False dichotomies: cot'd.

I'm talking about the "What causes Z, X or Y?" & "What is best, X or Y" type statements.

From http://johnbarban.com/fitness-vs-fatness-a-false-dichotomy/

Some people believe that hormonal disruption causes obesity, rather than energy excess. The vast majority of people who are overweight or obese weren't born with hormonal disruption. It's years of chronic energy excess (see Determinants of the Variability in Human Body-fat Percentage for the many reasons causing it) that make people too heavy/fat than is healthy. Once too heavy/fat than is healthy, various hormones become disrupted, causing even more energy excess. Therefore, the cause of obesity is not one thing or another, it's both (plus lots of others), which is why reversing it is so difficult.

On Peter D's blog, the title reads "You need to get calories from somewhere, should it be from carbohydrate or fat?" I say "Both. And some protein. And a bit of alcohol, too!" And I know that I shouldn't start sentences with And.

It's been a while since I posted a video of me singing. Here's one from February this year.

False dichotomies: moderation.

Feel like you're walking a tightrope? I sang this at Open Mic night on Wednesday, including the orchestration!


There's another internet "punch-up" over moderation in what people eat. Apparently, there are only two options:-

Everything in moderation,

Image from http://www.deltadentalarblog.com/2013/07/ditch-the-junk-help-your-kids-eat-better/

or Nothing in moderation.

As always, it's a case of "It all depends". If, when you're at home, you keep raiding the chocolates from the box or sweets/candies from the tin and you don't want to, don't have them in the house. However, if when you're not at home, someone offers you a chocolate or a small sweet/candy, unless you're so desperate that you'll steal some more or go to a shop and buy some more, eat the chocolate or small sweet/candy. Five grams of sugar won't harm you, even if you're diabetic.

If you have Coeliac Disease and mustn't eat any significant gluten, moderation isn't an option. Ditto, if you have impaired gut integrity and you feel better avoiding gluten. If consuming stuff doesn't cause you medical problems or make you desperate to consume even more, moderation is fine.

EDIT: Sometimes, I ramble in a way that makes it hard for people to understand what I'm talking about. I've emphasised the word "Apparently", as this post is about a perceived false dichotomy (perceived by the "Nothing in moderation" group).