{"id":73799,"date":"2022-07-25T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=73799"},"modified":"2022-08-02T13:43:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T17:43:08","slug":"obesity-code-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/obesity-code-book\/","title":{"rendered":"The Obesity Code: Book Overview (Jason Fung)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Jason Fung’s The Obesity Code<\/em> about? What is the key message to take away from the book?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book The Obesity Code<\/em>, Jason Fung <\/em>argues that for decades, we\u2019ve misunderstood obesity and, as a result, have consistently failed in our efforts to curb its spread. Fung presents a new theory, arguing that obesity is a hormonal problem that causes overeating and weight gain, rather than a problem of willpower or self-control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a brief overview of The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss<\/em> by Jason Fung. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fung is a Canadian nephrologist (kidney specialist) and head of the Intensive Dietary Management Program in Toronto. After witnessing diabetes patients gain weight from insulin treatment, he began to explore type 2 diabetes and obesity<\/a>, two conditions that often lead to kidney disease. The Obesity Code<\/em>, published in 2016, received positive reviews and has been called one of the most comprehensive treatments of obesity<\/a> yet written. Today, Fung is recognized as an expert on fasting and obesity. He continued his investigative medical writing in The Diabetes Code<\/em><\/a> (2018) and The Cancer Code<\/em><\/a> (2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book The Obesity Code<\/em>, Jason Fung explains how the prevailing model of obesity falls short. He also lays out his recommendations for what and when to eat, and explains his perspective on intermittent fasting as the key to overcoming obesity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Brief History of Obesity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Fung, the physician Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin first identified the fattening role of carbohydrates as early as the 18th century<\/strong>. At the time, sweets, breads, beers, and starches such as white potatoes were typical European foods. Decades later, Englishman William Banting echoed Brillat-Savarin\u2019s low-carb advice: After overcoming his own obesity by eliminating starches and sugars from his diet, he advised the public to do the same. This advice held consensus through the early 1900s, when calorie counting first came about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the 1950s, American health professionals became concerned with rising rates of heart disease. At the time, scientists believed that dietary fat was the problem, so doctors began recommending a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. However, Fung says, deaths from heart disease weren\u2019t rising dramatically due to dietary problems\u2014rather, an increase in the efficacy of vaccines and antibiotics had decreased deaths from other killers, such as tuberculosis and pneumonia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, doctors blamed dietary fat. This was because in the same decade, early studies on the effects of starvation concluded that weight gain and weight loss depend on \u201ccalories in, calories out.\u201d<\/strong> In this model, scientists reasoned that whatever caloric energy wasn\u2019t used became fat, so your weight depended on how you ate (calories in) and whether you exercised (calories out). Given this, researchers believed that dietary fat\u2014a high-calorie food\u2014causes weight gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This view on low-fat diets became orthodoxy in 1977, when the US Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs released the \u201cDietary Goals for the United States.\u201d This document made official the notion that dietary fat caused both heart disease and obesity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon followed the \u201cfood pyramid\u201d recommendations for Americans, with floury, starchy carbohydrates as the recommended foundation for a healthy diet. Fung suggests that in the buzz about the dangers of fat, people forgot the previous consensus that refined carbs cause weight gain. <\/strong>As a result, the low-fat era began in earnest, with food producers creating numerous low-fat options. At the same time, government-sponsored programs under the banner of \u201ceat less, move more\u201d attempted to quell rising obesity, with little success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some experts began to argue in the 1960s through the 1980s that low-fat, high-carb diets actually cause weight gain<\/em>, not weight loss. Notably, physician Robert Atkins advocated for a high-fat, low-carb diet that seemed to promote significant weight loss. Against this medical heresy, the American Heart Association (AHA) continued to push a low-fat, high-carb diet<\/a> and, Fung suggests, took money from big food producers who profited from cheap, refined, carb-based foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Current Model of Obesity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today, the prevailing view holds that obesity is a problem of calories in, calories out. <\/strong>Established decades ago, this orthodox view suggests that weight gain results from eating too much and exercising too little. So, Fung says, experts pushed the \u201ceat less, move more\u201d program on the American public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a technical level, we define obesity according to body mass index (BMI). BMI is a ratio of your height compared to your weight\u2014that is, it approximates how wide you are compared to how tall you are. A ratio over 30 is considered obesity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prevailing Model Has Failed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fung argues that the \u201ccalories in, calories out\u201d theory fails to capture the full picture of obesity. Excess calories play a part, but they aren\u2019t the root cause of obesity. More specifically, this theory fails to understand that obesity is a hormonal disease<\/em><\/strong>, rather than a problem of willpower or bad eating habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, Fung says, failing to understand the root cause prevents us from beating this disease. He lays out five mistaken premises that hamper the current model of obesity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistaken Premise #1: \u201cAll Calories Are the Same\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, experts have reduced all foods to calories, or units of food energy, and treated calories as the most important aspect of any food. However, Fung asserts that not all calories are the same. For instance, 100 calories of high-fructose corn syrup is quite different from 100 calories of salmon. Research supports this view, showing that different foods cause different metabolic and hormonal reactions in the body. Because obesity is a hormonal disease, this means that various foods have different impacts on obesity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistaken Premise #2: \u201cCalories In and Calories Out Function Independently\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As Fung explains, these variables in fact depend on each other. Your metabolism adapts to your caloric intake: When you eat less, your metabolism slows down to conserve energy. When you eat more, it temporarily speeds up, having more energy to burn. In other words, you can\u2019t reduce calories in without slowing calories out, and you can\u2019t increase calories out without increasing calories in. So \u201ceat less, move more\u201d can\u2019t<\/em> work, because you need to eat more in order to move more, and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistaken Premise #3: \u201cExercise Contributes to Weight Loss\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The notion that exercise leads to weight loss is a core tenet of the prevailing theory\u2014it\u2019s the \u201ccalories out\u201d part. However, Fung asserts that we\u2019ve misunderstood how the body uses energy<\/strong>: Exercise accounts for a percentage of total energy expenditure, but most energy goes to our \u201cbasal metabolic rate,\u201d which includes beating our hearts and powering our brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering these other activities, exercise accounts for only around 5% of energy expenditure, so it\u2019s too small to make a meaningful impact on weight loss. In addition, studies show that: <\/p>\n\n\n\n