Common diet advices - And why they are gibberish

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The answers you get are limited to the questions you ask

- Anonymous

In a world full of various diets, I always wanted to know why there are so many options available. Every health expert from the diet industry seemed to tell us the same thing. But it

did not seem to work. Many years back when a German newspaper published an article titled '100 reasons why Einstein is wrong', Albert Einstein replied by saying "If I were wrong, only 1 reason would be enough". And I feel the same way. If the advice worked, it would have been specific, and it would have worked for everyone and we wouldn't be facing the obesity epidemic. So let's have a look at some common statements dietitians say -

Traditional advice:

Eat local food: This is one of new things I have heard many experts say. "You have to only eat locally grown and available food" the reason behind this advice is also valid. Your ancestors who grew up before the industrial revolution did not have the luxury of choice. They had to survive on whatever was available around them. Transporting and importing food wasn't possible. And since they managed to live a healthy life, we should too step in their shoes and eat what they ate. Back in the day, the problems of obesity we face today was seen at a very low rate. People worked and ate local grown food and it makes soo much sense so just do that. Until, someone who stays in arid desserts doesn't have much food available? Not much grows there so what can they eat? For someone like me who stays in Mumbai, I can consume fish from the Arabian sea (vegetarians might have to look around though) but then will it be complete nutrition? Not much grows around my locality. Moreover, will it be balanced? Which is also the 2nd traditional advice

Balanced meal: Probably the most widely used term in the diet industry is the balanced diet. But everyone has a different take on this as well. Some people advice to divide the plate in 3 parts for carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Some say we need equal quantities of everything (equal by weight) whereas some say we need to have all three macros such that they provide equal calories (for example,100 calories of protein, fat and carbohydrates). I am waiting for someone to come and say "keep all the macros in your plate such that you can balance the plate from the center".

So who is correct here? And if we have to only eat local food, what should I eat as there are not fruits and veggies available around me?

Eat home cooked, avoid junk: I agree with the avoid junk part. A combination of lack of nutrients and harmful substances has never done good to anyone. However, I don't understand the concept of eating home cooked food. If I have restaurant cooked food made using the same ingredients and oils/cooking medium, does it have a different effect on the body? Is there a special benefit that comes with food cooked at our own house like better nutrients, more energy, better digestibility? I know many people who eat home cooked food and still end up suffering from all the health issues. Don't you think if some health issue is diet based, the conventional assumed to be correct should prevent them?

Eat regular Indian food which our ancestors ate: This one is my favorite because it creates a different confusion. The advice never states how long ago you have too look at your ancestors. If you want to sell you diet plan, look 100 years back and ask people to eat healthy grains, veggies and fruit (you would be surprised to know that the healthy whole grains revolution started in the 1970s). Even Diabetes was low back then. But physical degeneration of bones and skull had already started (source: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price). If you want less heart disease, you go back 250 years and notice what the French and Swiss ate (yes do it please, you would be surprised). In fact it's now proven that even the Indus Valley civilization were predominantly meat eaters. Do you know which countries the Indus Valley civilization was spread across? Now do you realize why North-western part of India and entire Pakistan consume so much animal products? And, if you want a world free of diabetes, you go back 4000 years and eat like them.

But if you want a big brain, a tall, muscular body which could run as fast as an Olympic sprinter, you go back to the Paleolithic age. The question is, what level of health do you want to achieve and how far back are you willing to look? And are you sure if your ancestors ate the food you have been told they ate? Have the grains and fruits remained the same? Which brings us to our last advice -

Seasonal fruits: How many seasonal fruits can you name? Lets take an example of Lemon, which is harvested during WINTER and told to have during SUMMER. Apples can be found any time of the year. Bananas have become sweeter, smaller and seedless. And what change do they make if eaten outside of their season? Do they have a different effect on our body? Does the Insulin response change? Is it a problem if someone doesn't eat fruits? Are they absolutely necessary and can cause health issues if not consumed in enough quantities? Fruits we see today are not the same that were found 1000s of years ago. We knowingly and unknowingly managed to cross breed them and evolve to be sweeter with more calories. And the effect of fruits on the human body remains the same no matter when you eat them (source: click here). The question now is, do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages?

