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When seeking information on weight loss and nutrition, most people figure asking the experts will reveal the best advice. But with so many experts telling us to do different things, how can we sort through the facts and the “educated” guesses?
According to an online video created by Sott.net, a research project aimed toward analyzing different news items, doctors may not always know exactly what they’re talking about when it comes to what humans should eat.
The video reported that in a 2009 survey of 109 medical schools, researchers found three-quarters of those schools didn’t even have a course dedicated to nutrition.
So if doctors aren’t studying nutrition specifically, how are they certified to tell us what is and isn’t good for us?
When it comes to dieting, many women today believe anything the doc says, goes. However, an article by Health.com said perhaps it's safer to go with one’s gut instinct when discussing dieting options with a doctor.
According to the article, some doctors are “pushing the limits of what’s medically acceptable” by prescribing dangerous drugs or offering treatments that haven’t even been proven to work.
With all the different diet trends and fads today, many women turn to experts to tell them which ones are safe and which aren’t.
For example, many doctors offer the HCG diet plan, which includes eating just 500 calories per day and taking daily injections of a pregnancy hormone.
People who take injections of the hormone run the risk of side effects such as blood clots, depression, headaches, and breast tenderness.
According to George Blackburn, MD, PhD, associate of the Division of Nutrition at Havard Medical School, it would be “unethical” for a physician to tell patients the HCG diet will work.
“There have been numerous studies of the HCG diet, all of which demonstrate that it works no better than a placebo,” Blackburn said.
So where should women turn when they want to find an effective diet that keeps them healthy and aids in weight loss?
Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto,” suggests we should make our diets less complicated and simply “get off the modern western diet.”
“After spending several years trying to answer the supposedly incredibly complicated question of how we should eat in order to be maximally healthy, I discovered the answer was shockingly simple: eat real food, not too much of it, and more plants than meat,” Pollan said.
Pollan suggested people can live healthy lifestyles by simply cutting out the “food products," also known as processed foods, replacing them with real foods, watching portion sizes and increasing fruit and vegetable intake while taking it easy on the protein.
Although it seems simple, doesn’t it make perfect sense? And it doesn’t even take a degree to figure out.
Sources:
http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20494521,00.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-pollan/food-rules-a-completely-d_b_410173.html
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227622-Connecting-the-Dots-Video-Series-Nutrition
Reviewed June 10, 2011
Edited by Alison Stanton
Kate Kunkel is a journalism student minoring in nutrition at Arizona State University. She currently interns for EmpowHER and has a passion for healthy eating and fitness.
Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave a comment!
Add a Comment6 Comments
To me this just seems like another subject that is being overanalyzed by doctors and patients alike. Firstly, if anyone restricts themselves to 500 calories per day, they will lose weight and not in a good way. http://bit.ly/odE2hp
July 7, 2011 - 5:26amThis Comment
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This Comment
Is nutrition taught in medical schools? I think that is in question. I go to the doctor to get medical advice. I take into consideration when I decide how I want to handle an illness, but it is not law. Bodies are so different, to slap a cure all on is not always appropriate or necessary. I recently had a big lump in my neck with no symptoms of being sick. I didn't know what it was, someone had brought up cancer and it freaked me out. With one look from my doctor she said it was just a swollen lymph-node and with some antibiotics it would clear right up. I was grateful for her expertise and assurance that it was not a big deal, but I chose not to take the antibiotics because I knew my immune system was strong enough to take care of it. I think Micheal Pollan is just trying to encourage us to do our own thinking rather than taking those who are "practicing" medicine's every directive...pretty genius.
June 17, 2011 - 2:25pmThis Comment
Really. Is that how we should look at things? "You Vs. your Doctor". If you don't want the advice to take a medication such as antibiotics why go at all? Pollan is not the gold standard on nutrition, he's a popular writer trained in a whole different field. His quoted advice is not exactly ground breaking. " Eat less, eat good food"..genius. If his advice is all that's needed than why should nutrition be taught in medical schools? Just get his books and find a doctor who feels right and ignore their advice.
June 17, 2011 - 8:29amThis Comment
Make sure your doctor looks and feels like you want to before taking any advice.......
June 14, 2011 - 7:53amThis Comment
I find it so important to use your own judgement! Just because my doctor writes me a prescription for antibiotics doesn't mean I have to get it filled. If you pay attention, you will know your body better than anyone else and THAT is empowHERing!!
June 10, 2011 - 5:08pmThis Comment