Everybody has encountered that A-ha moment. It's when the lightbulb goes off in your head and you finally "get it", whatever "it" is. What was once confusing becomes clearer and more understood. Lucky for me, the lightbulb went off in my head toward beginning of my paleo journey. When I first started hearing about paleo circa 2009, I read everything I could get my hands on, but at the time, the internet did not have many resources. I loved Rob Wolf's blog, which was raw and undeniably Rob Wolf. Kurt Harris of Archevore fame was brilliant and unapologetic, but I read everything he put out, twice, and then he stopped blogging in 2011. Mark Sisson was prolific early on as was the blog of Michael Eades. I hopped back and forth from all of these sites hungry for new material. Lucky for us, there are so many good blogs and sites out there to guide us and answer our burning questions. (See my resources page for my faves). Early on, I came across two very important and informative videos and a NYTimes article that finally turned the lightbulb on in my head. It was that a-ha moment when I started putting things together and it all started making sense. I often refer people to these resources and finally decided I should put them in one place so they would be easy to find.
The first article I read that really made me stop and think was a New York Times piece written in 2002 by science writer Gary Taubes titled, "What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?". In this piece, he challenges the traditional low-fat-is-healthy dogma and discusses the importance of hormonal signaling and how a diet rich in processed carbohydrates is more likely the culprit to our burgeoning obesity epidemic than saturated fat. He talks about "calories in and calories out" and illustrates why this system is not the most reliable way to control weight. After devouring this information, I googled more from my new crush Gary Taubes. I came across a video of him discussing his book Good Calories Bad Calories to medical students. While I can't find the exact video, I've found another that is similar and you can see it here.
In 2011, he came out with another great NYTimes article on sugar called "Is Sugar Toxic?" where he expands on his theory that fat is not the obesity culprit, but rather, the overabundance of sugar in our standard western diet.
Robert Lustig, an American pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has been a voice blasting the over-consumption of sugar and he speaks loud and clear in his video "Sugar, the Bitter Truth". While this video runs an hour and a half, it is compelling and worth the watch. It was yet another A-ha experience for me when he clearly talked about the difference between glucose and fructose, how and where they are metabolized and why fructose is such a problem.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include the Fat Head video called Big Fat Lies that reinforced my Gary Taubes moment.
The Fat Head blog is amazing and includes some wonderful resources you can use to deepen your understanding of some of the mechanisms that may contribute to obesity. You can watch the video here as well.
The first article I read that really made me stop and think was a New York Times piece written in 2002 by science writer Gary Taubes titled, "What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?". In this piece, he challenges the traditional low-fat-is-healthy dogma and discusses the importance of hormonal signaling and how a diet rich in processed carbohydrates is more likely the culprit to our burgeoning obesity epidemic than saturated fat. He talks about "calories in and calories out" and illustrates why this system is not the most reliable way to control weight. After devouring this information, I googled more from my new crush Gary Taubes. I came across a video of him discussing his book Good Calories Bad Calories to medical students. While I can't find the exact video, I've found another that is similar and you can see it here.
In 2011, he came out with another great NYTimes article on sugar called "Is Sugar Toxic?" where he expands on his theory that fat is not the obesity culprit, but rather, the overabundance of sugar in our standard western diet.
Robert Lustig, an American pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has been a voice blasting the over-consumption of sugar and he speaks loud and clear in his video "Sugar, the Bitter Truth". While this video runs an hour and a half, it is compelling and worth the watch. It was yet another A-ha experience for me when he clearly talked about the difference between glucose and fructose, how and where they are metabolized and why fructose is such a problem.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include the Fat Head video called Big Fat Lies that reinforced my Gary Taubes moment.
The Fat Head blog is amazing and includes some wonderful resources you can use to deepen your understanding of some of the mechanisms that may contribute to obesity. You can watch the video here as well.
There's a lot to digest here and it may take some time, but there's comfort in knowing that your a-ha moment may only be a click away!
RSS Feed
