tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post9057233481155548928..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Food Anxiety and the Chocolate-Eating LifeStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-42014260177780018902015-06-17T08:06:35.115-07:002015-06-17T08:06:35.115-07:00Good points... I agree... that the worrying is som...Good points... I agree... that the worrying is sometimes worse than what you think you need to avoid... and also agree that people flock to fad diets because it provides a moment of respite from the worry. Of course, the food and diet industry, abetted by science, is generating this anxiety, as it generated anxiety about a certain number of physical illnesses.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-52040968118548800702015-06-17T06:39:33.407-07:002015-06-17T06:39:33.407-07:00A while ago I was reading something about "Th...A while ago I was reading something about "The future of medicine" and the message seemed to be that in the future all diet and health advice would be specialized towards your age, gender, occupation, genetic background and lifestyle. <br /><br />It sounded pie-in-the-sky, but in the world of "data", it seemed almost possible, if only we could isolate all the variables with our billions of people.<br /><br />So on diet like perhaps blacks generally should reduce sodium, and east asians should avoid dairy, but maybe eventually the genetic melting pot will become fully mixed and there'll be no "pure"-breed advice left for the data geeks to tell us what we personally need to avoid, and which type of kale or oatmeal is best for our genes to reduce our personal cancer risks.<br /><br />But on the anxiety front, the problem is when worrying is worse for you than what you think you need to avoid. And probably the reason many people flock to the latest fad advice is that they can have a moment of peace in believing they're finally doing it right.<br /><br />Emotionally it seems like the problem is we have some sense of "good" and "bad", and want to categorize the world between these broad categories, while things in the real world are neither good nor bad, but have benefits and costs to us in the short run and the long run differently, and need worry to invoke higher mental skills to deal with short term benefits for uncertain long term costs.<br /><br /><br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.com