Understanding Food
Understanding Food:
Why they say what they say
1
Understanding Food
Americans have been told for decades that gaining weight is a simple equation: calories in minus calories out equals weight gained. Time has proven this theory wrong over and over again, yet still we think that if we can only starve ourselves that much more, we can get thin and healthy. It’s time to learn otherwise. This report is excerpted from a larger book entitled “How to Eat Food”, available on my website. “How to Eat Food” details the solution to the bedeviling situation described below. Introduction: My Story Understanding Food -- How We Got Here Part 1: Ancel Keys Part 2: The American Heart Association Part 3: The Food Groups Part 4: Modern Dietary Debate Epilogue: What’s Next? Appendix 1: Sources and other books to read
2
My Story
Late summer, 2006: my wife and I are in Sequim, Washington, visiting her mother. It was a toasty afternoon, and my mother-in-law mentions that there’s a concert going down at the local Coneheads drive-thru. We decide to walk over and hook ourselves up with some music and ice cream. One block later, my wife’s hand shoots out and grabs the fence of the house we’re walking in front of. She clutches her chest and starts to gasp. It wasn’t a heart attack, but it was a palpitation accompanied by severe asthma. At the time, my wife dealt with asthma on a regular basis, as well as sleeping problems, asthma, anxiety, infertility, severe PMS, hypertension, mood swings, and heart issues. She also weighed more than she will allow me to tell you in this book. She had always been able to deal with her health problems with a resigned smile until that day. Not being able to walk a block with her mom and her husband had her in tears on the sidewalk, suffering a nervous breakdown. Fast-forward eighteen months, to February 2008. My wife has been pregnant since Thanksgiving, and has lost 60 pounds since the sidewalk incident. We’re in our auto-repair shop in
Why they say what they say
1
Understanding Food
Americans have been told for decades that gaining weight is a simple equation: calories in minus calories out equals weight gained. Time has proven this theory wrong over and over again, yet still we think that if we can only starve ourselves that much more, we can get thin and healthy. It’s time to learn otherwise. This report is excerpted from a larger book entitled “How to Eat Food”, available on my website. “How to Eat Food” details the solution to the bedeviling situation described below. Introduction: My Story Understanding Food -- How We Got Here Part 1: Ancel Keys Part 2: The American Heart Association Part 3: The Food Groups Part 4: Modern Dietary Debate Epilogue: What’s Next? Appendix 1: Sources and other books to read
2
My Story
Late summer, 2006: my wife and I are in Sequim, Washington, visiting her mother. It was a toasty afternoon, and my mother-in-law mentions that there’s a concert going down at the local Coneheads drive-thru. We decide to walk over and hook ourselves up with some music and ice cream. One block later, my wife’s hand shoots out and grabs the fence of the house we’re walking in front of. She clutches her chest and starts to gasp. It wasn’t a heart attack, but it was a palpitation accompanied by severe asthma. At the time, my wife dealt with asthma on a regular basis, as well as sleeping problems, asthma, anxiety, infertility, severe PMS, hypertension, mood swings, and heart issues. She also weighed more than she will allow me to tell you in this book. She had always been able to deal with her health problems with a resigned smile until that day. Not being able to walk a block with her mom and her husband had her in tears on the sidewalk, suffering a nervous breakdown. Fast-forward eighteen months, to February 2008. My wife has been pregnant since Thanksgiving, and has lost 60 pounds since the sidewalk incident. We’re in our auto-repair shop in