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Like so many other problems it's a small one, compared to what's going on in the world, but... well, considering how much obesity is a problem in this country right now, it still matters to a lot of people.
There have been so many articles lately that declare that this lifestyle, or that lifestyle, is the best, that if you want to be thin or healthy this is what you eat. Usually it's low-fat, low-cholesterol stuff; more recently I've seen a lot of backlash from the low-carb diet backers. There was an article last month in Reader's Digest that was promoted on the cover with a big picture of bacon and eggs and the tagline, "Eat This and Lose Weight!"
It was the title of the article that set me off, because I'm getting tired of this attitude that there is ONLY one way for everyone to eat that will make them healthy, one way that everyone should be following to the exclusion of all else. I don't agree. Food is a lot more complicated than that, and not just nutritionally. Something could be the healthiest food in the world, but if you can't afford to eat it, or you're allergic or intolerant, it doesn't help you.
Yes, we're all human, but there's a lot of room for variation in our bodies and metabolisms. Different people digest foods differently. There is no one way that everyone has to eat in order to stay at an ideal weight! Low-fat has worked for me in the past, but it might not work for, say, the man who wrote that article. In fact, it obviously didn't, given his low-carb success story. And that's okay. Sure, there are foods that should be eaten sparingly by everyone - junk food, heavily refined sugars and flours, trans fats, food with large amounts of preservatives and additives - but aside from that, there IS no one way of eating that is perfect for everyone. People - and their doctors when possible - need to be willing to experiment with how they eat and find out what works for them. The problem is, lots of people aren't willing to do that. They just want a quick fix. So they keep jumping from article to article and from fad diet to fad diet, and never really make any progress.
I have to admit that I did disagree with the article's anti-exercise slant, though. It made a big deal about eating the foods that humans have eaten throughout their history but basically failed to acknowledge that people in general have also been far more physically active throughout that same history than they are now. Now it's possible to spend an entire day and take maybe a thousand steps, and that's a big change. If we really should go back to our historical patterns, that needs to be a part of it as well. (Also, it only talked about aerobic exercise, saying that it made people hungrier and hurt more than it helped; I don't recall it even mentioning strength training. I should look again to be sure, though.)
There have been so many articles lately that declare that this lifestyle, or that lifestyle, is the best, that if you want to be thin or healthy this is what you eat. Usually it's low-fat, low-cholesterol stuff; more recently I've seen a lot of backlash from the low-carb diet backers. There was an article last month in Reader's Digest that was promoted on the cover with a big picture of bacon and eggs and the tagline, "Eat This and Lose Weight!"
It was the title of the article that set me off, because I'm getting tired of this attitude that there is ONLY one way for everyone to eat that will make them healthy, one way that everyone should be following to the exclusion of all else. I don't agree. Food is a lot more complicated than that, and not just nutritionally. Something could be the healthiest food in the world, but if you can't afford to eat it, or you're allergic or intolerant, it doesn't help you.
Yes, we're all human, but there's a lot of room for variation in our bodies and metabolisms. Different people digest foods differently. There is no one way that everyone has to eat in order to stay at an ideal weight! Low-fat has worked for me in the past, but it might not work for, say, the man who wrote that article. In fact, it obviously didn't, given his low-carb success story. And that's okay. Sure, there are foods that should be eaten sparingly by everyone - junk food, heavily refined sugars and flours, trans fats, food with large amounts of preservatives and additives - but aside from that, there IS no one way of eating that is perfect for everyone. People - and their doctors when possible - need to be willing to experiment with how they eat and find out what works for them. The problem is, lots of people aren't willing to do that. They just want a quick fix. So they keep jumping from article to article and from fad diet to fad diet, and never really make any progress.
I have to admit that I did disagree with the article's anti-exercise slant, though. It made a big deal about eating the foods that humans have eaten throughout their history but basically failed to acknowledge that people in general have also been far more physically active throughout that same history than they are now. Now it's possible to spend an entire day and take maybe a thousand steps, and that's a big change. If we really should go back to our historical patterns, that needs to be a part of it as well. (Also, it only talked about aerobic exercise, saying that it made people hungrier and hurt more than it helped; I don't recall it even mentioning strength training. I should look again to be sure, though.)
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Date: 2011-03-22 03:51 pm (UTC)From:I come from a family of fad dieters (during my teens years, I can't remember my mother not being on one wacky diet or another for longer than a few weeks, and I did a fair amount of damage to myself going along for the ride). It took me until my mid-20s to figure out that regular running and weigh-lifting is really all I need to stay healthy and in shape. (I try to eat real/unprocessed foods and cook from scratch as much as possible, but my extent of caring about my fat/protein/carb intake is making sure I don't neglect any one area.) For me, it's all about exercise. Bodies: they are diverse!