I owe all of you book club peeps an apology! Last Friday I was having site issues that were not completely resolved until Monday morning. By that time, I decided I would wait until today and do a combined week 2 and 3 book club post. Only I forgot to let you all know. So, if you were here last Friday hoping to discuss Part II, my apologies. Thank you for all the great discussion and comments on Part I The Greatest Story Ever Told. I loved reading all of your insights as well as personal experience with weight loss.
If you are just joining us, first things first, get yourself a copy of Fat Chance.
Then catch up by checking out Part I The Greatest Story Ever Told.
As this is my first time organizing an online book club, I have decided to be flexible with how this is formatted as we go along. It seems after week 1, some of you were overwhelmed with my long list of discussion questions. My hope was that you would pick the one or two or maybe even three that spoke to you and discuss. You all did a fabulous job with this!
This week I am going to change it up and instead of discussion questions, I am going to share one thing from each chapter that I feel influenced me the most. Feel free to discuss in the comments or you TELL ME…
- what stirred up the most emotion
- what made your jaw drop
- what made your eyes pop out of your head
when you read Part II and Part III?
Part II To Eat or Not to Eat? That’s Not the Question
Gluttony and Sloth — Behavior Driven by Hormones
“Each of us is really two compartments: lean body mass, which burns energy; and fat, which stores energy. Every molecule of energy consumed has a choice: to which compartment does the energy go? Is the energy burned or stored? Your consumption of energy is never high enough to overwhelm both compartments at the same time; no one can eat that much. “
I would take this one step further and relate the food we eat to our overall health, not just weight. Food is not benign…meaning every bite we take has an impact on our health in some way, shape or form. It is the exact opposite of the, “come on, one bite won’t hurt” mentality. As the saying goes, “the foods you eat can be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.”
Food Addiction — Fact or Fallacy
“Although anecdotal reports abound supporting human “sugar addiction,” we are still not completely sure whether this is full-fledged dependence or merely habituation.”
This past May on the Low-Carb Cruise, I had the privilege of hearing Jackie Eberstein, RN, speak on the topic of food addiction. Jackie, who worked with “the” Dr. Robert Atkins for three decades, shared her own personal story of addiction with both cigarette smoking and sugar. When she polled the room with a question like, “who thinks they are addicted to carbs?” most in the room raised their hand. What this tells me, is that, while science may not agree, anecdotal evidence, and personal experience tells me that food can be addicting, with sugar and carbohydrates being the worst offenders.
Stress and “Comfort Food”
“There are boatloads of evidence that humans are more stressed today than we were thirty years ago. These stresses occur at home, in the workplace, and at school; in other words, all people all the time. Stress, depression, and excess cortisol are all linked to metabolic syndrome. One of the hallmarks of metabolic syndrome is excessive cortisol due to adrenal gland overactivation. These examples suggest that cortisol is a primary player in the development of metabolic syndrome.”
As someone who experienced severe adrenal fatigue I can personally vouch for what stress does to the body. If you want to get to know my story a little better, you can read my About Vanessa page. I will tell you, I was told I had insulin resistance, signs of metabolic syndrome, could hardly get off the couch, couldn’t sleep at night and had a terrible nighttime binging disorder. It took 4 years to turn my health around and I think it was nothing short of a miracle.
Part III “Chewing” the Fat
The Birth, Care, and Feeding of a Fat Cell
“The journey through obesity and chronic metabolic disease begins and ends with the hormone insulin, the energy-storage hormone. There is no fat accumulation without insulin. Insulin shunts sugar to fat. It makes your fat cells grow. The more insulin, the more fat, period. While there are many causes of obesity, excess insulin in some form is the “final common pathway” for the overwhelming majority of them. Block it, and the fat cells remain empty.”
