Review of
The Calorie Myth: How to Eat More, Exercise Less, Lose
Weight and Live Better, by Jonathan Bailor ISBN 9780062267344
Five out of five stars
Based on simple premise, not all calories are alike
I am fundamentally
extremely skeptical of books where there is the claim that it contains the
knowledge that people need to lose weight. Specifically when those claims are
made in a sentence that also contains phrases about simultaneously eating more
and exercising less. As a fan of bookstores, I have seen many diet and exercise
books rise to the level of a bestseller only to become little more than a
trivia question a few years later. If there was a reasonably simple solution to
the problem of weight loss that could be encapsulated in a book and diet, it
would have been found and the creator would be basking in the glow from
billions of dollars.
I was impressed when
Bailor opens with the simple statement that all calories are not the same, the
claim to the contrary has always puzzled me. I was a biology and chemistry
major in college and when we were studying metabolic pathways in biochemistry we
learned that the energy available from proteins, fats and carbohydrates is
different. Since it is well known, and has been for some time, that the energy
levels it takes to extract energy from fats, carbohydrates and fats is
different, statements claiming that a calorie of each is equivalent were
knowingly erroneous. Furthermore, the end results of the processing are different
and essential resources for the human body.
The second major and
also well-known premise that Bailor states is that different people metabolize
food at different rates and in different ways. It is obvious to anyone that has
known two people of the same gender where one seems to eat a lot, has never
been on a diet, yet stays slim and trim. However, the other person is always
dieting, counting calories and eating reduced portions, yet is never able to
make anything other than trivial reductions in their status of being
overweight. If they do succeed in a dramatic weight reduction, they never seem
able to keep it off and actually end up gaining it back plus a little more.
Like many others I have been reminded of this at holiday family gatherings.
Using these two facts
as the moorings, Bailor describes the subsequent premise that different people
have different metabolic settings and that must be changed if there is to be a
permanent alteration of an overweight condition. Once again, the solution is
one that should not be news to anyone, eat fruits and vegetables, primarily raw
vegetables, instead of carbohydrates. I can remember being admonished by the
teachers in elementary school to eat the vegetables in our school lunches and
seeing posters on the walls explaining the value of eating fruits and
vegetables.
The most impressive
aspect of the book is Bailor’s debunking of the position that fats are the most
unhealthy food type to consume. For reasons that are unjustified, the
consumption of fats was declared taboo years ago yet there has been growing
scientific evidence that reasonable consumption of fats is healthy and
necessary. The absorption of many essential nutrients is aided by the presence
of fats in the intestines.
Even though most of
what Bailor puts forward regarding a healthy lifestyle is not new, he presents
it in a concise and effective manner that can be understood by anyone. He also
backs it up with pages of scientific references. In my opinion, no area
generates more self-serving nonsense than how to eat and exercise to lose
weight and maintain that loss. Unlike so many diet books that are irrelevant
and unknown a year after they peak, Bailor has written a book that will remain
relevant for a long time, for his advice will work for nearly everyone and is
based on science.
