Science is great. It takes the chaos of the world and reduces it into quantifiable, testable and predictable units of information. Except, that is, unless you’re talking about nutrition. On that topic it seems the jury’s out–and the snake oil salesman are in.
Needing to shed about 30 pounds, I’ve found myself paying closer attention to nutrition. I expected to find at least some consensus on the subject. But no. Instead, I found the “experts’” advice to not just vary slightly, but to be diametrically opposed! Suffice it to say, the experience has left me feeling somewhat confused and bewildered. I mean, reading the same publication on any given month will give you differing data. And forget about getting your information online. The Internet is an echo chamber on steroids when it comes to nutrition. You can find information to back any point of view: eat meat, don’t eat meat; eat carbs, don’t eat carbs; eat fruits and vegetables, stay away from fruit; meat protein causes heart disease, meat protein doesn’t cause heart disease. What!?
If I see another article titled, “everything you know about nutrition is wrong,” I’m going to punch someone. I mean seriously, we aren’t talking about comparing belief systems here, we’re talking about food and how it affects our physiology. You’d think that by 2011, we’d have some definitive insight into that most fundamental process.
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