All foods, not just carbohydrates, stimulate insulin. Thus, all foods can cause weight gain. And hence we get major confusion with calories. High-protein foods can cause weight gain—not due to their caloric content, but rather to their insulin-stimulating effects. If carbohydrates are not the only or even the major stimulus to insulin, then restric

Obesity is a hormonal dysregulation of fat accumulation. Calories are nothing more than the proximate cause of obesity.

Blood is shunted to your digestive system to cope with the huge influx of food, leaving less blood for brain function. Fasting does the opposite, leaving more blood for your brain.

Sucrose stimulates insulin production both in the short term and in the long term. In this way, sucrose is twice as bad as glucose. The effect of glucose is obvious in the glycemic index, but the effect of fructose is completely hidden. This fact misled scientists to downplay the role of sucrose in obesity.

The increase in life expectancy from 1900 to 1950 reinforced the perception of a coronary-disease epidemic. For a white male, the life expectancy in 1900 was fifty years.7 By 1950, it had reached sixty-six years, and by 1970, almost sixty-eight years. If people were not dying of tuberculosis, then they would live long enough to develop their heart

Tired of feeling so lousy, she abandons the failed diet and resumes eating 2000 calories per day. Since her metabolism has slowed to an output of only 1500 calories per day, all her weight comes rushing back—as fat. Those around her silently accuse her of lacking willpower. Sound familiar? But her weight regain is not her failure. Instead, it’s to

With short-term physical stress, insulin and cortisol play opposite roles. Something quite different happens, though, when we’re under long-term psychological stress. In our modern-day lives, we have many chronic, nonphysical stressors that increase our cortisol levels. For example, marital issues, problems at work, arguments with children and slee

Artificial sweeteners may decrease calories and sugar, but not insulin. Yet it is insulin that drives weight gain and diabetes. Artificial sweeteners may also cause harm by increasing cravings. The brain may perceive an incomplete sense of reward by sensing sweetness without calories, which may then cause overcompensation and increased appetite

Our old friend—Eat Less, Move More. Not too bright, but as familiar as an old blanket. There were classroom-based programs, newsletters for parents, social marketing (branding, posters, in-school announcements), student events and incentives (T-shirts, water bottles). Both groups began with roughly 50 percent of the students considered overweight o