What Science says

Science doesn't say much in support of the advices given above. They are vague and change from person to person. What science does say is that humans have survived on certain foods for 2 million years, free from metabolic diseases until recently, when our diets took a complete U-turn. And many studies which have been done with a focus on fat loss have proved that eating the way our ancestors did is the best way to combat obesity as well metabolic diseases. And they talk about exactly what we are supposed to eat. Just that they don't get the attention they deserve.

What evolution expects

Humans have a history of over 2 million years. And over the centuries, starting about 12,000 years ago, we figured out a technique by which we could grow our own food. And in an attempt to domesticate some plants, we ended up changing the genetic code by cross breeding which led to completely different variants that we see today. Moreover, our reliance on animal foods decreased over centuries as it is difficult to hunt. This evolution of our diet surpassed our evolution as humans and the resulting evolution gap has caused an imbalance. An imbalance which leads to metabolic diseases because our bodies have not yet adapted to this drastic change in diet. What is smarter then? Eating the way mother nature intended or waiting millions of years until humans evolve again to build bodies capable to match our current food intake?

My logic

If you could not answer the questions I raised above, then it's not your fault. You have just realized why the conventional advice is nothing but gibberish. Humans are same all around the world. We belong to the species of Homo Sapiens, and just like a species of cow which eats the same type of grass, humans too should eat the same type of food. And if that's the case, why do we even have to consider where food is cooked or how balanced it is (whatever it means). Why not just say what to eat and make it easy for everyone?

Consider this thought of mine. India is going through 2nd/3rd wave of COVID at the moment. Experts have some forward over the past 2 years and tried to convince us why we should wear masks (being told to wear more than one now meaning 1 mask didn't work, right? Still numbers dropped... how?), get vaccinated, and reduce excess weight but no one has told us how exactly lose weight. Why?

Conclusion

This is what happens when you don't have science on your side. You cannot survive on locally grown food at times because it doesn't provide all the necessary nutrients. You cannot consider a balanced meal (whatever that means) healthy because that's something everyone around you eats and still face the same health issues. You can't solve the problem with the same food that created it. If you avoid junk, almost all food becomes home cooked. Many overweight people eat home cooked meals while avoiding junk but still gain fat. My grandmother who ate home cooked meals her entire life still suffered a heart attack despite having 'low fat, low protein, healthy whole grain diet'. Our ancestors did not eat the same food we eat. The wheat they ate were variants of the Einkorn wheat and not the dwarf wheat. Modern wheat is a cross bred variant which produces more starch developed by the great Norman Borlaug who won a Nobel prize for his work which led to prevention of world hunger. Same is the case for many other crops. You can see ads for 'high yield' crops on regional/farming TV channels. And what difference does it make if the fruit is seasonal or not? Does it create any different effect on our body? Does the insulin response differ? Moreover, we have seedless fruits now. Do you realize how impossible it is to have seedless fruits in nature? You have to create an environment for fruit trees to grow and bear fruits. These conditions are not always found in nature.

It's easy to sell diet plans if I say have what your grand parents had, or you can cheat once a week or once a month. And you would be very happy too because then you can claim to have lost weight on normal Indian diet. However nutrition is not just about fat loss. It's about building a metabolically healthy body. Fat loss is a result of eating right and some of the long term effects are becoming stronger and immune to metabolic diseases.

As a nutritionist, I try to clear as many myths as possible. The more you ask questions, the more you learn. Don't trust anyone blindly, keep coming up with challenging questions until you understand the science. If you wish to understand nutrition even better, and find out what a perfect diet would look like, fill out the contact form below.

Eat Good, Stay Strong, Live Free

Cheers,

Sushil Dhokne