Tag Archives: fad diets

The Potato Diet

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A couple of decades ago, a nutrition professor told me that one of the reasons she loves being a dietitian is because when people hear what she does for a living, they are interested and want to talk with her about the field. In contrast, most practicing dietitians I know dislike talking about their work, so much so that some of them purposely shade what they do, such as saying, “I work in healthcare,” or “I am a therapist,” in order to discourage follow-up questions. It’s not that these dietitians hate their jobs or anything; rather, they do not want to get sucked into irritating conversations during their free time.

Personally, I have found that quickly adding that I specialize in eating disorders tends to keep at bay the annoying questions and commentary that are more likely to arise when I simply say that I am a dietitian and leave it at that. My approach, while usually successful, still has its failures, as evidenced by an experience we had last month in a Puerto Rican swimming pool.

Joanne and I were on the island vacationing with our daughter, and we ended up in conversation with another couple who were also enjoying the hotel pool with their son. Upon hearing what we do for work, the father began talking about a favorite dietary approach of his: the potato diet.

Given that the potato diet is actually a real thing, let’s talk about this guy’s diet of choice. According to him, the potato diet consists of eating nothing but potatoes and supplementing with vitamin E because, according to him, potatoes – when eaten in abundance – contain sufficient amounts of all nutrients except for vitamin E. He also claimed that the diet “works” without ever defining what constitutes success in this context, although he did make mention of a celebrity who supposedly lost a significant amount of weight on the potato diet, thus suggesting that “works” means something along the lines of “will cause someone to lose weight.”

Okay. So, according the USDA’s nutrient database, a generic large russet potato, including its flesh and skin, is said to provide 292 calories. For a generic person who needs 2,000 calories per day (and many of us need more), that means eating nearly seven of these large potatoes a day. Putting aside the feasibility of that for the moment, would seven potatoes per day really contribute enough of each nutrient besides vitamin E? Let’s take a look.

The low end of the recommended carbohydrate range is 45% of total calories, so the person needing 2,000 calories per day would need at least 900 calories, or 225 grams, of carbohydrate from these seven potatoes. Because potatoes are densely packed with carbohydrates, they would easily exceed this minimum. Check mark.

What about protein? Estimated protein needs are based on body weight, activity level, and medical conditions, so let’s say that the person in question weighs 130 pounds, is generally sedentary, and has no medical conditions that would influence their protein needs. The low end of their protein range would be about 47 grams per day. Their seven potatoes would contribute 55 grams, so check mark again. If the person is heavier, more active, or has higher protein needs for any other reason, this check mark is probably replaced with a red X.

How about fat? The low end of the recommended fat range is 20% of total calories, so this person would need at least 400 calories from fat, or approximately 44 grams. Their seven potatoes only contribute a couple of grams total, so a huge red X here.

Unfortunately, the low fat content spells trouble for the fat-soluble vitamins. Russet potatoes do actually contain some vitamin A and K, but too bad the dieter’s body will be unable to absorb it due to the lack of dietary fat. The same would be true with vitamin D if the potatoes actually contained any, which they do not.

The seven potatoes do contain enough vitamin C to stave off scurvy, and the thiamin content is enough to prevent beriberi disease, but the lack of vitamin B12 would likely cause fatigue and, if sustained long enough, possibly anemia. We could go on, talking about other micronutrients, phytochemicals, and other nutrients, but you probably already realize that the potato diet is not a great idea if the goal is any semblance of health.

But what if the goal is not actually better health but rather, say, weight loss? (And remember, weight and health are not synonymous.) Personally, I imagine that the first couple of potatoes on day one would taste great, but by potatoes six and seven, I would already be sick of them. In subsequent days, I would probably be so tired of them that I am not sure I could continue to stomach all seven even if I was still hungry. Restricting variety to just one food carries the likely intended side effect of restricting one’s intake overall, and while restriction does not always lead to weight loss, sometimes it does, at least in the short term.

And isn’t that really what the potato diet is? Just another fad diet to bring about short-term weight loss that will likely be regained plus more? Instead of focusing on our daughter and having a good time, we had to spend a portion of our vacation talking with this guy about this nonsense. See, this is why so many dietitians hesitantly offer some version of, “Umm, I work in healthcare,” and then try to change the subject.

