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
Nutrition Rules and Decision Fatigue
Many of us have a nearly unlimited access to a wide variety of ultra-processed, highly palatable, energy dense food. And yet, most of us don’t gorge ourselves on these ultra processed foods at every waking moment like a bear in September. But why don’t we?
With the risk of oversimplification, I think that most of us have some level of restraint (outside of hunger and satiety, because we know that can be overridden) based upon an internal framework of what they should be eating and how much of that food or drink they should be consuming. Even the most uninhibited eater has his limits.
People have some level of reasoning and rationale behind what they eat and how much of it they eat. I call this reasoning and rationale your “nutrition rules”. Nutrition rules are self-imposed (somewhat) arbitrary boundaries that help guide your eating. Some people have extremely loose rules while others have very strict rules, but everyone has some set of rules, whether clearly defined or clear as mud.
I encourage you to make your own nutrition rules that fit your life and your goals, not someone else’s (i.e. a fad diet’s). Your nutrition rules should follow the golden rule of energy balance by limiting unnecessary calories from fat, carbohydrate, and snacks, while also allowing you to fully enjoy calories from fat, carbohydrate, and snacks. You just can’t be open to eating ALL OF THEM.
By establishing your own set of nutrition rules you’ll be able to automate and streamline your eating decisions, thus reducing your decision load (fatigue) throughout the day and freeing up more space to tackle some of the more pressing and important problems that you’re likely to encounter throughout your day.
Some of the topics in today’s episode include:
- How much weight can you lose on a diet, exercise, meds or surgery? (1:31)
- What is your dream weight, goal weight, happy weight, and acceptable weight? (2:46)
- The first weight loss conversation you need to have (6:17)
- Flooding the zone with bullshit (8:51)
- What are Nutrition Rules? (12:18)
- Nutrition Rules = Setting Boundaries = Self-Binding (13:58)
- Mostly positive, yet mixed reviews of James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits (14:44)
- Fad diets are based upon arbitrary nutrition rules (17:33)
- You can’t trust government scientists, but you can trust gurus? (18:32)
- Any diet that is not of your own making is a fad diet (20:48)
- The golden rule of nutrition (27:13)
- Design your nutrition rules to limit unnecessary excess calories (28:35)
- How I limit some fats and how that allows to me to enjoy other fats (29:12)
- How I limit some carbs and how that allows to me enjoy other carbs (31:36)
- My relationship with alcohol and snacks (36:19)
- Fad diets depend upon executing one rule exceptionally well, forever (42:52)
- I’m not against fad diets per se, but I am against fad diet magic (43:48)
- There’s 3 and only 3 ways to cut calories and 3 and only 3 ways to eat too many (47:10)
- What is decision fatigue? (48:28)