Duh News

Today I read an article that said nutrition might influence the ability of children with ADHD to concentrate.

Might?

That’s like putting soup in your lawn mower and discovering that it might not cut grass. Every parent knows that if you want to prevent a kid from tracking dirt on the carpet, just give him three candy bars and he can hover.

I confess there was a time when I didn’t notice the correlation between nutrition and behavior. I thought I had two modes: empty and full. And I thought some days I was tired in the middle of the day for no particular reason. Then I stopped eating carbs until dinner time and discovered that I can go all day on six hours of sleep.

There was a time, and it lasted about thirty years, when I thought I was supposed to get a stomach ache after every meal. Then I became a vegetarian. The daily stomach aches stopped and never came back.

Have you ever been around someone who went on a serious diet? There’s always a big change in personality that accompanies it. And by “change” I mean grumpy.

There’s a fascinating book called The China Study. It centers on a massive study of diet and health in China. The author’s conclusion is that while the big health risks of our time (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.) clearly have a genetic component, they are rarely triggered when people eat a plant-based diet.

http://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html

I have long predicted that sometime, perhaps in our lifetime, we’ll know enough about nutrition to create diets for specific individuals. Apparently some people can eat meat every day and live to 110. Others can’t. It would be nice to know which group you belong in.

For now, awareness of the importance of nutrition is too corrupted by a combination of the food industry’s hold on the government and cognitive dissonance in people who simply prefer tasty food over healthy food. Until that changes, my fellow moist robots, expect to read about more startling “discoveries” that nutrition influences behavior.

Comments

[weight loss tip]

One of my friends who eat meat only, and he looks better than anyone else in his age (40+). Even better than I who's only in my early 30's. What the...??!!

[rk]

A Google search on "The China Study review" pulls up the following top link:

http://www.westonaprice.org/bookreviews/chinastudy.html

Anyone want to (intelligently) address the points raised in the thumbs-down review of the book?

[Pete]

going vegan is the best thing i could have done ... you can't imagine how great my insides feel and knowing i don't directly contribute to the death of billions :)

[Nathan Vaughan]

to those of you who underestimate The China Study, don't knock it until you read it. The book is Not focused on people in china, it Is focused on millions of dollars worth of NIH dietary research about people from all over the world, Americans, Europeans, and yes, Asians. Research that the companies making the junk food most Americans (and Europeans) eat don't want you to know about. I was introduced to the book by a PhD in Biochemistry who is also an elite level athlete. He has lowered his cholesterol from over 300 to 60 (that's sixty not 160) through the diet proposed in the china study and exercise, no medications. The book is backed by Real science, and real, published research in the highest echelons of official peer reviewed scientific journals. The biggest thing it has going for it: there is Zero profit incentive for the author, or any corporate enterprise in following the guidelines set out in the book. The only parties that stand to profit are the people who change their lifestyle to become healthier, and the reduced financial burden of their medical bills on themselves, and in the case of the financially disadvantaged, on our nations hospitals and tax-payers.

[Miklos]

I can't help but wonder about all the fancy ideas regarding diet. I mean if you 1) spent all day at home 2) were willing to spend considerable time cooking you could follow any diet. But obviously, when breakfast means anything that can be swallowed during driving to work (mostly cereal bars), when lunch means anything you can pick up at a petrol station when going from one client to another, and when lunch means anything the takeaway on the corner offers or anything you can cook under 10 minutes (throwing some meat and steak potatoes into the grill) how do you keep any kind of diet?

[Robin Burchett]

Scott:
Another plug for the book Eat Right for Your Type. Appears to be based on science, and is making a big difference with my kids' behavior & ability to focus.

[Andrea]

Three more great books:
The ADD Nutrition Solution: http://tinyurl.com/3bk3qr - Like the ADD Answer, which was recommending below.

The Metabolic Typing Diet: http://tinyurl.com/36hb8d - Says that people fall under 3 metabolic types: Protein, carbohydrate or mixed. This is why some people lose weight on high protein/low carb diets while others don't. There's more to it than that - overall health - but I'm simplifying. It also tells you what type of proteins and carbs to eat and which to avoid. Whole grains good, refined stuff bad.

