While fad diets go in and out of vogue quickly, the basic behavior of demonizing one macronutrient over another is a long-sustained trend. The first macronutrient to receive the ire and consequential avoidance of dieters was fat. The logic went that if your body had too much fat, then it must be caused by eating too much fat. This idea gave way to the ideology that as long as a food was fat free, it was healthy. This turned out to be very, very wrong. Fat-free cookies, crackers, and whatever else the food industry turned out, as well as the fat-free foods they could find to label as such, sold well. All of a sudden, fat-free candies looked like a healthy choice.
Enter the diabetes epidemic and the Atkins Diet. Carbs were the next macro under attack, and the Atkins Diet paved the way for a new era of fad diets—the low-carb diet. These types of diets focused on significantly reducing or completely excluding carbs. Bacon became a health food, and bananas became a “bad” food.
Through all these dietary trends, consumers continued to want the foods they were used to, adjusting their consumption to fit the latest trend. If you remove an ingredient from a food, but still need the same volume and texture of the original product, you’ve got to fill that void with another ingredient. Food additives entered the mix.
Among all of these trends, carbohydrates still take the brunt of the vilification of the diet industry. With a significant amount of the U.S. population suffering from diabetes or pre-diabetes, it makes sense to watch for sugar. Is there a simple, healthy way to restore a well-rounded diet to the mainstream?
Let’s look at how anti-carb ideology affects people and their health.
Read the following article and then answer the questions to decide if the article has any validity.
Awesome and Attractive: The Truth about the Potato Hack
1. True or false? The article provides valid information about the author’s expertise, credentials, or title.
a. True
b. False
2. Where did the author find out about the “Potato Hack”?
a. Facebook and his buddies in the fitness industry
b. Scientific studies he came across while doing resistant-start research
c. From a registered dietitian creating a personalized diet plan for him
d. None of the above
3. Scrolling over the links in the article reveals that most links are to other blogs on the same website, other bodybuilding websites the author likes, and supplements.
True or false? This is a sign of a credible article.
a. True
b. False
4. Which audience does the author repeatedly say the article is intended for?
a. Anyone, because it is health information the public could benefit from
b. Individuals on a carbohydrate-restrictive diet due to type II diabetes
c. Individuals following the Paleo diet, which restricts processed foods
d. None of the above
5. The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses is known as __________________.
a. confounding evidence
b. due diligence
c. the scientific method
d. confirmation bias
6. True or False? The “Potato Hack” is eating 2 to 5 pounds of potatoes for several days. On average, 1 pound of potatoes contains 347 calories. The “hack” most likely works as a result of caloric restriction.
a. True
b. False
7. The author states that the “Potato Hack” works because of the resistant starch in potatoes and then mentions a study on resistant starch. The study is neither in the “Potato Hack” nor is cited. This situation is an example of which of the following?
a. Confounding bias
b. Poor-quality research
c. Non-credible content
d. All of the above
8. True or False? Since potatoes are a naturally occurring food, the “Potato Hack” can’t be harmful to anyone.
a. True
b. False
9. True or False? The author suggests that the diet works because of the resistant starch in potatoes and recommends different ways to cook the potatoes. The resistant starch in potatoes is broken down when they are cooked.
a. True
b. False
