If your best friend becomes obese, your own risk increases by 171 %

If your best friend becomes obese, your own risk increases by 171 percent

Dr Jason Fung, often called as the founder of intermittent fasting has a simple advice for you - your hunger matters.

In his latest book, The Hunger Code (Reset Your Body’s Fat Thermostat by Breaking the Ultra-processed Food Habit), he argues that the traditional "calories in, calories out" approach to weight loss is a scientific failure that ignores the complex hormonal regulation of body fat. He asserts that obesity is driven by persistent hunger rather than a simple lack of willpower, categorized into physical, emotional, and social types.

Instead of calorie counting, Fung proposes three golden rules: avoiding processed items, practicing intermittent fasting, and fostering healthy social habits. By addressing the root causes of hunger, the book aims to provide a sustainable framework for long-term health and weight management.

Here are the big ideas from the book :

The Great Calorie Delusion

The dominant view since the 1970s is that obesity is simply an energy balance problem—”Calories In, Calories Out.” Yet, calorie-restriction diets have a perfect track record, unblemished by success. If you are obese, the standard advice to “eat less” carries a 99.35 percent failure rate. We must stop pretending this strategy works. As I’ve said, the obsessive focus on calories is neither useful nor effective; it’s the definition of insanity to keep giving the same advice and hoping for different results. Obesity is not a caloric imbalance; it is a hormonal one.

Stop counting calories and start focusing on the hormonal impact of the foods you choose.

Food is Information, Not Just Fuel

Calories are a measure of heat energy in physics, but in human physiology, they are a sadly incomplete description of food’s fattening effect. Food contains two things: energy (calories) and information (the body’s hormonal response). Different foods generate completely different hormonal instructions. For instance, 200 calories of cookies spikes insulin, telling your body to store fat, while 200 calories of eggs releases GLP-1, telling you to stop eating. It’s as bizarre as saying that selling cocaine and selling men’s suits is the same thing because they both involve money.

Prioritize foods that signal satiety (like eggs) over those that trigger fat storage (like cookies).

Resetting Your Internal Fat Thermostat

The body regulates body fat using a homeostatic mechanism similar to a room thermostat. Obesity is not caused by eating too many calories; it’s a disorder where the “body set weight” is set too high.

If you open a window to cool a hot room without turning down the thermostat, the heater just cranks up to compensate. Similarly, if you just “eat less,” your body fat thermostat responds by increasing hunger and lowering your metabolic rate to regain the weight. You can’t use willpower to decide to be less hungry.

To lose weight permanently, you must use hormones to dial down your body fat thermostat rather than fighting your hunger.