Tag Archives: Non-Fiction

Researching why we get fat

21 Friday Sep 2012

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Everyone knows that if we eat more calories than what we expend, we will gain weight.  That’s easy and irrefutable, right?

We also know that if we exercise and cut out the fat from our diet, that will make us lose weight faster.  The government tell this to us, our doctors tell us, tv shows and commercials say it.

Has that worked for you?

It has not worked for me.  I work out 4-5 days a week, I play sports often, and I do my best to avoid red meat and pop.  I don’t always do it, but all that effort I put in has to balance out on my side of the equation.

But it has not. I continue to gain weight, I can’t drop the spare tire, and I have a very hard time staying away from sugar.

So is that the answer to the obesity epidemic? That America lacks the willpower to make itself lean? That is surely the message that is given to all of us.

But what if that is wrong?  What if the calories in / calories out doctrine that has been preached all of our lives is wrong?  What if exercise for the sake of losing weight is not the answer?

What if it is not how much we eat, but what we eat that makes us fat?

I read Why We Get Fat, and What To Do About It, by Gary Taubes on a suggestion from a couple of friends, and his argument will surprise you. It will also make you wonder why you never thought of it before.

According to Taubes, and innumerable sources he cites, it was not until the 1970s that our current way of thinking about nutrition took over our collective minds.  Before that time, everyone knew it was bread and beer and pasta and sugar that made you fat.  That is, the culprit was carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates now form the base of the nutritional food pyramid. If carbohydrates are in fact the reason we get fact, our government, which decries obesity, is in fact what is pushing us to get fatter.

Taubes shows how and why we came to believe the calorie in / calorie out idea of weight loss.  He gives historical evidence of why it doesn’t work, why eating the way the government prescribes makes people fat, and how all of those carbohydrates affect the body.

He also discusses how carbohydrates play a big factor in health, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.

I strongly recommend you read this book. At the very least, you may answer the question of why you work so hard at losing fat, but it never happens.  And if your question is answered, you just may be convinced to change your diet.

I was. I’ve had very few carbs since September 10th. I’m going to stick with it a few months and see what happens, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it works for me.

Oh, you may be wondering what I’m eating now instead of carbs.

Fat. Yup, beef and sausage and cheese and eggs.  I’ve lost 4 pounds in 16 days.  Think that’s crazy?  Read the book and then let me know what you think.  You may just be crazy for eating spaghetti with a side of garlic bread.

Decision Points by George Bush

17 Monday Jan 2011

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I find it hard to credit anything the press has to say about any person, especially someone as polarizing as the President of the United States of America. The vehemence that the political milieu generates started in this country long before the present day filled with tweets, buzz, blogs, and the twenty four hour news cycle. Back when John Adams was Vice President and the man many wanted to be King, George Washington, was the first President, political opponents and the press said any number of horrible things about Washington. Is any of that remembered now? If it is, it is usually met with scorn. Who could say something bad about Washington?

George W. Bush is not George Washington, let’s get that out in the open. I never thought he was quite the buffoon the media made him out to be, but then again, it’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to media coverage. I was looking forward to hearing from W in his own words, and in his book, Decision Points, I was not disappointed.

W. breaks his presidency, and some decisions prior to his term, into a few of the most important decisions he made, such as Day of Fire, War Footing, Afghanistan, Katrina, Iraq, and Financial Crisis. He breaks down the situation he was faced with, the possible choices, and the reason for his final decision with clarity, facts, and a humble, self deprecating humor.

If you don’t like W, I don’t think Decision Points will make you like him more. What I think it can do is help you understand the sheer volume of decisions, the heavy consequences of each choice, and the reason for his choices. W. had a lot of bad things thrown his way that he didn’t have any control over, and made the best decisions he could with the information that he had at the time. I can’t imagine any of us wanted to lead the country through 9/11, Hurrican Katrina, or the financial meltdown at the end of his presidency.

He isn’t afraid to lay the blame for a situation where he thinks it belongs, even when the blame falls to him. He readily admits the mistakes he made, but also explains why he made the choices he did. We won’t all agree with the choices he came to, but I know I can’t fault him for making the tough, unpopular calls that no one else would have made. That’s what a leader does.

I strongly recommend this book. For a guy who avoids politics, it was refreshing to see what went into the decisions that the media would so egregiously blow out of proportion. I was also happy to see that on many issues I had heard of, the end result was very positive. The positive portion is what you’ll miss if you just watch CNN.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

John Adams by David McCullough

05 Wednesday May 2010

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This is the second book I’ve read by McCullough.  I enjoyed his work in 1776, and I enjoyed John Adams even more.  This book is a fascinating and enjoyable read about the second President of the United States.

