The Low-Carb Fraud

By: T. Colin Campbell

Narrated by: Don Hagen

Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

By now, the low-carb diet's refrain is a familiar one: "Bread is bad for you. Fat doesn't matter. Carbs are the real reason you can't lose weight."

The low-carb universe Dr. Atkins brought into being continues to expand. Low-carb diets, from South Beach to The Zone and beyond, are still the go-to method for weight loss for millions. These diets' marketing may differ, but they all share two crucial components: the condemnation of "carbs" and an emphasis on meat and fat for calories. Even the latest diet trend, the Paleo diet, is—despite its increased focus on some wholefoods—just another variation on the same carbohydrate fears.

In The Low-Carb Fraud, longtime leader in the nutritional science field T. Colin Campbell outlines where and how the low-carb proponents get it wrong: Where the belief came from that carbohydrates are bad and why it persists despite all the evidence to the contrary. The foods we misleadingly refer to as "carbs" aren't all created equal, and treating them that way has major consequences for our nutritional well-being.

If you're considering a low-carb diet, listen to this book first. It will change the way you think about what you eat—and how you should be eating to lose weight and optimize your health, now and for the long term.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2014 T. Colin Campbell (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

The low-carb diet threatens our health and our planet we must put it into this nonsense

I recently watched a documentary that shows that 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions aredue to the animal agriculture business only 13% is from transportation the shocking truth of the matter is that not only is a low-carb diet devastating for our planet it is also devastating for a Health long term.

very informative

I love reading Campbell's works, but this narrator puts me to sleep! I wish someone else had been chosen for his books.

Did I read the same back as those with a negative view?

This is the third book By Dr. Campbell I’ve read.
His work is renowned. I find him reasonable and eloquent in his writings as well as his on screen interview.People mention how he “trash” talks Gary Taubes? I don’t get it. Do people know what trash talk is? Or what one sided argumentation is? If you have read any of his printed books you will see his long involvement in this subject matter. And how easily his references are to fact check. I’m not a vegan. But I find his books on nutritional health to be on some of the most revealing and authentic. The narrator could maybe be more “lively” but for the subject matter I believe he works. Great book!

Eye opener!

This is a good read and an eye opener. I see the need to learn much more. I recommend this book to anyone who wants or needs better health.

not very convincing or encouraging

this book was very hard to finish. the narrator's constant monotone voice did not help one bit. I got this book out of curiosity, since I am and athlete, fat adapted, I practice fasting daily, and believe in the whole foods approach. the author has many good points as far as staying away from the processed carbohydrates and sticking to those that are in whole foods. I think this point should have been further explored to make the book more reader friendly to those coming here looking for information as first timers. the book seems to be written for those who already have good knowledge of all the other diet approaches out there. it had an overall used car salesperson approach to bad-mouthing all the other diets and nutrition theories without actually citing any significant number of studies lifting the authors theory up.

Argumentative w/o Apologetics

This was a simple review of what we should already know. It is not a comprehensive study. At the same time, too much time was spent focused on a single adherent of the opposite debate, a Gary Taubs, who is the author of a book, but, Dr. Campbell is clear that Mr. Taubs has no medical background, but is a scientific journalist. Dr. Campbell does not divert long enough to cite references from enough sources that you could feasibly use this book as a reference work.

I would not listen to this again, so I am grateful it is included with my Audible membership. Still, I did enjoy the book.

It is obvious we are fat, sick, and dying. At the same time, we expect to eat, and eat cheaply, the fat, sick, dying livestock that even a 100 years ago would have been unaffordable to all but the wealthiest. Do not misunderstand. Fat is not the enemy. Carbohydrate will not kill you.

If you go to the grocery store, and pick out three boxes of cereal- even the "healthy" kind, you will find enriched flour and sugar as primary ingredients. For the same $5 a box (which you can likely sit down and eat in the same sitting) you can buy 30 measure cups of Old Fashioned Oats- and that is enough for 90 (1/3 cup, 100 calorie portion) servings. Add 1/2 a cup whole dairy milk (not low fat, not plant based crud) and a whole apple, and you have, for a $1 an whole, entire meal.

Dr. Campbell's dogmatic adherence to whole grains, plant based eating is useful. It is also affordable. I especially enjoy how he defined the standard American Diet, which is, by the USDA's own definition not low fat. Nor is it healthy.

A ketogenic diet has been used as a medically supervised method of control for epilepsy. But it is expensive, unhealthy, boring, and devoid of micronutrients. Strict adherence to the diet is not possible outside of a science lab, or your own kitchen. Yes, it causes weight loss, and it does so by messing up your sense of taste and smell, which reduces appitite. At the same time, you can, by strict adherence, end up with scurvy. Our bodies require Vitamin C, and we can only get it by veggies and fruit.

It all comes down to stop eating and start moving. Our grandparents ate everything, valuing meat and fat, but, it was not an every meal thing. Bacon, eggs and toast were the gold standard on the farm because a man needs a 1,000 calories to throw bales of hay, wrangle cattle, and swing a scythe until dinner. Then, it was whole grain bread (because flour is expensive, and sifting out the bran reduces volume while increasing time and labor) and hot, thick stew, based on legumes and grain (think split pea, chili, or minestrone) with leftover breakfast fat. After another five or six hours of work, it was a light supper, maybe bread soup and some stewed prunes. On a Sunday, it might be a cup of cocoa, served with a rich muffin- which was a much smaller portion than the bakery, and all twelve muffins used one ounce sugar and a tablespoon of butter.

I think reviews here are being unfair because the critic is biased. We all want cheap, easy food, and we don't want to walk to the back of the grocery store to buy a gallon of almond milk. Instead of harassment, let's focus on not how the author presents the truth, but, if we accept it.

An OK argument to become vegetarian

There are many valid points in this book, but it bastardizes anything animal related. It doesn't cover any of the benefits of what is available in animal products such as collagen, protein, B vitamins, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, B6, vitamin E, iron, zinc and magnesium. In persuasive writing, it is quintessential to provide the legitimate evidence(s) of your opposition. This book will stroke the ego of those on a whole foods plant-based diet. He says that we should eat like monkeys, who are herbivores, because we are most like them. It doesn't point out that humans have higher brain capacity, longer life expectancy, etc. We share 96% of the DNA of gorillas. However, it is not that simple. The small differences have led to HUGE outcomes, considering we have a ton of different components/features that make us dramatically different from each other. The irony of this book is that it does a great job at proving why you should eat a WFPB diet, but a horrible job at why you should eliminate animal products from our consumption. He brings up rat experiments to finish it off, which is the icing on the cake. Rats are nothing like humans, and we should not be using studies that tell us what our nutrition is based on the nutrition of a rat. The first 2/3rds of the book were great, but the last 1/3 was totally anecdotal and not based on peer reviewed empirical data. It just ends with saying that any other diet will give you cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and a shorter lifespan. I would cherry pick from this book and move on to a much more intelligent author. This guy is a biased douche.

Fantastic!

This book helps break through the research fraud involved in diets and gets us to the facts. Thank you, T. Colin Campbell, for your dedication to true research!

Very good factual information!!

Be sure to read this it will really help understand what diet program keeps us truly healthy.

worth a listen

This was interesting and worth listening to understand different viewpoints. I would love to see the OMNI trial and Blue Zones discussed in this low fat/ low carb debate. Both suggest that the macronutrient distribution doesn't matter quite as much as the actual foods (within reason). I think most scholars agree that we should not be eating large quantities of refined grains, added sugars, or animal fats. It doesn't have to be such a polarized issue.