Paleo diet - real or fantasy? From Scientic American

[Melalvai]

I'd love to hear more about that course, Mel.

https://class.coursera.org/globalfoo...01/class/index
Not to hijack the thread further into a discussion of MOOCs, but a professor recently tried to argue that MOOCs are the worst way to learn because they are just video lectures and everyone already knows that listening to someone ramble is the worst way to learn. Well, this particular MOOC is as far from that as you can get. There are reading assignments and you can watch videos of him interviewing other experts. But there are also really interesting assignments, like looking at 25 pictures of families surrounded by 1 week's worth of food from around the world, and answering questions about which country is the most/least ____ (familiar, healthy, sustainable, etc).

One of this week's assignments was to pretend you are the CEO of a Big Food company (like Coca Cola) and write a speech that you will give to your shareholders about the direction you are going to take the company. It's not enough to parrot back all the problems with Big Food/ Big Snacks we've been learning about, we have to think about the company's motivations as well.

[OakLeaf]

Thanks!

It's not enough to parrot back all the problems with Big Food/ Big Snacks we've been learning about, we have to think about the company's motivations as well.

Well this thread is so far from where it started [GUILTY! GUILTY!] ... one of the very best things I've read on that general topic was actually a novel, Gain, by Richard Powers. It wasn't really my thing, since I prefer novels that make me feel and nonfiction that makes me think. But this one really made me think, in a very deft and nonjudgmental way.

[Irulan]

as the one who was OP, I don't mind the drift at all. The whole point was to foster some discussion on this.

[Catrin]

Interesting article and discussion. I agree with the statement that a lot of the benefits people are seeing from the "paleo" diet are due to cutting out all the processed garbage...

This is probably true for some, but I cut out processed food several years before "going paleo/primal". FOR ME I think the problem with grains/seeds isn't so much the gluten but the anti-nutrients (basically phytic acids) that get past my leaky gut into my system. Basically these are elements in the whole grain that have evolved to fight against the grain or seed being absorbed by the body. They aren't a problem if you don't have gut issues, which I do. There are ways of treating whole grains to make this less of a problem (sprouting and so forth), but frankly I prefer to get my calories and nutrition elsewhere.

Interesting discussion!

[Aromig]

I took a Coursera class that just finished sponsored by Vanderbilt regarding nutrition. I found it very interesting (and you couldn't beat the price - free). I found it especially interesting to find out about food labeling laws in this (and other) countries. The professor also interviewed the author of a book about diet/nutrition around the world -- I must have seen most of the same pictures of families from around the world surrounded by the week's worth of food. It was a stark contrast to see the American families surrounded by a kitchen full of food and then a refugee family from Africa with a few vegetables and a small bag of grain.

[Melalvai]

I must have seen most of the same pictures of families from around the world surrounded by the week's worth of food. It was a stark contrast to see the American families surrounded by a kitchen full of food and then a refugee family from Africa with a few vegetables and a small bag of grain.

Here's the photos from your & my classes (they're split across 2 pages): http://www.time.com/time/photogaller...626519,00.html and http://www.time.com/time/photogaller...645016,00.html

[Eden]

Many of the original photos from that book came to a local museum here in Seattle as part of an exhibition about food and food culture. It was quite fun to see them printed huge.

[OakLeaf]

I saw the photo collage when it made the rounds a month or two ago, but without the text about the cost and the favorite foods. That was interesting. To me the biggest contrast was not the quantities, which you had to pretty much expect, but how little real food was in pretty much all of the "first world" families' kitchens.