Counting Calories is Modern Bloodletting
August 24th, 2009
According to Wikipedia, doctors drained blood from their patients trying cure them of diseases for well over 2,000 years. That’s right, for 2,000 years, the most “learned” men in the world took part in a practice which did nothing to improve their patient’s health. In fact, in most cases, it hurt them by opening them up to further infections by weakening their immune systems.
After reading this LA Times piece on the controversy surrounding a junk food tax, I finally came to the conclusion that our current obsession with calories is the modern equivalent to bloodletting. Much like our ancestors, we put blind faith in doctors and nutritionists who tell us this practice actually works. Yet year after year, we continue to count calories and we continue to get bigger and bigger. You would think that after a while people would wise up. In a country that counts calories with the same zeal as a small child counting days until their birthday, why are we all so overweight?
The answer lies throughout all of the conversation surrounding the obesity epidemic. For example, “A clinical trial of 810 adults in May found that reducing soda intake by 100 calories a day was linked to half a pound of weight loss after 18 months.” First of all, do we really need clinical trials to know that cutting back on soda will lead to weight loss? Secondly, who cares how many calories are in a can of soda when it’s the 10 teaspoons of sugar in the can that brings on the blood sugar spike and drop that leads to massive weight gain? Lastly, since studies like this rely on self-reported information, their findings are completely misleading.
Do you really think all 810 of those people cut their soda intake by exactly 100 calories every day for 18 months straight? What was their other food intake like? Did they exercise? How much sugar was in the rest of the food and drinks they consumed? Short of following all 810 people each and every day of their lives for 18 months straight, it’s impossible to answer these questions, so it’s impossible to put any credence in the study’s findings.
It is time to move the conversation away from individual nutrient information, like calories, and toward whole foods. Why waste time asking, “What happens when you drink 100 calories less of soda?” The real question is, “With all we know about sugar and artificial sweeteners, why is anyone drinking soda at all; diet or regular?” Again, they’re missing the point. Solving the epidemic is is not a question of mathematics, it’s a question of culture.
It’s really not that complicated, you don’t need to turn every meal into a science experiment.
Eat less, move more, and enjoy life.
Tags: Freedom
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Sugar Addiction, The Life |
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