The GOAT(’s) Fad Diet

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If you are like me, you wonder what the baserunner and first baseman talk about between pitches. When an athlete meets a peer, the dynamic is presumably different from an interaction with a fan that likely centers around adulation and an autograph.

When dietitians get together, chances are high that at some point we will touch on whatever nutrition-related fads and ridiculousness are currently hindering our work. We laugh, not because we are making fun of anybody, but because misinformation is so pervasive and challenging to our profession that sometimes all we can do is approach our upstream paddle with humor.

The deeper reality, which often goes unspoken but is silently understood, is how terribly harmful nutrition myths, bad information, half truths, and fear mongering are to our patients. All it takes is one meme, 140-character post, headline, hyperlink, or soundbite and the population is led astray in an instant. Just one celebrity endorsement carries more weight in the eyes of many than the educated stances of professionals who have dedicated their careers to the field of nutrition.

Consider Allen Campbell, personal chef for Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, and the interview he recently gave to boston.com about his clients’ diets and their shared perspectives on nutrition. Initially I chuckled at the absurdity, but I quickly remembered that hundreds if not thousands of people are likely to risk their own health as they assume this, umm, information to be fact and internalize it.

Let’s look at some of the standout excerpts.

“My philosophy starts in my own life, and with my own lifestyle and eating habits. I make conscious decisions to buy local and organic, and to stay away from GMOs, and to think about the future of the planet and the future of humans.”

He hits on nearly every current nutrition buzz phrase except for farmers markets, raw, dairy free, gluten free, and no white foods, but don’t worry, he brings those up later.

“I took a plant-based nutrition course earlier this year. It was an online course through Cornell, and it’s taught by a doctor named T. Colin Campbell, who’s behind ‘The China Study.’ My philosophy is that a plant-based diet has the power to reverse and prevent disease.”

Four or five years ago, a patient came into my office touting “The China Study” – which has been largely debunked, by the way – and told me, “A plant-based diet is the only one that heals.” She also stated, “The government puts rat poison in the water, but they just don’t tell us.” Sometimes, apparently, hyperbole and paranoia go hand in hand.

“So, 80 percent of what they [Brady and Bundchen] eat is vegetables. [I buy] the freshest vegetables. If it’s not organic, I don’t use it. And whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, beans. The other 20 percent is lean meats: grass-fed organic steak, duck every now and then, and chicken. As for fish, I mostly cook wild salmon. It’s very different than a traditional American diet. But if you just eat sugar and carbs – which a lot of people do – your body is so acidic, and that causes disease.”

Actually, most Americans get more than enough protein. Someone who ate just sugar and other carbohydrates would likely develop kwashiorkor, marasmus, or a similar problem related to protein malnutrition. We learned about these conditions in the first semester of actual nutrition school, but apparently they were never covered in Campbell’s online course.

If your body is acidic, your medical chart probably lists a diagnosis of metabolic acidosis, respiratory acidosis, or diabetic ketoacidosis – none of which are caused by overconsumption of sugar or other carbohydrates – and you are reading this blog from your hospital bed.

“Tom [Brady] recently outed Frosted Flakes and Coca-Cola on WEEI. I love that he did that. Sugar is the death of people.”

As it turns out, your brain runs on sugar, and without adequate glucose in your system, you risk a myriad of problems, including death. What Brady did was oversimplify a complex problem by scapegoating an ingredient, which plays into the fears that fuel disordered eating and eating disorders.

“No white sugar. No white flour. NO MSG. I’ll use raw olive oil, but I never cook with olive oil. I only cook with coconut oil. Fats like canola oil turn into trans fats.”

People continue to fear canola oil based on myths that run counter to actual science. Trans fats, which occur naturally in only trace amounts, are made in large quantities through a chemical process known as hydrogenation. This reaction, while not terribly complex, involves more than just sticking the substrate in the oven.

“[Tom] doesn’t eat nightshades, because they’re not anti-inflammatory. So no tomatoes, no peppers, mushrooms, or eggplants. Tomatoes trickle in every now and then, but just maybe once a month. I’m very cautious about tomatoes. They cause inflammation.”

The research supporting the notion that tomatoes cause inflammation is spotty at best, with some studies showing the exact opposite effect. The evidence is about as strong as that showing the positive impact that tomatoes might have on eyesight. Maybe if you ate more tomatoes, Tom, you would not have thrown that goal line interception against Philadelphia.

