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
47: Food Addiction
Food addiction is a somewhat controversial topic. Can you really be “addicted” to something necessary for life (i.e., food, air, water)? Based upon the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), the technical answer is, yes.
In today’s episode, The Nutrition Grouch asks whether the identification of food addiction is helpful to clients and practitioners in losing weight or whether it provides a “permission structure” enabling them to continue eating junk food and becoming an excuse for their ultimate failure.
Based on the YFAS, 25% of people with overweight or obesity are food addicted but interestingly, so are 11% of normal weight individuals. Is food addiction concept creep or a simple expression such as “I’m starving” or “I’m freezing” or is there something more to it?
While there’s no clear answer to any of these questions, the frontline therapies for people with and without food addiction for weight loss are very similar: medications, lifestyle modification, and bariatric surgery. We love to blame individuals for addictions; however, culture and environment are often overlooked, ignored or downplayed.
Some of the topics in today’s episode include:
- Food addiction as concept creep (0:28)
- Is food addiction a permission structure to eat junk food? (3:51)
- Food addiction OR life circumstances and food environment? (5:53)
- Sometimes your best still just isn’t good enough (7:52)
- I’m a defender of fast food, carbs, and ultra processed food (15:36)
- Junk food in “selective moderation” (15:57)
- Nutrition rules, self-binding, and setting boundaries (17:26)
- Eliminate problematic foods you can’t control from your diet (18:14)
- The two most accepted methods for identifying food addiction (21:15)
- Food addiction prevalence: 25% with overweight/obese and 11% lean individuals (27:07)
- Food addiction may be relatively short lived, transient, and self-correcting (31:08)
- Is food addiction real? Yes, but you may have to squint to see it (31:48)
- How do we treat food addiction? (32:20)
- There’s essentially no difference in how you treat someone with or without food addiction (37:08)
- I prefer “level of problematic eating” to the term food addiction (39:19)
- Chocolate, sex, nicotine, cocaine, and amphetamines (41:40)
- What heroin users during the Vietnam war taught us about addiction (45:00)
- The woman who just couldn’t stop eating McDonalds (48:12)
- I can’t put food addiction in the same category as other addictions (49:47)