Adams played a pivotal role in the first two sessions of the Continental Congress, debated fiercely for a declaration of independence, and was instrumental in most of the major decisions made before and after the Declaration, including naming George Washington as the commanding officer for the war.

He wrote extensively, as did his family, and luckily, most of the communication survives.  McCullough masterfully mixes in words that Abigail (his wife) and John wrote to each other and to their family to flesh out the literary portrait of his life.

Here are a few quick John Adams highlights:

  • Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution
  • Adams wrote extensively on the role of government
  • He travelled more extensively than any of his peers, making two trips across the Atlantic.
  • He worked with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in France to establish a peace treaty with the British that ended the Revolutionary War.
  • He was the first American diplomat in the Netherlands, where he secured a much needed loan from the Dutch.
  • He was the first American diplomat to England after the war ended.
  • He was responsible for the creation of the American Navy, correctly surmising that naval strength was the path to security at home and respect abroad.
  • Adams was the first Vice President of the country
  • Adams was the Second President of the country

The one item that I found most fascinating about the entire Adams’ saga was revealed not long after Washington became President.  It would seem to me that after the amazing accomplishment of winning Independence from England, that everyone would be on the same side and pulling the same rope to secure success for the fledgling country.  Surely the dissonance and infighting of our current system did not exist at the founding of the country!

And yet it did, and in some ways was even more ridiculous.  Two parties emerged, the Federalists and anti-Federalists, and a newspaper sprouted up for each group spouting off ridiculous, inflammatory, derogatory half-truths and fallacies.  It was pretty amazing to see the lengths the groups would go to in order to discredit the other group and revere themselves. Even the patron saint of Unites States Liberty, George Washington, was not immune to their attacks.  And great personas such as Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were behind the scenes exhorting their peers and the papers to greater heights of infamy.

Reading the book, I have become more convinced that reaching common sense decisions on large topics is not possible.  There will always be vocal dissenters willing to spread misinformation for their own goals and gains.

I highly recommend you read this book. It is a great history of our country and will give you a new perspective on the political tomfoolery that is taking place today.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – it is not a 5 only because a book like this isn’t easy to pick up and read over and over again.

By the Sword by Richard Cohen

26 Thursday Mar 2009

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The subtitle of this book is A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers and Olympic Champions.  In the time honored tradition of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Cohen could have said Or How I’ll use a Couple of Interesting Chapters in Order to Make You Read a History of Fencing (citing the obscure reference).

This first few chapters of this book were really excellent.  Perhaps I should say that the Prologue was outstanding, and it slowly lost its momentum from there.  Cohen expertly describes one of his fencing meets. I was drawn in and brought the book home from the store.  I soon learned a bevy of interesting facts.

We shake hands to show that we are not reaching for our swords; a gentleman offers a lady his right arm because at one time his sword was at his left hip; a man’s coat buttons left over right, so that a duelist may unbutton it with his left, unarmed hand.

The culture of the sword, its history and evolution follow for the next few chapters.  My favorite was Chapter 7, Where the Soul is the Sword.  The history of the sword in Japan was explored and has always piqued my interest. Japan took it beyond honor, justice, and chivalry and made it a religion and way of life. 

Cohen does an admirable job of tracing the evolution of the sword.  He discusses the changes in technology, in use, in art, and in the settling of disputes through the years.  For the first two hundred pages, it is an expertly researched and written historical account of one of the oldest tools of war.  The change from historical novel to a book about fencing is subtle. As it begins to change, he draws you in to the history of sword play in movies.  For a while, it’s still interesting that it isn’t the sword we’re talking about, but rather what was being done with the sword outside of war and duels.  By the three hundred page mark, I was fully suspicious of what was going on.  I just didn’t care about the French school of fencing and how it differed from the Italians.  Or that the Hungarians became unbeatable in saber, but their top master was an Italian.  Fencing is interesting, but it should have been a chapter, not the second half of the book in my opinion.

I definitely recommend Part 1, From Egypt to Waterloo and Part 2, The Search for Perfection.  Part 3, The Duel’s High Noon and Part 4, Wounded Warriors were still pretty interesting. However, unless you are a true fencing aficionado, stop there.  Part 5, Great Powers, and Part 6, Faustian Pacts (cool name) are duds. I skipped through most of it.

Rating  2.5 out of 5 (Can I do that? I think I can, after all I made up the system.  A two star is wishing I’d given up at page 100. But I wish I had given up at page 300. I found parts of it pretty entertaining, which is close to a three….so 2.5. That just happened.)

By the way, I hope you like the new name of the blog.  Libzig may be a great site I built (shamless plug) for keeping track of your Library, but it doesn’t tell you much about the blog.  I think Judging a Book by its Cover is pretty appropriate.