The Right Food and the Wrong Food

Are these the right foods or the wrong foods?

For a growing number of people who are looking to lose weight or ‘get in shape’ food seems to be divisive topic. The path to a healthy body or to weight loss becomes something that gets wrapped up into an identity which food plays a major role.

Common incarnations of these food related identities include:

Raw Foodies

Vegetarianism and all of it’s incarnations

Low Carb

Paleo style

Locavorism

Macrobiotic

In most cases there is little scientific basis for any of these diet styles but rather there is an ideological basis, a belief system and most of all an identity. In these cases people become part of a group they can identify with based on a list of foods they will and won’t eat.

I’m fully aware that this just offended someone who has never considered their eating pattern as an identity and actually believes there is a scientific rationale for it…I’m sorry to break it to you, but there isn’t…if there were, then all of the other styles would be wrong and yours would be the only right one…sounds a lot like a religion doesn’t it!

Upon closer inspection and when put to the test many of these people are only fair weather followers of their chosen food identity. In other words they sorta follow it but not 100% (at which point I wonder what the point was of having the identity in the first place at all)

But that’s fine. In fact to me that is encouraged, the less radical you get with one of these beliefs the better chance you have of not becoming completely obsessive compulsive about it.

Most normal people don’t think twice about food or where it comes from, they just eat what tastes good to them, and what is wrong with that? These same people could easily lose weight and improve their health by just eating less of those same foods and going to the gym or for a walk. Any food can be part of a healthy lifestyle as long as it doesn’t become the only food you eat. This seems like the healthiest way to eat to me, both from a physiological, psychological and social standpoint.

John

Posted by johnbarban in food
Tags: carbs, fat, food, minerals, protein, vitamins |17 Comments

17 Responses to “The Right Food and the Wrong Food”

  1. Jordan D. Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Yeah, how can a zero carb diet (all meat) and a vegan diet (no meat) both be correct? Certainly their practitioners believe that they’re correct. They’re so certain. They both think that they’re backed up by science, physiology, etc. It seems so obvious to them that they’re right. But they can’t both be right.

  2. Jim Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 10:49 am

    Would it even be possible to eat a no carb diet if the foods come from natural sources? Obviouly it would be possible to eat no carbs if you ate only protein powder, but that probably isn’t a sustainable practice.

    I would suspect that meat contained carbohydrates (muscle glycogen)

  3. Jordan D. Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 11:20 am

    I dunno, I certainly wouldn’t try it! There are people who only eat meat. I think they consider it to be “zero carb.” Either way, it’s an “all meat” diet vs. a “no meat” diet, and they can’t both be right.

  4. Dan Gaston Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 11:28 am

    One of these things is not like the other…

    Local food movements actually tend to be rather explicit in the fact that they are movements based on ideology and not driven by health or diet concerns except where they tie into organic food movements. Locavorism of any stripe tends to be explicitly based on environmental consequences and economics.

    It still has a tendency to attract totally radical and deluded followers, like any other food trend since local isn’t ALWAYS better environmentally or economically but still, I think lumping it in with specific “health oriented diets” isn’t a fair comparison.

  5. johnbarban Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 11:44 am

    Dan,

    That is fair, I guess I could have explained the radical nature of it. Stretching it a bit further the locavores probably are concerned with environmental impact which ultimately is a movement towards some degree of health even if it’s the ‘health of the planet’. I know that is a stretch, but the concept is still generally rooted in the naturalistic fallacy that there is some sort of ‘optimum state’ to return to.

    JB

  6. Dan Gaston Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 11:54 am

    John,

    That’s true

  7. MovieFX Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    A noble savage carrot.

    In the UK we’re currently tying ourselves in knot over the dangerous dogs act – it costs 10 million a year to keep savage dogs ‘behind bars’ as opposed to putting them down…

    and how about eating them? I’m a veggie, but if your going to eat something…. eat something with a criminal record.

  8. Girlwithnoname (Jackie) Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    HAHA MovieFX, that’s a good idea!!

  9. Baran Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    Thank you John, I’m really convinced this time. Especially after reading this: “The concept is generally rooted in the naturalistic fallacy that there is some sort of ‘optimum state’ to return to.”

  10. Alex Miller Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    Hey John – I live in the UK and am sitting next to cecchin right now talking about weight loss and nutrition…it’s getting heated! haha.
    I’m in the internet marketing world and I heavily follow fitness, especially from Mike Geary and as a result of HIT workouts, multi-joint exercises…I basically lost loads of weight…(before was just doing lots of long, boring cardio & weight training [isolating]etc etc).

    OK – say I eat 1000 calories worth of donuts, potato chips, fries…basically “unhealthy” food…will your body use those calories in the same way as consuming 1000 calories worth of nutrient dense foods? (avocados, whole eggs, nuts, veggies, fruits, grass fed meats etc)?
    I.e. as there are tonnes of nutrients in those latter foods, is it possible that your body burns more calories from eating and consuming those nutrients vs “empty-calories” like fries, potato chips etc that offer nothing to the body? (in my head I’m thinking that if yourbody uses nutrients up then it’s burning calories to do so…)

    Sorry if I haven’t explained so well…hope you know what I mean!

    Thanks a lot,
    Alex

  11. Chad Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    If it did it would be such a small number it wouldnt make a difference.

  12. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    “Any food can be part of a healthy lifestyle as long as it doesn’t become the only food you eat. This seems like the healthiest way to eat to me, both from a physiological, psychological and social standpoint.”

    AMEN!

    John, this is one of my favorite blogs of yours! Totally love it!

  13. johnbarban Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 10:52 pm

    Alex,

    There is no physiological or scientific basis or reason to believe that the type of food matters.

    The amount of vitamin or minerals that is contained in those foods has no bearing on the metabolic process of digesting those foods, or energy expenditure or thermic effect or any other process that could somehow affect energy balance.

    This is assuming you’re eating the same mix of protein/carb/fat from these various food sources you suggested as a comparison (even then the difference will be negligible)

    If you look through the published literature in this field you’ll find that the composition of a meal has no bearing on metabolic rate or energy expenditure. Calories are just calories.

    It still amazes me that people have such a hard time understanding this.

    JB

  14. Williams Debate Champion Says:
    May 15th, 2010 at 5:11 am

    JB,

    Poor Alex, I feel like we’ve just told him there’s no Santa Claua.

    “But then who gave me my new He-Man power wheel?!”

    “Who ate those cookies I left out last night?”

  15. James Says:
    May 17th, 2010 at 12:39 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTecK6odDoc

    Creepy documentary if anyone is interested in. This whole health food thing is rather desturbing. Apparently it isn’t just radical fundamentalist religions that warp peoples mind.

  16. Meat and Veg Says:
    August 15th, 2010 at 9:48 pm

    [...] Entries16 the right food and the wrong food | JohnBarban.com Reply With Quote     + Reply to Thread « Why and [...]

  17. Gillian Tried Every Diet, Then She Fell in Love with Venus Index Says:
    January 16th, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    [...] In the past she somehow understood that it’s all about the energy intake and expenditure. However, she got mislead by the fitness industry into believing things like her metabolism was broken and that she needs to eat six meals a day to keep it healthy. She also believed that there is good food and bad food. [...]

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