Why do we get fat? As Americans have gotten heavier over the past century, and disease rates have skyrocketed, there have been many theories: We're eating too much fat. Too many carbs. An excess of sugar. Is it our lifestyle or our diet that's to blame?Or could there be a single common cause that explains the sharp increase in not only obesity, but conditions as disparate as heart disease, cancer, and dementia? Nature put a "fat switch" in our bodies. Stuck in the "on" position, it's the hidden source of weight gain, heart disease, and many other common health struggles. But you can turn it off. Dr. Richard Johnson has been on the cutting edge of this research for more than a decade. His team's discovery of the fructose-powered survival switch-a metabolic pathway that animals in nature turn on and off as needed, but that our modern diet has permanently fixed in the on position, becoming a fat switch-revolutionized the way we think about why we gain weight. In Nature Wants Us to Be Fat, he shares the mounting evidence on how this switch is responsible both for excess fat storage and many of the major diseases endemic to the Western world. Guided by his and others' ongoing clinical research-plus fascinating observations from nature, evolution, and history-Dr. Johnson takes you along on an eye-opening investigation into: • What you can do to turn off your fat switch-and what science is working on right now to make doing so easier • What we have in common with hibernating bears, sperm whales, and the world's fattest bird-and what makes us different • How the survival switch works, and which foods other than fructose activate it • The surprising role dehydration plays in fat accumulation • Why uric acid may be the key to fructose's negative health effects • The direct link between the survival switch and health conditions such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, gout, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke, cancer, and more • Early research revealing the connection to addiction, ADHD, and other behavioral disorders Dr. Johnson not only provides new recommendations for how we can prevent or treat obesity, but also how we can use this information to reduce our risk of developing disease. Nature wants us to be fat, and when we understand why, we gain the tools we need to lose weight and optimize our health.