What I don't understand is the insistence on "faking" junk and comfort foods in restrictive fad diets that aren't for medical purposes. Auto-immune diseases aren't any fun. Eating better, and thinking about how what you eat impacts how you feel, that makes sense. So...I dunno...just do that? Eat sensibly. Eat fresher foods. Cut down on processed non-food stuffed full of chemicals. Ween yourself off of the processed sugar and lab-produced-sugar-substitutes.
But seriously.
Paleo. Cinnamon. Buns.
This stems from a diet that bills itself as "the world's healthiest" and claims that it "is based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, or Stone Age."
And then goes on to state "the time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago. These foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat, if you can get it), fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils (olive, coconut, avocado, macadamia, walnut and flaxseed). Dairy products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugars and processed foods were not part of our ancestral menu. Decades of research by Dr. Loren Cordain and his scientific colleagues demonstrate that hunter-gatherers typically were free from the chronic illnesses and diseases that are epidemic in Western populations"
Which includes, according to the website: cancer...myopia (which is nearsightedness!)...acne...varicose veins...osteoporosis. And more. Which aren't actually listed.
The idea behind this diet makes some sense in theory, but when it comes to claims that nearsightedness is a dietary-related condition and that Paleolithic people were free from all cancers, you lose me to the conviction that there is pseudo-science and quackery at work, here. Which is something that's been on my mind this year. It just seems to be coming up more and more. Also, book sales. Beware of anything that depends on someone selling you something. They're liable to tell you any damn ridiculous thing for money.
Health fads like specialty diets and certain types of homeopathy remind me so much of snake oil salesmen operating out of the back of a tinker's wagon, with a pitch for every problem: "Step right up, ladies and gents! This tonic cures baldness, remedies a host of bedroom woes, and ladies' manic hysterical fits are no more with just a sip of this miracle potion! What's in it? Don't worry! It's *all natural ingredients*! Just $19.99 for a six ounce bottle! Plus $5.00 separate processing and handling! But wait! There's MORE...!"
Look, I can't tell you what to eat or what diet to follow. I'm the last person you'd want to listen to on that point. Because I happen to like junk food. I'm more than a little tubby. For serious. Here, look at this photo of me about to eat a baby if you need proof:
So I'm not going to do that. But, I do like to do research, and I also have a thing about facts versus things that have nothing to do with facts. So let's look at some of the key points and claims being made:
First, cancer. I'm about to make a really stupid argument, but just bear with me, here. Modern domestic dogs and cats are technically on a "paelo" type diet if they are being fed good quality, high-protein foods with adequate fiber which are low on fillers. They still get cancer. As the ad campaign says, "Cancer doesn't care." It just doesn't. It's your body's own cells, turning against you. Sometimes, no root cause can be found. It just sort of happens. Sure, certain triggers can increase your statistical likelihood of developing certain cancers. Carcinogens, especially. And heredity is considered a risk-factor, so you can do everything right, and still get diagnosed with it because every woman in your family carries the genetic predisposition for breast cancer.
Even super-fit, health-conscious people get cancer. Case in point: Lance Armstrong, who had testicular cancer. So painting all cancers of all types with a broad brush and saying not eating peanuts will help prevent it, well...c'mon. Super-fit, health-conscious people also sometimes drop dead of massive heart attacks and brain aneurysms in the middle of their endurance marathons.
So, there's point the second. Age-related health deterioration. The paleo-type diets make a glaring omission by not addressing the fact the the average human lifespan has increased significantly, and overall health across a typical lifespan (especially in modern, Westernized societies such as our own) due to improved medical technologies has improved in developed nations. But look at underdeveloped nations for a moment. They generally have more limited access to the processed and factory-manufactured food-stuffs than developed nations, where these types of fad diets are prevalent.
On the other hand, they often have less access to high-quality health care, including basic preventative medicine. Their lives can tend to be more stressful due to extreme socioeconomic problems that don't exist for the vast majority of Americans - lack of access to reliable nutrition, limited access to potable water, disease, famine, violence. Are those individuals - eating more locally, eating fresher foods when they can get them, but lacking in some other basic needs - generally more "healthy" than their counterparts? Thinner, maybe, but that's not what we're talking about here. Thin does not always correlate to good health.
Health fads like specialty diets and certain types of homeopathy remind me so much of snake oil salesmen operating out of the back of a tinker's wagon, with a pitch for every problem: "Step right up, ladies and gents! This tonic cures baldness, remedies a host of bedroom woes, and ladies' manic hysterical fits are no more with just a sip of this miracle potion! What's in it? Don't worry! It's *all natural ingredients*! Just $19.99 for a six ounce bottle! Plus $5.00 separate processing and handling! But wait! There's MORE...!"
Look, I can't tell you what to eat or what diet to follow. I'm the last person you'd want to listen to on that point. Because I happen to like junk food. I'm more than a little tubby. For serious. Here, look at this photo of me about to eat a baby if you need proof:
*Kidding! I don't eat babies. Not enough marbling.
