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  • Good Calories, Bad Calories

  • Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health
  • Written by: Gary Taubes
  • Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
  • Length: 25 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (18 ratings)

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Good Calories, Bad Calories

Written by: Gary Taubes
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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Publisher's Summary

This groundbreaking book by award-winning science writer and bestselling author of Why We Get Fat and The Case for Keto shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.

For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number.

Called “a very important book,” by Andrew Weil and …” destined to change the way we think about food,” by Michael Pollan, this groundbreaking book by award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.

©2007 Gary Taubes (P)2020 Random House Audio

What the critics say

“If Taubes were inclined to sensationalism, he might have titled this book The Great Low-Fat Diet Hoax. Instead, he tackles the subject with the seriousness and scientific insight it deserves, building a devastating case against the low-fat, high-carb way of life endorsed by so many nutrition experts in recent years. With diabetes and heart disease at stake as well as obesity, those ‘experts’ owe us an abject apology.” (Barbara Ehrenreich)

Good Calories, Bad Calories is a remarkable accomplishment. From a mountain of diverse scientific evidence Gary Taubes has drawn an amazingly detailed and compelling picture of how diet, obesity, and heart disease link together–and how some of the world’s most important medical researchers got the story colossally wrong. Taubes proves, I think beyond doubt, that the dietary advice we’ve been given for the last three decades by the federal government and the major medical bodies rests on, shall we say, a slender empirical base.” (Charles C. Mann, author of 1491)

“A brave and bold science journalist . . . Taubes does not bow to the current fashion for narrative nonfiction, instead building his argument case by case . . . much of what Taubes relates will be eye-opening.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Fascinating . . . Mr. Taubes has a gift for turning complex scientific principles into engaging narrative.” (The Wall Street Journal)

What listeners say about Good Calories, Bad Calories

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a MUST read

Anyone interested in health and or nutrition this is a must read. This author asks questions and looks exhaustingly for answers instead of making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. Has actual science been hijacked by egos and "the old boys club"? In true Gary Taubes fashion he reports the whole story, not just what people want to hear.

Looking forward to reading the next Gary Taubes

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Amazingly enlightening!

This book shows all the nutrition science in the last century. It also shows all the knowledge that has been missed or misconstrued. It has opened my mind to a different way of thinking about food and how it hurts and helps us.

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Great book!

If you are looking for a very in depth book on health, diet, and nutritional research. This is the book for you!

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Lifesaving…

Gary Taubes has analyzed and synthesized a massive number of studies, articles, books and other information sources to create this very detailed, insightful and lifesaving book.
It is sad that the theories and unproven hypothesis from 50-100 years ago continue to form the dietary and health advice of major cardiac and diabetes organizations I have looked to in the past for sound, evidence-based advice.
I am shocked and deeply disappointed that so much of what they STILL recommend to us is unproven, as Taubes so clearly describes.
We deserve better from our researchers and physicians... so many of us suffer and die because our ‘experts’ refuse to challenge dated and baseless assumptions, have the courage to admit they ‘got it wrong’ and tell us what Taubes so clearly states:
The diseases of modern society (diabetes, heart disease, obesity, Alzheimer’s etc…) have the same root cause - our incessant over-consumption of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, white flour, and other highly processed carbohydrates.
Thank you for this lifesaving book Gary!!

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struggled to finish. Not what I expected.

I can't say that it was helpful. l didn't learn anything from listening to this book


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