Natural Highs: Supplements, Nutrition, and Mind-Body Techniques to Help You Feel Good All the Time: http://tinyurl.com/366d5p

After I read the first I adopted some of the changes and felt 90% better within a couple of months. I'm not a fan of the pharmaceutical industry. Drugs have their place but I believe in addressing the underlying cause and trying alternatives first. Also, when new studies are published I tend to question who's funding the research and I question whether doctors are getting incentives for recommending particular medicines.

On the coffee debate: Sometimes it makes me jittery, sometimes it makes me focus sharply. I've never examined why.

I try not to put anything in my body that doesn't have a purpose, or at least be conscious about it when I do. Ice cream is justified by the calcium content.

[water_moon]

For some one as health conscience as you, I'm suprised you drink Diet Coke. Aspartame breaks down into formaldehyde.

And caffine? don't get me started.

[Carnivore]

My friend who complains that we hurt animals by eating them annoys me.

What, you don't think it hurts a carrot when you yank it out of the ground and chop it up before it even has time to die? Most people don't eat their cow while it is still breathing.

[Matt]

Hi Scott,

As silly as it may be to ask you a non rhetorical question in a blog comment...I also had stomach aches after every single meal I ate for most of my life, I've been a vegetarian for about 3 years now and the sickness immediately stopped for me as well. People (including physicians) tell me it's crazy to think that stopping my meat consumption cured me. Do you know what the reason is?

p.s. Thanks for giving the phrase "GO BULLS" meaning outside of the Polish sausage capital of the world (outside of Poland).

[Mathieu]

I'd like to hear more about your diet, and I am especially intrigued by that "no carbs until dinner" thing, as are many other posters. Can you post an example of what a day's food intake looks like for you?

[Joe Blow]

My mom is a N.D. (Natropathic Doctor) which means that as her child I don't believe a word she says ;-)). But her patients love her. Too bad they come to her after they've exhausted every other opportunity to get well. She can cure illnesses that M.D.'s can only prevent from popping up again with a life time supply of drugs and counter drugs. It's all in the diet... it is so simple it is scary for those us of who look to a pill to cure what ails us.

But then again who wants to watch what they eat when you can eat anything and pop a pill afterwards. You have the power to decide yourself.

Joe's 2 cents worth.

[alan]

....GO VEGAN!!!!....

See what I mean about these self righteous bastards, check out the website AVAB.org (AllVegetariansAreBastards), its full of this crap.

A study done by AVAB shows that vegetarians are likely to
- own (and ride) bicycles
- program linux
- don't see why the surge is vital for democracy
- do tantric with their missus for 14 hours an night, even on full moons

[Julien]

I'm vegan myself and I feel better for it! Better for the enviroment,halth,the animals. Also I've noticed BO is not a problem any more!! In the us/uk their is a vegan substitute for almost any product you can imagine even vegan caviar! (made out of seeweed) it gets better these substitutes are often healthier and (often) taste better, I've introduced these products to my omnivore friends and they often go for these eg soy icecream,mayo,vegan Tim Tams etc etc as they think it tastes better!

GO VEGAN!!!

[Jason Allen]

Scott said "...too corrupted by a combination of the food industry’s hold on the government..."

Can you name a multi-billion dollar industry that /doesn't/ have a corruptive hold on our government?

[shaun lyons]

were all just eating our deterministic donut-universe anyways so who cares. I kid I kid.

[TallDave]

Avoiding refined carbohydrates is key. As for meat, it really depends on the kind of meat, and how it's prepared.

The China study sounds like bunk. Chinese people who only eat plants are usually the poorest rural Chinese, who survive on $500/year and generally don't live long enough to get cancer.

[GLK]

Nutrition or global warming the formula is all the same. Through an avalanche of information Special Interest beguiles Mankind into believing that they're a collective herd of meat sacks careening mindlessly toward a premature dirt nap. Special interest promises to extend our imminent demise but in so doing makes themselves a necessary component to our daily existence. Decades go by and Mankind is more stressed and miserable than ever but takes comfort by calling itself "enlightened." Special Interest gets richer, famouser, and more powerfuler. Reverse the trend! Ignore the status quo, be kind to your neighbors and work hard at doing whatever it is that makes you truly happy. You want a cheeseburger? Then eat one once in a while. We really have to stop pissing our lives away worrying about every cotton picking thing.

