I’ve been writing about nutrition for 30-some years. As I listen to people, I often hear less science and more of what could best be described as a variety of belief systems.
There are the vegetarian, vegan, and macrobiotic sects. There’s the church of low-fat eating. And there’s the pervasive belief that everything boils down to calories in and calories out, with exercise being the penance for overeating.
But the fact is, there’s very little science to support many common nutrition beliefs. They’re just beliefs. And having millions of adherents or thousands of experts repeat the same mantras doesn’t make these beliefs truer.
I know this sounds like heresy to many of you. And I’m not trying to offend anyone’s nutritional or religious sensibilities. But the only food we definitely know we were meant to consume is breast milk, in infancy.
In anthropology, the term “belief system” is usually used to describe a religion. And when it comes to nutrition, many scientists and consumers are so wedded to their beliefs that they’re not interested in adjusting their beliefs in response to new scientific findings.
I’ll give you three examples.
Saturated Fat. Millions of people believe that low-saturated fat diets will prevent heart disease. But the research now shows the opposite to be true. Saturated fat is either neutral or protective, according to an impressive body of research. It’s the refined carbs and sugars and the trans fats that seem to be the real problem in cardiovascular risk.
Why do so many people still believe that saturated fat is bad? It’s a matter of belief — shaped by studies that failed to factor in the effects of carbs, sugars, and trans fats, as well as publication bias favoring the sat-fat-is-bad belief.
Calories. Nearly everyone believes that, to lose weight, you have to either eat less or exercise more. But different types of calories prompt different biological responses. Nutrients that trigger insulin — think carbs and sugars — are more likely to result in weight gain, compared with protein. Protein has little effect on insulin.
The calorie idea was based on energy transfer in steam engines and the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. Biological systems — you are a biological system — are far less efficient and are governed by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Vegetarian diets. If you look at the history of human cultures, as anthropologists and other scientists have done, you’ll realize that there have been no completely vegetarian cultures. People simply didn’t have the luxury to be so picky about food until relatively recently. Yes, veggies are good for health, but so is unadulterated animal protein. Biologically, we’re designed as omnivores.
Vegetarianisms and its many forms are a belief system. Understand that I have no issue with any sensible vegetarian. However, I’ve met many vegetarians who don’t eat vegetables and prefer sugary soft drinks, bagels, and muffins. Should any of us be surprised that they are often overweight and have a lot of health problems?
Again, I’m not trying to offend anyone or their beliefs. Rather, I’d like to encourage people to gain a better understanding of what shapes their nutritional beliefs and to remain open to where the scientific evidence leads.
SOME REFERENCES:
Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, H FB, Krauss RM. Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010;91:535-545.
Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, H FB, Krauss RM. Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010;91:502-509.
Feinman RD, Fine EJ. “A calorie is a calorie” violates the second law of thermodynamics. Nutrition Journal 2004;3:9-13.
Feinman RD, Fine EJ. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics and energy efficiency in weight loss diets. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, 2007;4:27 doi:10.1186/1742-4682-4-27.
Eaton SB, Eaton SB III, Konner MJ, et al. An evolutionary perspective enhances understanding of human nutritional requirements. Journal of Nutrition, June 1996;126:1732-40.
O'Keefe JH Jr, Cordain L. Cardiovascular disease resulting from a diet and lifestyle at odds with our Paleolithic genome: how to become a 21st-century hunter-gatherer. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2004;79:101-108.
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Gotta Answer That Call? Check That Email? Read That Text?
In the 1970s—and yes, in a galaxy far away—I discovered the addictive power of Space Invaders, one of the first digital precomputer games.
I was at a holiday corporate retreat. One of my coworkers, Rob, and I discovered what was essentially an electronic pinball machine. The screen showed wave after wave of attacking enemy space ships. Our job was to blast them into oblivion.
Space Invaders practically became an addiction. We probably spent every quarter at the resort destroying digital aliens from outer space.
Flash forward. Space Invaders has morphed into email, texting, and twittering. We don’t need huge pinball-like machines anymore, just a cell phone and apps to experience the same dopamine rush and addiction.
Calls, emails, and texts are so addictive that California and a few other states have banned all but hands-free cell phone use when driving a car.
But you can multitask, you say? Think about that painfully slow driver in front of you, yacking on her cell phone and oblivious to the fact that she really can’t multitask. (Hint: you’re probably no better.) There’s the texter who killed a bicyclist. And yes, there’s the pedestrian whose emailing stopped when he was run over crossing the street.