Do the kids eat the same things Tom and Gisele eat? “Yeah, I mean pretty much . . . . For snacks, I make fruit rolls from bananas, pineapple, and spirulina. Spirulina is an algae. It’s a super fruit. I dehydrate it. I dehydrate a lot of things. I have three dehydrators in their kitchen. I also make raw granola and raw chocolate chip cookies.”

I have no idea what a “super fruit” is, but I am assuming that being a fruit is a prerequisite for consideration, which excludes an algae like spirulina. Anyway, my colleagues and I consistently find that children raised in households where food is restricted tend to have significant overeating problems once they reach adulthood. Westgate SuperBooks declared Brady’s New England Patriots 9-2 co-favorites to win next month’s Super Bowl, while I will set the odds of Brady’s children bingeing on college dining hall pizza and soft serve much, much higher.

As the interview continues on, the topics turn away from general nutrition and instead touch upon examples of dishes the chef makes and his typical workday, neither of which are within the scope of this particular blog entry.

People look at Tom Brady, 38 years old and still at the top of his game, and figure his nutrition regimen must be at least partially responsible. That may be true, but as I have written before, both about Brady in particular and professional athletes in general, their upsides for rigidity are unlikely to exist for laymen, and the virtues they bestow upon their diets can be off base.

Consider Dave Scott, six-time winner of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, who famously washed off his cottage cheese before consumption in order to remove as much fat as possible because he believed a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet gave him an edge over the competition. It strikes me as more than mere coincidence that Scott was doing this in the 1980s when fear of dietary fat was at its peak.

Similarly, while I have no doubt that Brady believes his diet enables him to perform his best, let us also recognize that his eating behaviors are reflections of nearly every single one of today’s nutrition fads.

He Said, She Said: Celebrity Diets

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He Said

In an interview with ESPN at last month’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Mark Teixeira, first baseman for the New York Yankees, fielded questions about the gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diet he has reportedly been following since the off-season. Although he nicknamed his set of food rules the “no fun diet,” Teixeira praised his diet for bringing about his return to health and all-star-worthy performance based on his belief that the foods he had eliminated are inflammatory to the body.

Each time an athlete speaks up about his or her fad diet and its associated pseudoscience, life gets a little bit harder for the rest of us. Already, so much of my time with patients focuses on reeducation involving the food myths and misinformation that are so prevalent in our society. The Teixeira interview and others like it add fuel to the fire.

The problem is not that Teixeira has excluded gluten, dairy, and sugar from his diet. This is his body, his career, and his life, and I am in no position to judge him for the choices he makes regarding these entities or for whatever he believes, accurate or otherwise, about food. We all get to decide for ourselves how we want to lead our lives and what we want to believe, and he is subject to the same freedom.

Rather, the problem is how the dietary choices of athletes are framed and conveyed to the rest of us, the incorrect information and insinuations that often come along for the ride, and the bizarre phenomenon existing in our society whereby we put more stock in health advice doled out by celebrities than actual licensed healthcare professionals.

As a general theme, people tend to be more vocal about their dietary successes than their disappointments, which gives us a warped view of reality. Teixeira is not at fault for discussing his diet at the All-Star Game, not when the interviewers made a point to ask him about it. But would his diet be the subject of such conversation if his year was not going so well?

Consider his teammate, CC Sabathia, who lost a bunch of weight (temporarily, at least) after adopting a low-carbohydrate diet a couple of years ago. His diet and its associated weight loss got plenty of media attention back then, but hardly anybody seems to be talking about it now. Perhaps ESPN would have asked Sabathia about his diet at the All-Star Game if he was invited to be there, but as it turns out, he is in the midst of the second worst statistical season of his 15-year career, both of which have come after he went low-carb.

Did cutting carbs and losing weight cause Sabathia’s career to suffer? Possibly, but neither you nor I know for sure. While a correlation certainly exists, causation remains a question mark. Nutrition definitely impacts sports performance, but so does a host of other factors. Regarding Sabathia, elements like age, injury history, and general wear and tear are at play as well, not just his eating and weight.

Just as we cannot scapegoat Sabathia’s diet and lost weight for his poor play, we cannot automatically credit Teixeira’s newfound food rules for his bounce-back season. Perhaps he is simply healthy again for the first time in a long while after undergoing wrist surgery a couple of years ago. After all, except for 2013 and 2014 when he was injured, Teixeira has been one of baseball’s best players for over a decade, and it sure sounds like he was eating gluten, dairy, and sugar during all those years of dominance earlier in his career.

