Thursday, December 27, 2012

Despite being quite the computer geek for decades, this is my first blog. I was waiting for a topic that was dear to me and that would get me to write. And I found it.

Food.

My recent experiences have led me to spend many the hour in front of my computer screen, looking for any and all information about "proper diet and exercise". I wanted to hear and read what was the present take on nutrition and weight loss. And what I discovered was a near chasm between different proponents of their unique diet plans. On one end, you have the low carb camp arguing that Insulin is the devil incarnate. And on the other end, you have the low fat group holding back their lunches whenever anyone suggests bacon and eggs for breakfast. And yes, there are other ends with other dietary variations leading to a very confusing polygon.

The strange thing is that I should be able to sort things out for myself, given my background. I am an MD from McGill University, which I completed following a degree in Physiology from the same school. Since graduating, I have continued to study (as all doctors must) and have even taken a special interest in the field of bariatrics, i.e. the medical specialty that deals with obesity. I also have been weight training (on and off, with some big OFFs) since 18. So I also have a good knowledge base when it comes to understanding the value of exercise, and more specifically, different kinds of exercise.

So why are things so confusing. Why do I read and see articles and videos, presented by very intelligent sounding professionals with lots of letters after their names, that are SO adamant that "their way" is the THE way. More importantly, each evangelist seems quite disparaging of the other diet camps. SO here you have 2 guys with PhDs who are arguing (well) the exact opposite points. If I am confused, then I do wonder how people without any formal health education, manage to "get it right".

My impression is that many do not "get it right". Instead, they move from diet to diet more quickly than James Bonds changes exotic locations. In the end, you have so many people who have made nothing short of heroic attempts to improve their health and yet find themselves having failed to achieve their goals. And when they seek medical advice on these issues, they far too often are inundated with simple platitudes, such as "just eat less", "peanuts will stop your hunger pangs", "no carbs after 8 PM", "eat low density foods and you will always be happy and full !!", and so on and so on.

What I hope to do is to share what I have learned over these last few months about all of these issues. My conclusions so far are actually quite simple and perhaps they will be helpful to some others out there.

Thanks for listening.

1 comment:

  1. Although anecdotal as I am not a physician, I entirely believe that carbohydrates derived from processed foods act like poison to the body and mind. The amount of sugars and starch we are eating is wreaking havoc on our children, adults and the elderly and we are blindly filling ourselves with nutrition-less foods. There has to be a wake up call to EVERYONE that in order to be healthy we have to actually think about what we eat and care enough about ourselves to feed ourselves well. Bravo for taking on this task - Keep it up!

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