What Should We Change?

Just recently it seems that I've seen a lot of people opining that it's silly, useless, just plain wrong, or even unhealthy to make major, permanent changes in the way we eat. We need a little junk food, they say. It's unhealthy to deny yourself the occasional donut or Coke. Food is about more than nutrition! It's about family and culture. To eat completely differently than we were brought up to is just wrong, somehow.

I've noticed, interestingly, that these criticisms are always aimed at low carbers. Does anyone ever criticize vegetarians for "denying" themselves meat, for defying their culture's food ways? Because if they do, I haven't seen it. Yet what percentage of American vegetarians grew up in vegetarian households? I'd guess it's less than 25%, and maybe less than that. Don't misunderstand, this is not a slam at vegetarians. It's a comment on how the criticism of various ways of eating is slanted.

Similarly, I frequently read that "any diet that calls for giving up whole food groups is a fad diet." Again, this is never aimed at vegetarians, or even vegans -- only low carbers. I actually brought this up to a dietician who wrote me to say just that -- that giving up any food group was the mark of a fad diet. I said "So, you're against vegetarianism?" She admitted that she'd never thought of it that way.

But what do these people recommend instead? That we keep eating the same old stuff, just less of it. So instead of learning to eat food that fills and satisfies us, and makes us feel well, even if it is different from the stuff Mom served us, we're supposed to eat the same stuff that's caused our problems, only less of it. Somehow it's a more reasonable, a more healthy choice to decide we're going to feel hungry, and very possibly tired, for the rest of our lives.

That this approach is notoriously unsuccessful is a whole other issue; the long-term success rate for "just eat less" is vanishingly small. What has been glaring at me recently is how bizarre it is to think somehow it's easier, emotionally healthier, more reasonable to go hungry.

Just low-carb food for thought.