Our Fascination with Fixes.
Yesterday's top story in the health section of most American newspapers pertained to a study conducted by the National Institute of Health on the effects of low-fat diets on cancer and heart disease rates in women. What the study found is that eating low-fat diets had no profound effects on lowering the likelihood of incurring cancer, heart attacks or strokes through eating diets low in fat.
Accordingly, they also found no connection with their low-fat dieters and weight loss. So, there you have it, America--rejoice! rejoice! The looming specter of health keeping you from your Little Debbie snack-cakes is gone!
In the New York Times article by Gina Kolata, whose name stokes images of boat drinks and paper maiche umbrellas, several prominent physician and dieticians pronounced that this was the end all be all in the search for links between food and disease. While I am no specialist in the fields that these men and women claim to be, I find this hard to digest. Whether it was Ms. Kolata's reporting (which is linked on the sidebar here)which was slanted towards this being the end of a longstanding debate, or my own feelings on this subject, reading this sent waves of panic through me as I thought of how many people might read this.
Scores of people attempt every day to struggle through the process of changing their lives from sedentary ones to active ones, from poor eating habits to healthy ones, and from reactionary medicine to preventative medicine, and reading this type of article would do nothing but damage their resolve.
One of the doctors featured in the article, a Barbara V. Howard from MedStar Research Institute, had it right:
"We are not going to reverse any of the chronic diseases in this country by changing the composition of the diet. People are always thinking it is what they ate. They are not looking at how much they ate or that they smoke or that they are sedentary."
She has it right, in my opinion. The American mind, in the broadest sense, tends to look to eliminate possibilities as quickly as possible, and by eliminating food as a prevailing factor in disease or physical condition, the floodgates have swung open. What needs to be addressed is lifestyle. Announcements like this can be interpreted in the worst way by people looking at difficult changes in their lives. Why start trying now? The National Institute of Health says that it does not matter how and what I eat.
The quick fix is evident here, and the path to changing our view of health is again blocked by convenience. Adages aside, becoming healthy and changing who you are requires work, commitment and in this case, blinders.
Accordingly, they also found no connection with their low-fat dieters and weight loss. So, there you have it, America--rejoice! rejoice! The looming specter of health keeping you from your Little Debbie snack-cakes is gone!
In the New York Times article by Gina Kolata, whose name stokes images of boat drinks and paper maiche umbrellas, several prominent physician and dieticians pronounced that this was the end all be all in the search for links between food and disease. While I am no specialist in the fields that these men and women claim to be, I find this hard to digest. Whether it was Ms. Kolata's reporting (which is linked on the sidebar here)which was slanted towards this being the end of a longstanding debate, or my own feelings on this subject, reading this sent waves of panic through me as I thought of how many people might read this.
Scores of people attempt every day to struggle through the process of changing their lives from sedentary ones to active ones, from poor eating habits to healthy ones, and from reactionary medicine to preventative medicine, and reading this type of article would do nothing but damage their resolve.
One of the doctors featured in the article, a Barbara V. Howard from MedStar Research Institute, had it right:
"We are not going to reverse any of the chronic diseases in this country by changing the composition of the diet. People are always thinking it is what they ate. They are not looking at how much they ate or that they smoke or that they are sedentary."
She has it right, in my opinion. The American mind, in the broadest sense, tends to look to eliminate possibilities as quickly as possible, and by eliminating food as a prevailing factor in disease or physical condition, the floodgates have swung open. What needs to be addressed is lifestyle. Announcements like this can be interpreted in the worst way by people looking at difficult changes in their lives. Why start trying now? The National Institute of Health says that it does not matter how and what I eat.
The quick fix is evident here, and the path to changing our view of health is again blocked by convenience. Adages aside, becoming healthy and changing who you are requires work, commitment and in this case, blinders.
posted by Unknown @ 6:05 AM
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