The Nutrition Grouch
The weight loss industry is, has been, and always will be a dumpster fire. People like to say health & wellness (of which weight loss is a part of) is “broken” or full of “misinformation” but that is being too generous because it implies that some of it is good or that it is actually fixable. It is damaged beyond repair. If it were possible, I would burn it to the ground and start over.
While it is impractical to try to summarize what’s wrong with the industry in one podcast description, my premise is this: there is a truly astronomical amount of information that neither our media nor our professionals are able to communicate to you in a meaningful way without losing all context, applicability to real life, and/or the ability to see how all of the pieces fit together.
The media should just stop covering health & wellness because their soundbites explain nothing and are little more than headlines and talking points. They may raise awareness but not understanding, leading to the illusion of explanatory depth. Academics actually know what they are talking about and could help educate us but are too busy with their work and only some are engaged with the public. Most academics look down on and laugh at the quacks and zealots in the field but it’s the quacks and zealots that have the real power.
Businesses do not have the right people in place (PhDs or medical professionals) to drive product and service development (that’s left to the MBAs). After the brand is established, the number one rule is that you must protect and promote the brand no matter how myopic, self-serving, or unimportant that brand is. Healthcare is for the (already) sick and public health is so surface level.
When it comes to their health, the public is lazy. They want the most entertaining, convenient, and positive information available, even if it is at the expense of achieving their goals. Hard work, I think not. Let me take the path of least resistance and “do it on the side”. There’s no reason for real change.
Instead of being stuck in pedaling the news of the day, disconnected factoids and tidbits, overly reductionist, cliché, idealistic, magic cures, easy fixes, secrets, tips, tricks, hacks, fads, gimmicks, cherry-picked, binary, good/bad, flashy, insanely optimistic, exaggerated, fantasy land, sunshine and rainbows, theoretical, testimonial based weight loss information -- let’s come up with a more comprehensive, systematic, sustainable, realistic, semi-automated, results-oriented, pragmatic approach to weight loss with a slice of common sense.
I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time (years and decades) thinking about the thousands of nuances of weight loss (just Google Energy Balance Nutrition Consulting, The Paper Database, or The Science of Dieting). I’ve also spent thousands of hours trying to understand why the health & wellness field isn’t actually science based despite the information being readily available.
I am so fed up and exhausted by it all. It is so broken that on many days I want to say forget it. I’m done with this. It can’t be fixed. I’m a smart motivated guy that can take my talents elsewhere (LeBron). But something keeps drawing me back. It’s like a sickness or a bad relationship. I just can’t get out of it. At my core, it’s who I am. In this podcast I want to offer you truly science-based weight loss advice, critiques of the weight loss industry/diet culture, and thoughts on my experiences and failings in the profession. And with that, I bring you The Nutrition Grouch.
The Nutrition Grouch
Sigh Inducing Marketing Buzzwords & Nutrition Philosophies
Anyone who knows anything about nutrition, knows that the vast majority of nutrition buzzwords are made up, don’t mean anything, misinterpreted, or stolen from an unrelated industry. These buzzwords belong in works of fiction, not nutritional science.
If students in a college class used even a fraction of the buzzwords used to market nutrition, they would fail. And yet, in the real world, we tolerate them, and I can’t understand why.
On today’s episode, The Nutrition Grouch provides his rationale behind his general dislike for nutrition buzzwords while also explaining some of his own philosophies. Some of the topics in today’s podcast include:
- Goals of The Nutrition Grouch: practical & actionable over theoretical (1:55)
- 90-95% of our time is spent in theory; only 5-10% on action – why? (2:35)
- What if you were the only one of your kind? (4:35)
- Trying to find people to play music with (5:54)
- Brain melt (6:15)
- Nutritional Science is missing the science (6:39)
- The three tiers of nutrition buzzwords (7:50)
- Tier 1: Turn Offs/Trigger Words (8:49)
- Tier 2: Gray Areas (10:31)
- Tier 3: Thumbs Up (11:29)
- Why “the Process” of eating is more important than what you eat or the individual (12:03)
- A more thorough explanation of my own nutrition philosophy (14:04)
- An oversimplified short history of nutrition (14:34)
- Nutrition deficiencies courtesy of the industrial revolution (16:02)
- The very first nutrition guidelines in the United States (1894) (17:32)
- The discovery of vitamins (1912) (18:39)
- Body’s nutrition needs operate on demand driven, as needed basis (20:20)
- Continuum of deficiency and not deficient (20:34)
- What really burns me: above and beyond optimum; forever and ever (20:56)
- Unlimited rewards – your body isn’t a credit card (22:04)
- Too much or too little is harmful; preferred setpoints (22:32)
- Phytochemicals, antioxidants, nutraceuticals (25:23)
- The free radical theory of aging (25:55)
- Exercise’s role in oxidative stress (29:34)
- Inflammation (30:44)
- Why not eating might be the best way to fight inflammation (33:36)
- The overwhelming financial incentives for you to eat more, not less (34:37)
- Eat for weight loss or health but not both (35:47)
- Are all diets healthy? (38:24)
- Trying to rationalize and defend your way of eating (41:24)
- I like Doritos, beer, pizza, and other processed foods (41:53)