My Review on "Fat Chance," by Dr. Robert Lustig

It’s no secret that obesity is a worldwide epidemic that is getting worse minute by minute and year by year. Most of us all have heard the steps we should take to be healthy in our lives. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, eat whole foods, vegetables, eat less sugar, and drink water, right? The question I continue to ask as other people is, why isn’t that working? Why are people still “eating themselves to death?” I came across this book and it opened my eyes to the real truth behind obesity and all the reasons behind the epidemic and I had to share. There is so much valuable information in this book that I wish I could go over all but this would be a very long journal post. So, for those of you who are interested about gaining a heathy lifestyle I highly suggest reading the book after reading this journal entry!

First, what we need to understand is that obesity is not a disease, it’s something that can cause many diseases, or otherwise known as metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, “includes obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), lipid (blood fat) disorders, and heart disease…” (Lustig, 4). It causes a lot more than just gaining fat in your body, you are causing a stew of many different health problems by not changing your diet. Dr. Lustig projects that by 2030 the cost will be over $7 trillion in expenses and 65% of Americans will be obese. 65%. Now that is absolutely scary isn’t it? A big reason why I chose this as my career is because of this daunting statistic. It’s also not just “fat” people who can get metabolic syndrome either. Just because you are naturally thin, does not mean you are off the hook. “Up to 40% of normal weight individuals harbor insulin resistance…which will likely shorten their life expectancy.” (Lustig, 7). So yes, just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you are healthy, so we need to stop with the fat shaming and start educating on eating right as a whole population. We have to realize sometimes diet and exercise aren’t working for someone trying to lose weight, there are other factors like environment and genetic issues.

To give a little science behind what is happening when we eat all the processed foods and sugar the culprits are leptin and insulin. Leptin is a hormone that tells your body that you are full and “signals the hypothalamus that you’ve got enough energy stored up in your fat” (Lustig, 39). Insulin is hormone that controls your blood sugar levels. Now when you overload your body with processed food consistently this creates leptin resistance, meaning “the hypothalamus can’t see their leptin, so the brain thinks they’re starving, and will therefore try to increase energy storage…” (Lustig 41). Meaning you’re going to start eating more and more because you don’t feel as full. This then causes excess insulin being released from the pancreas because the brain says it’s in starvation mode. This excess insulin makes the body stay in nonstop energy storage and nonstop weight gain. That is the simple terms of what’s happening in your body when you don’t take care of it! Dr. Lustig also mentioned that famous “a calorie is a calorie” saying. This is said by most people, to justify that as long as they burn more calories than they consume they will be able to lose weight or be fine. Which, can be true, but not all calories are the same. When it comes to fats, carbs, and proteins they are not all “the same.” There are good fats (omega 3s) and bad fats (trans/saturated). There are high quality proteins (lean meat, egg) and low-quality proteins (hamburger meat). And then there is “two classes of carbohydrates: starch and sugar” (Lustig, 20). So when you are approaching calories you do need to burn more than you consume, but you also need to be consuming the right calories, which is the real key.

Okay hopefully you’re still with me here! Lastly, I’ll talk about some of Dr. Lustig’s solutions to try and help lower/ and percent obesity rates. The first is fiber. What most people know about fiber is that it helps keep you regular and it’s good to get about 25g of it a day. But the benefits of fiber go way beyond just helping you have regular bowels. There are two types; insoluble and soluble. It simple terms insoluble fiber creates a framework and soluble fiber helps maintain it. Dr. Lustig uses the example of a hair drain and how it catches the hair before going down the drain in the shower. This action slows down the absorption of glucose, fructose (sugar), and fat which then gives your leptin and insulin response time to do its job, instead of being bombarded all at once and those hormones doing what I talked about above. Making changes to eating whole vegetables, whole grains, and fruits with the skin will greatly benefit your health. Next is of course sugar or otherwise known as fructose. It is ADDICTIVE, you’ve most likely been addicted to it since you can remember. It is in almost everything we eat hidden under different names like maltodextrin, molasses, and dextrose. So it is so important to look at the ingredients of the foods you are buying to see what it’s really being made of. Lastly, I’ll talk about changing you environment and routine. Dr. Lustig mentions getting more sleep, (each year we get less and less), eating breakfast with protein to reduce ghrelin (hunger hormone) to help binge eating later, eating appropriate portions, and replace all sugared drinks in your life (sodas, and especially JUICE!). (Lustig). It takes a level of self discipline and respect to make health changes in your life. What I like to tell people is to really think about their future. Do you want to be able to play with your kids, live to 90, 100, be able to travel without worrying about illness? Yes it may be hard right now to stop eating dessert after every meal or to add whole vegetables into your diet, but is the effect of maybe getting metabolic syndrome of even cancer worth it? I don’t think so, and I believe everyone can change a little at a time with some help. There is so much more to know about your health from this book. I’ve simply highlighted a few parts they I found very beneficial to know when making a change to live a healthier life.

Lustig, R. (n.d.). Fat Chance.