Everywhere you look, the discourse is about the nation becoming anxious, depressed and FAT!   New York Times  columnist Mark Bittman has this recent report. ( June 27, 2012 Op-Ed) 

“One of the challenges of arguing that hyperprocessed carbohydrates are largely responsible for the obesity pandemic (“epidemic” is no longer a strong enough word, say many experts) is the notion that “a calorie is a calorie.”

Accept that, and you buy into the contention that consuming 100 calories’ worth of sugar-water (like Coke or Gatorade), white bread or French fries is the same as eating 100 calories of broccoli or beans. And Big Food — which has little interest in selling broccoli or beans — would have you believe that if you expend enough energy to work off those 100 calories, it simply doesn’t matter.

There’s an increasing body of evidence, however, that calories from highly processed carbohydrates like white flour (and of course sugar) provide calories that the body treats differently, spiking both blood sugar and insulin and causing us to retain fat instead of burning it off.

In other words, all calories are not alike.”

FromGordon’s Good Reads:

There is much more to the story than calories  and obesity. If you wish to read an outstanding overview and “work book”  on how eating the wrong foods in almost any combination can raise havoc with your life, your brain and your body, get a copy of Mark Hyman M.D.’s book The UltraMindSolution.  The book is  about “functional medicine,”  treating the root cause of illnesses and disorders rather than just the symptoms.

Dr. Hyman details how eating the wrong foods combined with food allergies can have health implications far beyond the obesity epidemic including autism, cancer, diabetes,  and the short circuiting of the brain!  Hyman cites many culprits including sugar, highly processed foods, yeast, gluten and mercury.  Conversely, he concludes and documents that eliminating toxic elements from the diet can  erase not only the symptoms but the disease itself!  The Ultra Mind Solution concludes that by fixing the body first by carefully examining what people ingest, individuals  can also fix their brains and free themselves from anxiety and depression.

This is a self-help book of the finest order. Whether you adopt Hyman’s philosophy is an open question but I predict that after reading the UltraMindSolution you will change your diet and carefully consider almost everything you eat. You may even adopt the program!  Proponents of Mayor Bloomberg’s  ban on super size sugar drinks should place this volume in their arsenal!

Also by Mark Hyman, M.D. : The Detox Box, Ultraprevention, UltraMetabolism,  The UltraSimple Diet, The UltraMetabolism Cook-Book.