Dr Oz did a show called The Man Who Thinks Everything Dr Oz Says Is Wrong to go head-to-head with Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat. Taubes believes that everything Doctor Oz says about how to live your life and lose weight is wrong. What does Gary Taubes think is the best way to lose weight? And why does he think that Dr Oz’s approach is completely wrong?
The Man Who Thinks Everything Dr Oz Says Is Wrong
Gary Taubes want to shatter what he believes are myths that surround weight loss. For example, he does not believe that eating too much and not 
exercising enough are why we are fat. Taubes eats eggs, cheese, bacon and sausage for breakfast every single morning. He says we are told not to eat red meat, butter and cheese, but all of this is wrong. In fact, when he goes to the grocery store, he goes straight to the meat counter and skips over the potatoes. Taubes believes that dietitians and public health officials are just saying conventional wisdom that is completely wrong and does not work. Could this be why you or other loved ones are struggling with their weight?
Gary Taubes Diet: Weight Gain Misconceptions
Dr Oz asked Gary Taubes why he thinks we are making the wrong assumptions about dieting and weight loss. Taubes said that terrible scientists who were passing as medical researchers 50 years ago came up with these assumptions that they never proved, and it turned out that they were wrong, but these messages are passed on to doctors in medical school. Gary Taubes has spent the past 10 years trying to show that the evidence is pretty clear regarding the best ways to lose weight.
Dr Oz asked Gary Taubes what is the biggest misconception we have about why we gain weight? Taubes said that there are two big misconceptions: one is that eating fat makes you fat, and the second one is that you get fat from eating too much and exercising too little. Dr Oz says that these are pretty fundamental assumptions and that he disagrees with Taubes, but that he thinks it is important that he is forcing doctors to re-examine what they think about weight loss and dieting.
Dr Oz: Eliminate All Carbohydrates vs Eat Complex Carbs
Dr Oz always says that we should eat complex carbohydrates like whole grains and fruit, but Gary Taubes believes that we should eliminate all carbohydrates from our diet. Taubes said that if you tend to gain weight easily, it is probably because you have a hormonal problem which is how your body responds to the carbs in your diet. Carbs make you simulate Insulin, which puts fat into your fat tissues. So Taubes believes that the only way to get the fat out of your fat tissue is by lowering your insulin levels. He did say that you can eat some carbs like green leafy vegetables (broccoli, kale, salad greens, etc.) because these carbs are bound with fiber and are considered “Slow Carbs.” With Slow Carbs you do not get an Insulin secretion, so you do not go into fat storing mode like with Fast Carbs. Taubes said that the key to understand is that it is unfortunate and unfair, but if you tend to gain weight, carbs are fattening. He also believes that you cannot give the same advice to a thin person as you do to a fat person. Dr Oz was adamantly disagreeing with Gary Taubes because he said that some of the fruits and vegetables that he is saying to avoid are actually disease fighting tools and cancer fighters. But Taubes argued that there is evidence that shows that these diseases and cancers may actually be caused by these carbs.
Dr Oz: Gary Taubes All Fats Are Good Fats
Another area where Doctor Oz and Gary Taubes disagree is with respect to fat. Dr Oz says that saturated fats are dangerous, whereas Taubes says that all fat (except for transfats) are good fats. Taubes said that bacon, steak, lard and cheeseburgers are all fine because their fat content is primarily the same fat as you find in olive oil. He did agree that there is a little saturated fat in these foods, but he believes it will raise your HDL Cholesterol (your healthy cholesterol) much more than it will raise your LDL Cholesterol (your lousy cholesterol). Dr Oz said that he thinks that Taubes is just completely wrong, because these fatty foods have at least 1/3 of their fats coming from fats that are not like the fat found in olive oil. Doctor Oz said that saturated fats prevent your arteries from dilating, increase your LDL Cholesterol, and that many of these processed foods are linked to Cancer.
