
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.