Gary Taubes is a scientific journalist (not a diet guru), but he has had as big an impact on my life as anyone who has ever written a diet book. Starting with his New York TImes article "What if it's all been a big FAT lie?" he worked to examine where all of these old school diet recommendations came from (Low-fat, low cholesterol, etc...). Basically he investigates bad science, and exposes it.
His book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" is an indictment on the medical world's guidelines from the last 40 years, and is something everyone should read (it's just come out in paperback, but I bet you can find a used copy of the hardback on amazon or half.com)
Other website have compiled links of Gary Taubes works (Articles, videos, etc...) and I will link to thme so they can get the credit.
The Charlie Rose episode he appears in is very eye opening as it pairs him against Dean Ornish, one of the biggest proponents of a low fat lifestyle, and Ornish just looks silly.
He also appears on Larry King live, which is a very enjoyable segment (except for the part where the Jillian bitch from Biggest Loser gets on there and spouts her pious ignorance).
The most in depth video is a lecture from the University of California, and it last for close to an hour. If you aren't willing to read the book, at least watch some of these videos. You should get an understand of what the book contains, and may peak your interest to read it at a later time.
http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/GaryTaubesGoodCaloriesBadCalories
My only issue with his position is that when interviewed, he often talks about how "exercise" is not essential to be able to lose weight. Which is true, but many people misunderstand and think Taubes is trying to create a gimmick in order to sell books or make his position popular. What he is specifically talking about is extended aerobic exercise at the same pace (Think 60 minutes on a treadmill at the same manageable pace).
That is indeed counterproductive, and your body will begin to catabolize on itself after about 20 mintes of the above described exercise. A solution to this is called High Intensity Interval Training, which I will blog about at a later time, but HIIT is becoming very popular, and rightly so (it works). Here is a link that goes into more detail about what Taubes means about exercise,
http://keithconnectsthedots.com/2008/05/06/more-than-one-kind-of-exercise.aspx
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