But it’s not just bad habits states are trying to ban. And it’s not just stupidity. It’s addiction.
The New York Times has published several articles in a “driven to distraction” series, focusing on how drivers screw up when they’re making calls, emailing, or texting while driving. Another article focused on the absurdity of the Type n Walk app, which uses the iPhone’s camera to track the sidewalk ahead while you’re looking at your phone.
On one level it’s silly and absurd. On another it’s totally neurotic.
Technology has helped fuel what I call impulse-addictive behavior in my book, The Food-Mood Solution. Think obsessive-compulsive disorder or gambling addiction. You know it’s bad, but you can’t stop.
For many people it’s near impossible to resist the electronic ping. It has to be read and responded to immediately.
We’ve forgotten our basic prerogative: Just because a telephone rings doesn’t mean we have to answer it. That’s what Caller ID is for. Ditto for emails, texts, and twitters.
So why can’t we just ignore the beckoning technology?
A both a social scientist and a nutritionist, I naturally see connections between society, food, and mood. Our brain’s biochemistry ultimately depends on nutrition.
Technology has also changed the way we eat. Faster. Cheaper. Junkier. Yep, fast food is the nutrition equivalent of a twitter.
But junk food doesn’t give the brain the nutrients it needs to function.
So many of us get shortchanged when it comes to B-complex vitamins and omega-3s (fish oils), two of the most important groups of nutrients influencing mood and behavior.
So, if you have impulsive-control problems, I have a couple of suggestions. Consider slowing down enough to eat some real food. And taking a B-complex vitamin formula or one or two fish oil capsules in the morning. And, yeah, being a little more mindful.
You might just find that you’re back in control of your technology. Not the other way around.
I was at a holiday corporate retreat. One of my coworkers, Rob, and I discovered what was essentially an electronic pinball machine. The screen showed wave after wave of attacking enemy space ships. Our job was to blast them into oblivion.
Space Invaders practically became an addiction. We probably spent every quarter at the resort destroying digital aliens from outer space.
Flash forward. Space Invaders has morphed into email, texting, and twittering. We don’t need huge pinball-like machines anymore, just a cell phone and apps to experience the same dopamine rush and addiction.
Calls, emails, and texts are so addictive that California and a few other states have banned all but hands-free cell phone use when driving a car.
But you can multitask, you say? Think about that painfully slow driver in front of you, yacking on her cell phone and oblivious to the fact that she really can’t multitask. (Hint: you’re probably no better.) There’s the texter who killed a bicyclist. And yes, there’s the pedestrian whose emailing stopped when he was run over crossing the street.
But it’s not just bad habits states are trying to ban. And it’s not just stupidity. It’s addiction.
The New York Times has published several articles in a “driven to distraction” series, focusing on how drivers screw up when they’re making calls, emailing, or texting while driving. Another article focused on the absurdity of the Type n Walk app, which uses the iPhone’s camera to track the sidewalk ahead while you’re looking at your phone.
On one level it’s silly and absurd. On another it’s totally neurotic.
Technology has helped fuel what I call impulse-addictive behavior in my book, The Food-Mood Solution. Think obsessive-compulsive disorder or gambling addiction. You know it’s bad, but you can’t stop.
For many people it’s near impossible to resist the electronic ping. It has to be read and responded to immediately.
We’ve forgotten our basic prerogative: Just because a telephone rings doesn’t mean we have to answer it. That’s what Caller ID is for. Ditto for emails, texts, and twitters.
So why can’t we just ignore the beckoning technology?
A both a social scientist and a nutritionist, I naturally see connections between society, food, and mood. Our brain’s biochemistry ultimately depends on nutrition.
Technology has also changed the way we eat. Faster. Cheaper. Junkier. Yep, fast food is the nutrition equivalent of a twitter.
But junk food doesn’t give the brain the nutrients it needs to function.
So many of us get shortchanged when it comes to B-complex vitamins and omega-3s (fish oils), two of the most important groups of nutrients influencing mood and behavior.
So, if you have impulsive-control problems, I have a couple of suggestions. Consider slowing down enough to eat some real food. And taking a B-complex vitamin formula or one or two fish oil capsules in the morning. And, yeah, being a little more mindful.
You might just find that you’re back in control of your technology. Not the other way around.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
‘Tis the Season: Sugar ‘n Stress
It’s baaccccckkkkkkk…
That time of year, that is.
