I consider myself to be a very open-minded person. I base my views on what I read, what I see, and my general experiences of the world around me. And I’m always happy to be proved wrong.
In my role as a public health nutritionist, I’m bound by a professional code of ethics that essentially requires me to base what I do on up-to-date scientific evidence and prevents me from giving unsubstantiated advice. That doesn’t stop me from reading up on some of the more ‘out-there’ dietary theories. In fact, I really enjoy leaning things that challenge my own views and those of ‘conventional wisdom’. I always want to delve deeper, learn what the theories are based on, and what people’s experiences of following them are.
As mentioned in previous posts, at the moment I’m really interested in Paleo/Primal diets and have been experimenting with unleashing my inner cave-girl. I wouldn’t describe these diets as a fad, and think that there’s a lot of merit in following a simpler, more natural way of eating than the processed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life stuff we tend to find all around us these days.
I’ve been really enjoying reading Robb Wolf’s new book, The Paleo Solution. Wolf is a former research biochemist, so the book is well-referenced, but it’s also funny, to-the-point and easy to read. So I was a bit disappointed when I discovered that Wolf, along with, it appears, many of his Primal/Paleo friends, is so vehemently anti-nutritionist. I’m aware that people who follow the Paleo lifestyle are often evangelical about it. But surely that doesn’t necessitate intolerance of others who may not share their views.
For example, Wolf states (p. 34) that: “we are being held hostage by an Orwellian nutrition and health research community” while, in response to a recent report on obesity levels around the world, Dr Michael Eades recently tweeted: “Does speaking English make one fat? Or are English-speaking nutritionists just ignorant (or stupid)?” I got back to Dr Eades, asking him how nutritionists were suddenly to blame. He replied: “Nutritionists make nutritional recommendations. People follow them and get fat. Ergo, figure it out.” Sounds like a nice man!
A large proportion of the population does not base their diets on the recommendations of nutritionists. My experience working with low-income families shows me that cost, convenience and taste are often higher on their list of priorities when it comes to food choice. And cheap, processed food is all around us. It takes effort to follow a healthy diet. Recent dietary surveys show us that, while people may have followed government advice to cut down on saturated fat, they still eat too much sugar, and not enough fruit, vegetables and oily fish. In order to help people eat better, I believe that good quality, healthy food needs to be the easy choice. And what about the impact of sedentary behaviour on obesity levels? Certainly in Scotland, most of us are not active enough for health. Are nutritionists to blame for that too?
A recent article in the British Journal of Nutrition models how East African Paleolithic diets were made up; typically they contained more protein, a similar amount of saturated fat, and proportionately more omega-3 fats (e.g. fish oils) than omega-6 (e.g. vegetable oils), compared to how we eat today. Plant to animal food ratios varied considerably. The researchers call for intervention studies to be set up to investigate the effects of Paleolithic diets. I’d love to see these set up; the potential results really excite me (yes, I am a geek).
Diets in East Africa have changed considerably since the Paleolithic era. For example, research on elite Kenyan runners has shown that they excel on a diet that is very high in carbohydrate (including simple sugars) and low in fat. Overall, my opinion is that different people thrive on different diets, and nutritionists can play an important role in helping people to find out what works for them and their health. There’s no one magic menu plan that will unlock the key to everlasting health. No matter what the book cover tries to tell you.
It would help a lot if more American nutritionists and dietitians had a thorough understanding of evolution. Then they might make better dietary recommendations, which would likely include more fresh raw fruits and vegetables, fewer processed and packaged foods, and fewer or no dairy products or grains.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately religious superstitions here in the USA prevent most people, including health professionals, from getting a proper understanding of evolution, and as a result our bodies are bombarded daily with bizarre chemicals in our foods, and in very unnatural forms as prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
That's a really good point. I tend to think that politics and money are the main reasons why there's so much bad nutrition advice out there. It hadn't occurred to me that a health professional wouldn't believe in evolution. But Creationism isn't a big thing over here.
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