I disagree re some of the above posts. I am no fan of Taubes's explanations....
Basically, raw plant food diets do indeed lower one's weight. I found that to be the case...
I am not aware of the extent of your obesity, TD, but from your before pics, you look pretty near normal weight. What Taubes says is that "insulin resistance" can occur in people who are genetically susceptible to obesity, when they reduce fats and increase carbs, as is often the case with habitual dieters. The true test of this "insulin resistance" is when a person has just eaten and is still hungry, a feeling that every obese person knows well. The irony is that these dieters
do lose weight on raw plant food diets, only to have the weight and hunger come back with a vengeance at some point, hence the term
yo-yo diet. If a person has not experienced the utter defeat of losing 60, 80, 100 or more pounds and then watch in helpless bewilderment as it creeps back on, then perhaps once cannot appreciate the value of what Taubes writes in his book.
In an earlier post, you were more in agreement with this detail of Taubes' work:
4) Eat low-carb... Raw plant-food seems to increase the appetite.
I reduced my plant food ingestion to less than 5 g/day after re-reading Taubes' book
Why We Get Fat. Prior to that, I spent most of my RPD year eating a combination of raw fruits, vegetables, and meats, and I had "good days" and "bad days." The last "bad day" I had was weeks ago, and it coincided with the last time I ate carbs.