and their opinions on what we can do to change that in our lives. I wanted to

learn how to make a difference in my health along with some of the things that we had talked

about in class this semester. I am generally interested in the things that we can do to avoid

becoming overweight or obese. I want to do everything I can to prevent that happening to myself

in my lifetime, because I grew up with family members that are overweight and obese, even after

surgeries like gastric bypass, or the gastric sleeve my family still struggles with their weight.

In 1934 where Hilde Bruch moved to America, she was a German pediatrician. A year

after settling in New York Hilde opened a clinic in Columbia to treat obese children. The

physicians back then were thoughtful, just like the ones that we have in our generations. But they
have something in common, a flaw, the belief system that the reason we get fat is clear and not

controversial. They mentioned that when you go to the doctor the reason they tell you that you

are overweight is because you eat too much.

1951 Naples, Italy Ancel Keys, a nutritionist in Minnesota, states that the fat we eat and

our cholesterol are some of the leading causes of heart disease. 1954 Prima, stated that most

children female or male or obese by the age of eleven. 1959 Charleston, South Carolina statistics

said that eighteen percent of men and thirty percent of women that are African Americans were

considered to be obese. 1960 South Africa, they said that forty percent of adults were

overweight. 1963 Chili, it was said that obesity was the main nutritional problem for adults.

There are some great results from exercising regularly, this increased our endurance

which increases out fitness in the long road helping us live healthier and longer lives. This also

will help reduce the risk on diabetes and heart disease. In 1977 the National Institute on health

held the second conference on obesity and weight control. They are saying that the importance

and the connection to weight loss due to exercise is less than most people believe, that exercise

basically plays a smaller role in keeping or getting to a healthy weight.

They are also saying that insulin is a factor in way some people get fat, but they asked

why do we not all get fat then? We all make insulin, but we all have different hormones. Also,

our insulin helps to activate different types of enzymes and not everyone has the same enzymes

react in the same way. Carbohydrates are the main reason we get fat, there are different kinds of

carbohydrates and the majority of the time we are eating the wrong types. The best thing that we

can do to avoid getting fat from eating is to avoid the carbohydrate rich foods.
 Three things that compare from our class textbook and Gary Taubes book number one

being Carbohydrates cause excessive fat, there are good and bad carbohydrates and you also

need to be limiting your calorie intake everyday to help avoid having over carbohydrate

consumption. We need to be careful on the types of carbohydrates that we are putting into our

bodies. Controlling this will make a huge difference in the way we lose weight and our ability to

do so. Cutting out the bad carbohydrates will make us not only feel better, but improve our

overall body functions.

The second thing that is comparable is in chapter 7 of our class book, that physically

activity does play a part in being healthy and living a healthy lifestyle, but the book says that

exercise makes you even more hungry than you normally would have been. Our book tells us to

listen to our bodys hunger cues but if you wanted to compare the two books eating after exercise

would not be the best idea because even though you would be listening to the hunger cues you

would be over eating from having a bigger appetite from your physical activity.

The last thing that I wanted to compare between the two books would be your blood.

Blood carries oxygen, nutrients, waste, hormones, and cells. Our book tells us that your red and

white blood cells are constantly being replaced and when our red bloods cells are compromised

we lack physical and mental health. Our blood sugar also plays a part in our weight such as if

you are a diabetic or if you are at risk of becoming one. Diabetics struggle to maintain a healthy

body weight and struggle to lose weight on top of that. Gary tells us that our blood plays a part in

our insulin levels which also determines our weight based on how much insulin is released or if

you become insulin resistant you are more likely to become overweight or to be considered

obese. If you compare them both you would see that our blood is a factor in being able to

maintain a healthy and controlled body weight. If you lose red blood cells or if your blood sugar
is too high or if you become insulin resistant you open many doors to help concerns that could

affect your overall health.

What I learned about nutrition from this assignment is that even though you go to

the gym every single day, without a proper diet and healthy blood levels you could make it

almost impossible to reach a healthy weight. Losing weight has many factors and all of the

things that I mentioned above need to be met and need to be maintained to lose weight in a

healthy more permanent way. I also learned that not everyone has the same opinions and

sometimes the opinions of others do not make sense to everyone and that is okay. Sometimes

certain things work for most people but there are always going to be the people that need to take

a different approach to being able to maintain a healthy body weight and life style. Sometimes

when you get to the point where you are overweight and or obese, just exercise or just eating

correctly does not always help. Sometimes you need to have professional help and you could

potentially get better results from that.

A new view point and or idea that I learned about was about exercise. I always thought

that it was healthy to go to the gym as much as you could and that it would benefit you, but I

never would have guessed that physically activity would increase your appetite because

personally I do not feel like I am more hungry or need to eat after I exercise if anything it makes

me not want to eat. I usually just have a protein shake afterwords and then I am good for a few

hours before I start feeling hungry.

I do not think I will incorporate most of the things that I learned through this assignment,

mostly because after the things that we learned in class I was able to learn what works best for

me personally. Everyone is different like I mentioned above so when you find something that

works for you there is no reason to change or alter something when it is continuing to work. So
unless or until what I am doing right now starts to not work anymore I will not be changing how

I am exercising or eating. I go to the gym everyday either after class or before work and I eat a

healthy diet with lots of variation.

References:

Gary Taubes. (2017, November 26). Retrieved December 01, 2017, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Taubes

Taubes, G. (2013). Why we get fat and what to do about it. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat in a Nutshell - Infographic. (2017, April 13)