Fed Up with Food Fear-Mongering

http://healthyhausfrau.blogspot.com/2013/10/fed-up-with-food-fear-mongering.html

Sounds like the MFP boards in a nutshell

If you haven’t heard lately that carbohydrates and sugar are deadly poisons, consider yourself lucky. As a registered dietitian who stays immersed in both research and popular diet/food trends, a day does not go by that I don’t see single foods or nutrients being demonized and falsely labeled as evil, disease-causing, or even toxic.

That’s right, eating a slice of bread will now KILL YOU (or at least eat through half of your brain) according to numerous supposed health and fitness authorities—including doctors, registered dietitians, personal trainers, and nutritionists—as well as your run-of-the-mill diet gurus, countless bloggers-turned-nutrition-experts, and, of course, big and small media outlets, reporters, and writers. And, if that single dietary constituent somehow doesn’t kill you outright, you can be sure it will hold you hostage, force you to eat it to the exclusion of all other foods, mercilessly addict you, make you obese, and THEN kill you.

Vilifying individual foods or nutrients in the name of feigned health promotion, or food fear-mongering as I call it, is a big, big problem. It does NOT make people healthier, nor does it promote the healthy relationship with food that is so crucial for long-term success with dietary health and weight control. For reasons I will discuss in a minute, I believe that food fear-mongering makes people much less healthy in body and mind, more likely to engage repeatedly in cyclical dieting and other unhealthy eating behaviors, and far less likely to be able to derive pleasure and enjoyment from eating.

But first, let’s make sure we're clear about a couple things. As a dietitian I’m well-aware of diet and weight-related diseases. I understand that limiting certain foods and nutrients (trans fat, excess added sugars, for example) and emphasizing others (fruits, vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids, for example) all the while taking into account the context of an entire diet and lifestyle can play a huge role in positive health outcomes. I agree that there are better and worse food choices when it comes to our eating habits, but I also realize that diet and health are never black and white, don’t exist in a vacuum, and are not nearly as simplistic as the gurus and "experts" who tell us that fructose is POISON (context and dose-dependence be damned) would have you believe.

I mention this because the last thing I want is people taking from this post that I think loads of sugar is good for you or that I’m a staunch advocate for eating wheat by the bushelful every day--that's just not the case. But what I do hope will be taken from this post is that consuming sugar or wheat or ice cream or pretty much ANY FOOD (barring you don't have an allergy or intolerance) once in a while will not have a significant negative impact on your health, if done in moderation, let alone be the sole cause of your death!

So let’s do a quick recap: sure, there are health problems related to overconsuming just about any food. Sure, we’d be better off with much fewer sugary treats and junk processed foods and much more whole, unprocessed real foods, all in moderation. Sure, there are probably plenty of people who could lay off some of the wheat or sugar in their diet, lose weight (as a result of creating a caloric deficit), and feel much better as a result. But deeming wheat a “dietary poison” and blaming it for all our ills...WHY??

If you’re still with me and not engulfed in a fit of laughter, let’s move on and talk about what I believe to be the top two reasons food fear-mongering is so prevalent:

1. A sensationalistic message sells--we've known this forever.
Even more profitable? A feigned revelation about the dangers of a certain food spread by an alarmist “authority” in the field. As evidenced by the examples above, many of the extreme food fear-mongering messages come from people with something to sell you—in the nutrition field, that usually equates to a book, a diet/service, or dietary supplements.

2. People need something simplistic to blame for their weight or health problems.
Instead of realizing that most diet-related chronic diseases result from a combination of repeated suboptimal nutrition and lifestyle choices and caloric excess over time, it is far easier to point the finger at one food entity, slap on the blame, and then attempt to abstain from that food completely. It is unfortunate but many people just CANNOT grasp, let alone utilize, the concept of moderation with eating, and by putting unnecessary limits on their diets, they can stay on the straight and narrow, though usually not for long.

I don’t fault individuals for this: moderation and balance with diet is not easy to come by as I've explained before. Indeed, I feel that demonizing single foods is actually a symptom of our culture’s desperation and desire to get healthier. At the same time, however, the food blame game is another embarrassingly obvious example of how we seem to be continually grasping for eating truths and absolutes in a society devoid of a food culture, yet overflowing with food.

This makes people all too vulnerable to food fear-mongering messages, and with no shortage of these terrifying warnings, an extremely harmful situation arises.

So why is food fear-mongering so damaging?

1. Food phobias are created.
An authority figure saying that sugar is poisonous exploits people’s ignorance about diet, human physiology, and the long-term development of chronic disease and teaches them to fear food—this is no joke! I have seen the effects time and time again in my practice—people who are actually AFRAID to eat! They have listened to the simplistic, horrifying messages that x, y, or z food will maim you, induce mold growth on your upper lip, liquefy your insides after a bout of burning inflammation, and ON and ON and ON and have frantically boiled down their diet to a few fanatical food options. Then they wonder why they are tired all the time, sick, depressed, obsessed with food, and aren't getting any real pleasure from eating. Their dietary restrictions are totally unnecessary, but have been put in place because of false fears implanted by alarmist authorities trying to make a buck. This angers me to no end!

