If you’ve heard of metabolism, you’ve probably heard endless tips and tricks to boost it, from working out to drinking green tea. The idea is that a slow metabolism leads to weight gain, and speeding it up makes it easier to shed pounds. But what if we told you that metabolic rate doesn't really have anything to do with why so many of us in the developed world are heavy? This episode, nutrition scientist Kevin Hall and science journalist Julia Belluz join us to debunk metabolic myths, starting with what actually happened behind the scenes on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser. Can you really mess up your metabolism by gaining and losing weight, or reset it with morning tonics and exercise? Are those of us who weigh more than we want cursed with a slow metabolism, while those of us who seem to be able to eat whatever we want without gaining weight are just lucky to have a speedy one? And what do World War I explosives and Froot Loops have to do with figuring this all out? Listen in this episode, as we debunk some metabolism myths!

Episode Notes

Kevin Hall

Kevin Hall is a former investigator at the National Institutes of Health. He is the co-author, with Julia Belluz, of the new book Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us. You can hear Kevin describing his research on ultra-processed foods in more depth in our recent episode Nutrition Advice Decoded.

Julia Belluz

Julia Belluz is a science and health journalist, and the co-author, with Kevin Hall, of Food Intelligence. She's appeared on two previous episodes of Gastropod, talking about the science of hunger and the rising audio volume in restaurants.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics

This episode of Gastropod was supported by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics. Check out the other books, movies, shows, podcasts, and more that they support here.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund

This episode of Gastropod was supported in part by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for our coverage of biomedical research.