Food. Work Ethic.

I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately and they seem to think red meat causes cancer.Causes. That’s a strong word. Moreover, they’ve been telling me that fat causes cancer. The last I heard, these were two things that most people enjoyed: olive oil, avacados, and steak. What could be wrong those?

I think what has happened is that we in America come from a Puritanical upbringing, which isn’t necessarily bad, whether you are Buddhist or Baptist. It is great for economic matters–the Puritan work ethic is one of the forces cited by Max Weber as the reason for the development of Capitalism.

“Weber cited the writings of Benjamin Franklin, which emphasized frugality, hard work and thrift, but were mostly free of spiritual content. Weber also attributed the success of mass production partly to the Protestant ethic. Only after expensive luxuries were disdained, could individuals accept the uniform products, such as clothes and furniture …“[1]

So it was a sort of asceticism that Weber ascribed to the Protestant work ethic, as it was played out in the writings of Benjamin Franklin, and in our society at large. Americans’ idea of health and fitness is bred in this idea of forgoing pleasure for the greater good.

Fat tastes good. There is no denying this. The chemical structure of lipids is one that feels good in our mouths. The molecules slide smoothly against each other, giving us that creamy taste often tasted in butter, nuts, dark chocolate, and especially a nice steak. Compare that to the sandpaper appeal of a bean. Somehow, people have gotten the idea through false profits like PETA and Dean Ornish that fat is bad and meat is worse. By giving up the pleasures of whole foods and indulging in the bizarre low-fat diets these people propose, they offer us deliverance from diabetes and poor health.

There is no evidence whatsoever to back them up. Period. What matters is what food does to your body. Fat has almost no hormonal response. Sugar and carbohydrate drive insulin and insulin drives fat storage.

We have come to believe that the only way to a healthy weight and health is through the path of spending multiple boring hours per week running or doing “cardio,” whatever that is. The downside is that both our diets and our exercise are necessarily worse. Spending more time exercising more efficiently (not boring, long distance running every day)–by using movements that elicit responses in our bodies that make us stronger and leaner–we actually do become more fit. We experience broad increases in performance over broad time and modal domains. In layman’s speech, that means we can do Fran faster. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather do a 4 minute Fran over a 60 minute run … On the diet side, eating foods that taste good to us, and are good for us, like meats, nuts, fruits, and vegetables (notice the obvious lack of microwave diet foods) our health improves, as does our fitness.
Don’t accept the dogma of low-fat, long distance. Food–as in real food–tastes good, leaves us feeling good, and makes us perform well. Functional fitness makes us stronger, faster, and healthier. Can we not also agree that it is enjoyable? If you still have a penchant for some asceticism, take some of that aggressive energy out on soy, grains, or Krispy Kreme.