Is Nutrition Too Confusing?

You only have to look at a handful of comments on this blog to see that everyone has their own idea of what is 'healthy' and what is not, and some are pretty out there. No wonder anyone looking to improve their health through diet has such a hard time deciding what's right for them.

"Consume carbohydrates that are as close to their natural, unprocessed state as possible."

That's pretty sound advice.

"Put nutrition in it’s place in a wider framework of a healthy lifestyle."

I don't know if everyone who reads that would understand it.

"If we are concentrating on the glycemic index of a carbohydrate food, why are we worrying about fat?"

Some experts, Dr. John Berardi, Ph.D. is one of them, recommend eating protein with fat and carbs with protein.

iFitandHealthy said:
Some experts, Dr. John Berardi, Ph.D. is one of them, recommend eating protein with fat and carbs with protein.[...]

I agree with the above comments. I think that's why some famous guy had 'The Sandwich" named after him! :-)

Here are some more confusing news to tell you:

New research just came in and here's a new shocking:

Diet soda is now good for you. New studies show that diet soda can cut the risk of getting a heart attack by 25 percent. Sounds too great to be true? Well, I say, there are plenty of other foods that can cut the risk of heart attacks. By the way, I stopped drinking soda all together more than a year ago, and won't drink another sip. But...well, it's their say.

And here's some sweet news: Ice cream is now good for you. Research showed that a half cup serving of ice cream a day reduced the risk of getting hip fractures, and the more ice cream a person ate, the stronger the bone density was. It looks like that I can now go to Ice Cream parlors without the guilt.
BUT, one thing, Ice cream is fattening, and choose the regular ice cream sundae without the brownie or any "cookie or processed food" based topping, aim for natural food toppings such as coconut flakes, walnuts, and chocolate chips and avoid the jimmies, OREO cookie crumbs, or any baked stuff, these toppings contain trans fats. And eat ice cream in moderation. Don't over splurge on it, because it's dense on calories.

But as far as the GL, or the GI is, the glycemic index is how fast your blood sugar will go when you eat it, and the glycemic load is how high your blood sugar is. The Insulin index is simple, because high GL foods means that your insulin will go up further.

And many people thought "low fat diets" on with it. Fokes, low fat diets are unhealthy. You need to put moderate amounts of a variety of naturally ocurring fats (both unsaturated fats and saturated fats), with no more than a third of your fat (but no less than a fifth) intake in saturated fats), since unsaturated fats intakes some forms of vitamin A, and all forms of vitemins E and K, while saturated fats absorbs vitamin D. Water absorbs vitamins B and C. Trans fats (except for conjugated linoleic acid found in animal products) blocks the absorption of vitamins, clogs up arteries, and damages your organs.

The key: Moderation. Eat healthy carbs (fruits and vegetables), a healthy balance of the natural fats (equal amounts of omega 3s and 6s), complete proteins, including lean animal protein. The source of the problems are that we are eating too much junk foods like cakes, frappes, cookies, crackers, submarines, burgers, fries, fried foods, and sugary drinks. We should be for now change our diets mostly to fruits, vegtables, whole grains, grass-fed meat and dairy, poultry, fish, nuts, and eggs.

For those that want an explaination of glycemic index. I'm sure you can follow the link for the other terms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

I try to follow the rule that less processed is better for most foods, not only carbs. I try to eat things like fresh veggies, fresh fruits, oats, eggs, nuts, chicken, and yogurt. If you get too wrapped up in all the gimmicks, you really do run the risk of getting exceptionally confused.

Nutrition by itself is simple: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc.

It's nutrition "news" that's confusing.

Sorry one paragraph copied it self. I thought I had fixed it.

A lot of people call themselves experts without any training and we get bombarded with bad conflicting info.
I was training to be a personal trainer and almost anyone can call themselves a trainer
Just like almost anyone can call themselves a nutritionist a nutritionist
While there is certification for both, it wildly differs.

Also the media will post almost any study without back checking it.
I found out that the milk removes the health property of tea study was a real joke and I hear there was about only 15/16 people took part in the study.

I was thinking of getting certified as a nutritionist because it was so confusing. I wonder if they are less confused then we are.

I'm glad you brought this up.

Just to add to the comments on the training issue - while anyone can call themselves a nutritionist - training or not - because you don't need to have any certificates - the use of the term Registered Dietitian has a strict set of educational requirements which includes a degree and completion of an internship program - as wellas passing the RD exam and mainitaining continuing educational credits. I personally would only use a RD - not that you don't have some knowledgeable nutritionists.

As for diets being confusing - they are. Even when they are effective - regardless of what they are - what works for one person may not work for another - different metabolism, lifestyle etc. Ultimately, it is my personal belief that you have to tailor everything to what is right for you - and for me Calories in must be less than calories out - as simple as that!

As for studies being reported. I NEVER LISTEN to them unless I can see the actual study for myself. People draw conclusions from retrospective studies - shouldn't be done - use small sample sizes, don't use a wide population, don't eliminate confounding variables and use unrelated trends from unrelated studies to draw conclusions.

Kenneth C Buckholdt said:
I wonder if they are less confused then we are.[...]

There's is a lot of in-fighting amongst experts. If you're not confused, you're misinformed! :) I agree with many of the comments... stick to whole natural foods.

I agree with the above. What about all the differing views on dairy and weight loss? First it's low fat dairy , then this talk about high fat dairy instead, or maybe dairy doesn't do anything for weight loss at all. If we followed all the advice from studies out there about diet and weight loss, we'd be contradicting ourselves.

As ginger pointed out, good nutrition hasn't ever changed: whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans.

The only thing that changes is the rubbish that big industries tout as being healthy.

Keep your diet simple and based on unprocessed plant foods, and you won't go wrong. And don't forget to ignore the latest 'fad diet' and 'miracle' weight loss program or food.

As usual, common-sense rules. But also as usual, common-sense isn't that common!

Actually, Dr. John Berardi recommends protein and veggies at every meal and only eating starchy carbs with meals in the 1-2 hour window after exercise. The more you exercise, the more starchy carbs you get. He is a huge advocate for fish oil supplements and healthy fats with every meal. Dr. Beradi has a very sound program called Precision Nutrition which I purchased and which makes quite a bit of sense.

I agree with Ginger & Daharia, we do know the basics of good nutrition: healthy oils, whole grains, lots of fresh fruits and veggies, etc. The problem with food science is it usually looks at things piecemeal, one little bit at a time: glycemic index, cholesterol level, satiety index, anti-oxidants, omega-3, etc, etc.

As consumers, and dieters, I think we need to look at the big picture and follow the basic principles of healthy eating without getting confused by the details. I like the Mediterranean diet for this purpose, as a general guide. This is the best researched diet with broad guidelines for healthy eating and weightloss.

Weight loss and nutrition can be very simple if you stay away from going from diet to diet and just learn the basics of healthy eating.

Proper suggestions on diet issues will work.Take the food supplements as per the doctors suggestion and do regular physical excercises.If possible do Yoga which helps you in overcoming your weight easily.

I think there are too many conflicting studies out there. Weight loss and nutrition really come down to common sense.

I don't think we need to suffer as much as we do with weight loss. But I really object to analyzing every bite we eat for fat and sugar and salt... too much work. Eating anything to excess is unhealthy. Just keep your diet balanced. Then get out there and enjoy life.