"Dieting Is For The Birds...

...if you don't like birds."

--Ancel Benjamin Keys (of K-rations fame).



Sandy, over at Junkfood Science has a great post with the details of the Minnesota Starvation Study, done during World War II.



The study was undertaken in order to learn as much about the effects of starvation and refeeding, which was a pressing concern, given the starvation of victims of the war in Europe. The study de-bunked everything that we've 'known' about eating, obesity, and dieting ever since Galen.



Sandy writes:

"...This past week while the country went into a furor over that discriminatory legislation targeting obese people — and countless interests proposed their own solutions for eradicating obesity, from banning all-you-can eat buffets, fast food or sodas; to mandating vegan or macrobiotic diets or compulsory exercise; to more funding for diets or bariatric surgeries — very few people got just how scientifically insupportable any of it really was."



If you read nothing else about the "science" of weight loss, this is the summary to read.



And enjoy--really enjoy--your dinner tonight.