I want to see a whole shelf of books about the dangers of blindly taking Prescription Medications! Yes, seriously. People swallow pills having absolutely no idea what they are doing to themselves.
Raise your hand if you know what a mitochondria is? Did you know that virtually all premarket research done on any drug are done by the pharmaceutical company and that a really long "study" in people will be 12 weeks? And that . the people studied are not at all like you?
How about a book on the impossibility of *stopping* almost any prescription medication? Yes, they change your body and no it's not temporary like they claim.
Did you know that statins cause immediate and irreversible hardening of the arteries in every person who takes them? Well now the news is out so the statin industry is trying to claim that maybe hardening of the arteries is actually good for you.
I could go on but why bother. All this worrying about Kale when people should be worrying about their little blue pill or their statin or their psychotropic prescription medication. Opioids are addictive? Really? Try getting off your Prozac which did nothing for you beyond placebo . . .but wait, it's not "addiction" to Prozac, the addiction is just a "side effect".
How can diabetes be considered a serious disease unless you get it from taking statins in which case it's just a "side effect"?
And yet if I wrote the book no one would read it because it's not funny. Juicing is funny.
31
This seems like nothing more than a pretense to write a piece of humor dressed up as health advice. There are better sources of information that are less dismissive and more informed, and written by writers seeking to educate rather than entertain. This did not belong in the Health section of the NYTs.
14
The "conventional wisdom" official advice from public health authorities has been useless or ineffective for decades, for large segments of the population. This opens the door for countless "alternative wisdoms", some of which are nonsense, some of which are useful. Caveat emptor -- it is up to us to sort out all the conflicting information.
6
This piece is a breath of fresh air in an area overrun with pseudo science, self righteousness and shaming of those who are perceived as "unhealthy" because of what they eat or the size of their bodies. I have been in some state of overweight or obesity since young childhood and in deep middle age finally realized that trying to attain a specific BMI, eat only "healthy" foods or do a prescribed amount of exercise each days was very negatively impacting my quality of life. If this means less life or more chronic illnesses, so be it. Kale smoothies, treadmills and pilates make me feel rotten.
15
I sometimes wonder, " what is pseudoscience?" Read comment here by Dr. Mark Hyman, Director of Functional Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.
""One large study looked at 541 hospitals with 136,905 admissions for heart attacks. Altogether, researchers accounted for 59 percent of all heart attacks in America that year.
Interestingly, all of these patients who had heart attacks did not have high LDL or elevated total cholesterol. In fact, 75 percent of those people had “normal” (below 130) LDL cholesterol, with 50 percent having optimal (below 100) LDL levels. So much for the high LDL contributing to heart attacks.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Only 10 percent of the participants had levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol over 60. This means that 90 percent of these patients who suffered a heart attack had HDL levels under 60. Low HDL is a big red flag for pre-diabetes, or what I call diabesity. And we now know that low HDL is the real driver of most heart attacks and heart disease."
https://drhyman.com/blog/2016/01/14/7-ways-to-optimize-cholesterol/
Is this pseudoscience? What about doctors pushing statins for lowering cholesterol level with all the scientific data?
6
It is not easy to understand "alkaline diet". When you burn a food until only ashes left, you then test to find whether the minerals in these ashes are acid-forming elements such as bromine, chlorine, copper, fluorine, iodine, phosphorus, silica, sulphur etc, or alkaline-forming elements, such as boron, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel, potassium, sodium, zinc. etc. Alkaline diet is composed mainly of vegetable and fruits that contain alkaline-forming minerals, and restricted animal proteins that contain acid-forming elements in order to make sure that cellular pH becomes alkaline, the best condition for mitochondria and other cell components. We need not only macro nutrients like carbs, but also micro nutrients like vitamins and minerals that will become cofactors of many enzymes and essential amino acids and essential fatty acids that will become major components of our body. When we don't have enough minerals like calcium, potassium or magnesium, these will be taken from bones, muscles and kidneys. Our body constantly adjust blood pH by taking minerals from nutrients or from muscle, bones and kidneys, if there are not enough minerals from nutrients. Our body also makes priority decisions to use micro nutrients for short-term survival rather than long-term aging health, when micro nutrients are in short supply.(triage theory by Dr. Bruce Ames.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/43/10836
5
So many righteous people and commenters here. I’m “normal” weight - probably what people would call skinny or fit in this country of overweight people. I know I retain this size by genetic luck. I eat all types of food - lover sugars and carbs. Probably drink more alcohol than I should. Love salads (with dressing) and veggies (with oil, mostly). But I have no doubt that I won a genetic lottery that allows me to stop eating when full and metabolize what I do eat. I know many people who eat “healthier” who don’t have this advantage. Let’s stop food and fat shaming. And people who are lucky (as I am), don’t be self righteous!
52
@City Girl
yes!
9
It's disappointing to read Judith Newman's dismissive and pretty much inaccurate summary of fasting/intermittent fasting. The science on the topic is still developing. But Judith clearly doesn't lay out the most compelling case for a weight loss technique that works for many people. She basically leaves out all of the positives of fasting/intermittent fasting and rather snarkily describes the process as "Gosh, you'll get like SUPER hungry and then your eyes will get blurry and you'll stop functioning as a normal human being." Nothing could be further from the truth.
I've used different forms of fasting to lose weight over the last 10 months and I've lost about 50 pounds. My blood pressure is in the ideal range most of the time. I'm no longer obese and am merely overweight now. (Who knew I'd be so happy to be merely overweight?)
One of the major selling points about fasting is how easy it is because it doesn't involve any particular planning about what you eat. You don't have to avoid certain foods. You don't have to structure your shopping around a particular diet plan. Sure, I try to eat healthy foods when I'm "feasting." But I don't stress about what I eat. I just have periods where I don't eat. It's the easiest thing in the world, and if anyone is obese, I highly recommend fasting or intermittent fasting in one of its various forms.
It's really disappointing to read a "health" writer for the NYT so easily dismiss a simple health improving diet.
17
@John K.
Theres a good 'science versus' podcast on fasting. Basically their conclusion after looking at different studies was fasting is a calorie reduction diet just like any other. In other words you could eat less regularly and get the same benefit. If it works for you great but its not a magic diet solution.
6
A lot of people are insulin resistent and on the way to becoming fat. Our culture hypes sweet foods and carbohydrates. Exercise is generally good for people but it wont lead to weight loss. Keto and IF work but not eating for 24 or 36 hours is difficult.
