So without further ado, why does science win at life?
In last week's post I elucidated at the notion that many of the eating and diet "dos and don't" in the world; everything from counting your macronutrients (which is another type of diet) to legitimate government policies & laws regarding how much fat we should eat with supposed scientific studies, may and may not actually be correctly rooted in science alone. So that uber fun BMI test that tells you that you need to weigh less or weight more, are too short or too skinny - basically a nasty family member; that too is based on gross generalisations of a few long term studies with no consideration of the implications of sport types, muscle mass, etc. But I digress.
Many of these studies which are quoted to support various regulations (such as the Food Pyramid, USDA and FDA eating recommendations) were sponsored by pharmaceutical companies (such like those that make statins, a cholesterol lowering and heart-health promoting drug), another sponsored by Coca-Cola to prove that artificial & normal sugar doesn't cause diabetes so you can live off diet drinks (I'm not joking); or studies which were meant to prove that eating fat causes heart disease and the studies actually couldn't prove it and so the results kind of disappeared. If you're interested, get a head-start and read Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes. It's a great source on studies, research and general food related science stuff that makes me excited, if you're keen to know more.
Science has lived a tough life being the nerdy sibling to the bronzed gym bunny who tries all the new diets to get their Summer Body. But today people, those with glasses are winning at life!
The USDA's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee have lifted their ban on dietary fat | What this means for you - you will no longer be told to only eat 'low fat' or 'fat free' anything. |
As you are most likely very aware, the hype and drama surrounding Tim Noakes advocating eating butter with everything has caused quite a stir in South Africa (considering his previous stance on diet), and has propelled the Banting Diet into popularity. If you are at all interested, I urge you to read more and actually find out who William Banting was and what his study found - look at the source (and study), not the magazines or best-selling books.
Being a Food Science and Nutrition student, I was absolutely delighted to discover this article titled Farewell, Low Fat: Why Scientists Applaud Lifting A Ban On Fat and the relevant report by the USDA.
For those of you who may not know, from a health standpoint, the primary concern and worry about eating lower fat food items (any packaged food labelled as 'low fat' or 'fat free') is that they:
- Are chemically engineered to be lower in fat by removing the good fat and replace it with fat that is either impossible to be absorbed by your body (and be passed through your body instead - gross) or vastly different chemically so that your body doesn't recognise what you ate;
- Has the fat removed and starches (like gums) and/or sugars are added to these products to make them taste nice (these include anything ending with 'ose', like dextrose and sucrose);
- You do not get the fat-soluble vitamins that are only available to you when you eat the fat, notably vitamins A and D.
Although many people may not eat margarine any more because of it's artificial taste, the biggest concern where number 3 above is applicable is with dairy products. Dairy and oily fish contain the greatest amounts of bio-available vitamin A and D (your body can absorb it better) and in case you were wondering, vitamin D is often touted as the 'happy vitamin' yet it is not as well known that vitamin D actually facilitates the efficient and adequate absorption of calcium into your bones and around your body. So for all that milk and high calcium-containing foods you are eating (even broccoli) it's not going to help if you don't have the correct amount of vitamin D. Sorry. If you have too much calcium in your body and not enough vitamin D, you are pee'ing out expensive Cal-Mag tablets.
I could go on and take you deep down the science rabbit hole, but I'll spare you the glazed-over-eye effect.
- Indulge and have some full fat cream with your coffee instead of milk.
- Try out and experiment with different aged cheeses instead of sticking with simple cheddar and gouda - my favourite is brie! The new flavours and textures are great to add a different dimension to a dish and do wonders to salads too.
- Learn to love flavour and texture, don't chug down milk simply for 8g of protein per 250ml. Cool fun fact if you didn't know the nutritional profile of milk!
- If you don't like dairy, embrace exciting things like sardines (and eat the bones for added vitamin D and calcium).
- If you do love dairy, know that you're making yourself healthier by eating and drinking the full fat version - bonus points if you can buy it locally.
- And lastly, don't stress and worry about always following a diet 'based in science' or what a friend did. We are all so different. Eat what makes you feel good and try fill your plate with foods and ingredients you recognise or can grow.
I'll take care of the science'y stuff and you just stay awesome.
Department of Health and Human Sciences and Department of Agriculture, 2015: Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Dated January 28 2015. Available at: http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/pdfs/scientific-report-of-the-2015-dietary-guidelines-advisory-committee.pdf [Accessed 6 July 2015].