Nature Wants Us to Be Fat: The Surprising Science Behind Why We Gain Weight and How We Can Prevent--and Reverse--It Hardcover – February 8, 2022

I am most of the way through this book and it has been interesting to get a kidney doctor's explanation of changes in body fat. This book has the detailed reasoning behind advice to limit carbohydrate and sugar consumption. There is also a lot of information on uric acid and some advice on maintaining a healthy weight.Criticisms:The author's myopic focus on fructose ignores the vitamins and other reasons to eat fruit and he nearly says to limit fruit consumption because fruit contains sugar.At one point he casually mentions people could get a continuous glucose monitor to track glucose levels, which makes me think of a lot of questions he doesn't answer which I find conflicting information for online. Like, is this advice for people who are not already talking to their primary care physician about diabetes? Do glucose monitors involve just a sensor or is there a needle inserted into skin? Is there an over the counter glucose monitor or do you need a prescription? I know I do not need one, but I can imagine that one paragraph exacerbating anxiety for some people worried about weight and blood sugar.In a side bar, this book does not discuss weight control medications or surgery, just causes and prevention of metabolic syndrome. Also the author discloses he has a lab with corporate sponsorship to develop medicines affecting the body's processing of fructose and uric acid, which causes his focus on these substances.Still, an interesting read.

I first heard about Dr. Johnson's work through a podcast with Dr. Peter Attia's and found his findings to be interesting enough to buy the book. While I would still recommend that people interested in losing weight read Dr. Jason Fung's Obesity Code, I found this book to be a good read. His team and associates' detective work and animal studies were insightful and revealed many biological mechanisms that I had never heard of before.While I mildy disagree with his conclusions about avoiding salty and umami foods because of several mortality studies I've seen, I remain open to be convinced otherwise with further evidence. I also found a couple of foods I will be more cautious with and certain situations where I would increase my water intake.If time-restricted eating is not working well for you or you are curious about the metabolic pathways that can turn on the survival switch leading to obesity, I highly recommend this book.As for the reviewer calling this book snake oil, I say don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. You may disagree on a few food recommendations, but it is hard to argue with the conclusions of the well-designed studies that he presents. Also the China Study was an observational study and cannot prove cause-effect relationships. As a publishing researcher, Dr. Johnson is held to a higher level of proving causation. Only the most superficial of readings would conclude that Dr. Johnson is pushing a western diet as his recommendations are far from the SAD (Standard American Diet).

Here to be a good book just decided to go with a different one in return to this onehere to be a good book just decided to go with a different one in return to this one

In "Nature Wants Us To be Fat", Dr. Richard Johnson explains the extraordinarily damaging effects of fructose in the human diet.Uniquely, Dr. Johnson frames this discussion around the role that fructose plays in nature. Specifically, he explains that fructose, which is primarily found in fruits, is the primary food consumed by hibernating animals in the months and weeks before they head off for winter. Consuming fructose acts as a "survival switch" for these animals, allowing them to to store the fat that they will need to survive in hibernation.As Dr. Johnson explains, fructose was never meant to be a staple of the human diet. However, along with other sugars, fructose is now a major part of the human food supply, and we're consuming more of it than ever. As a consequence, we are unwittingly turning on the "survival switch," over and over, preparing ourselves for a winter that never comes. So, we get fat.Dr. Johnson describes how fructose makes us fat using simple and clear terms. Drawing on novel research, much of which he has conducted in his own laboratory, he explains how fructose contributes to the modern lifestyle diseases of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.Importantly, Dr. Johnson's research has also yielded important insights into how we might break this cycle and reclaim our health. He provides a number of dietary and lifestyle recommendations that will allow us to turn off the "survival switch" and reverse or prevent the damage that fructose is causing. These recommendations are simple and easy for any of us to apply.One of the book's strengths is its multidisciplinary approach. In addition to physiology and medicine, Dr. Johnson draws on insights from anthropology, ecology, and animal biology, among other fields. This broad perspective has allowed Dr. Johnson to develop a unique and sophisticated understanding of the role of fructose in animal biology.Reading this book gave me a significantly deeper understanding of the impact of fructose and other sugars on the human body. As a physician, I'll share these lessons with my patients. Personally, I plan on applying them to my own life, as well.Read this book - and you'll come away with a deeper understanding of the levers that you can pull to optimize your health and longevity. Highly recommended!

I bought this book as a gift for my partner. This is his review of it:"This is an excellent book with information that is both scientific and yet very readable. It makes a convincing case of what ails Western society in the foods we eat. It is both descriptive and prescriptive on how we can be healthier on how we feed ourselves."

I am 44yo and have just hit perimenopause - and my metabolism was (to put it scientifically) messed up. I seemed not to be able to eat ANYTHING without putting weight on. I felt like I was defying the laws of physics or at least nutrition. I seriously was eating about 2 apples a day and fasting the rest of the day, by the time I got to this book.I knew there had been times in my life where my metabolism was on fire and I could eat loads each day and not gain weight. And then many times like this, where I just felt so miserable existing on next to nothing - determined not to give in and pile on the pounds.I had no idea what was switching me from one state of being into another, or how to control it. I was already not eating any hardcore carbs, after reading lots of keto literature. I didn't eat much sugar either. So what was going on??This book gave me the missing piece of the puzzle. Because - I was eating a lot of fructose. I had replaced all my missing carbs and sugar with fruit, thinking I was being healthy. I was often eating bowls of blueberries and a couple of oranges and a couple of apples - oh and a couple of bananas - each day. I wasn't drinking juices, but it was a lotta fruit.After reading this, I stopped buying apples, pears and oranges and I switched to kiwis and green-ish bananas and restricted my intake of those too - plus I went much much easier on the berries. I focussed on increasing non-starchy veg, introduced tofu, and ate a lot of dairy and healthy fats (olive oil). I only eat meat a few times a week so kept that the same.I am now back to stuffing my face and burning (the right) food properly. I have so much energy and I feel great. Finally, this little piece of the world makes sense and I have the missing piece of the puzzle....

Die zentrale Rolle von Fruktose bei der Entwicklung von Krankheiten der heutigen Gesellschaft wird klar aufgezeigt ˋFAT-Switch'. Aber auch die entscheidende Rolle der Fruktose in Zeiten des Nahrungsmangels. 'SURVIVAL-Switch '

Read it if you like living.

Great history/science walkthrough of the unique role that fructose has played in our survival and our current obesity epidemic. Highly recommend.