Food Is Easy: Complexity Sells

I want you to know that after all I’ve studied about food, nutrition, metabolism, endocrinology, macronutrients, micronutrients, insulin, leptin, glucose, and glucogan, about low-carb, ketogenic, and high-carb, whole-food diets, about vegan, and paleo, about physicians, biochemists, and celebrity diets, that the horrible truth is that nutrition is easy.

We’re ominivores. That doesn’t mean we need a variety of food, but that we are able to consume both animals and plants. You’re free to choose.

We’ve been using fire for millions of years, and do well on cooked food, and yet can still eat raw food. You’re free to choose.

No one can believe this anymore, but you gain weight when you eat more calories than you burn, and you lose it when you burn more than you eat. Any diet plan that has you eating fewer calories than you do now will work. You’re free to choose.

Do you need dairy for strong bones? No. Does drinking milk leach calcium from the bones? Also no. Should you drink milk? You’re free to choose.

Are there people who have reversed illness after eating only meat for a year? Yep. Eating only potatoes for a year? Yep, that happens too.

Does keto allow you to eat more calories and still lose weight? No, not at all. Keto allows you to feel like you’re eating more calories, while eating far fewer.

Does the low-fat, high-fiber plant-based diet allow you to eat more and weigh less? Sure, if by “more” you mean “more volume of food that contains fewer calories.”

Why are some vegans so fat? Is it the carbs? Maybe, but peanut butter, fake cheese, olive oil and vegan pastries have more calories per bite than rice and beans.

Why do some vegans get skinny and sick? Usually from eating only vegetables, rather than including rice and beans (and potatoes and corn and quinoa and squash).

Is the Paleo diet really the diet of the paleolithic era? Not even close. Do people lose weight on it? Sure do.

Is hyperinsulinemia the cause of insulin-resistance, or is it the other way around? You could spend a lifetime on this, and it’s a fascinating topic, but it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to decide what to eat or how to lose weight. Eat too many calories from any source, and you’ll end up insulin resistant.

So why do we eat more than we burn? Is it some complex hormonal issue? Some childhood trauma? Some behavioral disorder around self-control? Probably not. We’re constantly bombarded with advertisements designed to stimluate appetite, packaged food is designed to stimulate appetite, and processed food with the water and fiber stripped out doesn’t do much to tell us when we’re full. Plus, some of us have the genetics to consume and store energy when more food is around.

Do calories count? Yes, they’re all that count. And yet, you shouldn’t bother counting them.

Next: Why you feel more addicted to carbs after a low-carb diet.