Fwd: Paralysis by Analysis

[Guest guest]

Fri, 02 Jan 2004 21:40:10 -0500

David Elfstrom

 

Dietary Paralysis by Analysis

 

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/251prot.jsp

 

Paralysis by Analysis

By John M. Berardi

 

In part one of this article, I presented a few ideas as to why the obesity

rate is rapidly increasing in spite of the fact that, on average, our

calorie consumption as a society hasn’t increased all that much.

 

In that article, I discussed the idea of a " displacing " food, a food that

provides very little nutrition while simultaneously taking the place of the

nutritious foods you might have consumed instead. In my opinion, displacing

foods are covering our breakfast, lunch, and dinner tables and it’s this

shift toward empty calories that's making us unhealthy and obese.

 

In this article, I’d like to discuss another displacement idea. While

displacement foods are probably at the root of many of our health and body

composition crises, what I call " displacement debates " have also become a

real problem. According to my definition, a displacement debate is a debate

that, rather than helping people move closer toward healthy nutritional

choices, simply acts to confuse and paralyze them.

 

For example, the average North American barely knows what a carbohydrate,

protein, or fat is, yet when they hear well-respected experts at the ADA

recommend high carb diets and the highly (though not universally) respected

Atkins group recommend low carb diets, they get so confused and frustrated

they ultimately do little or nothing proactive to improve their health.

 

This argument is an example of a displacing debate: an academic argument

that pushes the more important problems out of the public discourse. For

the average North American, following either the ADA recommendations or the

Atkins recommendations would go a long way toward improving their health.

But instead of suggesting that people just do something, these groups

continue to bicker about who’s right at the expense of an ever-growing

obesity rate.

 

Below I’ve presented six of the interesting displacing debates I’ve heard

argued lately. Hopefully by discussing them I can put to rest the idea that

these issues are of critical importance to your overall health and body

composition.

 

I’d like you to understand that these represent small, fine tuning details

which are only relevant to a small percentage of the population, if that.

On the whole, these debates do more to confuse and paralyze people than to

encourage them to take their health into their own hands.

 

 

The Top 6 Displacing Debates

 

1. Fruit is Bad Now?

 

We all know fruit provides fiber, vitamins, minerals, and low glycemic

index carbohydrates, so it should be no surprise that many experts

recommend eating a few servings of fruit each day. Heck, this notion has

even been turned into a clichéd rhyme: " An apple a day keeps the doctor away! "

 

Yet some experts out there (short-sighted experts with a real lack of

perspective, I might add) actually suggest that fruit might be bad for us!

That’s utter nonsense.

 

So, imagine you’re someone with a lifetime of eating habits that are less

than optimal (for some of you, it might not be so hard to do) and you’re

exposed to this debate. What do you do? Well, nine times out of ten, you

figure that if there’s a chance fruit is bad for you, you might as well

stay away from it & shy; probably better to reach for a Big Mac instead. After

all, it does taste better.

 

Verdict: Eat the damn fruit.

 

 

2. Raw? Organic?

 

Speaking again of fruits (and vegetables), it’s recommended that the

average person consume two pieces of fruit and three servings of vegetables

per day as a bare minimum. Athletes probably need even more, yet most North

Americans (athletes included) consume far less than the standard

recommendation of five servings of fruits and vegetables.

 

However, rather than simply recommend more fruit and veggies (no matter how

you can get them, for any fruits and vegetables are better than none),

experts spend their time fighting about canned fruits and veggies vs. raw

fruits and veggies. And then they fight about raw fruits and veggies vs.

organic fruits and veggies! Sure, I agree that raw, organic fruits and

vegetables are best since they probably have a higher micronutrient count,

but let’s face the facts: any fruits and veggies are better than none!

 

So again, imagine you’re someone with a lifetime of bad eating habits and

you’re exposed to all this bickering. What do you do? Well, you'll probably

avoid the fruits and veggies, wait for the experts to finish dueling it

out, and reach for a Snickers bar instead.

 

Verdict: Get sufficient fruits and vegetables in your diet before worrying

about whether they’re organic or not. Once you’ve done that, worry on.

 

 

3. Raw Milk vs. Regular Milk

 

What about milk? Most T-Nation readers know my stance on moo juice. In my

opinion, it’s not necessary, doesn’t always " do the body good, " and should

be minimized in the diet (although I see no need for total elimination

unless you’re lactose intolerant).

 

However, if we could simply get more people to drink milk instead of sugary

soda, we’d have less obesity and disease. But instead of focusing on

healthy behaviors, experts will bicker on and on about regular milk vs. raw

milk. Of course, all this does is serve to draw negative attention to milk

and away from the other healthy decisions people could be making.

 

Sure, if it were possible to get raw milk that was guaranteed aseptic, it

would be better than processed, pasteurized milk. But faced with the

confusion, what do you, the hypothetical sub-optimal eater, do? Well, nine

times out of ten, you avoid both kinds of milk and drink another Coca-Cola

instead.