Dr Oz: Gary Taubes Diet
Dr Oz went on Gary Taubes’ Diet for 24 hours to see how he would feel at the end. For breakfast, Doctor Oz usually has blueberries and yogurt along with a green drink, but instead he had eggs and sausage. For a mid-morning snack he would usually have walnuts soaked in water and orange wedges, but he replaced the snack with pork rinds. For lunch, Dr Oz usually would have a salad topped with Seitan and quinoa, but he had a salad topped with chicken and another fattier meat. The mid-afternoon snack was pepperoni slices and cheese sticks. And finally for dinner, Doctor Oz likes salmon, spinach and brown rice, but he had a rib-eye steak with green beans instead. Dr Oz said that after just one day on Gary Taubes Diet he had headaches, his breathe turned stale, he was irritable and constipated.
Taubes said that the point is that carbs are fattening, which is why so many people have been successful on diets like the Atkins Diet. But Dr Oz argued that his diet is not sustainable for people and that you also need to focus on the sacredness of foods that fight diseases. Dr Oz agreed that some people will do better on a low carb diet, but that they have to also eliminate saturated fats. However, at the end of the day, Doctor Oz thinks that the best way to control your Insulin levels is to shave off simple carbs and to remove 100 calories from your diet every day. But of course, Gary Taubes disagrees completely.
Bill says
Gary is merely a contrarian who stirs up controversy with outrageous claims. The fact that he wouldn’t allow Dr. Oz to measure his cholesterol, claiming the test is meaningless, reflected poorly on his credibility.
Ramon says
Bill,
If you have read his books, you will see why he declined. Total Cholesterol is meaningless! Numerous doctors, scientist, nutritionists, and experts in the fields of chemistry/biology knows this. Come on, Dr Oz knew what he during. He knew Gary’s total numbers will be high, thus making his weak case (i.e., Saturated Fats cause cancer, heart disease, and your cholesterol number is important) look strong in front of the audience. Plus, he is not the only one who have said this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/the-cholesterol-myth-that_b_676817.html
His “outrages” claims is backed up by solid science, and many within the scientific community agrees with him. Dr.OZ don’t because he follows conventional wisdom, and He does not want to look bad on television.
Bill says
Ramon,
I agree that the ratios of HDL against LDL and total cholesterol is move important than the measurement of total cholesterol. I think Gary could have taken the opportunity to educate Dr. Oz’s viewers regarding this and provided his own cholesterol test results as an example.
Jill says
I was disappointed with the way Dr Oz behaved during this interview.
Bill says
Jill,
In what way were you disappointed with Dr. Oz? Please elaborate.
Duane says
It’s pointless to measure cholesterol changes for a single day. You can eat a simple high carb meal and toss your trigylcerides off the chart. The only real test would have been to continue the diet for a month or more and then test.
ezzirah says
How come no one is noticing that Gary Taubes refused to submit to the cholesterol test on the show, but now has some results posted on his blog. Done by a diet doctor with a very poor reputation in Michigan, when Gary lives in California?
Betty Estes says
What are the 5 foods that should not be eaten in order to have a flat belly? I cannot pull this up on Dr. Oz’s website.
Lisa says
My problem with Taubes is that he doesn’t discriminate: if you listened to him speak, you’d assume that EVERYONE should go low carb. I’ve only read one interview where he added the caveat, that if you are lean, the idea is to not go crazy with carbs.
I’d be interested in his advice to people like myself with low body fat. He works under the assumption that everyone needs or wants to lose weight, but what about those who just want to maintain good health? It seems deleterious to cut out entire food groups or limit them severely unless you’re overweight with hormonal imbalances or food allergies.
I can’t imagine that going into ketosis would be good for me… After a few days, there’d be nothing left!
Luba says
I think that eating all protein and fat without intake of complex carbs is a road to disaster.
