Debunking food, fat, and fitness myths

[rachelmanija]

I would like your best recs for in-depth articles, studies, or books on the most cutting-edge current knowledge about nutrition, body weight, and health.

I am NOT interested in basic articles about very well-known ideas like fat will kill you, carbs will kill you, meat will kill you, anything your grandma wouldn't recognize as food such as everything but cabbage and turnips will kill you, etc.

I am also NOT interested in articles with a primarily political bent (i.e., "pushing diets on women is based on sexism/capitalism not science;") I agree with that, but I'm looking for stuff where the meat is science and the politics is the side dish rather than the reverse.

I'm looking for more in-depth, up-to-date information on topics including but not limited to...

- Do we actually know anything about nutrition, given the every-five-year swings between "eggs are cardioprotective/eggs are a heart attack on a plate," "fat is the Devil/carbs are the Devil," etc? If so, what is it and how do we know it?

- What is the actual science on grains (and no, I don't mean Wheat Belly)?

- What is the best and most cutting-edge knowledge on gaining strength?

- What is the actual science on the causes of Type 2 diabetes, why its prevalence has risen so much, and its association with obesity?

- What is the actual knowledge of the diet and health of "cavemen?"

- What is the actual science on being fat, thin, and in-between in terms of health? For instance, is it better to be fat and active than "normal weight" and sedentary? (I know the answer but I'm looking for something that goes into this in-depth.)

- What is the deal with "calorie reduction makes you healthier and live longer" vs. "dieting is bad for you?"

I'm already familiar with Michael Pollan, Barbara Ehrenreich, Mark's Daily Apple, Diet Cults, Body of Truth, and The Starvation Experiment. And lots more but those are the things I get recced a lot already.

Comments

[telophase]

This is a few years old, but IIRC, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain was a good look at what we know about exercise ca. 2008 (1st edition) and 2013 (2nd edition).

[rachelmanija]

Thanks! I've been meaning to read that, so thanks for reminding me.

[telophase]

There's also a BBC documentary titled Why are Thin People Not Fat? that replicates an experiment in which researchers took a group of "naturally" thin people and had them over-eat to see how fast and how much weight they'd gain, and how easy or hard it was for them.

They also looked at a couple of other questions, such as how fast the stomach empties after eating when eating a meal with a lot of water in it (like a thick soup) or the same meal with the water separate. I'll let you discover exactly how they did that experiment. :)

The doc itself is found illegally uploaded on various sites--the YouTube version I watched is no longer available, but Dr Google tells me that it's up on Vimeo at the moment as well as a few shadier-looking sites.