Thoughts on The Obesity Code

The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss was written by Dr. Jason Fung, MD and published in 2015. Who is Dr. Jason Fung, MD you might ask? Well, he is a nephrologist, a kidney doctor, and he is taking it upon himself to wage war on kidney disease. What does that have to do with obesity? As it turns out, Type 2 Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease and obesity is one of the most common causes of Type 2 Diabetes. So, as he climbed up the grape vine in the pursuit of his patients’ best interests, he ran into the massive problem of obesity. Information from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health dictates that “roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three are obese (36 percent).” Even more worrisome is the continuing obesity trend in America where estimates indicate that at this rate by 2030 half of all men and woman will be obese. He could be a hero we need but not one we deserve. 

Before I get into my own thoughts, I feel obliged to say that although the arguments Dr. Jason Fung presents are very compelling in the book, they haven’t had the same appeal to others. When I finished The Obesity Code, I was pretty convinced that everyone was wrong and that this was the answer the world was looking for. However, as I learned, you have to find opposing views to make a more reasonable assessment of the information you are consuming. So, I found three opposing views which I would like to share. The review which I appreciate the most and I think is one of the best is from Red Pen Reviews which you can find here. They gave it an overall score of 60% and a rather damning Scientific Accuracy score of 31%. Keep in mind though that their bottom line was: “Following the TOC program will likely result in weight loss and improved health, but the book’s scientific claims should be read with skepticism.” Which, I believe, is still fair enough. In the breakdown of their scientific accuracy, they list some opposing studies which go against some of Dr. Jason Fung’s claims. The contributors behind Red Pen Reviews are definitely experts with impressive backgrounds but I felt a little let down that they spent this section making the assertion that The Obesity Code states that “reducing calorie intake does not lead to weight loss” when I was left with the understanding that it certainly did acknowledge this occurrence in studies but cited other sources which found that people on merely caloric restriction weight loss plans usually ended up rapidly regaining the weight again. I am certainly not trying to disprove Red Pen Reviews or discredit their thorough review but from my reading it felt like this point wasn’t addressed as much as I would’ve liked. Then again, I am not a professional so what do I really know? At the end of the day Red Pen Review’s review is extremely thorough and valuable. The other opposing view is from Bio Layne. When you read it, you’ll find that it is extremely dense and you’ll quickly get the impression that he does not like Dr. Jason Fung very much at all. Furthermore, the scattered memes and across the board criticism of the author himself throw me off a bit but it is still worth the time if you want an opposing view. Lastly, here is another link that I came across from Healthline.  

Well, without further ado, The Obesity Code was recommended to me by quite a few different people so I figured I would check it out to see what it was about. Now, I’m not obese but I also don’t want to be. I also haven’t read many books, if any, about health or the human body which after reading this book is something I’d like to change. I would still say that, even considering the counter-evidence and opposing views I previously stated, I would still recommend that people pick up The Obesity Code and give it some thought. Dr. Jason Fung spends a good portion of the book dispelling quite a number of weight related “myths” so to say and many of them (were) are very ingrained into myself and society as a whole. I mean I didn’t even know they were myths until he took the time to dismantle them. The worst part was that these common beliefs were so ingrained in my mind that at points I was almost about to close the book for good. I mean, we take certain assumptions about obesity so definitively that, as a self-proclaimed “rational” former athlete, I thought I knew more about weight gain than a doctor. I’d be willingly to bet that most people are in the same boat. During my reading too, I kept hearing coworkers or others make reference to the same things that he was he was dispelling. This is something I crave when I read nonfiction books. I want the walls of the known torn down. What’s more, The Obesity Code book really changed my perspective of obesity being an individual person’s problem to obesity being an actual disease. This change of perspective in itself I think is important for people to reach. My second round of praise goes to how clear Dr. Jason Fung made the topic. Obesity is actually something that hasn’t been understood extremely well by doctors and the biological processes which underlie it are extremely complex. However, Fung was able to break down these systems in a way that the laymen can get a grasp on the overall ideas.

All while I was going through the book, I was itching and itching for advice to be given. I couldn’t wait to hear what the remedy was and while I had already heard a bit of it from the people who recommended the book to me, I didn’t appreciate the gravity of it until he spelled it out. I have tried to incorporate some of his ideas into my life and weekly routine. As we get down to it, I have to say spoiler alert- the answer is basically intermittent fasting. The argument Dr. Jason Fung creates for intermittent fasting in this book is quite compelling but it is also here where the book has received most of its contention. A big problem with intermittent fasting is that most people really don’t like it. It seems that we have been so tuned to eating 3 (or more) meals a day that the thought of even missing one or squeezing them a bit closer together is unthinkable. The topic of intermittent fasting deserves its own evaluation so I won’t get into it too much here and instead just relate a bit of my own personal experience. I had fasted a few times before I had even read The Obesity Code and even then, I had already enjoyed it. Well, at least I wasn’t opposed to it. In fact, I usually feel like I have more energy and a clearer mind 24 hours in than when I am eating standard meals. That is even when my meals are what we would call “healthy”. Now, I am not a doctor or a dietician so anything I relate does deserve skepticism when we consider my body type, what is a “healthy” meal and so on. But I didn’t find fasting too uncomfortable which is what a lot of people report. I also found that I wanted to eat mostly just because I enjoyed the taste of different foods. It was the taste that I craved and not the nourishment which was another interesting observation. Dr. Jason Fung hints at this a bit when he talks about feasting in more ancient times and how are meals today, or our eating habits, are really closer to feasting than purely for the energy we need to go about our business. Anyway, if you want to find out more I would encourage you to take a look at this website which Dr. Jason Fung works with and I supplied links to three opposing views above in the hopes that you can form a well-balanced opinion of your own.