Stephan Guyenet
Obesity researcher with a PhD in neuroscience, formerly at the University of Washington, and author of The Hungry Brain. Writes about the neuroscience of body weight and food reward at stephanguyenet.com.
Stephan Guyenet did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsI make mistakes, and acknowledging and correcting them is an important part of how I grow.
- 3 months earlier
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Their wordsNo matter what your model of obesity is, in order to explain the development of an obese body, energy imbalance has to be a link in the model’s causal chain.
↗Does energy imbalance (calories in > out) cause obesity?stephanguyenet.com 1st of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsIn people living their normal lives, circulating insulin level, and the insulin response to carbohydrate, don’t reliably predict who will gain weight and who won’t.
↗Does energy imbalance (calories in > out) cause obesity?stephanguyenet.com 2nd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThis is a phenomenon I call the “starvation response”, and it happens because body fat mass is biologically regulated.
↗Does energy imbalance (calories in > out) cause obesity?stephanguyenet.com 3rd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThis suggests that overfeeding had caused their body fat regulatory system to durably accept a higher “setpoint”.
↗Does energy imbalance (calories in > out) cause obesity?stephanguyenet.com 4th of 6 in this piece
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Our reading
The brain, not insulin or fat tissue, is what ultimately controls the energy balance equation.
Their wordsHowever, whichever side of the energy balance equation is giving orders, the brain appears to be the commander-in-chief of the equation as a whole.
↗Does energy imbalance (calories in > out) cause obesity?stephanguyenet.com 5th of 6 in this piece
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Our reading
Common obesity is not caused by a slow metabolism: people with obesity burn more energy, not less.
Their wordsThis tells us that common obesity is not the result of a reduced metabolic rate– a common but erroneous belief.
↗Does energy imbalance (calories in > out) cause obesity?stephanguyenet.com 6th of 6 in this piece
- 2 years earlier
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Their wordsThe work of Philip Tetlock, PhD and others has shown that people who have one big idea to explain everything (“hedgehogs” or ideologues) are very bad at accurately modeling the world, predicting outcomes, and recommending effective actions.
↗Quickly assessing the credibility of public expertsstephanguyenet.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Our reading
Changing your mind in light of new facts should be celebrated rather than held against you.
Their wordsInability to change one’s mind is a hallmark of an irrational belief system.
↗Quickly assessing the credibility of public expertsstephanguyenet.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsThe likelihood that someone is providing high-quality information in these domains is lower than in less controversial areas like physics or neuroscience.
↗Quickly assessing the credibility of public expertsstephanguyenet.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 8 weeks earlier
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Their wordsLike most diets, low-carbohydrate diets aren’t very effective against obesity in the average person, but they do have some effectiveness and they are certainly a valid tool in the toolbox.
↗Why the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity is probably wrong: A supplementary reply to Ebbeling and Ludwig’s JAMA articlestephanguyenet.com 1st of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsIf the science isn’t settled yet, perhaps it’s not the right time for bestselling books that confidently promote the CIM and a diet based on it to the public?
↗Why the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity is probably wrong: A supplementary reply to Ebbeling and Ludwig’s JAMA articlestephanguyenet.com 2nd of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsThe question we must answer is not “can we find evidence that supports the CIM”, but rather “does the CIM provide the best fit for the totality of the evidence”.
↗Why the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity is probably wrong: A supplementary reply to Ebbeling and Ludwig’s JAMA articlestephanguyenet.com 3rd of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsCertain forms of carbohydrate probably do contribute to obesity, among other factors, but I don’t think the CIM provides a compelling explanation for common obesity.
↗Why the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity is probably wrong: A supplementary reply to Ebbeling and Ludwig’s JAMA articlestephanguyenet.com 4th of 4 in this piece