4
Agree
Interesting, and fascinating comments here. I am reminded of something our smart young, and thin, Thai foreign exhange student said at the dinner table as he happily munched on my grilled country pork ribs marinated in my secret ingredients. He asked us if we knew what AFS meant. (AFS is one of the main programs matching young foreign students with families in the USA.) Ji, our student, was quite familiar with the program. We thought we knew what the acronym meant but were not quite sure, so we said, “Oh, what?” His deadpan reply “Another Fat Student.”
5
Lavender drops, yes, but dandelion tea in the novels of Jane Austen?! Chapter and verse, please.
1
I don't live in Florida, either. Still, I have to wonder why it is acceptable to make fun of those people.
Otherwise, this was a brilliant piece. I especially enjoyed the link from dandelion tea to the chiropractor's slick website. Yum! (sarcasm)
Excuse me, but I feel a need to detox now.
1
I have been reminded of a quote attributed to the late Jack LaLanne: If it taste good, spit it out. Can cravings be satisfied without swallowing? The chocolate chip cookie is soon forgotten once swallowed then we go for another and then another. I would be willing to take Jack's suggestion while otherwise eating a balance diet, at least trying to.
1
It is very possible to change your dietary habits and do it for the rest of your life. We've all done it before. You quit breast milk or baby formula long ago. There are other things that fell away from your childhood diet, too, and you never looked back: boogers, crayons, paste. Seriously, few adults are noshing on teething biscuits and digging into jars of baby food. So, yes. You can change and do it for the rest of your life. Eventually, it becomes second nature.
A bout of food poisoning put me off of hot-dogs and pork & beans in adolescence. Later, acid re-flux inspired me to ditch fast-food and keep a close eye on portion size. Migraines led me to drop alcohol & cured meats from my diet. With that experience, it was relatively easy to give up sugar and artificial sweeteners, white rice, potatoes, and other refined carbohydrates. At the same time, the gap in my diet forced me to introduce other nutritious and filling foods. If I eat wrong, I feel wrong. If I eat right, I feel better.
But fat loss, for me, is all on account of exercise. I must lift weights to have a slim waistline. Cardio is good for the heart, but it doesn't make me thin.
4
In my experience, people who think of food primarily as a source of nutrition are generally thin and healthy, while people who think of food primarily as a source of pleasure generally aren't.
Now, I've been fat and I've been thin. And I must say, for me, the pleasure of not being in an overweight body everyday far outweighs the pleasure any food could ever provide. But to each their own pleasures. Salut!
9
@Abraham
To put that another way: nothing tastes as good as thin feels.
10
@Abraham I don't think that's universally true. I'm sure a lot of people share your experience. But a lot of other people enjoy food and learn moderation or increase exercise. For myself, I've generally been in the naturally thin crowd, but as I age I tend to gain weight. Regular exercise and some moderation have allowed me to stay thin and eat more or less what I want.
3
I find disturbing the continuous advice hat "fresh fruits and vegetables" are important to a healthy diet. Veggies that are frozen or canned are considered "processed" and to be avoided. This is complete nonsense; frozen vegetables have the same nutrient content as the beautiful ones stacked up in Whole Foods and other grocery stores. Moreover, 50% of fresh vegetables rot in our refrigerators and are thrown out. A huge waste. Preprepared food are better for the planet.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-waste-ugly-fruit-vegetables-perfect
4
@Borat Smith
There are no health benefits from eating vegetables. All that epidemiologic evidence derives from their displacing dense carbs, like potatoes, from your dinner plate.
1
Each fad diet proponent expects that your body will respond the way their's did. Some people do well low fat, some need high protein, some are fine on vegan. Find what works for you. But don't judge those who are obese. Sometimes it is simple over eating and under exercising so tips like portion control and eating slower might work; other times there is an underlying medical condition causing problems.
Just get up and walk more is great advice - for people where walking is not a problem - who don't have back, knee, or foot issues. Sometimes weight gain comes from an inability to do normal activities and exercise. Or they suffer chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic pain - you don't know so don't judge and unless asked don't give advice. And if you can't walk - you often can't swim or do water exercises or bike - well meaning but useless advise.
There is no one plan fits all solution.
I am anxious about eating - I have food intolerances. I eat the wrong thing and I am in pain for the next 3 days. People with food allergies and intolerances are justified to watch what they eat like a hawk. I am about to go on the Wahls Protocal to try to identify and eliminate all foods that my body reacts to to reduce my chronic pain and fatigue. If I have to eat crazy to avoid pain - to be able to walk without agony - I will do it.
So there is no one solution, and until you walk in my shoes, know my medical history & complete lifestyle, - don't judge and don't advise.
13
"Here’s the SparkNotes revelation: You feel bad; then you feel really really good; then you want to die; then you Hoover up whatever’s in the refrigerator."
Very funny, but not necessarily true. Cravings become a thing of the past for those who are fat-adapted (a fancy way of saying that you don't eat many processed carbs or sugary things, so your body has gotten used to getting energy from your stored fat instead).
The reality goes more like this: you feel hungry, then it passes and you don't feel hungry anymore, then you feel fantastic, then you realize it's time to eat; at which point, you get to feast on healthy fats, moderate protein, and lots of greens. Then it's time to fast again.
Rinse, repeat, lose the extra weight, regain your health. It works, as thousands of people are discovering daily.
10
Actually the only advice I saw here that I can say works, for me - is looking at most meals as a means for fuel. Its really a simple and easy idea. I plan my meals for my fuel needs. Protein, fruits, some oats, and veggies. Any eating for pure pleasure is on the weekends, or maybe some thing as a dessert during the week. And I keep those simple.
What do I need today to fuel up? To keep my body running and eliminate cravings? If Im seeking sweets, I know I need protein. Fact.
Its really easy to move away from food as a pleasure device, and towards what its mostly supposed to be - nutrition to run the body, aka fuel. Doesn't mean you eat tasteless foods, just some whole foods when you need them. Piece of chicken and a fruit at lunch. Easy, and decisions are made.
Second best piece of advice. Get in the habit of preparing your breakfast and lunch for work. Don't rely on "picking something up on the way." Eliminate the stress of the decision making and you wont fall victim to spur of the moment bad choice, or cravings.
But the author is wrong about the powdered collagen. Its good for your hair, skin and nails. And my joints dont creak and ache. Not a cure-all, just a supplement that seems to work. But its the word supplement that is key.
The issue in the US is people seeking quick fixes, and cure-alls. Seeking the 100%. Nonexistent! Healthier and fitter, and such are a mix. Better anything is the results of a mixture, of a stew.
Nothing in life is linear.
6
For a healthy diet just eat more fresh unprocessed vegetables and less meat dairy and processed junk. As leading nutritionist Dr. Joel Fuhrman says, "There's one thing we know for sure: Raw vegetables and fruits have powerful anti-cancer agents." I don't know of any meat or dairy products that have the same effect.
