Le blues du mangeur

For human consumers, eating means more than simply obtaining nutrients. Following millenaries of food shortages, the present-day plethora associated with industrialized and globalized production has changed the food situation and exposed human consumers to dangers for which they are not prepared, among which obesity is the most obvious. Food behavior and weight “norms” recommended by experts might have done more harm than good. A consequence of the restrictive diets proposed by medical dietetics for over half a century is “cognitive restraint”, which favors eating disorders as well as weight gain, and compromises the quality of life of obese individuals confronted by social stigma. Nutrition specialists who have remained aware of human heterogeneity and complexity, denied by the orthodox dogma supported by international medical dietetics, have proposed promising options for both treatment and prevention.