2. Food fear-mongering creates VAST confusion.
How do I know this? Because I get asked the silliest things all the time, by well-meaning people who really think they’ve got things figured out with nutrition, but have really been duped by fear-mongerers. A few real examples:

I was recently asked with disbelief: “Do you STILL eat grains?” I apparently missed the boat—eating grains was SO pre-Wheat Belly!

Since I do eat grains in moderation, I was once accused of “trusting in corn and wheat” (In Wheat I Trust???) and also informed that my stomach is a “gluten bomb” as a result.

Discussing the health benefits of legumes with someone a few weeks back incited this response: “Legumes = lectins = leaky gut = leaky brain. I’ll get my carbs and protein elsewhere.” This was a completely nonsensical, obviously fearful response. (Side note: the presence of lectins and phytates in whole grains and legumes is often used by low-carb proponents to deter consumption of these very healthy foods).

Someone confidently and proudly told me the other day, “I rarely eat fruit due to the high sugar content.” She surely got Robert Lustig's "fructose is poison" memo.

I love playing dumb when I encounter self-made nutritionists so I can see what advice they have for me, and sure enough, I got schooled with this gem a couple weeks ago: “Nuts are dangerously inflammatory and should be avoided AT ALL COSTS.”

These instances make me want to laugh, cry, and pull my hair out all at once. And the worse part of this immeasurable confusion? Once this degree of food fear and brainwashing is ingrained, I’ve had little success helping people like this back to reality.

3. Food fear-mongering messages are terribly counter-productive to creating health.
Because alarmist messages attract attention, people who are not educated in the science of nutrition and are actively looking for that one causative reason for their lack of health will easily take these messages at face value, not question them, or even realize that they should question them. They believe what these health authorities tell them and start to completely shun wheat or sugar or whatever the fearful food of the year may be. Eliminating a food or nutrient may provide a short-term benefit to their health in some way, but more likely than not, the avoidance tactic will not last, and old behaviors will return, leading again to a suboptimal health status. No progress is made as a result of food fear-mongering messages. No real, sustainable, healthy eating behaviors are developed. Time is wasted. Money is often wasted. Consequently, YES, PEOPLE ARE HARMED.

Read the rest at the link

Man, people really care a lot about how other people view food.

In. I've noticed, too - on here and on my Facebook feed - that is often goes beyond just a phobia.

For some people, it's turned in to pure moralizing. There's a self-righteous, almost religious flavor to their beliefs. It's beyond just a preference for certain types of diets and lifestyles, and there's nothing you can say, and no evidence you can present showing the flaw in the studies they paste everywhere that will convince them otherwise.

Oh, you're fine eating GMOs? You're bad and wrong. Eat sugar? Shame on you, don't support the industry that is making the west obese. Eat artificial sweeteners instead of sugar? Enjoy your cancer. Ounce of whiskey in the evenings? Bad. Eat meat? Bad. Don't eat meat? Carbs? Fat? Bad bad bad bad bad.


This type of thinking is ESPECIALLY frustrating when I see people posting claims that serious illnesses like cancer can be treated or prevented by eating or avoiding foods or special diets (Gershon therapy, cleanses, etc)... not only because it's woo BS that does squat to help sick people, but also because it's uncomfortably close to claiming that people with illness are to blame for their own suffering because of their diets. Fffffff.


/soapbox. Eat in a way that works for you, damnit.

I agree with this.... It isn't "bad" or "good" and you are not a bad or good person for eating/not eating something you enjoy because it tastes good and you want it. Food isn't moral or immoral, it's amoral. The hangups we get about it are unbelievable.

There has been a "fear of" .... whatever in every decade. I think the 80's kicked it off pretty easily. I watch yoyo dieters swearing off the latest "bad" food to me (while my eyes glaze over) then gaining it all back and more each time. I'm taking bets on the next fad. Takers?

There has been a "fear of" .... whatever in every decade. I think the 80's kicked it off pretty easily. I watch yoyo dieters swearing off the latest "bad" food to me (while my eyes glaze over) then gaining it all back and more each time. I'm taking bets on the next fad. Takers?

Sodium. I guess it already is somewhat, but I think it will be more so.

There has been a "fear of" .... whatever in every decade. I think the 80's kicked it off pretty easily. I watch yoyo dieters swearing off the latest "bad" food to me (while my eyes glaze over) then gaining it all back and more each time. I'm taking bets on the next fad. Takers?

I don't most people who use the terms good or bad for you are referring to morality, but rather healthiness. I know when I use those terms instead of actually saying healthy or unhealthy, I'm still referring to their impact on health, and not some innate morality to the food, nor to the morality of the person eating or not eating it. Now maybe some people are different in this (and I'm sure there are some) but most people probably mean health and not morality.