Malcolm Gladwell – Fixing Nutrition Problems

Me and Malcolm

This past Monday night, along with about 1,000 of my closest friends, I had the privilege of spending about an hour and a half with Malcolm Gladwell, author of the bestselling books “Blink” and “The Tipping Point”, at the University of Toronto.

Gladwell, a staff writer for the New Yorker, and former business and science reporter at the Washington Post, was in town to promote his latest book – a book that I’m reading right now – called “Outliers: The Story of Success.”

To pick up a copy of this interesting read, click here.

My Gladwell Crystal Ball

Now, today, I don’t necessarily want to focus too much on the event.  Although it was definitely cool seeing Gladwell in person. Nor do I want to focus on Gladwell’s “Outliers” book.  Although it does seem pretty good so far.  And it does present a pretty interesting treatment of some of the traits and social structures Gladwell believes are well-correlated with success world-wide.

Rather, today, I want to focus on what I think Gladwell’s next book will be.  That’s right, I’m forecasting Gladwell’s publishing future.

First, a little background.

That's Right Gladwell, I've Got My Eye On You.

Basically, Gladwell’s appearance at the University of Toronto was really a “conversation” with his childhood friend, and dean of the Rotman School of Business at U of T, Roger Martin.

During the lively discussion, Gladwell talked on a variety of themes.  But one theme he seemed particularly excited about was this idea that we, as a society, have become fascinated with solutions to problems that don’t really exist.  He gave a few great examples.

The first had to do with a piece of music editing software, sort of like the Photoshop of music editing, that allows you to edit note-by-note, recorded musical compositions.  In essence this type of software allows one to create nothing but “perfect notes” for musical recordings.

Sounds cool, right?  Well, not to top producers.  In fact, many top producers are terrified that this software will ruin the music industry.  You see, whether we know it or not, a part of what we like about U2 or Bob Dylan, Neil Young or the Rolling Stones, is the imperfection in their music.  It’s this imperfection that imparts musical character.  And it’s this character that we fall in love with.  So, in many ways it’s not perfection, but imperfection, that makes us music fans – god help us should we ever “perfect” the music.

Now, truth be told, if PN Director of Education, Ryan Andrews and I were to lay down a few musical tracks, they’d be imperfect all right.  So imperfect that the software discussed above would probably be the most important tool in our audio arsenal.  But for real musicians – the only folks that can afford this software anyway – this software doesn’t represent a solution that fixes a problem.  It actually represents a solution that creates a problem.

Nutritional Problems That Don’t Exist

Over the course of the evening, Gladwell offered a few other examples of solutions that actually cause, rather than fix, problems.  In fact, his enthusiasm for the subject is what makes me believe that his next book will gravitate toward this theme.

And if Gladwell needs a few other examples for his book – nutrition examples – he can give me a shout any time.  Indeed, it seems as though the nutrition industry has mastered the art of offering solutions that create problems rather than solve them. Take for example, the current fascination with calorie counting.

Nowadays, millions of people have, at their disposal, points systems, online calorie calculators, and a never ending stream of nutritionists always ready, willing, and able to run a dietary analysis (count their calories) for them.    But why is all this calorie counting going on?  Presumably it’s a solution to some problem.  I guess it’s the solution to the problem of not knowing how many calories one is eating.  And by extension, I guess we’re supposed to assume that not knowing how many calories we’re eating is the main reason we’re out of shape.

Well, what if I were to tell you that calorie counting isn’t well-correlated with having a better body.  What if I were to tell you that in most research studies, calorie counting is actually negatively correlated with body weight and BMI.  In other words, the people who have the hardest time managing their body weight are the same folks that fervently count calories.

Where does that leave the “counting calories” solution for getting in shape? Probably about the same place that the music editing software above ends up.  It appears that both strategies are solutions that actually cause more problems then they actually fix.

Beyond Calorie Counting

So, let’s get to the heart of the issue.  Want to know why MOST people are out of shape?  Well, it’s because they eat too much of the wrong food, eat too little of the right food, and exercise too little.  That’s why.  It has nothing to do with calorie counting, per se. So, what’s the solution?  It’s to eat the right foods at the right times.

You see, when you choose the right foods and you eat them at the right times, your hunger mechanisms tend to do a great job of managing your body weight and keeping you lean and healthy.  So, once you figure out what “the right foods” and “the right times” are, most of you can throw calorie counting out the window.  You’ll have the perfect solution for being out of shape.  You’ll figure out how to eat just enough to be healthy and energetic.  And you’ll understand how to prevent overeating and body fat accumulation.

I know that for some of you, this idea is hard to swallow – pardon the pun.  But the research is there.  And, even more importantly, my experience with over 40,000 clients tells me it’s true.

Be Careful of Your Solutions

Now, I could go on about this, and I do in the Precision Nutrition System, but I’m going to wrap it up for now.  If you’re looking for more info on getting in the best shape of your life – without tediously counting calories – click this link below:

The Precision Nutrition System

And always remember – not every solution fixes a problem.  Sometimes, solutions cause problems.  So, from both Malcolm Gladwell and myself,  be careful which solutions you choose.