This afternoon I suspended other activities and made myself stay put and finish reading the Taubes book. It's dense and I read slowly, and the book now has upwards of three dozen post-it notes poking out from pages so I can find topics I might want to revisit.

This paragraph precedes a list of 10 conclusions:

Throughout this research, I tried to follow the facts wherever they led. In writing the book, I have tried to let the science and the evidence speak for themselves. When I began my research, I had no idea that I would come to believe that obesity in not caused by eating too much, or that exercise is not a means of prevention. Nor did I believe that diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's could possibly be caused by the consumption of refined carbohydrates and sugars. I had no idea that I would find the quality of the research on nutrition, obesity, and chronic disease to be so inadequate; that so much of the conventional wisdom would be founded on so little substantial evidence; and that, once it was, the researchers and the public-health authorities who funded the research would no longer see any reason to challenge this conventional wisdom and so to test its validity.

It's a good idea to read this book through; the list of conclusions is a nice summary after reading, but I wouldn't have picked up most of the details I found helpful. Things I've heard but didn't have the full information. He discussed the classic Pavlovian research on dogs - for humans hunger can hit with the smell of food. When you smell something good there is "a reflexive release of insulin"(443). That clears out whatever blood sugar or fats your system was using for energy. Depending on what you eat, the insulin subsides or it increases. If you eat carbs, you end up with a lot more insulin in your system and it messes up how you use the existing metabolic fats. Low carb eating means the meats and fats you ingest fuel your system without the insulin.

If you eat processed carbs they hit the bloodstream and brain fast. If you eat fruits and vegetables and whole grains they offer fiber and liquid and break down so slowly by comparison they don't cause as much of an insulin hit. Also - I learned why artificial sweeteners can be a problem - not just because they are chemicals. It's because when you taste something sweet you end up with that same metabolic insulin rush. See me being more careful with those monkfruit drops - enough to take the tart out of the yogurt, not so much to make it taste like a sweet dessert. The extra insulin isn't good for you. It's why I'm also going to take the evening Scotch out of the diet again. The enzymes that break down alcohol have a similar effect as insulin and sugar; the oxidation effect can add up if anything else is awry.   

There's still a little of the business day left. Let's see if I can get a couple of things taken care of before the official start of the weekend.