Dr. Furhman, genius, disses Taubes book...

[mrfreddy]

...probably without even reading it....

Here he is , over at diseaseproof.com (that site should be renamed to "scienceproof.com" perhaps?)

Amazing how stupid people are. Gary Taubes is a known Atkins' devotee and nutritionally naïve and led by the Atkins' crowd. Now he has his own book. All I can say is that this makes me look like a genius comparatively when I am only stating the obvious..


http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-the-new-york-times-diet-and-fat.html

[mike_d]

That reads like a PCRM* vegan site to me, they do link to one.

*http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/23

[NorthPeace]

I don't see Fuhrman as a genius, but rather as someone who works very hard to use nutrition to successfully treat a wide array of chronic diseases. He is a voracious reader of the scientific literature and thinks it through. He is not led by any crowd.

From my personal experience I think the website is aptly named as diseaseproof.com. After eight months following the Eat to Live program, I have lost nearly 60 lbs, and even now I am losing 1/4" per week from my waist, I was sick only one day (adjusting to the new level of fibre intake), fought off colds and herpes, went from the maximum daily dosage of ibuprofen down to zero (in over a month), brought fasting glucose from 130-ish down to 87 average this week, took up kick boxing, can fit comfortably into my MX-5, bought a new wardrobe except for some stuff I wore 17 years ago, often get asked "HOW DID YOU DO IT???", wake up 5 minutes before the alarm, feel fantastic.

Just a wild guess, but I think that Fuhrman's program makes use of a lot of scientific knowledge.

[NorthPeace]

That reads like a PCRM* vegan site to me, they do link to one.*http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/23
Fuhrman is a member of PCRM but is less vociferous about veganism. His program provides vegan and non-vegan options. He says there is not enough evidence to support entirely eliminating animal products from the diet. The benefits of animal products that are tough to get from a purely vegan diet include B12, DHA, and a couple of non-essential amino acids that some people have trouble synthesizing.

[Nancy LC]

How can anyone call Taubes naive and a Dr. Atkins devotee? He spent 7 years doing the research for this book and said he had no particular desire to see the outcome go either way.

He sounds like someone with a book to promote.

[FenwayGuy]

I love it. Taubes has obviously gotten under some people's skin.

If he was some sort of "nut", they would just ignore him. Clearly he is not. There are many who are afraid that he is in fact telling the truth.

As far as Fuhrman, do not know who he is and could care less. He lost me when he states that "he cannot believe how stupid people are". Ah yes, child like school yard name calling always impresses me. :rolleyes: . Taubes is at the minimum rational and measured in his treatise. What was the TV show with the line, "Just the facts"?

[fujiwara]

Based on Furhman's cute little formula, you could argue that low carb is one way to maximize health. Unless of course you have some vegan agenda to promote.

That comment was so inflammatory I didn't bother to dig around and see if there's another cute little formula that tells you not to eat foods that contain stuff your body doesn't need, such as excess carbs. Oops, then he'd be agreeing with Taubes assesment.

[NorthPeace]

Hehe, his comments about statements made by other gurus can be pretty inflammatory. Diseaseproof.com looks like a war zone a lot of the time.

[MIKEYF]

It's very hard to have respect for someone who considers themselves to be an authority or expert on nutrition and they still haven't figured out that low-fat is nonsense and that carbs are the true cause of everything fat has been vilified for. Take your blinders off, cast aside your bias and prejudice and review the totality of the literature with an open mind and you'll come to the same inescapable conclusion the rest of us have. "All great truths begin as blasphemy". George Bernard Shaw

[eryalen]

Fuhrman is a member of PCRM but is less vociferous about veganism. His program provides vegan and non-vegan options. He says there is not enough evidence to support entirely eliminating animal products from the diet. The benefits of animal products that are tough to get from a purely vegan diet include B12, DHA, and a couple of non-essential amino acids that some people have trouble synthesizing.
I have just perused his site and his premise does not seem unreasonable. He appears to advocate eating only foods that have high nutrient value which I totally agree with (no junk). He does seem to fly off the handle at Taubes book, which seems unreasonable. It reminds me of a line in the movie Shooter "the agency will never confirm nor deny. In this case they denied, which is a confirmation of sorts". If Taubes' book generates such denial, there must be some truth in it.

[NorthPeace]

It's very hard to have respect for someone who considers themselves to be an authority or expert on nutrition and they still haven't figured out that low-fat is nonsense and that carbs are the true cause of everything fat has been vilified for. Take your blinders off, cast aside your bias and prejudice and review the totality of the literature with an open mind and you'll come to the same inescapable conclusion the rest of us have.
If you think that Fuhrman is an advocate of low fat, you are missing his point entirely. His books and his practice are not about macronutrients; they are about the micronutrients and their sources. He has written in the members-only website that you need 12% of calories from protein and a minimum of 15% from fat (for nutrient absorption). I was following a low starch version of the program for the first 6 months, during which my fat intake was around 30-35% and protein was around 18%.