| Description |
373 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [321]-353) and index. |
| Contents |
The invisible hand -- What is metabolism anyway? -- What is this going to cost me? -- How humans evolved to be the nicest, fittest, and fattest apes -- The metabolic magician: energy compensation and constraint -- The real hunger games: diet, metabolism, and human evolution -- Run for your life! -- Energetics at the extreme: the limits of human endurance -- The past, present, and uncertain future of homo energeticus. |
| Summary |
"One of the foremost researchers in human metabolism reveals surprising new science behind food and exercise. We burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we'll lose more weight. Right? Wrong. In this paradigm-shifting book, Herman Pontzer reveals for the first time how human metabolism really works so that we can finally manage our weight and improve our health. Pontzer's groundbreaking studies with hunter-gatherer tribes show how exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. This was a brilliant evolutionary strategy to survive in times of famine. Now it seems to doom us to obesity. The good news is we can lose weight, but we need to cut calories. Refuting such weight-loss hype as paleo, keto, anti-gluten, anti-grain, and even vegan, Pontzer discusses how all diets succeed or fail: For shedding pounds, a calorie is a calorie. At the same time, we must exercise to keep our body systems and signals functioning optimally, even if it won't make us thinner. Hunter-gatherers like the Hadza move about five hours a day and remain remarkably healthy into old age. But elite athletes can push the body too far, burning calories faster than their bodies can take them in. It may be that the most spectacular athletic feats are the result not just of great training, but of an astonishingly efficient digestive system. Revealing, irreverent, and always entertaining, Pontzer has written a book that will change how you eat, move, and live."--Publisher's website. |
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"New research blows the lid off how we really burn calories, lose weight, and stay healthy"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Metabolism.
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Weight loss.
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Human evolution.
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HEALTH & FITNESS / Diet & Nutrition / Weight Loss.
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HEALTH & FITNESS / Exercise / General.
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| Other Form: |
Online version: Pontzer, Herman. Burn New York : Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, [2021] 9780525541530 (DLC) 2020020104 |
| ISBN |
9780525541523 (hardcover) |
|
0525541527 (hardcover) |
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