5
Conclusion of Campbell’s “The China Study”. Seminal, scientific, sound. He would concur with you.
3
@David
Meat, fish, and eggs are packed with essential nutrients which are missing from or difficult to absorb from plant foods. Humans have been omnivores for literally millions of years.
Conflating "meat and dairy" with "processed junk" is the same old vegan bait-and-switch.
7
I walk to work. It’s roughly a mile and a half each way. On the weekends I put in anywhere from five to ten miles just wandering around. I am fortunate to have a job where some of the creative work can be done in isolation, so it’s possible for me to break up my working day with time outside. This results in longer hours overall, but better physical and mental health.
Despite all this, I have a tendency to gain weight, and as I grow older, I have to pay more attention to my sugars and my lipids. So I am learning to say goodbye to foods that I once enjoyed without reserve.
I have adapted Marie Kondo’s idea of thanking a food for its service, and cherishing the memory of the best example I have known. This let’s me avoid things like french fries (which I really like), by mentally comparing the french fries at any given location with the best french fries that I have ever eaten, and turning down anything less than the best.
This doesn’t prevent me from seeking out new and better french fries, but it help stop me from ordering a burger combo just out of habit.
I have successfully said goodbye to large strawberry milkshakes and soft-serve ice cream. I am working hard on marzipan wrapped in dark chocolate.
I watch my salads carefully to ensure that they are kale-free. I inquire about the sweetness of the apricot vinaigrette. Actually, I always did this, but now I feel a sense of virtue, and yes, joy.
3
@Global Charm Why kale free?
5
Someone should write a book on the addictive quality of our food and the poisons our food contains. Here are some starters.
Round up in most non organic wheat crops, HFCS in many packaged foods, Preservatives in many products. Antibiotics in our beef and chicken. Detergents ( polysorbate 80 ) in ice cream and more. Read the label.
But far worse is the simple fact that most diet foods cause weight gain. They disturb the microflora in our intestine and adversely affect our health. The people that put their faith in the government are being poisoned so food companies can make profits.
4
Yes. Those food labs engineer foods that will seduce your brain to overeat. The shareholders get dividends, you get dead.
2
The most authoritative resource on nutrition and disease is Dr. Colin Campbell’s seminal research “The China Study”. Check him out on YouTube. It has been vetted and peer reviewed many times by smart people.
It was published many years ago as a collaboration between Oxford, Cornell and China. It is the one and only best source - the rest are probably fads or junk science or sponsored biased research by vested interests.
7
@Charles Denman
It's carefully cherry-picked vegan advocacy. Not peer-reviewed. Campbell takes a bunch of weak and indirect correlations, and assumes all are causation, while systematically ignoring any positive effects of animal food consumption.
Humans and human ancestors have been omnivores, for literally millions of years. There is no "one size fits all diet", and it's silly to claim one piece of vegan literature as "the one and only best source" on nutrition.
9
“The China Study” was produced by Cornell and Oxford Universities with brilliant participation by scientists in China. There was no bias or conflicts of interests.
Pure scientific research untainted by hidden agendas. It’s findings are reliable and constructive. Animal protein causes serious diseases and death. Period.
2
Reputable people do not agree with your view. The data and conclusions from the study are uncontested, irrefutable. Read
2
Just a suggestion for the author of "The Elephant in the Room:" the next time you're in a creative rut, instead of going for a drive, why not take a walk?
5
As much as I agree that walking would have been much more beneficial to him, I imagine that walking for even a short amount of time was incredibly difficult for him.
A drive would’ve had the desired mental benefits while he was able to avoid many of the physical issues with walking.
1
@laolaohu Do you really suppose that NEVER occurred to a published author?
8
My experience of fasting is much different than mentioned in the article. My blood sugar does not go down when I fast, in fact it rarely goes down ever.
4
@Sutter You may be interested in Dr Jason Fung's book "The Diabetes Code". It may help you understand the relationship between fasting, eating, insulin and blood sugar.
1
Is there any scientific evidence that drinking more water improves health in any way? I have not seen any. The 8-glasses-a-day rule, in particular, seems to have been pulled out of thin air.
8
@Larry
I find as I get older it is harder to stay hydrated. Actually when I was younger I probably was still dehydrated but my body tolerated it more easily. Like anything some people tolerate being dehydrated better than others. Being chronically dehydrated will eventually cause issues in most people.
12
@Larry
it was, thinnest of evidence at any rate. Each of us have our own needs based on a million or more different criteria. There is no one size fits all.
3
Not only was it pulled out of thin air, it is same supposedly for every man woman and child of any age, with any activity, any diet. It ignores the water in food.
Overhydration is more common amongst marathoners than underhydration- and its MUCH harder to correct, and its far more dangerous. By diluting the fluid/salt balance in the body, fluid squeezes into the wrong places between cells, electrolytes are deranged, arrhythmias and other trouble results. The total salt volume in body may be fine- just too diluted. Dropping that water is tricky, and the ivs are tricky.
1
Brilliant review! Hilariously funny early paragraphs, and a conclusions that makes one smile with recognition. Thanks for the great read!
29
The Europeans I know here flock to our organic grocery store, as they simply don't trust the regular supermarkets. Our food - compared to that of most European countries - is unregulated and often full of very bad ingredients, pesticides, and so on. Food is yet another sector punishing Americans due to its industry/industries being de-regulated, or not regulated at all.
40
And fat-shaming disguised as well-meaning dietary advice doesn't help either.
11
Not really a "Diet" but apropos and necessary:
"Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it-not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to use some moderate constraint in your food selection to get the right food, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable foods. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is three meals a day, most of the time, but it can also be choosing to munch along. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful when they are fresh. Normal eating is overeating at times: feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. It is also undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your emotions, your schedule, your hunger, and your proximity to food. "
By Ellyn Satter, RD & ACSW
37
@Mrs B
verry cool
4
This article completely ignores how our food industry makes us sick today,
And you are sooo out of the alternative health circuit. A person's genetics (methylation) determines if they should eat a lot of vegetables vs. protein. Vegans can be short in important vitamins (like B12) and enzymes._
So … without discussing that science == and yes this is based on science (including studied by Phds and MDs) this article stays too high up in the stratosphere to be … mainly fluff.
6
@Pat This article was 'reviewing' a specific group of books. But you can research and write that other article.
10
The first person who can give me an actual reasoned scientific reason why I need to "drink more water" gets 10 bucks from me (that's a lot for me). Talk about pseudoscience that nearly everyone I know spouts.
6
@John Blanchard. Drinking more water (within a reasonable degree for a person) helps wash the toxins out of our systems at a healthier rate. Let me know if you’d like my paypal address so that you can send to me the ten bucks...lol...