From Halloween through New Year’s Eve, all too many of us find excuses to be gluttons, from nibbling on leftover Halloween candies to all-out binging. I call it, ominously, the “SS” time — for sugar and stress.
There’s no denying that we expose ourselves to way too many holiday stresses, not the least of which are family, traffic, and shopping at the mall. When we’re stressed, our eating habits slide almost immediately. We delay eating or skip meals entirely. Then, when we’re crashing, we overeat, usually on junk foods.
And that’s a perfect prescription for making stress even worse.
Our brain’s biochemistry depends on what we eat. Or don’t eat. Neurotransmitters are built upon nutrients, particularly amino acids (protein building blocks) and B-complex vitamins. Even our genes depend on nutrients to work properly.
When our blood sugar falls and we crash, ancient parts of our brain light up. We become aggressive, irritable, impatient. Eating a sugary or starchy food solves the problem quickly, but starts a new up-and-down blood sugar cycle.
So, what can you eat to stress proof yourself?
A little bit of quality protein, such as fish or chicken, stabilizes blood sugar. So do high-fiber veggies, which include almost anything except potato.
Protein provides the amino acids you need to make serotonin and GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), which are calming neurotransmitters. They also provide the amino acids to make dopamine and adrenaline, two energizing neurotransmitters. Sugar and starches don’t provide any of this, so the more junk food you eat, the more you starve your brain.
We were all taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So begin the day with a little protein, and you’ll be more even tempered much of the day. An egg will do the job. So will a bowl of steel-cut (not instant!) oatmeal. Add some high-fiber fruit, such as an apple or some berries. Then be sure to include a little protein at lunch and dinner too.
If you’re taking prescription antidepressants or anxiolytics, better eating habits will help your meds do a better job.
To convert those amino acids to neurotransmitters, your brain needs the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C.
The Bs have been known as anti-stress vitamins since the 1940s. They are nature’s mood lifters and also take the edge off stress-induced anxiety. The B vitamins also play roles in breaking down food for energy, important if the season’s pressures and obligations tend to wear you down.
If you manage your stress and eating habits now, you just might not need to make a resolution about weight loss come January 1. That alone could put you in a better mood.
Copyright 2009 Jack Challem, www.nutritionreporter.com
That time of year, that is.
From Halloween through New Year’s Eve, all too many of us find excuses to be gluttons, from nibbling on leftover Halloween candies to all-out binging. I call it, ominously, the “SS” time — for sugar and stress.
There’s no denying that we expose ourselves to way too many holiday stresses, not the least of which are family, traffic, and shopping at the mall. When we’re stressed, our eating habits slide almost immediately. We delay eating or skip meals entirely. Then, when we’re crashing, we overeat, usually on junk foods.
And that’s a perfect prescription for making stress even worse.
Our brain’s biochemistry depends on what we eat. Or don’t eat. Neurotransmitters are built upon nutrients, particularly amino acids (protein building blocks) and B-complex vitamins. Even our genes depend on nutrients to work properly.
When our blood sugar falls and we crash, ancient parts of our brain light up. We become aggressive, irritable, impatient. Eating a sugary or starchy food solves the problem quickly, but starts a new up-and-down blood sugar cycle.
So, what can you eat to stress proof yourself?
A little bit of quality protein, such as fish or chicken, stabilizes blood sugar. So do high-fiber veggies, which include almost anything except potato.
Protein provides the amino acids you need to make serotonin and GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), which are calming neurotransmitters. They also provide the amino acids to make dopamine and adrenaline, two energizing neurotransmitters. Sugar and starches don’t provide any of this, so the more junk food you eat, the more you starve your brain.
We were all taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So begin the day with a little protein, and you’ll be more even tempered much of the day. An egg will do the job. So will a bowl of steel-cut (not instant!) oatmeal. Add some high-fiber fruit, such as an apple or some berries. Then be sure to include a little protein at lunch and dinner too.
If you’re taking prescription antidepressants or anxiolytics, better eating habits will help your meds do a better job.
To convert those amino acids to neurotransmitters, your brain needs the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C.
The Bs have been known as anti-stress vitamins since the 1940s. They are nature’s mood lifters and also take the edge off stress-induced anxiety. The B vitamins also play roles in breaking down food for energy, important if the season’s pressures and obligations tend to wear you down.
If you manage your stress and eating habits now, you just might not need to make a resolution about weight loss come January 1. That alone could put you in a better mood.
Copyright 2009 Jack Challem, www.nutritionreporter.com
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