 

Verdict: Limit milk, and drink calorie-free beverages like water and green

tea instead.

 

 

4. Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

 

Speaking of beverage consumption, people are dehydrated because they drink

too little water while drinking too many caffeinated, diuretic drinks

(coffee, soda, and alcohol). Dehydration leads to all sorts of health

problems for the inactive, not to mention the decrements in athletic

performance seen in dehydrated athletes.

 

But rather than simply promoting the heck out of water consumption, experts

will bicker on and on about tap water vs. bottled water. Sure, good quality

bottled water is usually a better choice, but don’t be one of these people

who stay away from tap water, forget to pick up their bottled water, and

simply remain dehydrated.

 

Verdict: Drink sufficient water first; worry about the source later. (Of

course, you may want to avoid drinking out of puddles next to pig farms in

Uganda.) Put a water filter on your tap or buy one of those filter jugs you

store in your fridge and be done with it.

 

 

5. Glass vs. Plastic

 

And how about the bottles the water comes in? That’s right, the glass vs.

plastic debate. Just the other day, I was recommending that a group of my

athletes pick up some Tupperware so they could whip up all of their meals

and shakes in the morning. It’s easy to make a good food choice during the

day when you’ve got all your good food with you, pre-cooked, pre-wrapped,

and ready to be eaten.

 

After the talk, one of the athletes came up to me and told me he avoids

Tupperware altogether because of the potential leeching of xenoestrogens

into his food. When I asked what he uses to store his food in, he told me

he doesn’t even preplan his meals. He also told me he needed to lose

fifteen pounds and that he was overweight because his nutrition sucked!

 

Buddy, I agree that glass containers may be marginally better than plastic,

but for the love of God, pick up some plastic if it'll help you plan your

meals! And this was a world-class athlete! You can imagine how the average

guy fares!

 

Verdict: Plan your meals in advance, storing them in woven baskets if

necessary. Buy the best containers you can afford. If you can get the glass

versions, great; if not, the generic plastic ones will do just fine.

 

 

6. Free Range vs. Extremely Limited Range Meat

 

Most weightlifters eat lots of protein and that’s no mistake. I’ve outlined

the myriad of benefits associated with a high protein diet in my article,

The Protein Prejudice. One of the best ways to get all that protein is by

eating a lot of protein and micronutrient-rich lean meat. Protein

supplements are okay to supplement your diet, but real food should be your

nutritional mainstay and there’s nothing better than good ol’ fashioned meat.

 

Since eating more protein can increase metabolic rate, improve your weight

loss profile, increase protein turnover, accelerate exercise adaptation,

and (when replacing dietary carbohydrate) decrease the chance of

cardiovascular disease, it should be clear that most people would do well

to increase their consumption of lean meat.

 

So imagine the dismay someone might experience when hearing that the

experts are now bickering about the type of meat we consume. Many experts

muddy the waters when discussing free range vs. grain fed meat, telling

people that grain fed meat (the only kind you can find in many grocery

stores in North America) is full of toxins, bad fats, and hormones.

 

Sure, free-range meat is probably a better choice, although there’s little

proof the supposed toxins and hormones actually get passed on to us. But

again, imagine you’re someone with a lifetime of eating habits that are

less than optimal and you’re exposed to all this bickering about lean

protein. What do you do? Well, when you’re afraid of the meat you have

access to, you shy away from all types of lean meat and reach for another

bagel. Bad choice!

 

Verdict: Find the best meat you can by going around to various grocery

shops and butchers. Owners of health food stores may also be able to help

you locate the best stuff. But don’t be afraid to eat the meat you find in

your grocery store & shy; the reports of your impending death are greatly

exaggerated.

 

 

Conclusion

 

These are just a few of the displacing debates gaining momentum in the

nutrition world. Throughout your lifetime, you’ll be inundated with new

experts, new nutritional plans, and new " revolutionary systems. " Rather

than letting these new ideas be a source of frustration and confusion, do

your best to get past the marginalia, to get past the differences between

all the new programs, and try to discover for yourself the basic principles

all the successful programs seem to be built upon.

 

Most importantly, when faced with a choice between two good options, one of

which may be marginally better than the other, but both of which would be

an improvement over what you're currently doing, just pick one and go with

it. You can optimize later, as long as you make an improvement now. There's

no debating that.

 

 

About the Author

 

John Berardi is a PhD candidate in Exercise and Nutritional Biochemistry at

the University of Western Ontario, Ontario Canada. John is also president

of Science Link, a human performance and nutrition consultation group

dedicated to translating research into results. The Science Link team

works with clients from around the world and from all walks of life

including elite athletes to cardiovascular patients. To find out more

about his products and services, visit him at www.johnberardi.com or email

him directly at jb.