Nutrition Month Is 50 Shades of Crazy

Nutrition science says fear the fats (then stops saying that). Nutrition science says fear the carbs (when other science says, no it’s what you SHOULD be eating). Nutrition science says drink AT LEAST 8 swimming pools of water each day (then stops saying that). Nutrition science says eggs will kill you, OMG do not eat a yolk (then other science says never mind).

What’s just crazy is that the people doling out this daily cacophony of conflicting advice are actually all smart, all looking at the same science, and still coming to opposite conclusions.

So during this week, we’re going to make things easier on you. We’re going to settle their debate. How? By not participating in it. And that involves finding the answer by looking somewhere else, in a totally different way.

In science history, this kind of thing happens from time to time, where the scientists so fundamentally disagree on the basic principles and even the assumptions of their field that they don’t know how to translate experimental data into conclusions — objective findings into what that even means.

As everyone who’s paying attention knows, we are in that place, right now, in nutrition science.

During these periods, the successful scientists start doing something basic and fundamental. Instead of arguing for their way of thinking, they simply pull back to make observations and descriptions. That’s safer to do, because their field can’t seem to agree on the right paradigm anyway.

Now. Back to nutrition. Back to today. The best approach for nutrition is NOT to pick a side in the eternal carb vs fat vs butter vs [fill in the blank] debate, but to pull back and simply go on observation. Find what works. Do that. Because if you do what they do, you’ll get their results. And the theory explaining why that is true is, truly, academic.

For example, the Mediterranean diet is an observation, not a theory. It came from a culture, not from an hypothesis. And it has kept these people healthy for millennia.

So while we’re waiting on science to make up its mind, do what successful scientists do. Go with the approach that you can see works, and you’ll get there results as well.