We see these same themes in other sports as well. A televised Novak Djokovic tennis match cannot go by without the commentators throwing in at least one mention of his gluten-free diet, which he credits for catapulting him to the status of number one player in the world. Yet, never once have I heard anybody in the media talk about the eating habits of Roger Federer, arguably the best player in the history of the sport and someone who has continued to compete at an elite level at an age well past when most tennis professionals retire. His diet consists largely of foods like cereal, pancakes, and pasta – in other words, plenty of gluten.

Could it be that Djokovic’s career took off not so much because he cut out gluten, but rather because his years of training, practice, and experience have come together during the window of prime age for a tennis player to produce great results? Similarly, perhaps Federer’s longevity, ability to stay healthy, and years of domination have less to do with pancakes and syrup and are more due to talent, hard work, smart coaching, and efficient mechanics.

If you find yourself tempted to adopt a fad diet because a successful athlete is preaching it, look at the big picture and remember that most of his or her peers are probably not following his or her diet and are also doing quite well for themselves, but their eating patterns are not as sensational and therefore not garnering the same attention.

On a more macroscopic level, challenge yourself to consider how much sense it really makes to be taking nutrition cues from an athlete or any other celebrity. My computer and telephone are essential for my work as a dietitian, and I use them daily, but I only know how to use what I believe works best for me. It would be a mistake to fancy me an IT expert, assume that I really know what I am doing in that regard, and emulate my choices. Similarly, looking to professional athletes and other celebrities as you shape your own eating makes little sense either.

 

She Said

About two months ago, there was a big buzz on the Internet (and news media) that superstar songstress/actress/business mogul Beyoncé had an “amazing” announcement to share with everyone. The plan was for her to make this announcement to all of her fans on the Good Morning America TV show, and it was going to blow everyone away. Of course, the Internet was shivering with excitement. Could it be that Beyoncé and Jay-Z are having another baby? Does Bey have a new album coming out, and is she going out on tour? Has she discovered the cure for cancer? The suspense was killing everyone!

Well, it appears that all she had to tell us was that she has found the secret to losing weight (and keeping it off) and living a fabulously healthy life. How did she achieve this, you ask? Well, by following a diet, of course! Per its website, the “22-Day Revolution” diet is a “plant-based diet designed to create lifelong habits that will empower you to live a healthier lifestyle, to lose weight, or to reverse serious health concerns.” The diet’s author, “world-renowned exercise physiologist” Marco Borges, is on a mission to help his clients find “optimum wellness” by eating a completely vegan diet. According to Borges, by eating “nutrition-packed” vegan foods, people will be able to “transform their lives, bodies and habits.”

Ugh. Can we please just stop the insanity? Every time a new celebrity announces their latest and greatest diet discovery, it makes me cringe. Given that the majority of my patients are those that struggle with eating disorders (ED), I am fully aware that these diets can be the gateway to a life full of pain and suffering, as most EDs start when one decides to diet. Young girls are especially vulnerable to these celebrity diets because they often put these actresses, musicians, and models on an impossible pedestal. Even though most magazine images are photoshopped nowadays, most young girls are not aware of this and aspire to be as lean and slender as Gwyneth Paltrow or as fit and toned as Kate Hudson.

The fact of the matter is that celebrities are not like the rest of us – they are the minority, not the majority. Even if they did not diet like they do, I doubt that their physiques would be much different than they are now. It’s genetics, pure and simple, and they have “won” in the genetics lottery of life. So, even if you go low-carb like Gwen Stefani or Paleo like Megan Fox, it’s highly unlikely that you will end up looking like these celebrities.

These diets or “lifestyle changes” touted by celebs do much more damage than good. Not only do these diets tell us that we cannot trust our bodies’ hunger and fullness signals (and therefore need to follow food rules to be “healthy”), but they also give us a nearly impossible goal of looking like these celebrities if we eat like them. And if someone is predisposed to EDs, each new celebrity diet is like lighting a match and tossing it into a powder keg – nothing good will come from it.

My advice? Whenever you hear about a new celebrity diet that promises to help you lose weight and keep it off, turn back the clock, or magically cure your health condition, please change the channel, toss out the magazine, or click on another website. Celebrities don’t know what’s healthiest for you to eat – only your body knows that!