Do Your Genes Make You Fat? With Dr Giles Yeo

💬 “People think I’m anti-physics. I’m not anti-physics. Calories don’t give you the information to improve your diet.”

⚡️ Dr Giles Yeo is a geneticist at Cambridge University specialising in obesity and how our brain controls food intake. He’s also the author of ‘Why Calories Don't Count’ and ‘Gene Eating’.

⚡️ In this episode Giles and I dig into the science of genetics and hunger hormones and why some people struggle with their weight more than others. I also challenge him on the notion that calories don’t count.

🎧 Stay tuned to find out:

➡︎ How over 1000 genes are involved in body weight and controlling your appetite

➡︎ Why obesity isn’t a moral failing and should be thought of as a disease

➡ The huge variety in how different ethnicities are impacted by obesity

➡︎ What exactly “calories don’t count” really means

➡︎ Why fad diets should be ignored and how to find the diet that works for YOU

📕 Chapters

(1:29) Obesity is not a moral failing

(4:01) Is obesity a disease?

(6:00) The role of genetics

(8:39) Obesity phenotypes

(10:59) Best diet for weight loss?

(13:14) Where’s the data coming from?

(15:44) How different ethnicities are affected by obesity

(20:02) Calories don’t count?

(24:34) The truth about ozempic

(26:49) Hungry hormones

(30:11) Not all calories are the same

(32:09) How poverty affects obesity

(34:14) Environment v genetics

(36:19) Reframe the blame

(39:16) Do we need policy change?

(43:18) Our outdated biology

(49:04) Does taste affect weight gain?

(53:59) The microbiome

(58:07) How to take action

📱 Connect with me:

TikTok: https://www.instagram.com/drkaranrajan

Instagram: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.karanr

📱 Connect with Giles:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gilesyeo/

X: https://x.com/GilesYeo

📕 Grab Giles’ book here: https://amzn.eu/d/hoAnVLr

🔥 For more useful science for your everyday life, grab my best selling book “This Book May Save Your Life”: https://geni.us/DrKaranBook

🎙️ An OG Podcasts production.