Getting Back with Carbs (The Atlantic Jan 2015)
quoting, in part:
”
Nearly half of Americans worry about their weight “all the time” or “some of the time,” according to a Gallup poll conducted last year. That implies a psychological hazard where the health effects of anxiety about weight may be on par with those of excess weight itself—or a misunderstanding of the meaning of “all of the time.” At least part of that is due to uncertainty about nutrition science, perpetuated by profiteering and ego. Recent studies have pointed to superiority of low-carb diets over low-fat diets in matters of weight loss and heart-disease prevention (though neither approach is without its shortcomings), a case well made by journalist Nina Teicholz in her 2014 exoneration of saturated fat, The Big Fat Surprise, which is the result of an exhaustive 10-year scientific and historical review.
Still, according to another Gallup poll last July, only one-quarter of Americans are trying to avoid eating carbs. Twice as many are trying to avoid eating fat.
“The general public is still thinking about low fat and low calories. Low fat, low calories. Low fat, low calories,” Heimowitz said, reiterating the mantra. “It’s failed the American population.”
Focusing on calories probably has failed the American population, but so has the fat-carbohydrate duality. The low-carb movement, like the low-fat movement before it, drew people into a macronutrient-centered approach that lumped all carbs together and all fats together, pitting them against each other in an oversimplified tug of war. The Atkins amendment this week is a partial step away from diet extremism, from the proprietors of what was once one of the most influential extreme diets.”
As Younger Next Year authors stress: “Don’t Eat Crap.”
I’m hungry . . .
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