The more things change the more they seem to stay the same. The truth is - the way nutrition has been studied over the last 30-40 years has not changed much. And while this may seem like a good thing for those who are studying nutrition – there is a Yin and Yang effect going on here as well. As I’ve said many times the reductionist nature of the study of nutrition - not only has not led to a solid knowledge of dieting and metabolism – but it remains as confused now as it ever was. Moreover, what is more troubling to me is the kind of “mindset” this current mode of study produces. Between the reductionist-nature of nutrition study and the mass market of diet and weight-loss – a type of dangerous “diet-mentality” ensues. I have discussed this in many of my books. But often, the way the field of nutrition study contributes to this, it all often goes unnoticed.
There is an old academic expression in regards to real search for the truth. It dictates, “Let sleeping dogma’s lie.” This is sort of a reminder to researcher’s how easy it is to get caught up in their own paradigm blindness and research bias – and how easy it can be to slide into dogmatic thinking. Well, the reductionist nature of nutrition study strikes me as one type of dogma. But there is more to the expression, “let sleeping dogma’s lie” – and that is – what about the possible “lie” within any dogma. And this is what I’d like to address in regards to how the study of nutrition contributes, directly and indirectly to the modern “diet-mentality.”
People my age remember the 70’s as the “low fat” era of nutrition practice. In the 70’s till the late 80’s we were told to load up on our rice cakes, get margarine instead of butter, and keep all fats as low as possible. The message back then was clear – “fats” were the enemy of weight-control. And the “low-fat” diet was the “rightway” to stay healthy and lose weight. Fast forward a few decades and various forms of low-carbs mania becomes all the rage. Now, instead of includingyour potatoes and rice, you needed to get rid of them. In this ‘new and improved’ nutritional thinking – the ‘low-fat’movement was all wrong. “Low-carbs” – this is truly the “right way” to go. And now the message from the nutrition-world is equally clear – “carbs” are the enemy to weight control, and a low-carb diet is the key to health and weight-loss.
But the mindset behind both methodologies remains the same in the western world. The mindset created and intensified is to “fear” and vilify one macro-nutrient group, and make another your nutritional “super-heroes.” And of course, all any of this does is lead to emotional attachments to how people eat: Emotional attachments that are decidedly negative and stress-inducing.
And as nutritional knowledge seems to expand, what we are supposed to “fear” simply becomes more refined. Now, the prevailing “dogma” that lies – is that we need not fear ALL fats, just “bad” ones. We need not fear ALL carbs, just “bad” ones. And of course this just intensifies an emotional connection to food as good/bad, right/wrong. But the bottom-line message of all this new knowledge has not changed the faulty mindsets behind nutritional thinking. The so-called knowledge and logic is still reinforcing a mindset to “be afraid” of certain foods, and that if you indulge in them, then because they are bad, then by association, YOU are bad. And this kind of dogmatic thinking is creating more harm than good - when the study of nutrition is taken out of its own domain and employed by marketers for public consumption – And/or when it is twisted and corrupted by the diet and fitness industry.
This mistaken ‘fear-based dogma’ of nutrition has led to a ‘fear-based relationship to food’. People are disconnected from food, their own food sources, like no other species on the planet. All other animals know what foods to eat, “naturally” and instinctively. They are ‘wired and connected’ to do so. They have no ‘fear-based’ thinking or emotion distorting this natural relationship. Only humans do this! And it’s time to reclaim your connection to food “as a pleasure source.” And you cannot do that with a fear-based dogmatism motivating your thinking of how and what to eat. It’s time to claim back all of it and accept that you live in a world of indulgent foods. It’s time to stop pretending that you don’t. What if you could claim it all back in your mind? (Get rid of the diet-mentality) What if you could embrace food, all food, as a source of pleasure again, instead of a source of fear, instead of as a source for guilt and reward? What if you could teach yourself to embrace all of it – fats, carbs, proteins, treats, and celebrations - of using food as part of your human connection? Aren’t you tired of the schizophrenic diet-mentality that tells you to eat ‘this’ not ‘that’ – and then reverses itself every decade or so? And the fear-based diet-mentality and schizophrenia that tells us, we should use food as celebration for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Weddings, funerals, Christenings, Bar-mitzvahs – oh, but be careful and be afraid of over-indulgence when you do so? Aren’t you tired and confused of the ongoing “intellectual” arguments among nutritionists – the kind of arguments that don’t help you, but keep you locked in the fear-based dogma of the “diet-mentality?” So, while proponents argue for no to low-carbs diets and push DR. Atkins – Dr. Ornish on the other hand offers the exact opposite argument and “pushes” carbohydrates? Who is right? What if it ‘just doesn’t matter’?
Instead of focusing on who ‘may be’ right nutritionally – maybe it is time to focus what this fear-based dogma does to YOU, the individual consumer. Maybe instead of trying to ‘get it right’ – you can just embrace that it’s all, all-right. It’s all right to love food again. And maybe without the fear-based dogmatic approach to nutrition and the diet-mentality it produces – maybe you can more easily claim back being “responsible” with food choices, without being “judgmental” over them. It’s time NOT to let sleeping dogmas of the nutrition and diet industry “lie” – it’s instead time to stop buying the ‘lie’ of their dogma!
I talk about the French Paradox a great deal because it is so relevant to how mindset reflects behavior and outcome. Well another part of the French Paradox that should “educate” us is that the French don’t mandate “nutrition labels” on foods. – In fact the whole idea of this is relatively foreign to them. And they see no reason to ‘reduce’ a food to its component parts, because they are not taught to fear food components of any kind, but to embrace food – all food.
In 2009, I was in the South of France. My brief time there reinforced to me the lessons of the French Paradox. I spent time at many outdoor markets, where you can sit and eat as well. The sights and smells of indulgent food is everywhere. But of course there are no fast food companies at all. What I observed is that I noticed few, if any overweight people. There just weren’t any. It was pretty cool to witness the French Paradox in reality. Conversely, I also spend time each year travelling back east in Canada. Recently, while in a huge food court at one of the bigger malls – I contrasted this experience to my time in France. The opposite of the open-market experience in France – the food court of course is composed mostly of fast food companies. And as I looked around in the mall, I noticed the opposite as well about the people. The majority of people, were overweight, just the opposite of what I saw in France. I observed a lot more of mindless eating as well. Now, none of this is hardly a scientific study at all – but it sure seems relevant to me. No one seems to be discussing the “fear-factor” of the diet-mentality in North America. No one seems to be discussing the difference between an appreciation of food which leads to “savoring” a meal experience – vs. the North American notion that what we covet and appreciate we “consume” more of. So while we are assimilated to a ‘fear of food’ paradox, we also engage in practicing a ‘portion distortion’ obsession with food that in the French Paradox – would just be perceived as “gluttony.” (all this Supersize and other unreal elements of portion size)
So the question remains – how is this helter-skelter-fear-based-schizophrenic approach to nutrition and diet – ever going to lead back to a healthy re-connection to food – to appreciating it, savoring it, enjoying it? Aren’t you exhausted from living in the fears you embrace when you internalize the “diet-mentality?” I deal with clients day in and day out whose lives are forever negatively altered by their learned fear-based thinking in regards to food, nutrition, and diet. Isn’t it time to release yourself from such a faulty and distorted schizophrenic mindset? Don’t you want to reconnect to using food as a source of pleasure, while still having it NOT occupy a place of such emotional significance in your mind? It’s time to simply let it go!
Some of you will get it
Some of you will not