Why Calories Don't Count
How We Got the Science of Weight Loss Wrong
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A Cambridge obesity researcher upends everything we thought we knew about calories and calorie-counting.
Calorie information is ubiquitous. On packaged food, restaurant menus, and online recipes we see authoritative numbers that tell us the calorie count of what we're about to consume. And we treat these numbers as gospel—counting, cutting, intermittently consuming and, if you believe some 'experts' out there, magically making them disappear. We all know, and governments advise, that losing weight is just a matter of burning more calories than we consume. But it's actually all wrong.
In Why Calories Don't Count, Dr. Giles Yeo, an obesity researcher at Cambridge University, challenges the conventional model and demonstrates that all calories are not created equal. He addresses why popular diets succeed, at least in the short term, and why they ultimately fail, and what your environment has to do with your bodyweight.
Once you understand that calories don't count, you can begin to make different decisions about how you choose to eat, learning what you really need to be counting instead. Practical, science-based and full of illuminating anecdotes, this is the most entertaining dietary advice you'll ever read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The calorie-counts that you see everywhere today are WRONG," according to this informative and entertaining guide. Yeo (Gene Eating), a geneticist researching obesity at the University of Cambridge, explains calories in terms of "caloric availability," or the number of "available or usable calories" the body can extract from food, which is different from the number listed on nutritional labels. To that end, Yeo makes a case that "the system of caloric availability brings all diet plans under one umbrella," with the takeaway being that low-carb, high-fat, and ketogenic diets are based on the premise that "calorie by calorie, meals higher in protein appear to be more filling." Yeo's guidelines for how to make healthier food choices rely on focusing on the nutritional content in food, getting enough protein and fiber, and avoiding sugar and meat. Two appendixes break down the nutritional values of common foods, and provide recipes for "no-rush weekend dishes," such as crispy duck with pancakes and beef short-rib rendang. Yeo explains complex biochemistry—how the digestive system works, metabolic rate and how it's measured, how carbs and fat are burned—and delivers his plan with a chatty tone and humorous anecdotes. Straightforward, encouraging, and easy to implement, this is sure to please readers looking to switch up their approach to food.
