Hi, thanks for visiting my blog! I'd like to start off with a few facts and ideas to dip our feet into the nutrition world, and will expand from here. Please feel free to share your thoughts and responses in the comment section below.
I recently came across the website of Zoe Harcombe, a British nutritionist and researcher, who points out some nutritional fallacies that have permeated our collective conventional wisdom. Included is the "calorie myth"- the idea that 3,500 = one pound of fat so no matter what foods you are eating you just need to create that deficit to lose weight. As she points out in her myths & facts page, "If the calorie theory were correct, every human would lose 104 lbs every year, with a 1,000 calorie a day deficit (no matter their gender, starting weight etc)".
I really enjoyed the quote below that was found on her website home page, which puts it into perspective why it's so important to eat like our ancestors as opposed to how we have been eating in the last 40ish years.
“If we have been eating food in the form that nature intended for 24
hours, agriculture (large scale access to carbohydrates) developed four
minutes ago and sugar consumption has increased twenty fold in the last
five seconds. I wonder which food is more likely to be responsible for
obesity, diabetes, or indeed any modern disease…”
Robb Wolf makes a similar analogy in his book The Paleo Solution, where he compared human evolution to a 100-yard American football field. If we walked from one end to the other, 99.5 yards of those would represent all of human history except the last 5,000 years or so. The last 1/2 yard represents the transition from hunter/gatherer existence to agriculture, and "the last few inches represent television, the Internet, refined vegetable oils, and most of what we take to be 'normal' modern living."
I think it's pretty unbelievable that we have evolved in that last 1/2 yard to be able to effectively process the high amount of grains and starchy carbohydrates we currently consume, and I find it extremely unbelievable that we have evolved to consume any of the overly-processed Franken-foods that permeate our modern diet.
What do you think? Do these human evolution analogies blow your mind as it did mine? Does these ideas offend, shock or excite you? Please share your thoughts below!
Love the football field analogy. That's a great visual for some perspective :)
ReplyDeleteYeah I thought that was really interesting!
Deletei'm interested in learning more about the "calorie myth". conventional wisdom says that 3500 calories is a pound, but you're saying that this is not accurate? that there are different types of calories that require more or less burning?
ReplyDeletemore info please!
3,500 calories is a pound, but a calorie of sugar reacts differently in the body than a calorie of oil, etc. Some calories are burned more quickly or slowly or more or less efficiently by the body, so it isn't usually the best way to lose weight to just restrict calories- often changing your foods but not necessarily decreasing calories can result in weight loss. I'm speaking vaguely because I don't want to give misinformation, but I'll do my homework and be sure and make this topic the subject of a future post!
DeleteIt seems like what is considered "healthy" is always changing. It used to be whole wheat bread and egg whites were called healthy foods and now the experts are saying egg yolks are mega healthy and should definitely be eaten and gluten is bad for most people. It's really confusing, so I am glad you're out there doing the research and passing it along to us.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a future blog post about the health benefits of fermented foods/beverages like kombucha, kimchi, and kraut (in fact, you can go ahead and use that title if you want--it's some good alliteration). :)
I totally agree, AJ, the information we've been given is very confusing! I'm confused about it and that the main reason I've decided to embark on a more formal education- so I can educate myself and help guide other people through all the conflicting info. I love your idea about fermented food and I've been preparing for that one by making my own sauerkraut (which is delicious by the way!) I'll be sure and make that the topic of a future post too. :)
DeleteGreat stuff!
ReplyDeleteI heard long ago something I never forgot which is histories greatest leaders were people who proposed new questions. That's what you appear to be doing here. It's a worthy dialog! Keep this up!
Thanks, Casey!
ReplyDelete