This by far is my favorite chapter since I started reading the book! From the beginning to the end this chapter gripped me. The part about how a mother’s diet and environment influences the fat cells of their offspring is simply fascinating. I wish I knew this when I was pregnant with my own two children. However, I chose the snippet above because it encompasses my experience with living a low-carb lifestyle. Controlling my weight and (sugar addiction mentioned above) has never been easier since adopting a low-carb lifestyle in 2001.
The Difference Between “Fat” and “Sick”
“Any doctor will tell you that losing weight will improve your health, including me. And it’s a fact – except for two small problems: First, weight loss is next to impossible.”
I am going to stop right there with this quote from the book, because, while I have agreed with Dr. Lustig, for the most part thus far, I adamantly disagree with the notion that weight loss is next to impossible, well, because, it doesn’t have to be. Yes, I agree some are “metabolically broken” but they are the exception, not the rule. In fact, Dr. Lusting admits this himself in an earlier chapter. As someone who has been in the low-carb community for over a decade, I can think of countless people off the top of my head who have won their battle with obesity, it may be hard, but it is not impossible.
Metabolic Syndrome: The New Scourge
“You don’t have to be obese to have metabolic syndrome. After all, up to 40 percent of normal-weight adults have it! Obesity is a “marker” for metabolic syndrome, but not the only marker; it is not the cause. Whether it resides in fat people or not, the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that insulin resistance is the hallmark of metabolic syndrome. And thin people can be insulin resistant, too.”
“There is early evidence, although by no means proven, that insulin resistance in the brain leads to dementia.”
My own mother, who is less than 100 pounds and has never been overweight in her life, is dying of a form of dementia called Lewy Body Disease. She is not old, in fact, she started showing signs in her late 50′s and officially diagnosed when she was 60. There is not a doubt in my mind her sugar, carb and Diet Coke addiction played a significant role in her disease. And just like so many other women, she didn’t stop to think how eating sugar could be affecting her health, because it wasn’t impacting her weight. There’s another saying, I don’t know who to credit it to, but it goes like this, “only the lucky one’s get fat.” Meaning, when we gain weight we are prompted to make a change. We can’t see dementia on the outside of our body and by the time we experience the symptoms it is too late.
Now it’s your turn!
Use the comments to start the discussion. I trust the discussion will stay on topic and be respectful of each opinion. It’s okay to disagree but no personal attacks.
Thanks for catching us up Vanessa! This book has taken me for an emotional ride…I’ve learned a lot, re-read lots of information that I just barely grasp (leptin, cortisol, insulin, adrenal fatigue, etc), and have studied the flow charts trying to understand things I had hardly thought of before. Even without a formal diagnosis (not sure my doctor would even think to do this–maybe time to change?), I think it’s reasonable to expect I would find adrenal fatigue and insulin resistance, at the start. Understanding more about these was disturbing and I started to feel a little despondent, especially with the “weight loss is impossible” statement. I guess I would hope that with appropriate long-term changes it would have to be possible …and I’m counting on it.
I’m actually encouraged to hear how long it took for you to become truly healthy because although I feel so much better with this major shift to low-carb, I know I still have a long journey ahead.
I will check back this weekend to read others’ thoughts. These were tough chapters–lots to take in but I feel like it’s a critical part of my own self-education in the care & keeping of my family!
Thanks for you comment…I’ll get back to a response over the weekend!
There is a lot in this section that gave me pause. The idea that there are components to total weight, and that subcutaneous fat isn’t what we should be primarily concerned about, rather the visceral, makes a lot of sense. I am a little discouraged by what appears to be the underlying message to this section, “you probably won’t lose weight but you should still try”. I have to say that I don’t agree either with the idea that it is impossible… I’ve met too many people lately who have been successful. What I am convinced of is that the only way to have lasting success is to do everything differently, to chuck out all conventional nutritional wisdom, to ditch the old Weight Watchers mentality. I’m learning this is a process! But understanding the science behind why the sugar needs to go certainly helps.
“What I am convinced of is that the only way to have lasting success is to do everything differently, to chuck out all conventional nutritional wisdom…” Agreed! Wholeheartedly!
