Debunking The Obesity Code by J. Fung

I've read the book and I mostly agree with the arguments Fung makes, to get that out of the way.

However he has gotten A LOT of crap for his stance on obesity and the claims he makes. I don't find that surprising as he does poop on the whole scientific community in his arguments and claims too. He clearly is not making friends. That said I don't care who is right or wrong but who has the best idea on the reasons of obesity right now.

I've looked at the most common critique regarding his work and it seems to boil down to the following:

1. He is making money off of this stuff, so he's not credible.

This is a valid point but it should still be reflected on the actual arguments he is making and is no reason to ignore them. The Obesity Code is not trying to sell you any product. Personally I'm not sure who in the nutrition/obesity science circles isn't trying to sell you anything. The guy is a kidney doctor; I'm sure he's doing okay as is. But the proof is in the pudding.

1. You don't need to lower insulin levels or fast to lose weight effectively.

He states this same claim very clearly in The Obesity Code, so I'm not even sure why this is used as critique. Lowering insulin is not a magic bullet to lose weight. It is an effective tool to keep lost weight away.

Sadly all the nutritionists whose arguments against Fung I have read only tend to argue against lowering insulin as a "better" weight loss strategy. These people are completely missing the point of everything Fung is saying when they cite studies stating insulin response had nothing to do with fat loss. Duh. What about the studies on fighting weight regain?

1. Failure to keep weight off comes down to failure to adhere to a diet and is not about insulin control.

It's not like there's a massive pile of scientific evidence lying around giving high insulin and the failure to adhere to a diet once on GW a causal relationship. Yet the counter-arguments are to either blame the dieter for being mentally weak or to assume the diet "just didn't suit him". That's not helping anyone, especially if it does come down to insulin in the end.

1. The human body can't change it's "calories out" at will in the scope that Fung claims it can.

The only reason for not considering his claim as BS is the very real effect insulin has on diabetics. With no insulin production as T1 you will die of weight loss no matter how much you eat. Injecting insulin on the other hand will make you gain weight.

I don't know what the body does to achieve this, and Fung neither, but all counter-arguments should address this very real phenomenon as well. I've not seen it.

I wanted to post this thread here and not on the fasting subs because the fasting subs agree with him, while it seems clear to me this community largely doesn't. So I hope to get a better discussion here.

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