4
I have always liked drinking water, feel better when I do. And I have a feeling (notice -it's only a "feeling", an unscientific guess) that it is good for me. But I gotta agree - I have never heard any evidence as to why a specific amount will lead to a longer life. So I'll join you on your bet.
"Talk about pseudoscience that nearly everyone I know spouts." - Ain't that the truth ?
I also get a chuckle whenever someone talks about staying "hydrated" by hauling around their mini-keg of Pop
2
@John Blanchard: The older you are, the more prone you are to dehydration.
One summer day a few years ago, I came close to passing out while sitting in a chair.
The doctor checked me for heart and respiratory problems and concluded that I was simply dehydrated. It made sense. I had had no liquids except a cup of coffee since the previous night, it was hot and humid out, and coffee is dehydrating.
So yes, older people have to make sure that they get enough water.
3
Not one of these letters mentions the other 'elephant in the room;' the devastating effect that giant food lobbies like Monsanto and Archer-Midland have had on the food industry in this country. I dare any American to walk into any supermarket in any state and try to purchase a week's worth of groceries that contain no sugar. Go ahead, try it. You think because it doesn't say sugar there is no sugar in that package? Wrong. Every food within a supermarket is loaded with hidden sugars that most Americans simply dont bother to learn. Corn syrup, anything with an 'ose' ending, etc. Imgredients that instill cravings are deliberately added to these 'foods' also.
Regarding ketosis: there is often a general confusion between simple ketosis and ketoacidosis. The former is the simple burning of fat first, instead of carbohydrates. Ketoacidosis, n the other hand, is a sometimes fatal condition that has nothing to do with simple ketosis. Simple ketosis is what normal bodies do naturally.
Most 'diets' count calories and don't take the role of insulin into consideration. If a person eats food that is low in carbohydrates, higher in protein, reason or low in fats and drinks about 27oz of water daily, the weight will drop. Each person's metabolism is different. THere is no one-size-fits-all, no pun intended. But if you pay attention to your insulin (whichis the hormone that controls metabolism and weight), and eat REAL FOOD, you will lose unwanted pounds.
44
@ArtistMarta
if people could be shown what different foods do to their blood sugar levels, and make themselves aware of how they feel at the spikes and valleys. that would speed diet change.
2
@ArtistMart AMEN. The author’s brain fog is glucose induced. Intermittent fasting is more in keeping with the body’s natural rhythms and creates mental CLARITY thanks to cleaner burning ketones - the neocortex ‘s preferred fuel. Author has not done her Biochem 101 homework.
5
I believe blood sugar and ketones are inversely related such that low blood sugar indicates higher ketones thus ketosis. So ketone strips are a simple test to estimate blood sugar level and correctness of one’s diet. The scale and measuring tape confirms.
The international obesity epidemic is raging.
The only solution is to eat less.
This requires self-discipline, which is largely unacceptable now.
There is no money or book in this. Just a fact of life.
18
@R. R. With all due respect, no, eating less is not the answer, It's also what we eat and how. It's also what each individual needs to assess before changing a lifestyle eating regimen. I wish it were as simple as your comment. Many who are pre-diabetic will need to eat differently from others. As for self-discipline, I beg to differ on this point also. The only way to exercise self-discipline is to stay away from processed foods in the supermarket and cook your own food from scratch.
17
@R. R.
What we eat and how much we eat are interdependent. Nutritional quality drives satiation, which limits subsequent calorie intake.
"Just eat less" has been demonstrated the least effective long-term approach, over and over again throughout a century of obesity research. It works in the short run but fails in the long run because it is a fundamental misunderstanding of cause-and-effect.
Recommend a read of Gary Taubes.
3
@ArtistMarta
The way to self-discipline with food is to eat less.
Instead of reading about food, diets, obesity, food allergies, hard candy, and food obsession, I would stop all reading about food, including my comment, and instead go eat something. It will make you forget about reading about food and actually eating food, a much more enjoyable pursuit.
Finally, about that dandelion tea. If you click on the link you can read that dandelions not only cleanse your liver, but build bones, cure cancer, and does everything that CBD does, but is free and legal. It and related plants are often found bitters and other aperitifs, and are often labeled as digestivos. Bitters are bitter because many toxins are bitter to the taste as a warning. If you want to try something that is really bitter and will kill you, take cyanide, which tastes like bitter almonds.
If you really want to cleanse your liver and release a river of bile, down a shot of high proof whiskey.
9
I think obesity is a huge problem in this country. Look around - people are enormous. They eat too much, and they eat a lot of junky processed food. It’s costing them their health and their lives, and it’s costing the rest of us in higher health insurance and related costs. People should change away from this kind of eating. Get away from sugar and other low quality carbohydrates (and exercise more). And for goodness sake, stop thinking that eating too much dietary fat is the culprit. Fat is not fattening. Carbohydrates are fattening. Don’t go on a diet. Change your diet.
19
@Dan
When I was young, very few people were "very" obese. Don't you think it suspicious that this is not the case now - now that industrialized food, fast food, etc., are omnipresent? There's a reason to avoid the "middle aisles" in grocery stores and stick with the outer rims - fruits and vegetables - the real stuff.
6
I applaud Ms. Newman for not mentioning Jack (Twitter) Dorsey's truly bizarre eating regimen described recently in an article on him -- sorry, I can't recall the source. His fasting, single meal a day and hyper-focus on protein/carb balance makes Tom Brady look like a Food Network star!
3
@Jennene Colky Jack Dorsey is famous, but he is just one of many thousands of people who are using time restricted eating. Many of them are using it with great success to lose weight, heal diabetes, and promote longevity.
2
Amazing coincidence how so many people with the latest diet advice have a product to sell!
9
I've said this before but here is my opinion. Buy organic wheat berries, buy a wheat grinder, grind your flour and make bread either by hand or with a bread machine.
What you get is one of the best foods the entire human population has ever eaten with no preservatives, poisons, or herbicides. You get all the natural goodness that made wheat a favorite for thousands of years.
The people i give my bread to include gluten sensitive types who have no problems with my bread made from home ground wheat berries.
Someday we all will wake up to this.
6
What is a wheat berry. Are you referring to a kernel of wheat or is it something else?
1
@Edward
It is a term for the wheat grain. It is the product the farmers produce.
The kernel, starch and fiber are all parts of the wheat grain or the wheet berry.
2
The truth is that most of these fad diets, while flawed, are still much healthier than the standard American diet.
10
The book I'm waiting for would be called "How Not To Get Fat in the First Place." And it would be for people still in their late teens or early twenties, to warn us that if we don't watch out and avoid X and do Y, we might weight a lot more by middle age. Most of us are not born fat. We get that way, and then we can't lose it. How not to ever get that way is what we need to know.
