This page has some of my opinions. They are just that. If I am wrong, please do not hesitate to point it out and say why.
There are many videos online talking about food. Some are good, others no so much. This is a selection of them.
In 2005, Sir John Krebs gave the world-renowned Christmas lectures, initiated by Michael Faraday, at the Roal Institution.
The Christmas lectures are great. It is a privilege to give them, and a privilege to watch them. They are in some ways more prestigious than a Nobel Prize. They are certainly more exclusive than the Nobel Prize. They are meant for a lay public, hence easy to understand and brought with humour but also true to the science they are based on.
The 2005 series was about food, and totally worth your time taking in.
The series is now 14 years old, but–contrary to popular claims–science evolves slowly and there is nothing said here that has become obsolete by now. It is as valid today as it was then.
Lecture 1: The ape that cooks
Lecture 2: Yuck or ymmy
Lecture 3: You are what you eat
Lecture 4: When food goes wrong
Lecture 5: Food for the future
Link to the whole series: The truth about food
The Christmas Lectures are not the only videos available from the Royal Institution. The institution is also host to other lectures.
Here is "Is obesity a choice?" with Giles Yeo and the "Questions and answers" session that followed it.
A slightly older version of the same lecture is "Do your genes make you fat?" with Giles Yeo and the "Questions and answers" session that follows it.
I have to admit I had some apprehension to overcome before watching "Do your genes make you fat?" because the title reminded me of the nonsense we so often hear being used as a non-explanation for obesity. However, these are lectures at the Royal Institution and while this is by no means an absolute guarantee, it is most definitely a guarantee that all reasonable efforts have been made to present a truthful exposé.
I was not disappointed, and I recommend these lectures wholeheartedly. I was especially pleased with the explanation Giles Yeo gives of what our genes really mean for us, because this is a concept that is almost always explained in a totally wrong way.
The danger of his lectures is that he advocates against calorie counting. His arguments are sound enough, but I fear he is trying to throw out the baby with the bath water. In my opinion, the fact that not all calories are actually available for use by our bodies, will–at most–have us lose a bit more weight than we hoped for.
I am a lot less enthusiastic about Tim Spector. He sounds like a quack and I have problems looking past that impression. I also find reasons (good ones, I think) to distrust his claims. While he was relatively reasonable and visibly careful in his lecture 'What Role Does our Microbiome Play in a Healthy Diet?' to avoid too much controversy, he reveals himself as less than trustworthy in the CBC documentary 'Junk food is killing us'.
Just as Giles Yeo, he argues against calorie counting. One of his arguments is that many of these counts on labels contain huge mistakes. That is certainly correct. However, that does not mean that calorie counting isn't good, it merely means that regulations for publishing data on packages are inadequate have to be more strict. This should be the job of scientists, not of marketing departments, as it usually is today.
There are many videos online talking about food. Some are good, others no so much. This is a selection of them.
In 2005, Sir John Krebs gave the world-renowned Christmas lectures, initiated by Michael Faraday, at the Roal Institution.
The Christmas lectures are great. It is a privilege to give them, and a privilege to watch them. They are in some ways more prestigious than a Nobel Prize. They are certainly more exclusive than the Nobel Prize. They are meant for a lay public, hence easy to understand and brought with humour but also true to the science they are based on.
The 2005 series was about food, and totally worth your time taking in.
The series is now 14 years old, but–contrary to popular claims–science evolves slowly and there is nothing said here that has become obsolete by now. It is as valid today as it was then.
Lecture 1: The ape that cooks
Lecture 2: Yuck or ymmy
Lecture 3: You are what you eat
Lecture 4: When food goes wrong
Lecture 5: Food for the future
Link to the whole series: The truth about food
The Christmas Lectures are not the only videos available from the Royal Institution. The institution is also host to other lectures.
Here is "Is obesity a choice?" with Giles Yeo and the "Questions and answers" session that followed it.
A slightly older version of the same lecture is "Do your genes make you fat?" with Giles Yeo and the "Questions and answers" session that follows it.
I have to admit I had some apprehension to overcome before watching "Do your genes make you fat?" because the title reminded me of the nonsense we so often hear being used as a non-explanation for obesity. However, these are lectures at the Royal Institution and while this is by no means an absolute guarantee, it is most definitely a guarantee that all reasonable efforts have been made to present a truthful exposé.
I was not disappointed, and I recommend these lectures wholeheartedly. I was especially pleased with the explanation Giles Yeo gives of what our genes really mean for us, because this is a concept that is almost always explained in a totally wrong way.
The danger of his lectures is that he advocates against calorie counting. His arguments are sound enough, but I fear he is trying to throw out the baby with the bath water. In my opinion, the fact that not all calories are actually available for use by our bodies, will–at most–have us lose a bit more weight than we hoped for.
I am a lot less enthusiastic about Tim Spector. He sounds like a quack and I have problems looking past that impression. I also find reasons (good ones, I think) to distrust his claims. While he was relatively reasonable and visibly careful in his lecture 'What Role Does our Microbiome Play in a Healthy Diet?' to avoid too much controversy, he reveals himself as less than trustworthy in the CBC documentary 'Junk food is killing us'.
Just as Giles Yeo, he argues against calorie counting. One of his arguments is that many of these counts on labels contain huge mistakes. That is certainly correct. However, that does not mean that calorie counting isn't good, it merely means that regulations for publishing data on packages are inadequate have to be more strict. This should be the job of scientists, not of marketing departments, as it usually is today.
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