Do you doughnut? Join the author of ‘Why We Get Fat’ in a live Web chat about diet and nutrition

The debate over high-protein, high-fat diets versus high-carb, low-fat diets may never be settled. But the book “Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It� makes a solid case for upping the protein and excising some carbs, such as starchy vegetables and sugar-laden foods. The book’s author, Gary Taubes, talks about his take on diet and nutrition in a live Web chat on Monday at 11 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Central Time, 2 p.m. Eastern Time).

Taubes is a contributing correspondent for the journal Science and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Independent Investigator in Health Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. We asked him what changes he recommends people make to their diets.

“My apologies for sounding like I’m pushing a fad diet,� he said, “but I’d advise cutting back significantly on the refined carbohydrates and starchy vegetables and getting rid of the sugars.�

Refined carbs include such foods as cookies and breads made with refined flour and sugar. And by sugar he means pretty much everything: “Sucrose, the white powdery stuff we put in our coffee, high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, cane juice, brown rice syrup, etc., i.e. all the other various names that the food industry uses to describe sweet combinations of glucose and fructose in a way that seems to disguise their essential nature as sugar.�

Do you have a question for Gary Taubes? Email [email protected] and join the chat on Monday to see the answer.

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