13
@C Don't live in the U.S. That's the best way not to get fat as we age. Well, that, or dying before we get old!
8
@CRead How We Get Fat by Gary Taubes.
I was recently invited to share a "healthy pizza" at work that someone had brought in.
The healthy pizza had substituted virtuous ranch dressing and cream cheese for the usual evil tomato sauce and mozzarella.
Broccoli was added on top.
No thank you.
11
Everything is fine the way it is. Ignore the obesity epidemic, the epidemic of type 2 diabetes and cancer and heart disease. Eat whatever you want.
2
Amen!
I don’t get fad diets. If you want to be healthy choose foods that rot: fruits and vegetables and unprocessed, lean meats.
If you don’t like vegetables and fruits, teach yourself to like them. Eat when your body says it’s hungry.
Limit (not eliminate) foods that are not naturally occurring: spaghetti, candy, bread, cheese, soda, etc.
And exercise. Pushups, squats and walking. Build it into your days: I walk for transportation. Pretty easy and stress free.
Just remember, our evolutionary forebears didn’t have this health care, and they didn’t have this industrialized diet.
Our bodies were meant to walk endless miles and eat natural things.
None of the above is earth shattering, but it takes commitment. And curiosity.
17
Sorry about the caps, but I found it to be the easiest way to highlight sentences from your review of Diet Books that explain why most “diets” eventually fail:
“YOU THINK OF FOOD MORE AS FUEL THAN, SAY, A SOURCE OF PLEASURE.”
The problem here is food is 1st and foremost our body’s primary source of fuel, yet far too many people completely ignore this obvious fact in their pursuit of “eating pleasure.”
“AND YOU HAVE TO DO IT FOREVER. I KNOW I COULDN’T.”
Any effective diet requires a lifestyle change and if you cannot follow it “forever” it simply will not work.
Your phrase “I couldn’t” probably applies to almost everyone with an eating disorder, and even those of us who may always need to “lose 10 pounds.” As an example, I know a number of people who have had Gastric bypass surgery, which is essentially a behavioral modification program (eat too much; get sick), yet over time these same people manage to overcome the behavioral effects of the surgery and return to their original poor eating habits.
In closing, I admit I have tried and failed to maintain a lifestyle change in my eating habits by adopting a protein and vegetable diet, with some modifications; I lasted approximately 4 years.
I found scheduled eating and daily exercise, including significant abdominal exercises worked well for me. I believed tighter abdominal muscles helped restrict my stomachs ability to expand, with overeating leading to severe discomfort.
5
This article is such disservice to all the work and research that people are doing despite the FDA. The Pyramid was a sham. Sugar is everywhere, Grains are no longer sprouted or healthy. Our food is engineered for profit, I can't find organic foods for my kids. There is a real crisis, rising obesity and Diabetes. Wake Up and instead of bashing these books. let's start studying them and seeing what is working and what is not. I'm in a fasting facebook group, amazing stories of weight loss, found movement and freedom and medications kicked! Just recognize the food research that came out in the 50's was based on profit. So don't talk to me about evidence based. Do your own research and Pollan, Mercola, Perlmutter, Sisson, Gedgaudas, Emmerich, etc, now start there then write an helpful article.
9
@working mom Respectfully, you sound like Ms. Newman challenged your favorite fad diet. I agree with you about the profit-based crises we are facing, but since Newman is advocating a scientific basis and has written several books, I suspect she's already done her own research.
9
Food is medicine. Like it or not. And dosage matters.
In a world where hospitals and children's science museums serve awful fast food... we have to do better. The status quo is not okay.
Yes there are a lot of kooks and snake oil salesmen out there, but nonetheless detailed knowledge and specialized approaches are necessary for a lot of people. Joel Fuhrman and Sarah Ballantyne, seemingly on opposite sides of the spectrum, are both good resources, able to disagree with their own "sides".
Body acceptance and other aspects of a functional mindset are also requisites for good health.
5
I’ve lost 60 lbs since retiring as a registered nurse after 30 years.
None of us should discount what stress does to your body and not having work life balance to focus on having time to exercise and eat healthy.
96
American are super-stressed. I wonder what role the hospital cafeteria played in your situation as a RN.
I am going to give you all the diet advice you need, right now, for free, in one sentence:
Each meal, eat a little bit of a lot of different things until you feel 80% full.
If that doesn't work for you, the problem is not dietary; it lies somewhere else, so no amount of dietary advice is likely to cure it.
12
Largely agree with your central theme of some of this and some of that, but not too much. The one disagreement is this mania of hydration. Just like pH, the body does a great job of adjusting concentration. Yes, do get more when working and sweating- but the hydromania is filling our world with plastic bottles, and neurotic flask fixations.
5
My wife is like what the article describes--she has kale smoothies for breakfast. It looks like swamp water, yuck.
2
Calories in
Calories out
Everything else is noise
8
@New World Wish it were that simple. However, that would only be true if everyone's metabolism were the same, and if the individual's metabolism never varied.
1
@New World
This is like saying "a restaurant becomes full when more people enter than leave." It's completely true and completely useless to explain _why_ the process is happening.
What we eat affects how much we eat, and vice versa.
3
By all means check out a book called “The Big Fat Surprise”. Written by an investigative reporter, not a diet guru.
5
Human physiology is a bit more complicated than that. @Stevenz
Not true the assertion of bad effects from short-term fasting, at least not if it's done overnight. I thought it would be hard to avoid eating for 3 hours before bedtime and another 8 hours while sleeping. Not only is it easy but I don't wake up hungry.
7
@CG Agreed. Just because the writer doesn't have the self awareness and discipline to fast successfully doesn't mean that fasting doesn't work. I've been fasting intermittently and never harshly (fasting is not starving) for decades and a well timed fast never fails to improve how I feel.
3
Would that everyone could just eat moderately and feel fine. As someone who has battled chronic pain and degenerative disc disease since my teens, I thought that there was nothing I could do nutritionally to combat pain. I never was a dieter, am of average to slightly above average weight, and I was sometimes on a cane, much more in my 30s and 40s. I tried all sorts of things to control the pain, then my cholesterol skyrocketed, but I couldn't take statins; turns out I'm allergic, and they made my problems much worse by causing neuropathy in my feet. My doctor said I didn't need to be vegan. I tried eliminating foods, my migraines got worse, and in the last couple of years my hips started to hurt at night. I stopped being able to take stairs. Last July, I read the Plant Paradox with a friend. ALL OF MY PAIN IS GONE. ALL of it. No more migraines. No more of my back aching. No more pain. No more meds. Cholesterol in a normal range.
