Dietary Weapons of Mass Distraction WMD
by: Will Clower, Ph.D.
As hoards of low-carb
proponents invade the nutritional landscape, the increasingly
tired low-fat guard seems to be giving way before their steady
march and drumbeat.
This invasion is a preemptive strike to find and remove the
stockpiled food molecules that could be used to attack your
health and explode your weight. Low-carb campaign hawks insist
they really are out there, ready
to be launched against us at any moment. We know where they are
– stockpiled in bread, rice, and potatoes.
International food observers are investigating the suspicious
links between the axis-of-evil molecules and the thin, healthy
people of the world. The French, for example, have flagrantly
thumbed their noses at U.S. efforts once again by eating white
bread baguettes twice per day, every day. Even worse, they
steadfastly deny any relationship between daily carbs and
weight or health problems. The Communist Chinese, ever a nettle
for Western efforts, eat their high-carb rice every day, in
blatant disregard of U.S. dietary resolutions.
Opinion at home is far from unanimous, as shown by scientists
in a recent Tufts University study directly comparing the
effectiveness of low-carb, low-fat, Weight Watchers, and Zone
approaches. The question was simple. If done correctly, which
theory actually works the best to lower weight?
The result? Micromanaging carbs was no more effective than
counting up points or fats or anything else. Thus, the
investigators came up empty handed – the carb content of the
food was irrelevant to weight loss.
Without definitive proof that carbs pose a threat, and with
recent evidence showing their irrelevance to weight loss
itself, carbs have become the dietary "weapons of mass
distraction". The resulting campaign to win the hearts and
minds of the people, by stoking fears of these molecules,
distracts us from the more immediate menace -- domestic Biggie
Sized habits of personal overconsumption.
Dietary WMD not only divert us from more pressing problems at
home, but many fear that pre-emptive invasions of this region
of the nutritional world could lead to a quagmire of weight and
health problems. Already the neo-Atkins’ intelligencia have
rolled back fruit and vegetable consumption because of carb
levels that – we now find out –were never a problem to begin
with.
It becomes clearer by the day that this nutritional war was
founded upon dubious premises with no plan to win the long-term
weight management peace. Will we have the courage to admit our
past misunderestimates? Or will we "stay the course"? Only
time, and our waistlines, will tell.
About The Author
Dr. Will Clower is the award-winning author of The Fat Fallacy
and founder of The PATH Curriculum, The PATH Online, and
Newsletter.
The PATH: America’s weight solution.
Dr. Clower can be reached on his website www.fatfallacy.com.
willclower@fatfallacy.com
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