Sorting Through Nutritional Information

I believe that each person needs to choose their own individual diet or food plan. Every diet works for someone,but every diet doesn’t work for everyone.

The choice of a diet, or food plan, needs to be based on the food and information that is available to each person, as well as a person’s personal preferences. Cultural issues and one’s tolerance for hunger are also important.

My own food and diet choices are a continual “experiment-of-one”. Dieting is my Hobby, and I am always learning more about it. I read diet books, I think about the information in them, and I try out different diets, and different food plans.

I’ve learned something new about myself from every diet I’ve used, and many of the new foods and recipes have become favorites that stay with me long after a particular diet is History.

 This is the process I used for weight-loss, and it is the way I maintain that weight-loss.

The choice of a food plan might seem to be an obvious or easy one, but each of us has a cultural and family food history that strongly influences what foods and eating patterns we can tolerate.

Also a great deal of misinformation exists about nutrition, dieting, weight-loss, and how the body processes energy. This often makes that food and diet choice difficult and confusing.

According to the American Dietetic Association’s (ADA) Nutrition and You: Trends 2000 survey, one in five consumers report being confused by news reports that give dietary advice.

Ten Red Flags of Junk Science

The Food and Nutrition Science Alliance (FANSA), a partnership of the ADA, American Society for Clinical Nutrition, and the American Society for Nutritional Sciences and the Institute of Food Technologists, has developed the “Ten Red Flags of Junk Science” to help recognize nutrition misinformation:

• Recommendations that promise a quick fix
• Dire warnings of danger from a single product or regimen
• Simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex study
• Recommendations based on a single study
• Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable scientific organizations
• Lists of “good” and “bad” foods
• Recommendations made to help sell a product
• Recommendations based on studies published without peer review

Recommendations from studies that ignore differences among individuals or groups

 So, my advice is to continually gather and process information, and make your food and diet choices based on your body’s needs, together with your own personal preferences and tolerance for hunger.