The doctor who created the program sounds like a darn car salesman, and he is always pushing his products, but you don't need to buy his stuff to feel better. And I still enjoy food and alcohol. I always ate in moderation, and I ate what was considered "healthy" to many people, but that food, the food nutritionists recommended (quinoa, brown rice, many vegetables that I loved eating) were slowly killing me.
It isn't fun not being able to eat what everyone around me can, but I feel so much better. I feel 25, and I am 50.
10
Ms. Newman's words “eat perfectly, eat badly, die anyway” were my laugh of the day!
I am finished reading books about food, however. Sure, they sometimes make for interesting reading. But I love Michael Pollan's exceedingly simple and on-target advice (which, admittedly, I must have read in a book of his once), and which a commenter below referenced:
"Eat food, mostly plants, not too much," (unless you live where plants don't grow very well, I might add...)
The not-obese generations who came before us knew this, and many followers of non-Western traditional diets know this (or at least subscribe to it).
56
@KG Ate food, mostly plants, constantly hungry.
24
@fireweed
Thanks for the laugh! Me too.
6
Thank you, Judith! Your witty prose is a joy to read.
13
As a species, humans have likely spent 95%+ of our existence trying to eat enough calories to survive. As a result, I suspect that our bodies are not suited our more sedentary, temperature controlled lives. Restaurant portion sizes, particularly in the US, have also skewed our perspective on how much food we should be eating. Food manufacturers have also successfully engineered foods hat hit our "cravings" for certain levels of saltiness and sweetness. I have one other observation. When I travel to Japan annually, I lose weight during my visit even though I am consuming more food and drink than I do in the US. I am of a healthy weight and yet return from Japan weighing 5-10 pounds lighter after a 2 week stay. I am curious whether other have observed this and whether it speaks to our food supply.
33
@Maya EV I often visited Japan and noticed similar weight lose. Likely from the food, but also I tend to use the excellent train system to travel and walk more than in the US.
5
@Maya EV
I have noticed the same kind of phenomenon - I travel to Europe for about one month every year and even though I eat more than I do at home I come back ten pounds lighter every time. And the food I'm eating in Europe (cheese of all sorts, breads, meats, beer, wine, etc.) is much richer than what I eat here (lots of vegetables, chicken, very little dairy, and wine, but no beer). It's possible that I'm getting a little bit more exercise when I'm in Europe, but not enough to be the reason for the weight loss when considering the increase in calories being consumed. I know that, generally speaking, Europe has stricter food regulations than the U.S. does and that their foods have fewer chemicals in them. So maybe there's some correlation between processing, chemical additives, and nutritional content that relates to weight loss/gain.
23
@Maya EV I was in SE Asia for 5 weeks recently, ate 3 big meals a day and lost 10 pounds.
5
Yes, there's all these Instagram "influencers" who post about kale detox smoothies and they do hydration therapy and all sorts of pseudo-science routines that are typically paid for posts.
I feel they're not far from anti-vaxxers. It's peddling false science. They need to stop.
68
@Manish Yet there is NO research for bagels, bread, muffins, pasta, cereal, fake oil, sugar, ....
6
If you’re a woman and not yet past menopause, don’t read any diet book that doesn’t take our hormonal fluctuations into account. If you’re like most women, today you may have cravings and be retaining five pounds of water due to PMS. In a few days you’ll magically weigh much less and not be hungry, only to experience the opposite again during ovulation...and so forth and so on. Men don’t have these maddening issues.
44
"Orthorexia". Ha! Perfect. I know a few people who suffer from that. And that suffering makes them insufferable!
45
if losing weight was easy, we'd all be thin.
58
Thank You for the lovely article. Nothing better than laughing out loud about the stressful and confusing aspects of food and dieting.
23
I just read "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano.
It is the best book on food and health I've ever read because it celebrates delicious food and a how to fully enjoy it, AND be healthy. It teaches you HOW to eat more than WHAT to eat.
Bon appetit.
60
@CJ, I LOVE that book! Ultimately, it didn't help me, though. Plant Paradox did. No more chronic pain, migraines, and I can take stairs again.
7
The comments in the article about fasting and ketosis missed an important point. Most Americans never go into ketosis. With our high carbohydrate diets, most of us only burn glucose and not fat. By lowering carbs, intermittent fasting, and exercise can get our bodies to go into ketosis. But it takes about two or three weeks to get our bodies used to switching between sugars and fats. We need to retrain our bodies to burn fat. During that time, fasting does make you feel bad. But once you have retrained you body, it doesn't. So, the comment "I have fasted. Probably you have too. Here’s the SparkNotes revelation: You feel bad; then you feel really really good; then you want to die; then you Hoover up whatever’s in the refrigerator." is too simplistic and dare I say pseidoscience.
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@D. Bruce Yolton ketosis is a warning sign if maintained too long and can actually damage your kidneys. You might also consider that athletes know this as "bonking" and that such diets are generally incompatible with an active lifestyle as you need carbs to participate in sustained activities.
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@Multimodalmama there are actually plenty of athletes who have been on the keto diet for years. Especially sports that require a lot of endurance.
7
@D. Bruce Yolton
There is no long term evidence-based scientific study that suggests any form of fasting is useful in an ongoing effort to lose weight.
As the article suggests - eat a balanced and mindful diet, exercise and try to remove stressors [like fasting] from your life.
5
Very charming piece.
I grew up in NYC in the 1950's (the bygone era of 6 ounce Coca Cola bottles) and thus have 'some' perspective on the fattening of America. I'm not sure if the following represents the chicken or the egg, but America's obesity epidemic can be summed up by the Snickers bar display (along with 50 other brands of candy bars) at the check out counters of my local Ace Hardware and Bed Bath and Beyond. What kind of message does that send? And then there's this totally food obsessed culture- maybe we were better off when we ate awful food like the Brits.
45
@Richard Katz you forgot one huge additional factor - people drive to that convenience store or drive through the Fast Food Hut to get their feed on.
Cars everywhere and everywhere places to take cars to get high calorie things.
13
@Richard Katz - When I was growing up there was no internet and our parents all told us to go outside. There was nothing to do but ride a bike, jump rope, play football, or go ice skating all winter on the pond. And we had to walk to school in the snow, etc. We would go to the roller skating rink every Friday and Saturday when we got older.
At the same time, we were being fed frozen dinners, had everything fried in Crisco, canned vegetables, and fed Fruit Loops for breakfast. It was the worst diet imaginable yet we didn't get fat as kids because we were getting exercise.
Today, the food has gotten worse and kids sit around too much.
12
@Richard Katz
Not to mention that in those candy bar displays, the bigger size is usually a better deal. So you buy the large size because you don't want to feel ripped off.