So I'm not going to do that. But, I do like to do research, and I also have a thing about facts versus things that have nothing to do with facts. So let's look at some of the key points and claims being made:
First, cancer. I'm about to make a really stupid argument, but just bear with me, here. Modern domestic dogs and cats are technically on a "paelo" type diet if they are being fed good quality, high-protein foods with adequate fiber which are low on fillers. They still get cancer. As the ad campaign says, "Cancer doesn't care." It just doesn't. It's your body's own cells, turning against you. Sometimes, no root cause can be found. It just sort of happens. Sure, certain triggers can increase your statistical likelihood of developing certain cancers. Carcinogens, especially. And heredity is considered a risk-factor, so you can do everything right, and still get diagnosed with it because every woman in your family carries the genetic predisposition for breast cancer.
Even super-fit, health-conscious people get cancer. Case in point: Lance Armstrong, who had testicular cancer. So painting all cancers of all types with a broad brush and saying not eating peanuts will help prevent it, well...c'mon. Super-fit, health-conscious people also sometimes drop dead of massive heart attacks and brain aneurysms in the middle of their endurance marathons.
So, there's point the second. Age-related health deterioration. The paleo-type diets make a glaring omission by not addressing the fact the the average human lifespan has increased significantly, and overall health across a typical lifespan (especially in modern, Westernized societies such as our own) due to improved medical technologies has improved in developed nations. But look at underdeveloped nations for a moment. They generally have more limited access to the processed and factory-manufactured food-stuffs than developed nations, where these types of fad diets are prevalent.
On the other hand, they often have less access to high-quality health care, including basic preventative medicine. Their lives can tend to be more stressful due to extreme socioeconomic problems that don't exist for the vast majority of Americans - lack of access to reliable nutrition, limited access to potable water, disease, famine, violence. Are those individuals - eating more locally, eating fresher foods when they can get them, but lacking in some other basic needs - generally more "healthy" than their counterparts? Thinner, maybe, but that's not what we're talking about here. Thin does not always correlate to good health.
Now, another issue I have is that Paleolithic humans, as far as I know, did not have the technology available to press nuts and things to extract oils. If they used anything for cooking, it would've been animal fats, most likely. They also would have cooked their meats over pit-fires, which brings us back to carcinogens and cancer. According to certain studies, introducing red meats to open flame-cooking increases the presence of of carcinogens, which is a known cancer-causing agent. Plus, the fatty-meat heavy diet is not necessarily heart healthy. But, animal proteins were instrumental in the brain development of our hominid ancestors. There's always an upside, right?
Another thing - carbs count! Your body converts carbohydrates to energy, so cutting them drastically can cause problems. Instead, consider healthier options than shit-tons of pasta, and go ahead and eat some fruit. Just not processed fruit juices (or even worse, fruit juice blends!). This diet is lacking in sources of calcium and vitamin D, so supplements might be necessary there.
You could just eat a balanced, diverse diet consisting of as many varieties of fresh foods possible while limiting sugars, fats and salt. And drink plenty of water and exercise daily. Boom. Where's my book deal?
Now, can anyone honestly tell me - other than being a starchy carb and deep fried they are without question one of the worst things you can eat - what the hell is wrong with potatoes? The Inca built a whole civilization around cultivating them, and by all accounts they were pretty healthy people in their day. Or maybe it was all the human sacrifices to their insatiable gods that kept them hale and hearty.
What it all boils down to, I think, for me more than anything is that the whole idea of trendy diets is such a ridiculous concept. That people have to be sold on the idea of eating better, that they need to buy a product to learn how to eat sensibly. And to turn off the talking box, go outside and move their bodies sometimes.
Which I'm about to go do...
Another thing - carbs count! Your body converts carbohydrates to energy, so cutting them drastically can cause problems. Instead, consider healthier options than shit-tons of pasta, and go ahead and eat some fruit. Just not processed fruit juices (or even worse, fruit juice blends!). This diet is lacking in sources of calcium and vitamin D, so supplements might be necessary there.
You could just eat a balanced, diverse diet consisting of as many varieties of fresh foods possible while limiting sugars, fats and salt. And drink plenty of water and exercise daily. Boom. Where's my book deal?
Now, can anyone honestly tell me - other than being a starchy carb and deep fried they are without question one of the worst things you can eat - what the hell is wrong with potatoes? The Inca built a whole civilization around cultivating them, and by all accounts they were pretty healthy people in their day. Or maybe it was all the human sacrifices to their insatiable gods that kept them hale and hearty.
What it all boils down to, I think, for me more than anything is that the whole idea of trendy diets is such a ridiculous concept. That people have to be sold on the idea of eating better, that they need to buy a product to learn how to eat sensibly. And to turn off the talking box, go outside and move their bodies sometimes.
Which I'm about to go do...
No comments:
Post a Comment