Consider the whole

I love variety. But in determining cause and effect, variety gets in the way. We are complex beings with numerous and varied choices. Just a couple of days ago in my Statistics textbook I read about confounding variables (and yes, I am often 'confounded' as I try to keep up with the young brains of my Carleton classmates). I appreciate Michael Pollan’s reminder that we really must pay attention to confounding variables and consider the whole picture as we consider food choices:

“The Mediterranean diet is widely believed to be one of the most healthful ways to eat, yet much of what we know about it is based on studies of people living on the island of Crete in the 1950s, who in many respects lived lives very different from our own. Yes, they ate lots of olive oil and little meat. But they also did more physical labor. They fasted regularly. They ate a lot of wild greens -- weeds. And, perhaps most important, they consumed far fewer total calories than we do. Similarly, much of what we know about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet is based on studies of Seventh Day Adventists, who muddy the nutritional picture by drinking absolutely no alcohol and never smoking. These extraneous but unavoidable factors are called, aptly, ''confounders.'' One last example: People who take supplements are healthier than the population at large, but their health probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the supplements they take -- which recent studies have suggested are worthless. Supplement-takers are better-educated, more-affluent people who, almost by definition, take a greater-than-normal interest in personal health -- confounding factors that probably account for their superior health.” [http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87]

Beyond “whole picture” to also “whole foods,” consider these words, again penned by Pollan [possibly a bit irreverent, but really quite helpful]:

“Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are
a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number
-- or that contain high-fructose corn syrup. None of these characteristics are necessarily harmful in and of themselves, but all of them are reliable markers for foods that have been highly processed.” [http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87]