Those foods cause inflamation and acidify in the body, too much cholesteron is hard on the liver and can cause gall stones, they are hard to digest in large quantities and lets face it, brain needs carbs, we also need them for energy and whole grains and other unprocecessed carbs like beans and peas also have loads of fiber which we need for regularity, diet so high in bad fats will cause constipation, veggies alone don;t have enough fiber as they contain so much water so people would have to eat massive amounts of them to stay regular. I think we need graind like wild rice, quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat and millet. I left the wheat and rye out as a lot of people are sensitive to them or rather to gluten in them. Complex carbs are also sweet potatoes and purple pototoes with the skin as they have a lot of nutrition and sweet potatoes are highly anti inflamatory. So I agree with Dr. Oz!
Luba says
Betty Estes, my guess would be that those are sugar, corn sirup, white flour, any kind of sodas, anything with trans fats. But it’s just my guess.
Joe says
I’m tired of this type of he-thinks and i-believe nonesense. Who cares what he thinks, where is the evidence and data?
Another important point in this discussion is: what’s the purpose of dieting? To have a body of low weight and healthy in all aspects, or have a body of low weight buy unhealthy? With Taubes diet, even if it works in losing weight (huge if, and no valid data support so far), are you gonna have a healthy body after the diet? What for any way for a light body if it is not healthy? Just look at how Atkins died.
Nick says
Dr. Atkins slipped on ice and hit his head on a sidewalk in NYC. What does that have to do with his diet? Every bit of Gary Taubes diet claims are completely factual and are backed up by any biology text book. I’ve actually spent over a year researching his claims and tried a paleo/caveman diet myself and had amazing results. My cholesterol improved, blood pressure went down, I sleep better and never get tired in the middle of the day. My Doctor even asked me what I have done to make such great progress. Just believing conventional wisdom and the USDA blindly without doing your own research and supporting their flawed science and views is just ignorant.
shellmill says
Read the Paleo Diet by Dr. Loren Cordain and you will be able to see Gary Taubes reasoning. I would not follow Dr. Oz advice because he is a cardiologist and not an expert on how food affects our genes and what our body was meant to eat and how it has declined since the agricultural age. Carbs allowed are all fruits and veggies, and our bodies were not meant to process grains and that is why so many people are sensitive to it.
Lauren says
This is exactly why we have obesity in our country. I had a patient in my office today who quoted Gary Taubes on the Dr. Oz show so I had to google to see what he was talking about. People think they can have a quick fix to their unhealthy lifestyles – and there is no quick fix. My patient didn’t want to exercise and felt that an extreme high protein, high saturated fat, low carb diet would be a more suitable option to losing weight. THIS IS NOT HEALTHY. It definitely makes my job more of a challenge (which is fine) – but you can’t even knock sense into them. Saturated fat = HIGH LDL CHOLESTEROL combined with no activity is not healthy
Shelly Neely says
I loveto watch Dr Oz when I have the time…and I like everything he has to say…..BUT…I have done my homework too…and Gary is right on!!!!! I have followed the low glycemic load now for 2months….Not only have I lost 26 lbs that I’ve been stuck trying to lose for a while…I feel great…my labs are good….And I will stick to this way of eating…BUT ….I do eat some fruits
like strawberries/oranges/grapefruit ……..And I do take benefiber and lots of fresh veggies…Not from a can…….So unless you’ve done your homework…..be careful what you say!!!!!! I still love you Dr Oz….
Jeff says
Lauren:
Sounds like your patient should switch doctors. If you can’t be bothered to learn please leave the medical profession so those of us that actually care can help more people.
Rosy says
Dr. Oz was a good sport by following through with an entire day of unhealthy eating just to prove his point. I was laughing hysterically when they showed the footage of him forcing down those fried pork rinds. The look on his face was priceless!
Sherri says
Gary Taubes is correct in his claims. Doctor Oz, the scientists, the politicians including the FDA have entire careers at stake if they debunk the junk science that estabilished the current FDA pyramid. This FDA has been populated with industry representatives with their own agenda of finding markets for their pet products, such as corn, wheat, soybeans and colesterol medications. Scientists that came up with data that did not support their hypothetis lost their funding or jobs. It’s once again a money game.