Book Review: Food Truths, Food Lies

[HuckleB]

http://getbetterhealth.com/book-review-food-truths-food-lies/2011.08.18

"Food Truths, Food Lies, written by family physician Eric Marcotte, M.D., may be the most refreshingly evidence-based diet book of the decade. You will not find a single mention of super-foods, magical berries, or supplement “must-haves” in the entire book. What you will find is the cold, hard truth about why many Americans are overweight, and what it takes to become a healthy eater.

Marcotte writes for the average American – his simple language, matter-of-fact tone, and regular reminders of what the reader has learned, make for a quick and memorable read. Although it’s clear that Marcotte has carefully distilled his dietary advice from the scientific literature, he refrains from burdening the reader with too many footnotes and references. Instead, he has created a kind of Cliff’s Notes of nutrition, having done the “heavy sifting” for us. What remains are the most basic principles underlying all healthy eating, such as:

*You can’t exercise your way to weight loss (i.e. you can’t outrun your own mouth – it’s much easier to eat more calories than you burn)

...

*People eat far more calories than they think they do

..."


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Yeah, yeah. Everyone already knows all of this stuff, and yet this gets ignored by far too many of us, too much of the time. I include myself in that equation, btw.

:)

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[CanSocDem]

2. Is this you....

...pretending to be concerned about the publics health??? Your own...???

"...this gets ignored by far too many of us, too much of the time. I include myself in that equation, btw."

I don't understand how you can spend so much time criticizing health supplements babbling on about "placebo's", despite not knowing that "placebo" is an EFFECT, not a product. Yet here you are suggesting that industrialized food production is somehow deficient or not exactly, as good as it could be.....

Do you think that BigFood Inc. has a responsibility to the public?

.

[HuckleB]

3. Yawn.

Mr. "I'm going to put words in your mouth and argue against my own fiction" strikes again.

:boring:

Got any other red herrings to offer up?:boring:

[OnTheOtherHand]

4. fact check

"placebo" is an EFFECT, not a product.

Umm, not so much. In this case, Wikipedia can be your friend: "A placebo has been defined as 'a substance or procedure... that is objectively without specific activity for the condition being treated'." I don't know whether everything HuckleB has said about "placebos" is true, but "placebos" aren't something he made up. "Placebos" and "placebo effect" are both commonly used.

Do you seriously see any contradiction between scoffing at a lot of "health supplements" and thinking that something is seriously wrong with industrialized food production? Really? If anything, isn't it more consistent to be critical of both? Of course, rather than decide what one "should" think about health supplements in order to be "consistent" with one's opinion on industrialized food production, it would probably be better to look for evidence and then try to be consistent with that.

[CanSocDem]

5. Actually....

...very few clients of ModernMedicine Inc even want to DISCUSS "the placebo effect". Consistent with that is placing 'alternative health' alongside Astrology and Spirituality in the forums section of DU, as if alternatives to the medical industry were somehow unreliable. Deflecting discussions and attempting to discredit the success of "the placebo effect" is another popular tactic.

Admitting to the very real effects of a placebo cure would spell the end for the pharmaceutical industry and revolutionize modern medicine. You can see why they're against it.(whatever it is...)

It's worth discussing beyond using it as a stick to beat on 'alternative health'.


.

[OnTheOtherHand]

8. whut?!

DU doesn't have a forum on 'alternative health,' Astrology, or Spirituality. Otherwise, great point! :eyes: ETA: oh, wait, my dumb. Those must be groups? ...oh, one group. The "DU Astrology, Spirituality & Alternative Healing Group." OK, I have no idea what that means. But I don't think it matters. It's none of my concern what a group I'm not interested in calls itself.

Deflecting discussions and attempting to discredit the success of "the placebo effect" is another popular tactic.

I think this probably qualifies as "not even wrong." Maybe if you provided an example of "attempting to discredit the success of 'the placebo effect,'" I could make some sense out of it.

Admitting to the very real effects of a placebo cure would spell the end for the pharmaceutical industry and revolutionize modern medicine. You can see why they're against it.(whatever it is...)

Are you familiar with the concept of double-blind controlled trials?

It's worth discussing beyond using it as a stick to beat on 'alternative health'.

...but using it as a stick to beat on "ModernMedicine Inc." is ethically obligatory! Yabetcha.

I agree, the placebo effect merits serious discussion. I don't know how to get there from here.

[HuckleB]

9. +1

[petronius]

6. "can’t outrun your own mouth" - words to live by, in a lot of arenas

:)

[LaurenG]

7. I think people would understand a lot better if they wrote down every bite of food

they ate for a week or two. I was surprised at how many calories I actually consumed once I did this.