[ExI] Good Calories, Bad Calories

[Jeff Medina]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:27 AM, Harvey Newstrom <mail at harveynewstrom.com> wrote:
> What is funny is that I don't think you realize that Taubes would disagree with you.  He would argue that total calories don't matter

You are arguing against a straw man / cartoon version of Taubes.

He certainly would never suggest a 25,000 calorie per day fish &
coconut oil diet would lead to better health or weight loss as
compared with a 1,500 calorie per day high carb (based on, let's say,
fruit/veg/whole grains/legumes) diet, for example.

Conversely, I don't think you, Harvey, would suggest that 1,500
calories per day of Snickers bars supplemented with vitamins/minerals
would lead to equivalent health outcomes as 1,500 calories per day of
your current diet.  If you agree that these two options lead to
different results, you agree that there are good calories and bad
calories, and "total in vs. total out is all that matters" is wrong.

Taubes' point is not that total calories don't matter, it is that
something else matters rather more than total calories.  His claim is
that if you lower your carbohydrate intake, your total calorie intake
will *automatically* lower, because your now-healthier body will be
better at telling you what it needs and how much and when.

> That conspiracy theory is what my statement was trying to dispute, not your scientific statement above.

About five paragraphs down on
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/07/gary-taubes-goo.html there are
some examples of scientific misconduct that indicate why Taubes has
the conspiracy theory vibe.

"When people challenge the establishment, 99.9 per cent of the time
they are wrong. If I was writing about me, I’d begin from the
assumption that I am both wrong and a quack." - Gary Taubes

-- 
Jeff Medina

"Do you want to live forever?"
"Dunno. Ask me again in five hundred years."
(_Guards! Guards!_, Terry Pratchett)