I will not pretend that I’m reading the book; I didnt have time to order it and I’m so busy I don’t have time to add another book to the list. However, I’m reading your notes and I greatly appreciate them.
Here is my biggest thought provoked by this post: sugar and carb overload leads to dementia. Um, what?!? I have been reading the findings of a lot of other nutritionists and scientific studies that have opened my eyes to how sugar IS a poison and over time will kill your body’s ability to regulate insulin and allow insulin to do it’s job. I’ve found this by way of PCOS research- which I’m currently struggling with and trying to reverse. I was already motivated to cut sugar WAY down because of this, but now that I know it leads to dementia I am SUPER motivated! Dementia is a huge problem in my family, and I want to do everything I can to keep my body as clear of that track as possible.
Thank you so much Vanessa for posting this sort of info and bringing forth the facts and shedding light on the incorrect information we’ve been taught. Your blog posts are truly helpful!
Hi Megan! Thanks for commenting, even if you aren’t reading the book. As you can tell from the number of comments my book club peeps have all disappeared. That’s okay though because I know there are people like you who are reading, learning and getting inspired!
“You don’t have to be obese to have metabolic syndrome.” This is the thing I have trouble convincing my loved ones of. So many people think if they’re thin they are ok (I think it’s also why naturally thin people think over weight people are glutons and sloths).
I have to say that Dr. Lustig is depressing me a bit with this book (I’m just starting chapter 12 and I hope there’s an upside to it all). When I read his words that the only way to burn subcutaneous fat was to become a gym rat I was thinking, “is he serious??” … ugh. He certainly doesn’t make it sound like becoming thin is something one can achieve.
As someone who has lost 47 pounds but is struggling with getting further (I’d like to lose another 30 – 40 to be in a healthy range) his words give me pause. I sure hope he’s not right. While low carb has been a life saver in many ways for me (particularly giving up grains) it’s not a magic bullet for me like it seems to be for some others. More proof we are all so different. I’m finding that now I must really watch calories and carbs to keep losing (even though many in the low carb/paleo realm like to say calories don’t matter).
While much of what he’s saying isn’t new to me, I did enjoy his detailed explanation of energy balance and the fat cell information (although also depressing thinking that what’s done is done in that area). If I could go back, I would eat so differently while pregnant.
When I read his words about what causes us to get fat, I am still left confused as to how he doesn’t automatically conclude that low carb is the answer. He seems to go out of his way to say it’s not the only answer. He has (on many occasions and in the book) said Dean Ornish’s plan works too but I’m confused how a plan based in grains/legumes/fruit can reduce insulin (maybe there’s something to eating a plant based diet that changes your insulin response to such foods??).
I would love to get Dr. Lustig, Dr. Davis and Gary Taubes in a room together. Surely those three gentlemen if they worked through the science could figure it all out
I echo Trina’s sentiments…I would love to get these 3 authors/researchers together and see what they come up with together! I am looking for Dr. Lustig’s “solution” as it were…he seems to work his way around it rather than toward it and it’s hard to feel much hope!
The “gym rat” part got to me too. I’m losing some belly weight fairly quickly with my new low carb life but very little change in other areas. I see other testimonials about significant weightloss without excessive exercise so I wonder what other kinds of chemistry are going on with me. I’ve had seasons of intense exercise and even moderate exercise, and while Lustig seems in favor of general activity for overall good health, he seems to have no hope of a connection between exercise and weightloss. This leaves me saying “Hmmm…then now what?”
I, too, wish I could go back and eat differently during pregnancy!
Ah well…my girls are fit and trim and are all slowly shifting to a low carb approach as it becomes more obvious that Mom is here to stay. Hopefully over the coming years we can make this more of a family approach and prevent their adulthood from resembling mine when it comes to weight & food cravings.
Thanks again Vanessa. Still reading here and enjoying it!