Thursday, July 26, 2012

Comparison of Weston Price and Gary Taubes Dietary Guidelines

diet | comparison | Weston Price | Gary Taubes | Saturated Fats | Grains | Insulin


The first time I saw Gary Taubes was on a Dr. Oz show. Before the show, Gary Taubes said that many things Dr. Oz advocated were wrong. So, Dr. Oz invited Gary Taubes to his studio, and had a face to face debate. Dr. Oz advocates the Mediterranean Diet which he says includes pasta and other grain products. Gary Taubes thinks this diet is unhealthy. On the day before the show, Dr. Oz ate according to Gary Taubes' guidelines for a whole day. On the show, Dr. Oz said that he did not feel well after that. Dr. Oz also asked Gary Taubes about his blood cholesterol level. Gary Taubes said that he did not know, because he believed that blood cholesterol is not a useful indicator of health.

After that show, I became more interested in Gary Taubes' theory, and started to learn more about his theories.



Major Figures


The most important figure in the Weston A. Price camp is Mary Enig. She is an expert on oils' effects on human's health. Another important figure is Sally Fallon. She is the author of a cookbook based on the Weston A. Price dietary principles.

Gary Taubes' main focus is on grains, starch, sugar, and their effects on insulin. He is the author of the book "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It".


Grains


Weston A. Price allows soaked grains. Gary Taubes recommends against grains, soaked or unsoaked.

Grains have two problems. The first problem is the antinutrients, which prevent your body from absorbing some nutrients. Weston Price realized this. Thus they advice people to soak grains to break down the antinutrients before cooking them.

But Gary Taubes pointed out a second problem:t they raise blood sugar level in the short term, and may cause diabetes in the long term.

Gary Taubes is the author of the book "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It". In this book, he argued that grains and sugar can cause health problems. He made his argument from two angles. The first is from the molecular angle. He described how starch or sugar molecules get digested in the mouth and the digest system, how they beak down, how they enter the blood stream to carry energy fuel to run our moving organs such as heart and lungs, how it can cause problems with blood sugar level, insulin resistance, and diabetes.

The second is from the historic angle. He presented some historic data. The data seems to show that when a population switched to a grain based diet, weight gain and diabetes became a problem.


Soaking the grains solves the first problem, but does not solve the second problem.

It seems that Weston A. Price missed the second problem. 
On this point, I agree with Gary Taubes, and disagree with Weston A. Price.

presentation and logic look very convincing to me, I still have some questions regarding his conclusion.

In the 1970's, the Chinese people had a grain based diet. They had a 30 lb. grains per month ration. The grains consisted of roughly half wheat, half rice, and a little corn. Chinese people refer to grains as the "primary food". They refer to vegetables and meat as "auxiliary food". Each family meal is about half grains, and half vegetable. They ate a very small amount of meat, roughly 1 or 2 lb. per month. This is exactly the kind of diet that Gary Taubes said that can cause weight gain. But, in the 1970's, if you walked around a city of many million people, you might not see a single obese person for the whole day. Fast forward, 30 years later, nowadays Chinese people eat much more meat than before, and the obesity rate is 20% in some cities. According to Wikipedia, 
obesity in China is mostly confined to the cities where fast food culture has taken over. This evidence seems to contradict Gary Taubes' theory. Now the Chinese people eat less grain and more meat, but obesity rate is higher. Why? I still think that Gary Taubes' theory is very convincing, I just hope someday he, or someone else, can explain why the Chinese people were not obese in the 1970's, and why they are more obese today.

Processed Food



Weston A. Price recommends against eating industrially processed food. Please note that I used the word "industrially" here. Weston A. Price is against naturally processed food, such as letting natural bacteria to make yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, etc. They ay: Eat things that can spoil, but each them before they spoil.

I did not find in Gary Taubes' book about what he feels about industrially processed food. But on the TV show, Dr. Oz said when he followed Gary Taubse' guideline the day before, he ate a lot of ham and sausage. I initially thought that maybe Dr. Oz distorted Gary Taubes' positions. Does Gary Taubes really eat ham and sausage? Then I did a little checking. Indeed, I found a New York Times article.  On the day of the interview, Gary Taubes cooked a breakfast that included
 scrambled eggs, bacon, Italian sausage. 

Ham and sausage are exactly the things that cannot spoil. The factories add some chemicals in them, so they can stay for a long time on the shelves without going bad. 

On this point, I agree with Weston A. Price, and disagree with Gary Taubes.

Commonalities


Both Weston A. Price and believe there is nothing wrong with saturated fats. They both challenge a fundamental belief of the mainstream American medical society. Both should be commended for their independent thinking. 


Conclusion


Mary Enig's analysis on oil is the most thorough. Gary Taubes' analysis on starch and insulin at the molecular level is also very clear and impressive. I agree with Weston A. Price on oil, and agree with Gary Taubes on grains. However, I disagree with Gary Taubes on industrially processed food, such as ham and sausage.

I compared several ancient and primitive based diets to come up my own dietary guidelines.
 To unite the spirits of those diets,  I will call it "Ancestral Diet". It 
incorporates all the commonalities of those ancient and primitive based diets. On the points where they are different, I choose one position, not based on my loyalty towards one particular diet, but based on my own analysis and logic:


Weston A. PriceGary TaubesMy "Ancestral Diet"
Vegetablesyesyesyes
Processed Foodsnoyesno
Saturated Fatsyesyesyes
Grainsyes (soaked)nono


Bon appétit!





-Sam

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