6
This otherwise common sense take is marred by an ignorant take on ketosis and intermittent fasting. Mere fasting alone will likely not put you in a state of ketosis since the body stores about two days of carbs (glycogen) for energy. A diet high in fat, moderate on the protein and light on carbs, however, will do the trick in 3-7 days. So fasting for eight hours is not going to put you in ketosis.
After an adjustment period, blood sugar is stable and in the optimal range during ketosis. It is a godsend for epileptics like me and can work miracles for those suffering from type 2 diabetes and caught in the cycle of ever-increasing doses of insulin.
I don’t mean to proselytize. It’s not for everyone. I just wish it had gotten a fair shake here because it really can change lives. It changed mine.
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@Blake N oh, it can change your life - as in end it or leave you with permanent damage: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-you-try-the-keto-diet
10
@Multimodalmama That link mentions high protein intake as a risk factor for kidney damage. That is true. It's also misleading, since the ketogenic diet is not a high protein diet.
20
@Multimodalmama I'm a healthy active 55 year old woman. I'm not a diet obsessive type but when my HgA1c was up at 6.2 due to a lifelong sugar habit, I decided to try a keto diet. I'm a nurse and I frequently see the end stages of diabetes: neuropathy, dementia, amputated legs and/or renal failure. Knowing all this, I still couldn't stop eating all the sweets at the nurse's station. I have successfully been eating a keto diet for a year and I feel 20 years younger. I did my research and I check my labs regularly. My mood swings are gone, my HgA1c is down and I fit into all my clothes from 10 years ago. It's a scientific diet and there are aspects like electrolyte replenishment that have to be watched. Regarding LDLs mentioned in that Harvard link, there are different forms of LDLs and different ways of counting them. The usual way is a calculation based on total cholesterol and HDLs. That formula doesn't give the whole LDL picture. There is a lab test that is an actual count of LDLs which will also tell you what size the particles are etc. Nutrition is not an exact science and many of the studies used to establish guidelines are out of date and of questionable value. A ketogenic diet may not work for everyone but it's been working for me for a year. I don't feel deprived, in fact, I feel free from addiction. Keto just turned that sweet switch off.
31
For many people...
The hardest thing to do is eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're tired.
15
@BSR
I’m a rambler, I’m a gambler
I’m a long way from home,
And if you don’t love me
Then leave me alone
i’ll eat when I’m hungry
And drink when I’m dry
And if whiskey don’t kill me
I’ll drink till I die
...such sage advice O, who knew?
1
Is there anything more perverse, in a world in which the better part of 1,000,000,000 people are chronically undernourished (data from the United Nations FAO), than a society of 330,000,000 people who are chronically obsessed with dieting? I'm just sayin'.
115
@RR very, very well said.
15
@C Meyer
I think about that exact situation often. Clean water, so much food in the grocery store that we stand there deciding which brand has fewer calories! 😩
11
In "Pride and Prejudice," Darcy says:
"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me."
He's not talking about Elizabeth Bennet's body, but his overall impression of her. He would never be as vulgar as the writer suggests.
128
@Lifelong Reader I came here to say exactly that! Thank you!
30
@GNol Me too. I think he was talking about her face.
9
Thank you for making my day!
3
THANK YOU. Finally a diet article that isn't some uninformed fad.
16
Michael Pollan says it best: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
154
@buster
"Eat food" — as opposed to "Don't eat food"... Got it.
"not too much" — you talkin' to me? are you talkin' to me?... Glad Mr. Pollan threw in at least one clear, objective guideline in there, that's very helpful.
"mostly plants" — let's be really disciplined about it; how about a diet consisting primarily of commercial cereals, breads, pastries, chips, cookies, pies, pasta, rice, potatoes, and so on. That's virtually 100% plants, can't go wrong there.
21
@pale fire Your comment is the perfect example of how when it comes to diet we tend to complicate the uncomplicated.
12
@pale fire
Read Mr. Pollan's book and if you feel the same afterwards let me know.
7
If you haven't read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, please, do your self a favor and do so.
30
About time!
As a food and beverage exec and an endurance athlete, it’s entertaining to watch everyone looking for the magic answer to diet and longevity. This diet with that cleanse, sprinkled with that magic supplement. Special pricing, too.
It’s pretty simple - make good, balanced food choices (and eat some fun stuff too - for me it’s pie and brownies) and reduce portion sizes. Eat at the table with your family or friends. Spend 20-30 minutes together.
Use some down time to increase your activity levels - walking or whatever.
Yes, it takes planning. You can do it.
95
@Avmbl -"Eat at the table with your family or friends. Spend 20-30 minutes together."
It takes me at least an hour to eat dinner. I have a rule - dinner goes on a salad plate, anything I want. I gobble it down and set the timer for 20 minutes. Then, I can load the salad plate again with anything I want and repeat till I don't want anymore.
What is surprising is that by learning to eat slowly and give our slow blood systems a chance to send messages back and forth we can eat less without ever feeling hungry or deprived. Eat less with the same exercise and one probably will lose a bit of weight.
There is no counting calories with my system or cut out fats or sweets but just learning how to eat what our bodies really need rather than stuffing like we will never see another meal.
I came up with this idea one day in my thirties when I was starting to get a gut. I had ordered a seafood platter at a restaurant which came with fried everything, was piled high, had a big salad on the side, and about a quart of soda. The platter was big enough to go from my belt to my chin. I pictured all of that crammed into my belly and understood why I was getting a gut.
9
In my experience most “diet books” fall into three categories- “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”
12
Yay! Yay! Yay! Keep it simple. Eat only things your grandparents would recognize and then only in moderation!
13
@Frank and maybe get at least 25% of the physical exercise they got.
5
@Frank - No thank you on grandparents diet. Corn sprayed with DEET, everything fried in Crisco, pork with every single meal all chased down with Marlboros and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
My mother was raised on that and died of colon cancer.
4
At age 56, I lost about 50 pounds 5 years ago and have kept it off. How? MODERATION. I eat every single food. I deprive myself of nothing, but I eat small portions. I still get to enjoy all my favorites, I never feel deprived, and I am fit and strong and energetic. Yes, I work out and walk to work every day, but I’m not a fitness fanatic. Eat half portions, enjoy everything, and out the fork down. It has worked for me.
92
@Nan Burton
Good for you. Moderation doesn't work for everyone. Some people crave more than is good for them when they eat certain foods.
25
@Nan Burton
I was going to write pretty much exactly what you wrote. There is one thing that really helped me: meditation. After meditating about 800 times over the course of 2 years, I tried using what I learned in meditation to help my health. 3 meals a day no restrictions except alcohol and no snacking. The problem was eating food I did not need and drinking beer.
