Why am I fat??

A book review on the Gary Taubes book WHY WE GET FAT AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

I am not happy to just be told to eat a certain type of food, and viola... you will magically lose weight. That is not good enough for me.  I want to know WHY.   Going further, if I know why fat happens in the first place, I can create my own magical diet, right?    Gary Taubes wrote the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" then followed that work with this book "Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it".  The total skeptic in me appreciates the fact the books are based on research and not "paid to produce a result" type research funded by some company trying to promote a product... as far as I can tell.   One of the convincing things about the noted research is that after all is said and done, he is not selling anything except this book.    Score one for Taubes from the skeptic.

So, let's boil this down.  What gets you fat?  According to Taubes, it is CARBS  The book starts with multiple research reports in which debunk the claim that overeating and sedentary behavior makes you fat.  Multiple reports document groups which have labor intensive jobs but still have high body fat percentage and poor communities who cannot afford food, yet are obese.  The common factor in both groups is the consumption of carbs, either as a staple of their purchased diets or because they were given carb loaded rations from the government.

Well... doesn't that just throw a monkey wrench in that whole "Tape your mouth shut and get on the treadmill" bandwagon.
According to his book, essentially the carbs are a form of sugar and the body has an insulin reaction.  Over time the body develops an insulin resistance and stores the excess as fat.    OK, this is an EXTREME summary, but the book debunks the "calories in, calories out" model which so many people live and die by... literally.

The book is an easy read, even for those who are not so interested in the science behind it all.  So, where is the diet plan, you ask.  Hmmm, no set diet plan per se, but a list of foods to eat and not to eat.  Essentially, look up High Fat Low Carb menus on the internet, there are tons of them if you need meals set up.  Otherwise, just plan shopping in the outside aisles of the grocery store and avoiding the boxed stuff.


  

N equals One

I was born skinny, I grew up skinny, I was a skinny adult, then one day BAM.... I am FAT!  WTH???  How did I get fat?   What the heck are you supposed to do to get rid of this?  Get this Fat Suit off of me!!!

I know I am not the norm.  Is there a norm??  Some people go through their whole lives chubby, they were born chubby and as they aged, got progressively chubbier until one day they woke up and BAM... they are OBESE!    Some people have medical or emotional issues that bring on the weight gain.   Let’s not even start with the people with multiple issues thrown in including age.  There is no “one size fits all” in the way people gained weight and there is no "one size fits all" in how it is lost.... I don't care what those night-time exercise equipment salesmen say.  The fact is, most people would be happy to just get healthy.  Wait, being healthy and eating healthy food has quite a few interpretations too....  and they change as you age!  

So, the quest begins.  I am constant researcher and learner and am not afraid to explore and experiment, so the task is..... learn why and how  we get fat, so we can get healthy again.  I have started some experimentation with different foods, diets, and exercises.  I am fully engaged in the overused term of  life style change.  I read the books, I bought the exercise stuff, and I bought supplements and potions. I blended and juiced, I grew a garden, and I even started to raise my own chickens.  I began the this a while back but have finally decided to reveal some of the results of the GREAT N = 1 EXPERIMENT.

For those of you with little scientific tendencies the term n = x, refers to the sample size of an experiment (x refers to the number of things being sampled in the experiment).  Obviously, when you do an experiment and have a humungous sample size, the results have more validity.  However, just because an experiment has a consistent result for a huge sample size, does not mean that you should fall within the group that made up the norm.  You could easily be that odd man out with a result that is on the high or low end of the norm, or even has the opposite result from the group.   So, no amount of mass group-think in term of dieting is going to be relevant unless it is relevant to YOU… or ME in this case.  Self-experimentation is necessary!! 

I am the N=1 and the results are ME!

Protein Powder Chocolate Muffins - YUM!

My first experiment with my new book, The Ultimate Protein Powder Cookbook was going to be one of the breads, since I have been somewhat bread deprived for a while, but I had all the ingredients for the Mexican Chocolate Protein Muffins and who does not like chocolate muffins??

The ingredients were a bit surprising.  It called for BLACK BEANS.   The rest of the ingredients were expected.  One of the things I would suggest is to REALLY MIX the ingredients well.  I had a few whole beans in the muffin I ate and a bean is not something you expect to find in a muffin.  I am not sure if the muffin with have the beany side effects... but with the taste, I am ok with destroying the world's atmosphere a tad.

 I would suggest anyone who is interested in cooking with protein to look at the author's web page www.proteinpow.com for a ton of recipes and ideas.  The page also has links to buy the harder to find ingredients.

Another issue I encountered was the chocolate protein powder I ended up using which was one that I had rejected in shake form because of the artificial sweetener taste.  The taste was still there after cooking.  So, the recipe can only get better with better chocolate whey protein powder.  I topped my muffin with a Almond Coconut Butter type "frosting".  It was rather drippy as Almond Coconut Butter normally is.  This may be something that could be mixed with a thickening agent before frosting with it.

Overall, easy and delicious and only 82 calories per muffin, 8 g protein and 6 g carbs and YUMMY!