[Ivan]

According to several theories,proto humans became humans because they ate meat, that have more energy stored and available for use by the organism that the same amount of vegetables. Our brains evolved to their current size thanks to the high energy available through meat. Otherwise we would be like orangutans: big belly monkeys living in forest and eating all day. Now, a lot of US citizens have evolved to big belly monkeys watching TV and eating all day, but a huge part of the rest of the world don't care if they have vegetables or meat as long as they have something to eat. If you want to be a vegetarian you need a good knowledge of what you are eating or risk undernourishment, and at least for me, the taste is not that good. If you only eat meat, the taste is better but you may get high colesterol, gout and heart disease but undernourishment is unlikely. So I follow every time I can,the European wisdom: meat, vegetables, wine and cheese, followed by a delicious dessert and coffee.

[Ben]

Look, it's simple.

Our taste buds like calorie dense foods because if hadn't adapted that way, we would have withered away and died when real scarcity hit.

So, instead of listening to our taste buds, we need to listen to our bodies.

In terms of a starting point, I think our mouths are a good guide... a lot of grinders, some slicers, and a couple small canines, so leafy veg, followed by grain and non-leafy veg, then fruit and finally, a teensy bit of meat in the mix. Since you have teeth already you're no good to nurse, so cut out the dairy.

But anyways, that's just a starting point. Do what works for you, measured by how you feel and how your pants fit.

Finally, cheat occasionally (once or twice a week works well for me). Small portions of the bad stuff aren't good for you, but they're a lot less bad than large portions consumed on a guilty binge. That, and you'll be happier, which is good for you.

[Jared Tucker]

I read the China Study about a year ago and have been vegetarian ever since. I love meat as much as the next guy but maintaining a vegetarian diet was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.

However, I am curious how you eat a vegetarian diet without consuming carbs for breakfast or lunch. It seems most fruits, vegetables, and grains are rich in carbohydrates (as well as protein, anti-oxidants, phytochemicals, and other good stuff).

[alan]

I hate vegetarians, self righteous bastards, every single one of them, worse than prious drivers.

When they are not going on about evils of factory farming, destruction of rain forest in favour of burger farms or global warming caused by cow farts, they talk about how they shit like clockwork. They are all stick thin with BMI that makes the cardio squad dump on everyone else.

[Sheeda]

Where do these nutritional researchers get their grants?

I rarely eat sweets and I don't do artificial sweeteners. I don't eat a lot of other stuff, due to food allergies. I eat about one serving of red meat a week, and maybe two servings of fish. I get a lot of exercise and keep a garden, which provides at least something for our plates from March until November. This time of year, I can gather an entire meal out of it. So I don't get a lot of preservatives in my diet, either.

One thing I have discovered over the years... if I want to find myself cleaning out closets at 3am, I should eat a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

Yes sugar makes me, an adult, bounce off the wall, because I have no tolerance for it. If I eat it for a while, the effects diminish. It's just like that first cup of coffee after a month or two without.

So if you're going to study the effects of sugar on little kids, you'd better put them on the wagon for a while, first. Lower their tolerance a little, or you'll have to feed them their weight in sugar to get a response. (and most of the children I know would be happy to try...)

This will never happen, because NO parent would be able to suffer through THAT level of withdrawal. I swear I have hummingbirds for nieces and nephews. They exist entirely on sugar water. I don't even like to be around them when they are jonesing for their next sugar fix, so I can't imagine how they'd be after a day or three without sweeteners.

Let's do a study on that.

[thieves44]

We have to eat meat. Utterwise there would be to many of those evil cows running around. Their poop stinks too.

[Sean]

Read the ADD Answer; it gives very detailed descriptions of how your diet affects ADD.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452286905?ie=UTF8&tag=holddadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0452286905

Another book by the same author, The IQ Answer, discusses how food affects all aspects of brain function.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670037842?ie=UTF8&tag=holddadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0670037842