I had a bad habit of snacking. When I first changed to a non-snacking person I was concerned, "yeah, like this is going to work." The first few days I had to use noting and now I seldom do. (Noting is a meditation technique where you notice you are thinking and "let it go.") Wanting a snack when you are not hungry is just thinking.
I know it is not a miracle but it feels like one. Even if the day is 420 I have no desire to snack.
I use Headspace and think it is great. Not pushing Headspace but I certainly would encourage everyone to meditate.
28
@Nan Burton, I lost about 35 pounds over the course of the 30 months after my 65th birthday by what I describe as portion control which seems like your moderation. Nearly three years later I have kept it off. I'm like you, I have no forbidden food. But I think we have to concede this works better for some people than for others.
10
I agree. Health is great, but food perfectionism is unhealthy. Cooking and eating are far more complex and emotionally significant than choosing what grade of gasoline your car needs. Hurrah for (occasional) indulgence, for eating something simply because it is delicious and special, for eating with friends and family, for trying foods of many cultures. We must have some cookies. And some ice cream.
89
I like the tone and message of this review, but the end, about "The Elephant in the Room" was disconcerting: "for anyone who has ever loved a person of not just a few extra pounds but 100 or more--and wondered, 'How the heck did that happen?'--it will make you understand in a way you didn't before."
Suddenly the review is talking only to people who are not "the elephant in the room"? Why is that? Why assume that people with "100 extra pounds or more" are not reading this review? Why talk about their existence in terms of "how the heck did that happen"? The review goes from advocating a lightheartedly anti-shaming approach ("eat perfectly, eat badly, die anyway") to treating some people as not even human.
34
@Shel I'm going to suppose the point is that the person with the extra hundred knows this stuff already - because it's their lfe. It's that person's loved ones who might wonder how it happens.
4
This is an interesting article that I am enjoying reading, but I do have one issue:
"Although Bailor isn’t a medical doctor — in fact, he created fitness videos at Microsoft — there’s some solid science behind what he says."
Since when do you get nutrition advice from a medical doctor? Almost never, because that's not their area of expertise. Medical doctors are notorious for not taking nutrition into account and this makes sense because they don't spend a lot of time learning about nutrition in medical school.
133
@Luke True, but it doesn't stop them from passing along all the fallacies about diet, long debunked, like: you can't go too lowfat; exercise will help you lose weight; breakfast is the most important meal of the day, etc. Oh, and the current craze among doctors is to insist that exercise cures all that ails you. Last winter I had an ear infection & the doctor confidently told me that if I exercised more, I'd never get another one. NB: He never asked if or how much I already exercised. It's just a given that no matter how much you already exercise, more is better.No one ever got sued for malpractice for recommending exercise. It's the new panacea. Along with the other useless advice to "eat right".
5
Thank you for reminding us how insane the food and nutrition landscape and scientific enterprise has become. We have taken nutrition principles that any human would have understood 2-3+ generations ago and transformed it into a conflicted morass of nonsense that has more people (and the clinicians that serve them) more confused than ever. It can be said we are a specie with amnesia.
19
I learned the word "setpoint" from this. Mine is 161, apparently, and months of difficult dieting keep it there but do not make it lower. Last night, two Manhattans during my supposed 16-hour fast period, followed by compulsive downing of a whole bag of salty chips. Today, setpoint will probably remain the same. However, black coffee with Stevia in the morning for breakfast keeps me going smoothly until the 8-hour window of feasting arrives. That's an hour from now.
3
@Vivid Hugh (nice name!) Stevia, like any other real or artificial sweetener, will drive up your insulin level ... alcohol will too. You might want to save them for your feasting period!
1
I appreciate this article's look at refreshing approaches to eating that move away from body shame. I also get frustrated with the moralizing tone so much nutrition literature takes, and the ways concepts like superfoods and detox get thrown around mindlessly. I'm put off, though, by the inclusion of "humanely raised" in a list of other nutritional buzz words. It bothers me that concerns around animal welfare can get lumped in with other diet crazes, when the meat/dairy industries treat animals in ways any reasonable human being would find reprehensible if they knew the details. Let's question what's wrong with the ways we talk about diet and nutrition, but not dismiss very real concerns around welfare, environment, and labor conditions in our food culture.
177
Great sense of humor, loved the article!
13
I just finished "Food Lab" from a " University of MN" professor. I will never diet again, just eat less.
8
When I commented along these lines in another column I was accused of being the “language police” but I will say it again:
Since when do adults (usually women) speak in baby talk to one another?
Every time I see or hear the word “veggies” addressed to someone over the age of five, I want to ask, “And are they nummy? Is your tum-tum happy?”
119
@Di Oh, relax. You've never abbreviated a word in your life?
66
@Di
The prevalence of wee wee baby talk spoken by adults is the direct result of the infantilization of America...( along with moronification )
From water bottles with integrated "nipples" clutched compulsively all day, to the mind numbing mastering of idiotic video games while living in the basement beside the water heater while Mom makes you a sammy with a bright apple and a cup of milk, to "kidults" swarming into theaters and paying 500+ for a ticket to movies about brightly colored costume clad "Super heroes" in movies that consist of adeafening bang bang bang "music"score, no plot, and explosions.
No plot. no intelligent dialog. No brain needed.
In other words, like tiny tots, kidults toddling from one shiny shiny to the next.
It is why we have a TeeVee entertainer for President. He PLAYED an exec on TeeVee and the moronic masses bought in....probably while wearing thier Slankets drinking apple juice at age 35, from a sippy cup while Mommy runs the bath .
93
@Di
I hate it, too. There's a curly hair products line I sometimes use that eschews shampoo because it is drying. The cleansing products are called "No Poo" and "Low Poo."
Icky poo.
And for the last time, if you're a human female over 18, you're a woman, not a girl.
55
This is brilliant! I am so happy that people are starting to realize how ridiculous our diet and "wellness" obsessed culture is.
Thanks, Judith!
18
@Brynne M with obesity and pretty much every other health indicator involving lifestyle related choices going south, not just in the US but worldwide, wellness obsession hardly seems like the problem. The coming diabetes treatment financial disaster will blow a huge hole in Medicare and Medicaid, along with obesity caused joint replacements, several obesity related cancers, and, of course, heart disease. The few of us who are trying to stay well are in a distinct minority.
8
@chas So what fad diet do you prefer? That's the problem - and the difference between "being well" and being sold fads by the "wellness industry".
8
A lot of witty comments, little about science. Friendly Fasting and specially upcoming Use Your Brain (with a plausible hypothesis for scientific weight loss) are in order. Weight is gained gradually and gradually it should be lost. Slowly, slowly catch your monkey.
8