3rd edition of HUNGER & LUST comprises more than 300 current study results from 2007 to 2011 - conclusion: “Forget everything you think you know about healthy eating. 

"HUNGER & LUST - The first book on culinary body intelligence" is now available in a comprehensively expanded third edition and offers a critical examination of well over 300 study results from 2007 to 2011 - prepared in an understandable manner for all readers, even without knowledge of nutritional science. "If you question the nutritional research of the last half decade critically and without interest, the simple conclusion is: No healthy person needs nutritional science - and even less the nutritional rules resulting from it," explains the author and nutritionist Uwe Knop, "because almost all recommendations for healthy Nutrition is based on observational studies, the informative value of which tends towards zero. ”In addition, new studies repeatedly show exactly the opposite of the current“ nutritional wisdom ”. The only sure thing in nutritional science "is the fact: the researchers know that they certainly don't know anything." Instead of dietary rules, Knop therefore recommends "more trust in your own body feelings of hunger and satiety."

It is best to forget all dietary rules, because they "are no more than vague assumptions and are based on statistical numbers without any real conclusiveness," explains Knop. On the other hand, one searches in vain for scientifically sound evidence of the usual dietary rules: "There is simply no evidence that, for example, a glass of red wine in the evening protects against heart attacks or that fruit and vegetables 5 times a day keep cancer away." The third edition of HUNGER & LUST uses the The critical analysis of over 300 study results from 2007 to 2011 not only raises public awareness of the ubiquitous nutritional propaganda - the book also conveys that our natural body weight is gene-controlled and why no diet makes you slim in the long term.

The fat diet paradox

 Instead of living in a "diet paradise," we live with a diet paradox: Science agrees that all diets make you fatter in the long run. But nevertheless, every year new slimming cures fool people into believing that losing weight with a diet will make their hip gold disappear permanently." The current diets, however, are nothing more than old wine in new bottles: "The respective trend diets are pure marketing for self-preservation of the overweight target group - because the diet industry is probably the only branch of the economy that benefits more when its products don't deliver what they promise." Permanent weight loss is either a "life's work that is like a fight against your own body" - or doomed to fail if after the diet is eaten normally again (1).

Real hunger & good reasons for lots of pounds

 In the third edition of the first Culinary Body Intelligence book, the focus remains on trusting only your true hunger when eating. In addition, the book provides simple and practical tips on how to become more mindful of your body - with the aim of distinguishing the physical feeling of real hunger from "emotional eating" or "compensatory eating", i.e. eating without hunger. "Anyone who learns to pay attention to their real feeling of hunger has the best chance of finding their natural body weight," says Knop. Many of the more than 100 new study results from 2010/11 continue to address the questions “What influences our body weight?” and “Is being overweight healthy or not?” (2) According to Knop, as always in nutritional research, there is trust in these topics as well Disagreement.

Children's programs without quality standards

 Another focus of the new edition is the dubious "Eldorado of children's campaigns for nutritional education", which all have two properties in common: firstly, there is no common quality standard, and secondly, the long-term effects on the child's body and the growing psyche are unknown. "The situation is worrying: The young Germans are being enlightened with a campaign aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, the effects of which on the children's development are unknown," warns Knop. On the one hand, according to the Robert Koch Institute, 75% of children and young people are of normal weight - and on the other hand, the campaign's core target group of 6-7% obese children is mostly found in socially disadvantaged classes and immigrant families. But campaigns for “poor children of foreigners” probably lack publicity, so the formula F governs the children’s programs – “F like funding according to the watering can principle for all kinds of medium-sized business-oriented activism, which unfortunately misses the mark and provides no proof of benefit.” (3)

Dietary supplements, no thanks!

 An additional chapter in HUNGER & LUST is dedicated to the current study situation on dietary supplements. "The last five years of research have shown that dietary supplements offer no protection against diseases, but have all the more side effects," summarizes Knop. Every healthy person should therefore keep their hands off vitamin supplements and the like, because "not only is the money wasted, but taking the pills and powders can, in the worst case, damage your health." This also applies to functional food, such as phytosterol-enriched foods to lower cholesterol . On the one hand, celebrities such as Dieter Bohlen and Heiner Lauterbach advertise these products, but on the other hand doctors and the German Society for Cardiology warn against them. There is a lack of evidence that these functional foods promote heart health, because there are no medically rigorous endpoint studies that show a reduction in heart attacks, for example. On the contrary: Spreads and the like containing phytosterols are instead suspected of damaging the cardiovascular system. Basically, the following applies to Knop: "Medicine does not belong in the supermarket, but in the doctor's office."

HUNGER & LUST is a book for all responsible eaters with their own opinion, who prefer to trust their own body when eating and drinking instead of listening to dietary rules and popes. "The book is an appeal to common sense - for a healthy diet that suits you, because: Every person is (s)t different," says Knop. The third edition enables the readers to critically and self-confidently question the common nutritional rules and diet promises on the basis of the comprehensive study presentation of the last half decade. The aim of the reading should be to see food intake for what it is: eating is the pleasure that keeps us alive.

Short interview Knop: 4 questions about the 3rd edition

1.Why are you releasing a third edition of HUNGER & LUST after 2009 and 2010?

 In the past twelve months, a large number of nutritional studies have again been published that underline the theses of the book. Therefore, I have expanded the book with more than 100 new study results. Now, based on over 300 current study results, readers can enjoy a "tabula rasa of half a decade of nutritional research" - easily digestible, of course.

2.Who should read the book?

 HUNGER & LUST is a literal confirmation for all people who trust their body feelings when eating instead of listening to nutritional rules or popes. On the one hand, those readers are encouraged who already eat intuitively, but who doubt their natural eating habits due to the ubiquitous propaganda about “healthy” eating. On the other hand, the book helps people who no longer know what their real hunger feels like to rediscover exactly this access to the natural-biological feeling of hunger.

3.What is the benefit of the book for the readers?

 Reading strengthens self-awareness - in two respects: First, the readers develop a more intensive awareness of their own body and its life-sustaining feelings of hunger and lust. Secondly, the book encourages readers to confidently represent their own eating opinions - apart from dietary rules and specifications for "healthy" nutrition. The book also helps to eliminate the guilty conscience that many people have in the back of their minds when they only eat what tastes good to them. I would be happy if reading this would ultimately lead to more responsible eaters living in our country with their own opinions - and enjoying their lives.

4. A nutritionist says: No healthy person needs nutritional science. How does that fit together?

 Science is supposed to deliver truths, but nutritional science only finds vague assumptions without conclusiveness - and these findings are so weak that no generally applicable rules for a "healthy" diet can be derived from them. My opinion as a nutritionist, who has critically analyzed the past half decade of nutritional research, is therefore: The (eating) truth lies in every body itself, because every person is (s)t different. And since nutritional research unfortunately does not deliver any truths, no healthy person needs nutritional science either - where "healthy" stands for "problem-free". Because one thing is also clear: nutritional science is important when diseases such as gout and kidney dysfunction or food intolerance, allergies or metabolic disorders come into play. You have to know: what can and what can I eat?

Source: [ Uwe Knop ]